The final part of this season’s second triple-header started in chilly conditions at the Catalunya circuit, with Quartararo setting the early pace on his Yamaha at the site of his first MotoGP podium of 2019.
The Frenchman is struggling with illness this weekend but jumped to the top of the leaderboard with a 1’41.551 early in the session before improving it to 1’41.377.
Factory Yamaha counterpart Maverick Vinales was soon ahead with a 1’41.272, improving to 1’41.105 on his next attempt when he immediately set off with a full tank of fuel to understand how his M1 would feel in race conditions.
Quartararo returned to first place just over 10 minutes into the session with a 1’40.872, which set the benchmark until the closing stages.
And it was the Petronas driver who put it in jeopardy, lighting up the timing screens in the last three sectors of the Catalunya circuit with three minutes remaining to set a 1:40.584.
Quartararo found more time on his last lap and finished the session with a 1:40.431 ahead of Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso.
The Italian was the top Ducati runner in an unremarkable session for Desmosedici riders, with Dovizioso jumping into second place with a 1m40.861s in the final stages after fitting a fresh, soft rear tyre.
Suzuki’s Mir crashed at Turn 5 in the early stages but was soon back on track to finish the morning third fastest with a 1m31.060s.
Vinales finished fourth at the checkered flag ahead of Aleix Espargaro on the Aprilia, while Franco Morbidelli’s sister Petronas bike completed the top six.
Alex Rins got a much better start on his Suzuki after a tough round in Emilia Romagna last week, finishing seventh in FP1 with a 1m41.316s ahead of the factory Yamaha of Valentino Rossi – who confirmed on Thursday he expects to finish his commit 2021 deal with Petronas this weekend.
Cal Crutchlow returned to action on his LCR Honda after missing the last two laps due to complications from arm pump surgery last month – although he now rides with an injured ankle following a crash in the paddock on Wednesday.
The Briton was ninth fastest and was the top Honda rider in ninth place ahead of Tech 3 KTM’s Miguel Oliveira.
KTM factory colleague Pol Espargaro was about 1.4s off pace in 16th, wedged between the equally slow-starting Francesco Bagnaia in 15th and his Pramac teammate Jack Miller in 18th, while Danilo Petrucci – who finished last year in Catalonia stood on the podium – it was only 19th on its works Ducati.
Iker Lecuona was the only other fall in the session, although the Tech 3 rider still finished a solid 13th in FP1.