Fabio Quartararo was leading the Doha Grand Prix at the Losail International Circuit in third RP, which was a quiet session due to the strong winds and sand.
Visibility was poor as some riders were out on the track when the session started thanks to the wind that blew sand through the air, significantly reducing grip around the 5.3 km long venue.
Quartararo was leading early on with a relatively pedestrian 1: 56.912s, which was nearly four seconds slower than Jack Miller’s leading FP2 game.
Soon he lowered his benchmark by a few tenths before Joan Mir maneuvered himself to the top of the timesheets with a lap of 1: 56.450s.
Suzuki teammate Alex Rins lowered the bar to 1: 56.347 seconds in the final minutes as track activity increased in intensity, despite the Yamaha’s drivers looking threatening.
All four M1 racers recorded the best sectors of the session on their final laps, although the fighting in the final sector seemed to ultimately tarnish the efforts of Petronas SRT pair Valentino Rossi and Franco Morbidelli.
Quartararo was able to maintain his lead at the end of his last efforts, but when he scored a 1: 56.064, the Frenchman guaranteed a place directly in the pole shootout based on his performance on Friday.
The high winds that swept sand across the track surface and the high ambient temperature made improvements over Friday night’s FP2 practice impossible, meaning reigning MotoGP World Champion Joan Mir was catching up again after the off-track test was over made top ten after time expired to put a final flyer.
I managed a solid third place in FP3 right behind his teammate Rins, who had a Q2 berth with the eighth best time in FP2, although he will still have a lot to do if he gets a top ten spot on the Doha GP Sunday wants to achieve.
Danilo Petrucci was fourth fastest in what has been a more encouraging weekend for KTM after their disastrous GP outing in Qatar, while Maverick Vinales was the next man to complete the top 5 to secure second place.
Morbidelli finished sixth fastest in RP3 and will also make it through Q2, while Enea Bastianini finished the test fastest rookie ahead of LCR Honda’s Alex Marquez.
Rossi and Hondas Pol Espargaro completed the top ten, though both have to navigate the first quarter after only posting 14th and 17th fastest times on Friday.
The Ducati Armada chose to take it easy in the third RP after dominating the second RP. Miller and Johann Zarco decided not to make any representative effort while Francesco Bagnaia ended up in 14th place.