MotoGP Race And Practice Results

The final practice session for the premier class was another feather in Yamaha’s cap, with Franco Morbidelli wrestling back the lead in the closing stages of FP4, after demonstrating a fine consistent rhythm in preparation for the race. His main challenger proved to be Alex Marquez, the rookie thoroughly enjoying his time on familiar playground and briefly topping the session before settling for second, one tenth down on Morbidelli. Joan Mir was another of the contenders for top spot and the Suzuki man finished the session in third position, only three hundredths of a second behind his compatriot and with solid pace as well.

Pol Espargaro added a KTM to the mix in fourth, with Maverick Vinales joining the top five lineup, two tenths off his leading colleague and consistently quick. Bruised but not broken, Fabio Quartararo was declared fit after his painful-looking FP3 crash and the Frenchman seemed to have already put that behind him, briefly leading FP4 and ending it in sixth, with consistent pace in the low 1:49s.

Takaaki Nakagami and Cal Crutchlow added two more Hondas to the top positions, while Ducati seemed to be enjoying the warmer conditions a bit more, with Andrea Dovizioso and Jack Miller rounding out the top ten. However, Alex Rins in 11th position was only three tenths off top spot, with one second covering pretty much the entire field.

Results: 

A wave of blue bikes washed out of the pits as World Supersport qualifying opened up with the Yamahas leaving as one. Without qualifying tyres, hot laps can come at any point of the session.

Hannes Soomer crashed at turn ten just before the returning Jules Cluzel posted a 1'41.619 that held top spot until Lucas Mahias set a 1'40.637. Philipp Oettl, quickest this morning, took two tenths off Mahias's time, but Mahias truck back with a 1'40.310 to take another tenth back. Andrea Locatelli, largely absent from the top of the sheets so far this weekend, then set the fastest time of the weekend with a 1'40.214 ahead of Raffaele De Rosa who just missed out on provision pole position. 

The session calmed down for a while, but as riders started leaving the pits with seven minutes left, Raffaele De Rosa, out pretty much on his own, slapped down a 1'40.012, two tenths clear of Locatelli's fast time. Locatelli responded with a 1'39.860, but he was very close to the green line on the exit to the straight. Lucas Mahias tucked in behind Philipp Oettl as he charged to the line and set a 1'39.666. Locatelli's time was deleted for a green paint incursion, but the lap after was a thousandth of a second quicker, making the penalty moot. A lap later, Locatelli took the chequered flag, throwing down a 1'39.520 to claim pole position as the last spot of the front row was determined behind him.

Andrea Locatelli took pole position ahead of Lucas Mahias and Philipp Oettl with Raffaele De Rosa, Danny Webb and Isaac Viñales making up the second row.

Results:

With the championship able to be decided today, World Superbike qualifying at Estoril, the shortest track of the year, also has lap records up for grabs after a 27-year absence. There would be five unrelated crashes in the first half of the session.

Scott Redding crashed out on the first lap of qualifying, dejectedly limping from the gravel, with a highside at turn six as Jonathan Rea set a 1'38.192 before also crashing out with a front end crash at turn four, nicking a green scooter from Florian Marino, Marino working as a spotter for Alex Lowes, to get back to the pits. Sylvain Barrier also crashed out, his bike spitting him off at the exit of the last turn, and he was taken to the medical centre.

A red flag came out and a restart was ordered.

Alex Lowes held the fastest time, a 1'37.417, before the red flags, but Jonas Folger took it from him immediately with a 1'37.175. Garrett Gerloff posted a 1'37.065 as Loris Baz crashed into turn nine and picked up his bike. Chaz Davies took the top spot from him with a 1'37.040 as Matteo Ferrari crashed at turn three. 

At the halfway mark, Scott Redding's bike was still being fixed up as Jonathan Rea's bike was chucked in the bin and replaced by the spare parts second bike. Everyone still with a bike pitted in for the mid-session tea break and the wrappers were taken off the yellow-labelled qualifying tyres.

Chaz Davies held the top spot briefly until Leon Haslam stole it with a 1'36.856, but it was Toprak Razgatlioglu who moved the benchmark seven tenths quicker with an astounding 1'36.154 with just under two minutes left.

Jonathan Rea did not get back out, with his early time putting him in fifteenth place. Redding got his rebuilt bike out for a test in the last minute, but he didn't record a complete lap time.

Toprak Razgatlioglu got his first World Superbike pole position, ahead of Leon Haslam and a late-charging Garrett Gerloff picking up his first front row. Chaz Davies led his 2021 replacement Michael Ruben Rinaldi on the second row with Michael van der Mark filling the last spot. Scott Redding, needing three victories this weekend to keep his mathematical chances of a title alive, will start race one from twenty third place at the back of the grid.

Results:

FP3 action might have started an hour later than originally planned, but the increased temperatures were not enough to give much hope to those wanting to challenge the hierarchy for Q2. The final time attack did see Friday times being challenged but a yellow flag saw many final flying laps cancelled after the checkered flag. Andrea Migno did not leave it until the final shootout to make an impact on the timesheets and the Italian was rewarded with top spot in FP3, which was good enough for seventh on the combined standings. Jeremy Alcoba, Niccolo Antonelli and Deniz Oncu followed him on the timesheets and were the only other riders who improved their times sufficiently to sneak into direct Q2 positions.

Other men had to rely on their achievements from Friday afternoon, including Alonso Lopez, who joined the top five of the session, three tenths off top spot, followed by Raul Fernandez, whose FP2 time remained the fastest overall. Tatsuki Suzuki in seventh position was the final rider within half a second of Migno, the Japanese rider securing a Q2 ticket, unlike the man behind him, Filip Salac. Sergio Garcia was ninth after he also got his fastest time cancelled but his FP2 time held him securely inside combined top 14.

Gabriel Rodrigo had proved to be the fastest man of the morning at the checkered flag but was one of the many victims of the late yellow flag, demoting him to 10th in the session and 17th overall. John McPhee suffered a similar faith, the late laptime cancellation removing him from direct Q2 positions. Although not making much noise on Saturday morning, the remaining places in the combined top 14 went to Romano Fenati, Albert Arenas Celestino Vietti, Darryn Binder and Jaume Masia.

Results: