Jack Miller on top in Misano FP3 as Aleix Espargaro hangs on to top ten spot
At the start of Misano MotoGP FP3 Marco Bezzecchi made an immediate mistake following Bagnaia at turn one, as he ran wide which allowed Fabio Di Giannantonio to slot in behind the in-form Italian.
Off-track, eight-time world champion Marc Marquez was seen arriving at the Misano circuit during the early stages of FP3 before heading directly to the Repsol Honda garage.
Marquez, who last rode a MotoGP bike in Mugello, will be making his on-track return next week during the two-day Misano test.
Similar to how FP2 ended, Ducati riders dominated the early stages of FP3 as Bagnaia led from Bezzecchi, Enea Bastianini and Di Giannantonio.
Three tenths off in fifth was reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo, with the Ducati of Michele Pirro one place back in sixth.
Jack Miller then made it a Ducati top five as he moved up to fourth, splitting the two Gresini riders.
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Although +0.057s separated Bezzecchi in second down to Quartararo in sixth, none of the top runners were able to get close to Bagnaia who continued to have a two tenths advantage over the field.
With dark clouds hovering over the Misano circuit, time attacks began with just under 20 minutes remaining.
Aleix Espargaro was one of the first riders to switch to the soft rear tyre, as was day-one pacesetter Bastianini.
With several riders struggling to find improvements, Quartararo was not one of them as he went third on combined times. Quartararo’s team-mate Franco Morbidelli was the next rider to improve as he moved up from tenth to eighth.
With lap times beginning to ramp up, Miller set a blinding time of 1:31.296s to go two tenths clear of Bagnaia.
The latter momentarily moved up to second before having his lap time deleted, dropping him back to third.
Another tricky weekend for Honda took a turn for the worse as Pol Espargaro crashed at turn 15 with five minutes to go.
As Bagnaia finally moved up to second, Miguel Oliveira crashed in sector one taking the tally for this session to four.
On course to go fastest on his next lap, Bagnaia once again lost time to Miller in the final sector as he remained second.
While the top three on combined times remain unchanged, Vinales thought he was a big mover as he jumped up to fourth late on, however, the Assen and Silverstone podium finisher had his lap time deleted - the Aprilia rider kept his place in the top ten after finishing seventh.
Jorge Martin momentarily pushed Franco Morbidelli out of the top ten with his very last lap, before also having his time deleted due to exceeding track limits.
Just managing to remain inside the top ten was Aprilia’s Espargaro after the Spaniard failed to improve on his FP2 time - Espargaro was safe from P11 by +0.019s.
