MotoGP Aragón FP3 LIVE: Quartararo on top, Marquez on the ground!

Article updated continuously until the end of the session.

In the end, the first day of the Aragon MotoGP Grand Prix left us with a strange taste in our mouths because despite the countless data made available by the official website MotoGP.com, it seems very difficult to us this morning to have the slightest certainty about the representativeness of the hierarchy established at the end of the first two free practice sessions.

If the FP1 seemed almost “normal” to us, with a Marc Márquez firing on all cylinders on a circuit that he likes, we cannot forget that the eight-time world champion achieved the best time there with a soft rear tire, unlike all his opponents except Joan mir. Let's admit that it was a question of strategy in anticipation of a particularly hot FP2 not allowing an improvement in the times: it was an erroneous strategy since the latter were greatly improved...

And what about the FP2, whose hierarchy was transformed in the last quarter of an hour thanks to the soft tires, even though we know that these will probably not be used in the race? As a result, what seemed to be true until then, such as the very good performance of the Hondas, was swept away in a few minutes, relegating for example Takaaki Nakagami from the first to the eighth position, and vice versa allowing Jack Miller et Johann zarco to jump from 17th and 13th places to first and fourth in the ranking! We even saw Cal Crutchlow carrying the Yamaha torch to third position, while, let's be honest, until now the Briton had not blown us away with his level of performance since his return to racing...

 The last 5 minutes of FP2 in video:

We may be wrong, but we therefore find it difficult to believe that the hierarchy established yesterday is representative of what will happen during 23 rounds on Sunday at 14 p.m. One thing is certain, the qualifications will be lively, but it is clear that for the moment Ducati places five machines in the top 10, Yamaha 2, Honda 2 and Aprilia 1: where are the Suzukis so brilliant last year, then that 17 drivers are in the same second?

Anyway, Jack Miller, Aleix Espargaro, Cal Crutchlow, Johann Zarco, Jorge Martin, Francesco Bagnaia, Fabio Quartararo, Marc Márquez, Takaaki Nakagami and Enea Bastianini are therefore indeed provisionally pre-qualified for Q2, and have 45 minutes this morning to confirm this advantage.

As the 22 drivers prepare for this final pre-qualifying practice session, under a generally clear sky with temperatures of 21° in the air and 26° on the ground, let's take advantage of these few live moments thanks to the site official MotoGP.com :

Aragon MotoGP™	2020	2021
FP1	1'48.184 Alex Márquez (See here)	1'48.048 Marc Marquez (See here)
FP2	1'47.782 Takaaki Nakagami (See here)	1'47.613 Jack Miller (See here)
FP3	1'47.333 Franco Morbidelli (See here)	1'46.926 Fabio Quartararo (See here)
FP4	1'47.931 Maverick Vinales (See here)
Q1	1'47.071 Pol Espargaró (See here)
Q2	1'46.882 Takaaki Nakagami (See here)
Warm up	1'48.565 Takaaki Nakagami (See here)
Course	Franco Morbidelli, Alex Rins, Joan Mir (See here)
All time lap record	1'46.635 Marc Márquez (2015)

When the red lights go out... Joan mir rushes first in front Alex Marquez et Marc Márquez while Fabio Quartararo continues the tradition by letting everyone go in front of him.

Soft and medium tires are out…

At the end of the first round, Alex Espargaro registered the first reference in 1'49.383.

Marc Márquez and Takaaki Nakagami regained the advantage on the next pass, the Japanese signing 1'48.403. As a reminder, the passage to Q2 is currently set at 1'48.086 by Enea Bastianini, tenth overall.

On soft tires, Joan mir achieves the second fastest time of the session but this is not yet sufficient to integrate the direct passage into Q2. The Suzuki driver nevertheless moved from 19th to 11th position overall.

At the end of the first run, there was no improvement in the times compared to yesterday, and the provisional top 10 remained unchanged.

Marc Márquez is the only driver not to have improved his FP1 time: Honda's spearhead is visibly working for the race, in medium/medium...

Currently 10th in this FP3, Cal Crutchlow continues to impress, while the hierarchy at mid-session consists of Takaaki Nakagami, Joan Mir, Aleix Espargaro, Fabio Quartararo, Francesco Bagnaia, Pol Espargaro, Márquez, Alex Rins, Jack Miller, Cal Crutchlow, Miguel Oliveira, Brad Binder, Valentino Rossi, Alex Márquez, Maverick Vinales, Johann Zarco, Jorge Martin, Enea Bastianini, Danilo Petrucci, Iker Lecuona, Luca Marini and Jake Dixon.

Barely past the midpoint, Alex Espargaro decides to shake the coconut tree and registers 1'47.772 at the top of the ranking, immediately surpassed by Takaaki Nakagami in 1'47.394, best time of the weekend!

In the wake, Joan mir is in second position but the Japanese Honda driver improves again in 1'47.317.

Maverick Vinales then achieves the fourth fastest time of the session, just behind his teammate: the Catalan quickly learns to discover his Aprilia!

14 minutes from the checkered flag, Miguel Oliveira integrates the top 10 in the combined, thus ousting fabio quartararo for a few seconds before the Frenchman returned his Yamaha to second position.

Everyone is now on the rear soft tire, while the top 10 overall is now made up of Fabio Quartararo in 1'47.046 ahead Takaaki Nakagami, Cal Crutchlow, Joan Mir, Jack Miller, Alex Marquez, Aleix Espargaro, Miguel Oliveira, Brad Binder and Johann Zarco. There are 10 minutes left...

In the wake, Francis Bagnaia takes second position, 2/10 behind El Diablo.

On the next pass, the Ducati official achieved the best time in 1'46.984 while Marc Márquez moves up to third position.

Four minutes from the end of the session, Joan mir achieves the best time of the weekend in 1'46.982, for 2 thousandths of a second!

fabio quartararo then produced his effort and went to the top of the ranking in 1'46.926 whileAlex Marquez minor fall at turn #12.

Alex Espargaro takes advantage of the last moments to place his Aprilia in second place and, in the end, the top 10 is made up of Fabio Quartararo, Aleix Espargaro, Joan Mir, Francesco Bagnaia, Jack Miller, Jorge Martin, Pol Espargaro, Marc Márquez, Takaaki Nakagami and Enea Bastianini, while Marc Márquez experiences his 18th fall of the year, at turn #14!

Johann zarco, 11th, will have to go through Q1 and face Cal Crutchlow et Alex Rins...

FP3 standings of the Aragón MotoGP Grand Prix:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com