Submitted by Zara Daniela on
There was barely any cloud in sight as the premier class rejoiced with a full 30 minutes of dry track time to find a good tyre combination and good pace for the race. Marc Marquez proved once again he is the favourite – not just the crowd favourite, but also the only man consistently in the 1:48s in the final practice session. The world champion wasn’t quite 1.5 seconds faster this time around but it was equally worrying that the only times he dropped to 1:49s was when he came across slower opponents. He did it all on a medium front – soft rear tyre combination that seemed quite popular throughout the field.
Maverick Viñales swapped to a new hard rear tyre for the final couple of minutes, despite favouring the soft for the long run and it helped the Yamaha man get within four tenths of a second of Marquez on one lap speed but nowhere near as close on rhythm. Fabio Quartararo did not seem as convinced as Marquez about his tyre choice and gave both the hard and the soft rear a try, finishing the session third, over six tenths down on Marquez. Alex Rins was second best for a long time, until the Yamahas put on new rubber and the Suzuki had to make do with fourth. Jack Miller in fifth was the final rider to dip into the 1:48s, seven tenths off the leader.
Franco Morbidelli and Valentino Rossi were next, with Andrea Dovizioso in eighth spot and over a second slower than the championship leader. Joan Mir finished the session ninth, despite missing out on precious track time after losing the front at turn two in the final ten minutes. Pol Espargaro was less lucky and suffered a big highside at turn nine so the KTM man was taken to the medical centre for a check.
Results:
Pos. | Num. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap 1st | Prev. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | 1'48.246 | ||
2 | 12 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'48.639 | 0.393 | 0.393 |
3 | 20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Yamaha | 1'48.889 | 0.643 | 0.250 |
4 | 42 | Alex RINS | Suzuki | 1'48.953 | 0.707 | 0.064 |
5 | 43 | Jack MILLER | Ducati | 1'48.977 | 0.731 | 0.024 |
6 | 21 | Franco MORBIDELLI | Yamaha | 1'49.174 | 0.928 | 0.197 |
7 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'49.240 | 0.994 | 0.066 |
8 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | 1'49.266 | 1.020 | 0.026 |
9 | 36 | Joan MIR | Suzuki | 1'49.304 | 1.058 | 0.038 |
10 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia | 1'49.412 | 1.166 | 0.108 |
11 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | 1'49.502 | 1.256 | 0.090 |
12 | 82 | Mika KALLIO | KTM | 1'49.507 | 1.261 | 0.005 |
13 | 88 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | KTM | 1'49.572 | 1.326 | 0.065 |
14 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | KTM | 1'49.590 | 1.344 | 0.018 |
15 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | Aprilia | 1'49.743 | 1.497 | 0.153 |
16 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Honda | 1'49.760 | 1.514 | 0.017 |
17 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'49.918 | 1.672 | 0.158 |
18 | 55 | Hafizh SYAHRIN | KTM | 1'50.103 | 1.857 | 0.185 |
19 | 63 | Francesco BAGNAIA | Ducati | 1'50.171 | 1.925 | 0.068 |
20 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | 1'50.256 | 2.010 | 0.085 |
21 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | Aprilia | 1'50.514 | 2.268 | 0.258 |
22 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | Honda | 1'50.695 | 2.449 | 0.181 |
23 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'50.905 | 2.659 | 0.210 |