British MotoGP: Aleix Espargaro closes in on Silverstone lap record as Aprilia and Ducati dominate FP3
11th to start FP3 at the British MotoGP, Francesco Bagnaia💮 led a trio of Ducatis who were in need of finding improvements in order to secure an autom🐈atic Q2 spot.
There were no such worries for Bagnaia’s title rivals Fabio Quartararo and Aleix Espargaro as both riders were inside the top five to begin FP3.&🐼nbsp;
As was the case in FP2, Espargaro began the session following team-mate Maverick Vinales, who has again been in brilliant form after securing his first podium with Aprilia in Asse🥀n.
Although combined lap times remained unchanged, the start of FP3 was a꧅ good one for Ducati as Johann Zarco led a 1-2-3 ahead of Jack M𝓀iller and Bagnaia.
Showing good pace aboard his Red Bull KTM, Miguel Oliveira was the first rider to si🎃gnificantly i🅠mprove as he jumped up to sixth place.
Leading Mille𒁃r by nearly four tenths (FP3 times), Zarco’s lead was then reduced by Vinales as the Aprilia rider split the twoಞ Ducatis.
No great surprܫise given how he attacked the Long Lap loop on Friday, Quartararo was consistently losing less than a second on his latest attempts.
Just like FP1 and FP2, Rins was again showing podium pace durinဣg his long run performance, as was Vinales.
However, with over 20 minutes still to run the focus changed to time attack ru🔯ns as Brad Binder was one of the first to switch to soft tyres.
Binderꦰ improved from 21st to 14th but it was at the front of the field where the action began to heat up, as Aprilia made their move.
Espargaro went two tenths clear of Quartararo’s FP2 times before Vinales stunned his t𓃲eam-mate with a time of 1:58.599s.
In dominant form, Aprilia were proving tough to beat as Espargaro lowered the benchmark tim🍷e even furtheಞr.
A sensational effort from the Spaniard saw him cl🐽🎉ock a time of 1:58.254s, however, Miller was able to get within a tenth of Espargaro during his first time attack of FP3.
Making it three riders within a tenth of a second, Zarco popped his Pramac Ducati into P3. What the flurry of fast laps did do was push Rins all ꦏthe way down to tenth and on the brink of losing an automatic Q2 spot.
Tempers flar between MotoGP title rivals
In need of a better lap, Bagnaia, who was down in ninth place, felt he was impeded by Espargaro which led to the Ducati rider gesturing towards 🦋the Aprilia man.
Of the mindset that he did nothꦫing wrong, Espargaro responded with his own gestures ꦕas Bagnaia set about preparing a new lap.
Bagnaia eventually moved up the order (seventh) buꦕt it 😼was Zarco who was finding the most pace. On course for a potential new lap record and first-ever 1m 57s lap around Silverstone, the French rider then crashed in sector three.
