Pleasant conditions for the FP3 start meant the combined timesheet improvements were achieved almost immediately, with KTM’s Miguel Oliveira – armed with the new chassis and fuel of the RC16 – finishing fourth overall and topping the session with a time of 1 : Ascented 46,331s before takeoff.
Johann Zarco von Pramac shot a minute later in 1: 46,201 minutes to take the top spot in FP3 and move up to second place in the combined time, setting a respectable six tenths of his best time on Friday.
His Ducati factory colleague Bagnaia stayed in the lead in the combined times based on his Friday best until the last 15 minutes of the session when Yamaha’s Quartararo began to light up the time screen.
The world championship leader was the fastest of all with 1: 45.807 minutes and improved this to 1: 45.701 minutes on his following tour.
Quartararo’s attack continued five minutes from time as he found a fraction more time to play off his lead at the top of the timesheet with 1: 45.613 minutes.
Bagnaia dropped to the top of the Q2 spots as the session neared its end and struggled deeply to set a new Mugello lap record of 1: 45.456 minutes to take the lead with just over two minutes to go to get.
At the same time, Yamaha’s Vinales slipped off his M1 in turn 12 in the Correntaio right-hand bend, ended his session prematurely and put him under pressure to actually secure a direct Q2 place for qualifying.
Bagnaia’s time remained unchallenged in the end, the Italian leading Quartararo as KTM’s Brad Binder – who reached the MotoGP all-time top speed record of 362.4 km / h in FP3 – and jumped to third place late.
Jack Miller on the other works Ducati was another late improver with 1: 45.701 minutes, as was Zarco in fifth place.
These improvements pushed Suzuki’s Alex Rins out of the top 10 in the final stages, but he moved up to sixth place with 1: 45.725 minutes – a lap that displaced Vinales in eleventh place in Q1.
Oliveira ensured that both factory KTMs secured direct passage to Q2 this afternoon, ahead of world champion Joan Mir on the Suzuki, Honda’s only representative in Q2 Pol Espargaro, and Franco Morbidelli on the two-year-old Petronas SRT Yamaha.
Vinales’ latest crash meant he missed a spot directly in Q2 by just 0.030 seconds, while the top 10 were split by just 0.409 seconds.
The Yamaha rudder was supported by a struggling Marc Marquez on the Honda in Q1 later that afternoon, and Aprilias Aleix Espargaro – who had to drain a “coke can” of fluid from his arm after Friday’s most recent arm pump operation – slipped to 13th.
Valentino Rossi found some pace on Saturday, but will go into Q1 after only finishing 18th in FP3 on his SRT Yamaha with 1: 46.358 minutes.