Vinales on record pace in FP3, Marquez returns in 19th
2020 Andalucia MotoGP - Free Practice Results (3)
Maverick Vinales made his intentions clear ahead of qualifying for the Andalucia MotoGP in Jerez as he bettered Fabio Quartararo’s lap record around Jerez, while Marc Marquez made his return from injury down in 19th of 22 riders.
The overnight pace setter coming into FP3, though times in the milder morning session quickly surpassed those of Friday, Vinales hit the front in the closing stages with a 1m 36.584secs lap on the factory Yamaha.
That was enough to leapfrog Quartararo, who himself had only just lowered the lap record he achieved during Q2 in Jerez last weekend with a 1m 36.643secs, setting up a tantalising tussle between the two Yamaha riders in qualifying.
For the time being though Q2 will take place without Marquez who perhaps as expected couldn’t get close to the top ten result needed to make a direct route through.
The Spaniard, nursing a fractured arm, missed Friday practice to give him more work to do this morning but despite getting out early and climbing to a high of 16th at one stage, he’d eventually be shuffled down to 20th ahead of only Bradley Smith, Iker Lecuona and Alex Rins, who sat out the session. It means if he soldiers on he will need to fight for the two available Q2 spots available via Q1.
Having signalled his disapproval at the stricter enforcement of lap time deletion under yellow flags, Jack Miller ironically became the first rider to fall foul of the new rules but nonetheless had enough in reserve to lead the Ducati challenge in third.
Top of the pile in FP2, LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami still made a big step forward in FP3 to easily book his place through to Q2 in fourth, ahead of Pecco Bagnaia and Danilo Petrucci, the Italian producing his most convincing qualifying effort for some time.
Meanwhile, there was joy for KTM as both Brad Binder and Pol Espargaro made it through to Q2 this time, the rookie South African even getting the better of his more experience team-mate in seventh and ninth respectively.
Valentino Rossi secured his place with a run to ninth, with Joan Mir sparing Suzuki’s blushes with the tenth and final spot.
Aleix Espargaro just missed out on a top ten though did so via two low-speed tumbles on the Aprilia, while Lecuona was another to crash his Tech 3 KTM. Of the more unexpected names to be going out first in Q1, Franco Morbidelli was 12th fastest and Andrea Dovizioso left in 14th.
Beyond Marquez, Cal Crutchlow made small improvements to lift himself to 17th, while Rins’ participation in the remainder of the weekend if unclear after sitting out FP3 altogether.
