Jack Miller put on a stunning show with his Ducati Lenovo MotoGP to top Saturday’s FP3 at Silverstone with a 1’59.288 ahead of BritishGP qualifying.
Aleix Espargaro and Jorge Marin kept the man in red honest, with late session charges while Fabio Quartararo’s Friday best was enough for second in the combined times at the end of the third free practice.
There was further delight for Yamaha as Valentino Rossi claimed his passage into this afternoon’s Q2 shootout, Cal Crutchlow missing out by a mere three-tenths as Jake Dixon suffered his first fall from the Petronas M1.
Miller was straight out the blocks as the morning free practice fired up, Martin and Joan Mir taking over at the top as the Espargaro brothers circulated on near identical pace in third and fourth. The Aprilia was up to second with his fifth trip around the 6km circuit, with the Repsol once again hot on his wheels as Pol Espargaro pushed himself into third. The top-eight running 2’00 pace after just 10-minutes of Saturday action.
Pecco Bagnaia joined the fun, in fifth, to complete the Ducati set within the top-10 as Dixon experienced his first MotoGP crash, at Brooklands with 28-minutes to go.
The elder Espargaro claimed the first 1’59 lap of the day to head the standings, and sit third overall, at the halfway stage, Mir and Takaaki Nakagami narrowly behind, and the only other riders in the overall top-10 to have improved on their Friday pace. Alex Rins and Rossi sitting just outside the Q2 cutoff as the second half unfolded.
Quartararo took his usual turn at the top as the final 10-minutes came into view but Miller was on a charge, deposing the title challenger with a 1’59.288 to sit just under two-tenths clear.
A Yamaha assault found Rossi and Cal Crutchlow up to fifth and seventh respectively with seven-minutes left to run, Marc Marquez promoting himself to third moments later as the battle increased.
Another stunning lap from Pol Espargaro allowed the second Repsol to claim the position from his teammate, Rins crashing out of his own flying lap at Farm.
Late attacks pushed Martin up the times as the Pramac sat second, Espargaro’s Aprilia stealing his thunder in the closing seconds. Quartararo pulled out of his final flyer to sit fourth with Bagnaia fifth as an end of session crash prevented the younger Espargaro from improving further. Rossi completed FP3 in seventh, with Mir, Brad Binder and Marquez securing the last Q2 promotion places. Johann Zarco sitting 11th and with a battle on his hands, in this afternoon’s qualifying show.
