Marquez tops sensational Saturday morning FP3 session

MotoGP 2022 – Round 18 – Phillip Island
Saturday Morning FP3

Jack Miller had a lot on the line this morning at Phillip Island after a difficult Friday held the Australian back, he finished the opening day only 13th on the time-sheets.

Johann Zarco topped both sessions on Friday, the best time of 1m29.475 coming late in FP2 to put him ahead of fellow Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi.  Repsol Honda’s Pol Espargaro finished third on Friday ahead of Fabio Quartararo.

The pace in the earlier Moto3 session held on Saturday morning was much faster than what the Moto3 riders had managed on Friday, which suggested that we were set for a very fast FP3 MotoGP session…

Riders took their time this morning though before building up to try and cement their automatic promotion to Q2.

Miguel Oliveira was the first of the big improvers this morning, jumping from the 11th place he finished yesterday, up to fifth on combined times.

Jack Miller put in ten early laps before returning to pit-lane and heading out again at the halfway point of the session with a soft front and medium rear.

Fabio Quartararo was out on a soft-soft combination at this halfway point of the session and lapping fast, but was unable to improve on his Friday marker at this stage of proceedings.

Conditions were quite cool and incredibly the front tyres actually were going down in pressure while out on track compared to what they were at when the tyre-warmers were removed and riders left pit-lane. The lack of heavy braking at Phillip Island doing their part towards that peculiarity. Michelin telling us that the tyres were going out at 36 psi, and then dropping to as low as 27 psi during the session as they cooled.

With 15-minutes remaining Oliveira made further progress up the order on his first lap on a new soft rear, moving up to fourth on combined times. The Portuguese rider went quicker again on his next lap, a 1m29.510 promoting him to P2 on combined times.

12 minutes to go – red sectors everywhere

Jorge Martin then put in a blinder, a 1m28.616! Bezzecchi then went P2 on 1m29.138, Vinales up to P3 on 1m29.196, Mir P4 on 1m29.259, Bagnaia P5 on 1m29.289 while Zarco had now slipped to sixth on combined times.

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Bezzechi then improved to 1m28.738 but remained in P2, while Marc Marquez then dropped in a 1m28.993 to go P3.

Bagnaia then improved to 1m29.060 which gave him P4.

At this stage of proceedings Miller was way down in P22 but had just gone out on a soft-soft combination…

Alex Marquez then dropped in a 1m28.964 to go P3, pushing his brother back to P4.

Fabio Quartararo was on a quick one but ran wide at turn four and through the long lap penalty diversion. On the next lap though the Frenchman did improve to 1m29.039, good enough for P6.

Jack Miller then got wound up… From P22 to P3 in one foul swoop, a 1m28.822…

Five minutes to go

Now the pressure was really on…

With less than five minutes to run riders outside of the top ten included Friday pacesetter Johann Zarco along with Joan Mir and Aleix Espargaro…

Pecco Bagnaia then managed to split the Marquez brothers to go P5 after dropping in his first 1m28 of the weekend.

Marc Marquez then went P2, pushing Jack Miller down to P4, despite the Australian improving his marker to 1m28.721.

Luca Marini then topped them all with a 1m28.592!

Before Marc Marquez then took the mantle with a stunning last 1m28.462.

Aleix Espargaro also put in a great final lap to gp P4, and he gave Marquez a tow while doing it…  Aleix Espargaro pushing Bezzecchi back to P5 and Miller to P6.

Fabio Quartararo had been shuffled all the way back to P13, but saved the day on his final lap with a 1m28.858 sneaking him into tenth place for automatic promotion to Q2.

Phillip Island MotoGP Combined Practice Times

MotoGP Championship Points Standings

Phillip Island Moto3 FP3 Report

One of the infamous Cape Barren Geese caused a red flag in the dying seconds of the opening session of the day at Phillip Island this morning.

Ayumu Sasaki topped FP3 with a best time of 1m36.112. Tthat marker under the 1m36.302 race lap record set here by Jack Miller on what was a newly resurfaced track back in 2014. But just outside the 1m36.050 all-time lap record set by Alex Marquez for pole here in 2014.

Joel Kelso finished practice P13 on combined times.

Phillip Island Moto3 Combined Practice Times

Moto3 Championship Points Standings

Phillip Island Moto2 FP3

The Moto2 session again saw lots of crashes, one of the worst was for Sam Lowes who looks to have possibly injured his left shoulder that had kept him out of some races already this season.

Alonso Lopez topped the session with a 1m32.616, well ahead of Fermin Aldeguer and Augusto Fernandez in FP3.

Phillip Island Moto2 Combined Practice Times

Moto2 Championship Points Standings

Phillip Island MotoGP Schedule

2022 MotoGP Calendar