Submitted by Mike Lewis on
With 10 minutes left in FP3 Saturday at the Motegi circuit, Fabio Quartararo seized control of the timesheet with a 1'51.293 that put him at the top for the rest of the dry, sunny session. The fast lap topped Miguel Oliveira's FP3-leading time by four-tenths of a second and it continued Quartararo's late-season surge.
Marcel Schrotter, fastest in the first free practice, resumed that form in the third session with the second-fastest time but nearly two-tenths slower than Quartararo. Alex Marquez completed the front row and showed no signs of a hard crash in a prior practice. Francesco Bagnaia, who has won more races than any Moto2 rider this year -- seven -- and sits first in the championship, leads the second row.
Right behind him is Oliviera, the rider who sits second in the championship. The Portuguese rider has won two races this years but has an additional seven top-three finishes. Lorenzo Baldassarri was sixth, just ahead of Iken Leguna (7th), the fastest rider in FP2's mixed conditions. Agusto Fernandez, who qualified 10th here last year, managed eighth with Tetsuta Nagashima (9th) and Sam Lowes (10th) competing the top 10.
The top 12 riders finished the session within a second of eachother.
Results:
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap 1st | Prev. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Speed Up | 1'51.293 | ||
| 2 | 23 | Marcel SCHROTTER | Kalex | 1'51.492 | 0.199 | 0.199 |
| 3 | 73 | Alex MARQUEZ | Kalex | 1'51.540 | 0.247 | 0.048 |
| 4 | 42 | Francesco BAGNAIA | Kalex | 1'51.621 | 0.328 | 0.081 |
| 5 | 44 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | KTM | 1'51.698 | 0.405 | 0.077 |
| 6 | 7 | Lorenzo BALDASSARRI | Kalex | 1'51.714 | 0.421 | 0.016 |
| 7 | 27 | Iker LECUONA | KTM | 1'51.965 | 0.672 | 0.251 |
| 8 | 40 | Augusto FERNANDEZ | Kalex | 1'52.014 | 0.721 | 0.049 |
| 9 | 45 | Tetsuta NAGASHIMA | Kalex | 1'52.085 | 0.792 | 0.071 |
| 10 | 22 | Sam LOWES | KTM | 1'52.266 | 0.973 | 0.181 |
| 11 | 9 | Jorge NAVARRO | Kalex | 1'52.267 | 0.974 | 0.001 |
| 12 | 36 | Joan MIR | Kalex | 1'52.282 | 0.989 | 0.015 |
| 13 | 97 | Xavi VIERGE | Kalex | 1'52.326 | 1.033 | 0.044 |
| 14 | 24 | Simone CORSI | Kalex | 1'52.333 | 1.040 | 0.007 |
| 15 | 41 | Brad BINDER | KTM | 1'52.336 | 1.043 | 0.003 |
| 16 | 10 | Luca MARINI | Kalex | 1'52.499 | 1.206 | 0.163 |
| 17 | 87 | Remy GARDNER | Tech 3 | 1'52.601 | 1.308 | 0.102 |
| 18 | 62 | Stefano MANZI | Suter | 1'52.610 | 1.317 | 0.009 |
| 19 | 2 | Jesko RAFFIN | Kalex | 1'52.789 | 1.496 | 0.179 |
| 20 | 4 | Steven ODENDAAL | NTS | 1'52.834 | 1.541 | 0.045 |
| 21 | 57 | Edgar PONS | Speed Up | 1'52.870 | 1.577 | 0.036 |
| 22 | 77 | Dominique AEGERTER | KTM | 1'52.871 | 1.578 | 0.001 |
| 23 | 5 | Andrea LOCATELLI | Kalex | 1'52.880 | 1.587 | 0.009 |
| 24 | 64 | Bo BENDSNEYDER | Tech 3 | 1'52.889 | 1.596 | 0.009 |
| 25 | 16 | Joe ROBERTS | NTS | 1'52.973 | 1.680 | 0.084 |
| 26 | 66 | Niki TUULI | Kalex | 1'53.144 | 1.851 | 0.171 |
| 27 | 89 | Khairul Idham PAWI | Kalex | 1'53.167 | 1.874 | 0.023 |
| 28 | 54 | Mattia PASINI | Kalex | 1'53.369 | 2.076 | 0.202 |
| 29 | 32 | Isaac VIÑALES | Suter | 1'53.723 | 2.430 | 0.354 |
| 30 | 18 | Xavi CARDELUS | Kalex | 1'54.015 | 2.722 | 0.292 |
| 31 | 95 | Jules DANILO | Kalex | 1'54.587 | 3.294 | 0.572 |
| 32 | 21 | Federico FULIGNI | Kalex | 1'55.231 | 3.938 | 0.644 |
