2022 Austin MotoGP FP3 Result: Quartararo Takes Over

The Red Bull Rodeo was back in town for day two and although there was some race run finetuning to be done, premier class riders were well aware of the dangers of a FP3 shoot-out and engaged time attack mode early, with 20 minutes remaining of the session. With several opportunities to attack, the lead changed hands periodically but the benchmark from Friday held firmly in place until the final ten minutes of FP3, when Enea Bastianini took charge of the timesheets. The Italian held onto top spot until Fabio Quartararo’s final flying lap put the world champion ahead by five hundredths of a second, adding to a pretty solid run on used rubber. Bastianini settled for second, with Jack Miller making a late jump into third.

Marc Marquez was particularly keen to follow Quartararo’s lead on the final run and rewarded himself with fourth on the timesheets. Johann Zarco could not go any quicker than Friday, not helped by a very late crash at turn two, but unlike the other men who failed to improve their FP2 times, the Frenchman was securely into Q2 with fifth on the combined standings. Pecco Bagnaia entered the final handful of minutes of FP3 with some speed to find, but the Ducati man managed to rejoin the straight-to-Q2 line-up and climb as high as fifth in the session and sixth overall. Pol Espargaro was on a similar mission, making late progress into seventh place, while Joan Mir held only eighth position despite a late tumble at turn 11.

Takaaki Nakagami and Luca Marini rounded out the combined top 10, while Aleix Espargaro got pushed out of contention by seven hundredths of a second. The championship leader will have serious competition in Q1 from the likes of Alex Rins, who got caught out by a late yellow flag and could not do any better than 12th overall, Maverick Viñales, who also struggled to go any quicker than Friday and Jorge Martin, who sampled the gravel at turn 16 late in the session.

Results: