MotoGP Austria FP3 LIVE: 1-2 for the French!

There was a lot of talk during the first day of the 13th step of the MotoGP World Championship on the Red Bull Ring for the Austrian Grand Prix! We talked new chicane, we talked sprint races, we talked Gas Gas, and we even talked about the future of Miguel Oliveira. But above all, we talked about Ducati, because no less than 7 of the 8 Desmosedici entered by Borgo Panigale appear in the first 8 places!

This is a real demonstration on the lands of KTM which still manages to save face by narrowly placing the former winner Brad Binder in the coveted club of prequalifiers for Q2, behind the Aprilia of Maverick Vinales and in front of that ofAlex Espargaro.

But in the middle of this herd of V4s overflowing with power, like the Gaul in the middle of the Romans, once again alone fabio quartararo manages to get in, and moreover in a good way since conceding only 4 hundredths of a second to the provisional poleman Johann zarcoand an Johann zarco who reassures us by having visibly overcome his fall at the head of the British Grand Prix and showed himself to be determined (first to go out in FP2) and solid as a rock during this first day in Styria.

 Finally, Johann zarco, Jack Miller, George Martin, fabio quartararo, Francis Bagnaia, Luca marini, Marco Bezzecchi, Enea Bastianini, Maverick Vinales et Brad Binder have provisionally prequalified for a probably very competitive Q2!

This morning, the Moto3 riders improved their Friday times, and we can therefore assume that it will be the same in MotoGP…

While waiting to discover more, as the 25 drivers prepare for this third 45-minute free practice session on a completely dry track, with temperatures of 18° in the air and 22° on the ground, let's take advantage of these few live moments thanks to the official website MotoGP.com :

MotoGP™ Red Bull Ring	Austria 2021	Austria 2022 (New chicane)
FP1	1'23.805 Takaaki Nakagami (See here)	1'30.756 Jack Miller (See here)
FP2	1'31.304 Lorenzo Savadori (See here)	1'29.837 Johann Zarco (See here)
FP3	1'23.114 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)	1'28.964 Johann Zarco (See here)
FP4	1'23.816 Fabio Quartararo (See here)
Q1	1'23.547 Alex Marquez (See here)
Q2	1'22.994 Jorge Martin (See here)
Warm-up	1'23.629 Fabio Quartararo (See here)
Course	Brad Binder, Bagnaia, Martin (See here)
All time lap record	1'22.994 Jorge Martin (See here)

When the red lights go out… like yesterday afternoon, Johann zarco was the first to rush forward: it had succeeded!
Conversely, Franco Morbidelli now leaves last with fabio quartararo to take advantage of the French pilot.

Luca marini immediately fell without gravity as soon as he left the pit lane.

In terms of tires, it’s mixed to say the least…

At the end of the first round, Miguel Oliveira registered 1'31.591 ahead Enea Bastianini and Takaaki Nakagami.

Johann zarco improves the provisional reference to 1'29.942 three laps later while Lorenzo Savadori minor fall at the chicane.

A little before the end of the first quarter of an hour, Fabio Quartararo achieves the second time of the session, 2/10 behind Johann zarco. The Yamaha rider is on worn tires while the Pramac rider chose to start with a new rear tire.

Johann zarco reacts and lights the first three sectors in red, before failing in the fourth.

Remy gardner falls at high speed in turn #9 but gets up immediately.

At the end of the first run, the top 10 of the session is made up of Johann Zarco, Fabio Quartararo, Miguel Oliveira, Jorge Martin, Brad Binder, Marco Bezzecchi, Joan Mir, Aleix Espargaro, Alex Rins and Takaaki Nakagami, but none of the leading drivers have yet improved their time compared to yesterday.

Midway through the session, Miguel Oliveira contradicted us and regained the advantage in 1'29.843 before passing the command to Joan mir in 1'29.811, also an improvement compared to the day before and now author of the best time of the weekend.

18 minutes from the checkered flag, Jack Miller takes provisional pole position in 1'29.787.

Enea Bastianini progresses to fourth position, then Takaaki Nakagami takes 3rd place at the start of the last quarter of an hour, Maverick Vinales of the 2th.

In the wake, Enea Bastianini takes the lead in 1'29.508 whileAlex Espargaro makes a mistake in the chicane.

The sectors are starting to appear in red almost everywhere in the table, starting with Jack Miller which imposes a 1'29.280. Francis Bagnaia then takes second place, 97/1000 from his teammate.

fabio quartararo responded by achieving 1'29.268 with Johann zarco in his wheel.

At this moment, the top 10 combined is made up of Fabio Quartararo, Jack Miller, Francesco Bagnaia, Johann Zarco, Enea Bastianini, Joan Mir, Jorge Martin, Luca Marini, Maverick Vinales and Takaaki Nakagami, but there are still seven minutes left to make a final effort.

Alex Espargaro rubs John Zarco coming out of the stands...

Two minutes from the checkered flag, Fabio Quartararo drives the point home and posts 1'29.117.

In the last minute, Alex Espargaro manages to enter the top 10 but is immediately ousted by Brad Binder.

In extremis, Johann zarco breaks the 1'29 mark in 1'28.964: French double!

Johann Zarco, Fabio Quartararo, Jack Miller, Jorge Martin, Francesco Bagnaia, Enea Bastianini, Alex Rins, Brad Binder, Maverick Vinales et Joan mir are therefore definitely prequalified for a direct move to Qualification 2.

Results from FP3 of the MotoGP Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com