Pramac’s Johann Zarco headed an all-Ducati top three for Misano’s FP3 but MotoGP title fighter Pecco Bagnaia was not invited to the party.
Jorge Martin and Jack Miller sat second and third while Bagnaia missed out on automatic promotion, Luca Marini’s 10th place lap time dropping his fellow Italian to 11th in the final seconds.
Fabio Quartararo and Joan Mir were also frustrated at the flag and facing Saturday afternoon’s Q1 fight.
Iker Lecuona was the first to head the standings as FP3 fired up on Saturday, Suzuki’s Mir and Alex Rins briefly taking over before the Tech3 KTM hit back. Lorenzo Savadori’s impressive Friday was derailed immediately by a turn one crash in the opening five minutes with the Aprilia rider needing medical assistance to leave the track in the aftermath.
Miller returned to his dominant position at the top of the times on his fifth lap, a 1’41.757 nearing his Friday best, with Miguel Oliveira and Zarco trailing the Australian with Marc Marquez in fourth, less than three-tenths back.
The Repsol rider took charge with his seventh effort, before Miller bettered once again, just milliseconds from each other and the overall best.
Bagnaia joined the fight of the front, in fifth, while Ducati test rider Michele Pirro crashed out at the final turn. Mir rising to second as Zarco consolidated fourth with Lecuona, Martin, Pirro and Danilo Petrucci rounding out the top 10 after 15 minutes of action.
Rins suffered a dramatic turn 13 off on his 10th lap of the morning, the Suzuki siting outside of the promotion zone in 15th at the time, one behind Quartararo.
Ducati power continued to dominate as Bagnaia hit the top with a 1’41.160 from Miller and Martin, with Zarco and Marini sitting sixth and seventh. KTM’s Oliveira spoiling the show next time around to take the lead by just 0.023s while his teammate Brad Binder seemed to struggle in 17th.
The Portuguese rider continued to improve out front as he secured the first 1’40 of the weekend before crashing out at turn 15 on his following lap. Pramac’s Martin leapfrogging the factory Ducatis for second, just eight-milliseconds adrift of the target time before taking charge overall with 15 minutes left to play.
Franky Morbidelli found his rhythm as he advanced to eighth in the final 10 minutes, Marquez doing likewise for third moments later. Zarco joined his teammate at the top with his 16th lap, the Pramac pair split by two-tenths of a second ahead of an equally improving Miller with Bagnaia dropped to sevenths as Morbidelli improved once again.
Zarco bettered with a 1’40.384 to head the standings overall while Lecuona re-entered the top nine. Quartararo briefly taking his place in the promotion zone one behind before the second Tech3 of Petrucci dumped him out with four minutes to go.
The Italian advanced again to seventh before Pol Espargaro’s sixth place effort dipped him to eighth and dropped Lecuona out of contention. Mir now sitting in the danger zone on the bubble of the top 10.
Quartararo continued to circulate but repeatedly missed the all-important position, finding 11th with his best time of the weekend so far as the chequered flag prepared. Aleix Espargaro put in another late strike to sit eighth, Marini finding 10th to drop Mir and Bagnaia out of Q2 along with the openly frustrated Frenchman.
