In the third free MotoGP practice session at Phillip Island, Repsol Honda star Marc Márquez set the best time at the last second. The Friday times have been turned upside down.
With sunny weather, strong winds and temperatures of up to 15 degrees, the MotoGP aces found quite usable conditions on Saturday at 9.55 a.m. local time. But whether the times from Friday’s FP2 could be improved was questionable.
But after just 15 minutes, Miguel Oliveira improved from eleventh to fifth place on the 4.448 km long track (5 right-hand bends, 7 left-hand bends). He was now just 0.183 seconds behind Johann Zarco’s best time. The Red Bull KTM factory pilot from Portugal had set a lap time of 1:29.658 minutes.
While Marc Márquez didn’t improve in the first 15 minutes, Jack Miller (Lenovo-Ducati) improved to 1:29.957 min, but that was only enough for 13th place – like on Friday.
By the way: “JackAss” is contesting his first and last race in the Ducati factory team on Phillip Island, because the Grand Prix has not taken place in the last two years due to Corona, in 2023 he will be driving a Red Bull KTM.
By the way: On Friday there hadn’t been a single fall in the two MotoGP sessions. And that didn’t change in FP3 either.
In the last 15 minutes, the hunt for times really got going. Thailand GP winner Miguel Oliveira stormed into second place with a 1’29.510, just 0.035 off Zarco.
But then the Spanish Pranac-Ducati factory rider Jorge Martin raced to first place with a time of 1:28.616 minutes, making his debut in the MotoGP class at Phillip Island. He distanced Bezzecchi by 0.522 seconds, who had clearly improved compared to Friday. Martin was an incredible 1.2 seconds faster than in FP2!
On the other hand, Pecco Bagnaia slipped ten minutes back to 15th place before improving to 5th place. Fabio Quartararo was only 13th, 0.998 seconds behind Jorge Martin.
Things went haywire now, with Oliveira, for example, slipping out of the top 10 with eight minutes to go before the checkered flag, with only the top ten progressing to qualifying 2. Teammate Brad Binder was still in 18th place. And Jack Miller even fell back to 22nd place (!) before he improved to 1:28.882 min – and took over 3rd place.
In the last minute, Oliveira healed himself in 16th place. Instead, Luca Marini suddenly raced to 1st place – with 1:28.592 min. But then Marc Márquez interfered again, he set the Repsol-Honda up with 1:28.462 1st place. And Fabio Quartararo made it into Q2 in the last second with 1:28.858 min and 10th place, compatriot Zarco did not get past 11th place.
For comparison: The “All Time Lap Record” on Phillip Island dates back to 2013, it belongs to Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) with 1:27.899 min (= 182.1 km/h).
Jack Miller will be honored at this afternoon’s Australian GP as at 11.50am Turn 4 will be renamed ‘Miller Corner’.
The choice of race tires is still open for many teams, it may not be decided until FP4. Michelin racing boss Piero Taramasso announced that all three mixtures (hard, medium and soft) are conceivable at the front, most drivers will tend towards the medium at the rear like in 2018, because the soft decreases significantly after 4 to 5 laps. And for the hard compound, asphalt temperatures of 35 degrees would be necessary, but they will. not take place at 15 degrees outside temperature.
MotoGP FP3 result, October 15
1. Marc Marquez, Honda, 1:28.462 mins
2. Marini, Ducati, + 0.130
3. Martin, Ducati,+ 0.154
4. Aleix Espargaró, Aprilia, + 0.177
5. Bezzecchi, Ducati, +0.228
6. Miller, Ducati, +0.259
7. Alex Marquez, Honda, +0.303
8. Bagnaia, Ducati, + 0.306
9. Viñales, Aprilia, + 0.315
10. Quartararo, Yamaha, + 0,396
11. Zarco, Ducati, + 0.441
12. Mir, Suzuki, + 0,458
13. Crutchlow, Yamaha, +0.483
14. Bastianini, Ducati, + 0.561
15. Pol Espagaro, Honda, +0.633
16. Oliveira, KTM, + 0.671
17. Rins, Suzuki, + 0,682
18. By Giannantonio, + 0.1064
19. Raúl Fernández, KTM, + 1,066
20. Brad Binder, KTM, + 1,127
21. Morbidelli, Yamaha, +1.192
22. Gardner, KTM, + 1,229
23. Nagashima, Honda, +1,611
24. Darryn Binder, Yamaha, + 1,874
MotoGP result FP1+FP2, Phillip Island (10/14):
1. Zarco, Ducati, 1: 29.475 min
2. Bezzecchi, Ducati, + 0.038 sec
3. Pol Espargaro, Honda, +0.052
4. Quartararo, Yamaha, + 0,139
5. Viñales, Aprilia, + 0.270
6. Marc Marquez, Honda, +0.300
7. Aleix Espargaró, Aprilia, + 0.357
8. Bagnaia, Ducati, + 0.363
9. Bastianini, Ducati, + 0.374
10. Martin, Ducati, +0.406
11. Oliveira, KTM, + 0.448
12. Mir, Suzuki, + 0,469
13. Miller, Ducati, +0.546
14. Alex Marquez, Honda, +0.613
15. Brad Binder, KTM, + 0,624
16. Rins, Suzuki, + 0,663
17. Di Giannantonio, Ducati, + 0.683
18. Crutchlow, Yamaha, +0.731
19. Morbidelli, Yamaha, +1,144
20. Marini, Ducati, + 1,250
21. Raúl Fernández, KTM, + 1,366
22. Gardner, KTM, + 1,465
23. Darryn Binder, Yamaha, + 1,603
24. Nagashima, Honda, +2,102