Johann Zarco fastest as Aleix Espargaro misses out on top ten
There was early drama during FP3 for the Austrian MotoGP as Mooney VR46 Ducati rider Luca Marini suffered a crash on his out lap. Marini went down at turn three before getting his GP22 machine running again.
As was the case in FP2, Franco Morbidelli positioned himself directly behind team-mate Fabio Quartararo in an attempt to find the type of performance that’s been lacking for much of the year.
As Johann Zarco continued to show dominant pace aboard his Pramac Ducati, Lorenzo Savadori suffered a crash at the new chicane.
Further improvements from Zarco then saw the Frenchman move to within a tenth of his own time.
Zarco, who was on course to set a new overall best lap time, ran wide at turn nine, the same corner which saw him crash out of the Austrian Grand Prix last season.
There was a close moment at turn one when Maverick Vinales nearly clipped the rear of Marini’s Ducati.
Attempting to follow Vinales, Remy Gardner then crashed at turn nine which was his second of the weekend.
Down in 22nd to begin FP3, Oliveira completed a full turnaround by moving up to second on combined times - +0.006s off Zarco.
Joan Mir, who was one of the first riders to switch to a soft rear tyre, felt an immediate benefit as he went quickest. Miller looked set to relegate the 2020 MotoGP champion down to second before losing time in the final sector.
Despite having a medium rear tyre fitted as opposed to the soft tyre that was on Mir’s Suzuki, Miller eventually replaced the Spaniard at the front of the leaderboard.
As Enea Bastianini set a blinding time of 1:29.508s to go nearly three tenths quicker than Miller, Aleix Espargaro, who was looking uncomfortable around the Red Bull Ring, crashed at the second part of the chicane.
Espargaro’s team-mate Vinales had no such issues as he went second quickest. The Aprilia rider was then bumped down to third as Miller blasted his way to the top by two tenths.
Miller’s lead was cut short when Bagnaia went second, before Quartararo surprisingly went quickest by -0.012s.
Quartararo then improved even further before a stunning sub 1m 29s lap was set by Zarco.
While it was heating up at the front, Espargaro found himself knocked out of the top ten by Brad Binder, with the Aprilia rider now set to go through Q1.
