Submitted by Zara Daniela on
The third practice session for the premier class was a slow cooker with a soap opera climax. Ten minutes it, it was business as usual, with a flu-ridden Marc Marquez attacking the combined timesheets and waiting for challengers. And he found an unusual one in Takaaki Nakagami, the LCR man flying in sector 3 on his way to the top of the timesheets. Mid session entertainment was provided by Fabio Quartararo who was keen to grab some headlines but all his good work was forgotten as fresh soft rubber hit the track for the final ten minutes.
It was the moment of truth in preparation for qualifying and Danilo Petrucci sealed the deal straight away by smashing the all time lap record around Mugello – what finer medicine for his flu than that? Pol Espargaro wasn’t too far from that record himself, the Spaniard getting a luxury tow from the reigning world champion on his way to second on the timesheets and securing a worth Q2 spot – a sight we’ve come to expect by now. Marquez meanwhile lost some laps shaking fists at traffic but eventually put in a reasonably clean lap to join the top three. The sister Honda of Nakagami held on to fourth place, ahead of Jack Miller’s Ducati and Quartararo’s Yamaha. The Frenchman once again found himself as lead Yamaha but only two hundredths of a second ahead of the factory machine of Maverick Viñales.
The final men to secure direct Q2 tickets were Cal Crutchlow, Franco Morbidelli and Friday revelation Pecco Bagnaia. The Pramac rookie didn’t shine as bright as in FP2 but eventually managed to improve his time just enough to dump some unusual contenders in Q1. The first of which being Andrea Dovizioso, making it a bittersweet morning for the Borgo Panigale factory. The Italian had to rely on one final flying lap but the final two sectors let him down and Dovizioso wrote his name under the Q1 listing.
It should be quite an exciting line-up as the Ducati man will be joined in Q1 by Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi. The local favourite looked set for a top ten position until the gravel at the final turn greeted him like an old friend and made him late to the party. Alex Rins also made similar friends at Palagio on an outlap at the start of the session and then struggled to guide his second bike to do any better than 17th on the combined standings.
Results:
Pos. | Num. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap 1st | Prev. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'46.056 | ||
2 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | KTM | 1'46.263 | 0.207 | 0.207 |
3 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | 1'46.280 | 0.224 | 0.017 |
4 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | 1'46.456 | 0.400 | 0.176 |
5 | 43 | Jack MILLER | Ducati | 1'46.478 | 0.422 | 0.022 |
6 | 20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Yamaha | 1'46.488 | 0.432 | 0.010 |
7 | 12 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'46.509 | 0.453 | 0.021 |
8 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Honda | 1'46.516 | 0.460 | 0.007 |
9 | 21 | Franco MORBIDELLI | Yamaha | 1'46.518 | 0.462 | 0.002 |
10 | 63 | Francesco BAGNAIA | Ducati | 1'46.713 | 0.657 | 0.195 |
11 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | 1'46.742 | 0.686 | 0.029 |
12 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | Honda | 1'46.893 | 0.837 | 0.151 |
13 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'46.900 | 0.844 | 0.007 |
14 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | Ducati | 1'46.955 | 0.899 | 0.055 |
15 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | 1'47.064 | 1.008 | 0.109 |
16 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia | 1'47.160 | 1.104 | 0.096 |
17 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'47.179 | 1.123 | 0.019 |
18 | 36 | Joan MIR | Suzuki | 1'47.180 | 1.124 | 0.001 |
19 | 5 | Johann ZARCO | KTM | 1'47.507 | 1.451 | 0.327 |
20 | 42 | Alex RINS | Suzuki | 1'47.642 | 1.586 | 0.135 |
21 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | Aprilia | 1'47.768 | 1.712 | 0.126 |
22 | 88 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | KTM | 1'48.250 | 2.194 | 0.482 |
23 | 55 | Hafizh SYAHRIN | KTM | 1'49.101 | 3.045 | 0.851 |
Comments
Thanks Zara. Congratulations Petrucci
Good session in the sunshine. First day of summer & the possibilities are endless.
The young guns & rookies are learning from legends and giants of the sport, soon they will be standing on their shoulders & reaching even higher.
So glad to be here.
Enjoy Ape! Wish I was there
Enjoy Ape! Wish I was there to share it.
Tell us what you are seeing when you get a sec. Where are you spending most time? Have a favorite corner vantage? With the top speed deficit he has, Quartararo must look GORGEOUS in the curves. What is the temp supposed to be like for the race? Seeing bumps in big braking zones?
Lost in Tuscany
Please don't send help. Taking a while to get my bearings. The sun is in the wrong part of the sky.
Caught the wrong train. Made a few mistakes.
It's been fun so far. Lots of walking.
Found a lovely little village, Ronta. It's on the train line direct from Florence. Nice & quiet, a sports bar, pizzeria or two. Not too far from autodromo Mugello, but closer would be better.
Spending more time at the circuit than anywhere else other than the land of Nod.
Fabio Quarteraro looks smooth, so smooth that if there isn't another rider close, he doesn't seem all that fast. When he is near some other racers I can see the speed.
Watched from the arrabiatas yesterday, was at correntaio today, great view from there. Watching them out of palagio, into & through correntaio, into the biondetti flip flop & just catch a glimpse of bucine in the distance. Awesome! Nice crowd of Ducati nuts like me. And there is a big video screen, several of them around the track.
Weather should be fabulous again tomorrow, luckily I have plenty of slip, slop, slap stuff. All being well I could be in air conditioned comfort tomorrow, fingers crossed.
Haven't particularly noticed many bumps. Did walk down the left side of the main straight, from opposite pitlane exit down towards San donato, there is a concrete wall there, too close the track. But they could remove the wall & give the service road to be extra run off. Then move the service road up the hill a bit. Ideally the hill on the left could be cut back quite a bit, that would give more space and reduce risk for the riders a smidgeon. Ferrari can afford it, major earthworks etc I know but cost less than they spend on formula yawn in a week.
Having a time here wish you were wonderful.
Nice words
Beautifully put, Apical