Bastianini recovers from deleted laps to top FP3, Quartararo to go through Q1

Enea Bastianini recovered from two deleted laps that were enough to put him quickest to eventually secure top spot in FP3, while Alex Rins remained fastest on combined times at the Qatar MotoGP. 

Fastest on day-one, Suzuki’s Rins started day-two in similar fashion by going quickest after the initial flurry of laps. 

Aleix Espargaro, who was very quick to start both FP1 and FP2, starting FP3 the same way as he shot to the top of the leaderboard. 

However, Rins quickly responded to take back control of proceedings, while team-mate Joan Mir slotted into second. 

Although Rins and Mir kept hold of their 1-2 following the first stint, lap times were over 1.4 seconds off the quickest day-one time, something that was expected as track conditions were not at their optimal, while Rins’s best time of 1:53.432s was set during a time attack. 

One of the highlights from day-one at the Qatar MotoGP was Suzuki’s incredible top speed gains, improvements that have not only put them in the ballpark to match Ducati and KTM, but in fact Rins was quickest with a speed of 355.2 kmph (220.7mph). 

The same could not be said for Fabio Quartararo and Yamaha as he was once again slowest.  

Despite that, Quartararo managed to set the fastest lap of FP3 with just over 15 minutes to go, before Bastianini and Johann Zarco put their Ducatis first and second. 

Bastianini then had his top time deleted due to exceeding track limits, while Zarco went another three tenths clear of Quartararo. 

As expected, time attacks began to take place with ten minutes remaining, however, track conditions were still some way off their optimal working range.

Or at least that’s what we thought before Bastianini set a new benchmark time. But frustratingly for Bastianini, the Gresini rider had his time once again deleted due to exceeding track limits. 

With Rins, Marquez, Mir and Martin keeping hold of their top four places, there were considerable changes behind as Bastianini eventually stuck a lap in that was not taken away. 

The Italian went fifth, one place ahead of Pol Espargaro who also improved significantly. Rounding out the top ten was Morbidelli, Francesco Bagnaia, Jack Miller and A. Espargaro. 

The biggest shock was world champion Quartararo who could only manage P11.