Vinales leads Marquez in weather-hit Phillip Island FP3

Full Australian MotoGP FP3 results

Maverick Vinales has topped a windy FP3 at Phillip Island thanks to his final lap to beat Marc Marquez as only 12 riders set lap times due to conditions.

After an early red flag interrupted FP3 when Jack Miller’s Pramac Ducati pit board was blown on to the track, a mark of how windy conditions were, while during the stoppage Joan Mir embarrassingly crashed in the pit entry lane, the session never truly got going hampered by the weather.

As the session resumed the majority of riders ventured out to assess track but all riders returned to the pits as rain continued to swirl around Phillip Island in the strong winds – leading to Cal Crutchlow and Fabio Quartararo remonstrating with track marshals to show the rain flags.

Despite Miller calling the strong wind and intermittent rain “nightmare” conditions, Red Bull KTM duo Pol Espargararo and Mika Kallio tested out conditions again but to no success as they both pitted without completing a new timed lap.

But with the worst of the weather relenting slightly a number of riders ventured back out for the final 10 minutes of FP3.

That saw Vinales edge Marquez to top the a third consecutive practice for Monster Yamaha with a 1m 31.338s – over two seconds slower than his best effort from Friday – with the Repsol Honda rider missing out by 0.239s.

Espargaro placed his Red Bull KTM in third ahead of Johann Zarco who looked to make the most of the tricky session to collect essential track time on the LCR Honda as he stands in for Takaaki Nakagami for the final three rounds of the year.

With Miller slotting into fifth place for Pramac Ducati, Quartararo claimed sixth place as he battles back from his heavy FP1 high-side which ruled him out of action in FP2 for Petronas Yamaha.

Kallio secured seventh place for Red Bull KTM ahead of Suzuki’s Alex Rins and Petronas Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli.

Pramac Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia, Avintia Ducati’s Karel Abraham and LCR Honda’s Crutchlow completed the list of riders to set a lap time in FP3.