Jaume Masia proved he was a fan of the Algarve International Circuit this morning taking the Moto3 FP3 session with a new lap record, three-tenths clear of Albert Arenas in second.
Britain’s John McPhee faces a further battle for Portimão qualifying as he heads to Q1 after concluding Saturday’s opening practice 16th.
The schedule returned to normal as Moto3 headed out for their final 40-minute free practice of the Portuguese GP. The riders hoping to analyse the changes made overnight thanks to yesterday’s valuable data and almost two hours of experience at the rollercoaster circuit.
Early leaders Yuki Kunii and McPhee were joined by Raul Fernandez at the head of Saturday’s timings as the session fired up, 1’49.474 the time to beat after the opening 10 minutes with the Spanish youngster confident after his official confirmation of Moto2 promotion within KTM for 2021. Deniz Öncü and Masia were the first to take up the challenge with Celestino Vietti now in third, advancing the time by almost three-tenths but the overall goal, Q2 qualification, was still half-a-second away.
On track antics continued between Ai Ogura and Albert Arenas with mind-games and squabbling obvious to see as the two championship-rivals played out the final weekend while multiple riders were issued penalties for Sunday’s race thanks to irresponsible riding during Friday’s FP2. Six riders -Binder, Dupasquier, Kofler, Kunii, Lopez and Tatay - face the long-lap with Masia, Dennis Foggia and Khairul Idham Pawi facing double long-laps for repeat offences.
The last 15-minutes found Fernandez back in charge from Foggia and McPhee, Kaito Toba in fourth but the first rider outside of the promotion zone as the field returned to the pits, ready for the final run.
The action recommenced with less than six minutes remaining, Arenas’ Friday time still, so far, untouched. Fernandez remained the fastest of the morning, from Barry Baltus and Romano Fenati with the riders waiting until the penultimate minute before the hot laps began to threaten.
Jeremy Alcoba was the first to strike with Gabriel Rodrigo and Andrea Migno all under Arenas’ best but it was Masia who eventually took the lead - 1’47.398 the new Moto3 record - as the dust settled.
Arenas claimed second from Alcoba and Rodrigo with Öncü, Migno and Toba behind. Sergio Garcia, Fernandez and Vietti concluded the top-10 with Foggia, Ayumu Sasaki, Baltus and Kunii claiming the final automatic Q2 places. Ogura, McPhee, and Fenati missing out by hundredths of a second.
