Snipers rider Andrea Migno held his cool to head a frenetic Moto3 FP3 at Portimao this morning with his final lap of the session.

1’48.214 was enough to beat out Friday’s fastest man, Gabriel Rodrigo, and the powerful KTM pairing of Jaume Masia and Pedro Acosta, with Darryn Binder completing the top-five - his Petronas teammate John McPhee finishing 14th at the end of the morning’s 40-minutes.

A dry night allowed a more confident approach to tackling the cool Portimao circuit for the Moto3 riders as they embarked on their final practice ahead of the afternoon’s qualifying battle. The entire field took to the 4.6km track as soon as the lights went green, with Romano Fenati taking the early lead in the times with a 1’50 pace on his first hot-lap of the morning.

With the pace accelerating almost immediately, the top-14 was on everyone’s mind as positions chopped and changed from the outset. Andi Farid Izdihar and Binder were the first to hit the top with high 1’49’s as Rodrigo became the only rider inside the combined top-12 thanks to a Friday’s time after 10 minutes of action. Moments later and it was all change again, Niccolò Antonelli was in command after seven laps, 1’49.315 now the time to beat, with Andrea Migno, Fenati, Izdihar and McPhee holding top-five places.

The session’s midpoint saw three riders matching Antonelli’s leading speed before Tatsuki Suzuki advanced by three-tenths, to sit just shy of the 1’49 barrier. The second runs brought further improvements as first Dennis Foggia then Rodrigo broke into the ’48.8’s, Foggia hit back on his next revolution before Antonelli was back in control once again, this time with a 1’48.506. The jubilance was short lived, however, as the Avintia rider went down at turn three on the following lap.

The closing 15-minutes saw McPhee sitting perilously on the bubble of the Q2 promotion zone, a charging Masia depositing him out as the KTM inserted himself into 10th shortly after. There was work to do for both Petronas riders in the final stages as Binder likewise sat 18th with 10 to go but the Scot the first to charge, finding fifth once again, with a 1’48.854 effort on his 12th attempt. With grid placement far from McPhee’s mind, thanks to his pitlane penalty start, and a lack of track time after Friday’s false-neutral crash, the number 17 continued to circulated as he worked on solo pace, the only rider left on track as the rest of the field hit the pits for fresh rubber ahead of the final attack.

Five to go and the pack was back in action for the final frenetic push. Sergio Garcia was the first to make a move, claiming third, before Jeremy Alcoba headed the times with a 1’48.4 but as the screen flickered with multiple changes, there was all to play for. Rodrigo was back in control ahead of the final effort, from Masia, Acosta and Binder with McPhee back in the danger zone in 13th. Late crashes from Tatsuki Suzuki and Fenati potentially impeding the fast laps on track as Migno took the lead with a 1’48.214.

The session concluded with Migno unchallenged, Rodrigo continuing to head the KTM duo of Masia and Acosta with Binder, Alcoba and Foggia completing the top-seven. Antonelli sat eighth, despite finishing the session at the side of the track, with Suzuki, Garcia, Xavier Artigas, Deniz Öncü, McPhee and Filip Salac securing the final Q2 advancements.

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