Valencia MotoGP, Circuit Ricardo Tormo - Free Practice (4) Results
Takaaki Nakagami gives Honda a much needed boost by leading final practice for the 2021 Valencia MotoGP season finale.
Pol Espargaro, Repsol Honda's only rider this weekend after the withdraw of Marc Marquez and second fastest on Friday, will miss the remainder of the afternoon (and is clearly in doubt for Sunday) after this morning's huge Turn 13 highside, which left the Spaniard with pain in his ribs.
Meanwhile, a tough time in previous sessions, where he was no higher than ninth, new world champion Fabio Quartararo sprung up the order to lead for much of FP4, on the hard front and medium rear tyre on his way to second.
Suzuki's Alex Rins was likewise consistently quick for third, ahead of Francesco Bagnaia and Franco Morbidelli .
Morning pace setter Aleix Espargaro slide off at the Turn 2 hairpin and could only manage 12th, albeit less than half-a-second from Nakagami!
Valentino Rossi, who has secured direct access to his final Qualifying 2 appearance, was 17th and one of the few riders to spend a lot of time on the hard rear tyre (along with Jorge Martin, Brad Binder and Jack Miller)
Qualifying 1, for those outside the top ten after third free practice, will now get underway.
Rossi's legendary MotoGP career reaches its conclusion this weekend as the nine-time world champion bows out of the sport after 26 years in grand prix racing. It's also the last grand prix for Danilo Petrucci (switching to the Dakar) and Iker Lecuona (moving to WorldSBK).
Marc Marquez will finish the season where he started it, on the sidelines, missing his second event in a row due to vision problems triggered by a training accident. The Repsol Honda star won't be back on a MotoGP bike until 2022.
While the riders' (Fabio Quartararo) and constructors' (Ducati) world championship have already been decided, Ducati Lenovo holds a 28-point lead (maximum of 45 points still available) over Monster Yamaha for the teams' title…
| Valencia MotoGP, Circuit Ricardo Tormo - Free Practice (4) Results | ||||||
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Time/Diff | Lap | Max |
| 1 | Takaaki Nakagami | JPN | LCR Honda (RC213V) | 1'31.208s | 13/18 | 327k |
| 2 | Fabio Quartararo | FRA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +0.069s | 5/16 | 318k |
| 3 | Alex Rins | SPA | Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) | +0.130s | 5/13 | 320k |
| 4 | Francesco Bagnaia | ITA | Ducati Team (GP21) | +0.169s | 15/16 | 324k |
| 5 | Franco Morbidelli | ITA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +0.179s | 6/12 | 315k |
| 6 | Joan Mir | SPA | Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) | +0.288s | 9/14 | 318k |
| 7 | Alex Marquez | SPA | LCR Honda (RC213V) | +0.292s | 6/16 | 327k |
| 8 | Miguel Oliveira | POR | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +0.298s | 4/15 | 323k |
| 9 | Jorge Martin | SPA | Pramac Ducati (GP21)* | +0.315s | 5/15 | 323k |
| 10 | Maverick Viñales | SPA | Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) | +0.321s | 14/17 | 323k |
| 11 | Brad Binder | RSA | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +0.423s | 14/15 | 326k |
| 12 | Aleix Espargaro | SPA | Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) | +0.497s | 9/13 | 321k |
| 13 | Danilo Petrucci | ITA | KTM Tech3 (RC16) | +0.504s | 4/13 | 315k |
| 14 | Johann Zarco | FRA | Pramac Ducati (GP21) | +0.550s | 6/15 | 327k |
| 15 | Jack Miller | AUS | Ducati Team (GP21) | +0.555s | 17/18 | 329k |
| 16 | Luca Marini | ITA | Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati (GP19)* | +0.567s | 8/10 | 324k |
| 17 | Valentino Rossi | ITA | Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +0.609s | 7/16 | 320k |
| 18 | Andrea Dovizioso | ITA | Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +0.644s | 5/16 | 317k |
| 19 | Iker Lecuona | SPA | KTM Tech3 (RC16) | +0.743s | 12/14 | 335k |
| 20 | Enea Bastianini | ITA | Avintia Ducati (GP19)* | +0.823s | 12/15 | 324k |
| Pol Espargaro | SPA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | No Time | 0/0 | 0 | |
* Rookie
Official Valencia MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Marc Marquez SPA Honda 1m 31.116s (2019)
Fastest race lap:
Jorge Lorenzo SPA Yamaha 1m 29.401s (2016)
