Petronas Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo topped the final MotoGP free practice session at Catalunya this morning as one second covered the top 20 riders.
Quartararo set a 1’39.418 top the timesheets but he was pushed hard by 2021 team-mate Maverick Vinales who lost out by only 0.044s while Red Bull KTM’s Miguel Oliveira was third and a further 0.045s in arrears.
It was disaster again for Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso who again didn’t make it into qualifying two automatically and he is joined in Q1 by Jack Miller - who was sixth with eight minutes left to run - Alex Rins and both the LCR Honda men who suffered cold-tyre crashes, as did Aleix Espargaro.
And while Dovizioso could only muster a 1’39.963, team-mate Danilo Petrucci found a couple of laps from nowhere as he leapt into fourth place with a 1’39.702.
The Italian was followed by Johann Zarco, on last year’s Desmosedici, who claimed fifth and was just 0.007s slower than the GP20-mounted former policeman.
KTM managed to get three of their four riders into Q2 after Iker Lecuona crashed early doors as Pol Espargaro claimed sixth place on a 1’39.756 and Brad Binder was ninth.
Yamaha bagged a full house as Franco Morbidelli - 1’39.774 - and Valentino Rossi finished in seventh and eighth respectively and Joan Mir nicked the final automatic qualifying two spot in tenth. The Ecstar Suzuki man was less than half a second off the pace.
Pecco Bagnaia missed Q2 by 0.035s but did set an all-new top speed record for the track, rattling down the pit straight at 352.9 km/h (220.5mph) on his satellite GP20.
He had Pramac team-mate Jack Miller directly behind him with Dovizioso in 13th and Alex Rins in 14th. Taka Nakagami added a crash to his tally from yesterday, losing the front at turn two with a couple of minutes left to go while Crutchlow did the same at turn five only a short time later.
They finished in 15th and 16th while Alex Espargaro was 17th with a 1’40.133 set after his crash at turn five with 18 laps to go. Both the Aprilia rider and Crutchlow both crashed with almost no lean angle on the brakes but were unhurt.
Bradley Smith and Alex Marquez were 18th and 19th with Tito Rabat, Lecuona and Stefan Bradl bringing up the rear.
Top ten top speeds
63 Francesco BAGNAIA ITA Pramac Racing DUCATI 352.9
4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 351.7
73 Alex MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 349.5
5 Johann ZARCO FRA Esponsorama Racing DUCATI 348.3
33 Brad BINDER RSA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 348.3
44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 348.3
9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 347.2
43 Jack MILLER AUS Pramac Racing DUCATI 347.2
20 Fabio QUARTARARO FRA Petronas Yamaha SRT YAMAHA 346.1
41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini APRILIA 346.1
