Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez was back on form at Le Mans as he headed Saturday’s FrenchGP FP3 session with a 1’40.736.
Aprilia rookie Lorenzo Savadori showcased his confidence in the wet by claiming second place at the Sarthe Circuit from Pecco Bagnaia and Miguel Oliveira as all four Yamaha’s seemed to struggle.
Showers struck just as the riders prepared to leave pitlane for Saturday’s FP3 session. The cold conditions continuing on from Friday with overnight rain having already soaked the 4.2km Bugatti layout.
Alex Rins took charge as the opening efforts registered on the timing screens, Danilo Petrucci and Oliveira making the most of their KTM’s to sit second and third with the pair swapping positions on the next lap around. Franky Morbidelli was the next to strike before Petrucci entered the 1’45s to head the standings with his fifth lap.
A Suzuki was back in charge after the opening 10-minutes of action, this time with Joan Mir at the helm, before Jack Miller made his presence known, reducing the pace to 1’45 dead. The World Champ was in the groove, however, and he hit back on his next lap, a 1’44.991 now the benchmark time as conditions continued to improve. Mir and Miller continued to bicker as the session unfolded, Morbidelli comfortably best of the rest in third with Oliveira, Petrucci, Bagnaia, Rins, Fabio Quartararo, Alex Marquez and Johann Zarco rounding out the early top-10.
Half an hour to go and Aleix Espargaro had failed to set a time, thanks to a technical problem in the opening minutes, with the Spaniard still suffering from Fridays’ crash fest. Miller lost his Ducati at turn six after setting the fastest time of the morning so far as Luca Marini and Iker Lecuona found themselves inside the top-10.
Pol Espargaro and Maverick Viñales found their form as the session neared the halfway stage, the duo taking fifth and sixth respectively before the Yamaha soared to second with his eighth lap. Marc Marquez was the next to shine, advancing the overall pace to 1’42.894, almost a second ahead of Miller’s next-best effort with Mir and Bagnaia looking to mix it up in second and fourth shortly after.
Four manufacturers shared the top-four as the final 20 minutes got underway, with three KTM’s sitting inside the top-10. Both Suzuki’s advanced to second and third with Viñales in fourth five-minutes later as Iker Lecuona made waves for fifth and Morbidelli joined the fun in sixth. Espargaro began to catch up as he moved his Aprilia to ninth while disappointment struck Lecuona and he was claimed by the treacherous turn three.
The KTM comeback continued as Oliveira advanced to third, Alex Marquez doing likewise for fifth on the pair’s 13th laps as Quartararo and Brad Binder looked to struggle in 18th and 20th respectively and 10 minutes left to run.
Oliveira took charge with eight minutes remaining, Savadori pushing his RS-GP into fourth as Pol Espargaro and Zarco found fifth and sixth. The Portuguese rider looked to improve again before he was caught out and ran wide at Garage Vert but he recovered quickly with a 1’42.127 on his following lap. The Aprilia rookie was also on form as he swept through to second, 0.058 behind the KTM before Marquez returned to form with a 1’41.783 and four minutes to go.
The top-three continued to fine-tune their pace as Bagnaia joined the fun in fourth, Lecuona fifth before Savadori claimed the lead by a further tenth but Marquez was on a charge once again. The eight-time world champion sliced 0.6s off the previous best to take the session with a 1’40.736.
Savadori recorded his best result of his rookie career so far, in second, from Bagnaia, Oliveira, and Espargaro’s Repsol Honda with Zarco heading the Suzuki’s of Mir and Rins. Lecuona claimed ninth from Marini and the younger Marquez as Takaaki Nakagami followed his LCR teammate in 11th and 12th. The elder Espargaro concluded the morning in 13th from Petrucci and Tito Rabat with the despondent Viñales coming home as the leading Yamaha in a disappointing 16th. Morbidelli, Enea Bastianini, Quartararo, Miller, Valentino Rossi and Binder completed the FP3 standings.
End of session drama for Yamaha saw Morbidelli on the floor in pitlane as he came in for the concluding bike swap practice, with the Italian needing assistance as he returned to the garage after twisting his left knee.
