An anti-climactic end to European GP free practice saw a somewhat empty Ricardo Tormo Circuit this morning as just 17 Moto2 riders entertained the intermediate conditions, with Jorge Navarro setting the fastest FP3 time from the surprising duo of Stefano Manzi and Piotr Biesiekirski.
Championship rivals Enea Bastianini and Sam Lowes headed the standings thanks to their Friday afternoon efforts as the final session started 11 seconds adrift of the 1’36.804 benchmark, the damp but drying Valencia track registering no changes on the combined times ahead of the afternoon’s qualifying contest.
Kasma Daniel joined the action after missing the first day suffering from tonsillitis - the symptoms causing the team to isolate awaiting C-19 negative test results - while a tentative Hafizh Syahrin also returned to action having sat out of the majority of FP2 due to the effects of his Friday morning crash.
The opening 10 minutes found only 12 riders on track as the inconsistent surface prevented much useful progress. Marcel Schrotter provided the reference point as a dry line began to appear with the German circulating six-tenths faster than Tom Luthi, Syahrin a further two-tenths behind in third.
Confident of his pace and set-up in both the wet and dry conditions of Friday, Lowes opted to sit out of proceedings for the majority of the session, heading out briefly for the final three minutes, while his Marc VDS teammate Augusto Fernandez was withdrawn from the remainder of the weekend thanks to complications from his FP1 crash.
Lorenzo Baldassari circulated as a lonely figure for the mid-point, running in second but still 0.5 behind Schrotter’s fourth-lap time before returning to the pits, Navarro and Daniel taking his place on track while the remainder of the field stayed put.
Final flourishes allowed Navarro to head the FP3 times with a 1’46.668 from Manzi and Biesiekirski, Luthi, Daniel and Schrotter rounding out the top-six. Marco Bezzecchi and a re-injured Luca Marini concluded the lacklustre session sitting outside the top-10 in 11th and 12th while Lowes registered a 16th place time with only two laps on track in the dying minutes.
