Submitted by Zara Daniela on
The final practice outing on the playground for the premier class lifted spirits down at Yamaha, once Fabio Quartararo got comfortable on a new medium rear tyre and set a series of impressive high 1:46s and low 1:47s to snatch the top of the timesheets from the reigning world champion. Adding to Yamaha’s joy, Maverick Viñales quickly joined his satellite colleague at the top, ending FP4 less than a tenth of a second off the Frenchman and with similar pace. There was little wiggle room at the top, with Marc Marquez in third position less than a tenth off his compatriot. Despite some sniffles, the Honda man resumed normal operations by slipping and sliding over kerbs while settling into a steady rhythm in the mid 1:47s on fairly used hard tyres.
Alex Rins managed to find some speed after a dismal FP3 to climb into fourth, ahead of Jack Miller and the LCR duo of Cal Crutchlow and Takaaki Nakagami. It was a late Freaky Friday in the Ducati garage, with Danilo Petrucci sampling a soft rear while Andrea Dovizioso tried on the hard, but it brought them similar results, the two Italians finishing within a hundredth of a second of each other in eight and ninth positions.
Franco Morbidelli completed the top ten with Aleix Espargaro bringing his Aprilia closer to the leaders in 11th and sixth tenths down on Quartararo. Rossi had another lacklustre session down in 12th, while FP2 fast man Pecco Bagnaia dropped to 14th, over a second slower than the leader. After an excellent FP3, Pol Espargaro dived back to the bottom of the top 15 but at least had the consolation of a Q2 spot.
Results:
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap 1st | Prev. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Yamaha | 1'46.799 | ||
| 2 | 12 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'46.877 | 0.078 | 0.078 |
| 3 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | 1'46.960 | 0.161 | 0.083 |
| 4 | 42 | Alex RINS | Suzuki | 1'47.160 | 0.361 | 0.200 |
| 5 | 43 | Jack MILLER | Ducati | 1'47.266 | 0.467 | 0.106 |
| 6 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Honda | 1'47.279 | 0.480 | 0.013 |
| 7 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | 1'47.291 | 0.492 | 0.012 |
| 8 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'47.294 | 0.495 | 0.003 |
| 9 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | 1'47.302 | 0.503 | 0.008 |
| 10 | 21 | Franco MORBIDELLI | Yamaha | 1'47.457 | 0.658 | 0.155 |
| 11 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia | 1'47.464 | 0.665 | 0.007 |
| 12 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'47.607 | 0.808 | 0.143 |
| 13 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | Ducati | 1'47.614 | 0.815 | 0.007 |
| 14 | 63 | Francesco BAGNAIA | Ducati | 1'47.817 | 1.018 | 0.203 |
| 15 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | KTM | 1'47.826 | 1.027 | 0.009 |
| 16 | 36 | Joan MIR | Suzuki | 1'47.965 | 1.166 | 0.139 |
| 17 | 88 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | KTM | 1'48.023 | 1.224 | 0.058 |
| 18 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | Honda | 1'48.094 | 1.295 | 0.071 |
| 19 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | Aprilia | 1'48.102 | 1.303 | 0.008 |
| 20 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | 1'48.103 | 1.304 | 0.001 |
| 21 | 5 | Johann ZARCO | KTM | 1'48.167 | 1.368 | 0.064 |
| 22 | 55 | Hafizh SYAHRIN | KTM | 1'48.814 | 2.015 | 0.647 |
| 23 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'48.979 | 2.180 | 0.165 |