Petronas Yamaha SRT rider Fabio Quartararo once again topped free practice times, leading World Champion Marc Marquez heading into qualifying at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia.
The Yamaha man backed up his Friday free practice times with a late 1:30.232, which was half a second quicker than his FP2 time and put him just under a quarter of a second clear of the chasing Marquez, who did finally have a time attack run on fresh soft front and rear Michelin tyres.
Jack Miller was the top Ducati in third place, just 0.087 seconds behind the World Champion with Valentino Rossi firing himself into the top ten after a tough Friday which saw him crash in both FP1 and FP2.
Franco Morbidelli was fifth on his Petronas Yamah with Maverick Vinales in sixth, making it four Yamaha’s inside the top six, with factory Ducati duo Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Dovizioso in seventh and eighth respectively.
Joan Mir was ninth, with Cal Crutchlow rounding out the top ten and those directly through to Q2, after shaking off a fast crash in turn ten.
Pol Espargaro was eleventh on his KTM, ahead of Alex Rins who will be disappointed to have to go through Q1 if he wants to salvage his weekend with a strong qualifying performance. Johann Zarco was thirteenth with Aleix Espargaro – who suffered two crashes of his own – and Jorge Lorenzo rounding out the top fifteen, with the former World Champion just 0.4 of a second off the top ten.
