Jack Miller sets the pace in Austin MotoGP FP3, Nakagami second

After Marc Marquez dominating the Friday practice sessions, Factory Ducati rider Jack Miller left nothing to imagination as he topped the time sheets in the third practice session at the Circuit Of The Americas.

Before the third practice session was underway, there was speculation that it would be slightly raining. However, luck befell the riders as they set out to a dry track on the qualifying day.

In the early stages of the third practice session, the riders could not match the combined friday practice lap times set by Marc Marquez. The closest just came within an eighth of a second of the Spaniards lap time.

It seemed as Marquez would continue dominating the Saturday practice, as Takaaki Nakagami closely followed in P2 with a gap of under a tenth of a second. Nakagami later, further narrowed down the gap after recording 2.04.616 lap time, which was sixth tenths of a second off Marc Marquez leading time.

Suzuki’s Joan Mir however, split the two riders taking P2, a move that saw the world champion rank tenth overall.

With the practice session being halfway, Nakagami made the fastest lap with 2.07.739 time, which was enough to rank the Japanese rider on top of the combined lap times. Nakagami’s teammate Alex Marquez was not that lucky as he suffered a slow crash on turn 1 moments later.

Miguel Oliveira soon followed Nakagami in time attack that saw him move into the top 6 fastest lap times, but his time was not long lasting as several riders were faster and eventually the Portuguese rider was knocked out of the top ten by his teammate Brad Binder.

Jack Miller, who was the favorite for the Saturday quali, topped the time sheets with only thirteen minutes to go. Monster Energy Yamaha team-mates Fabio Quarararo and Franco Morbidelli made improvements, while Alex Rins, winner the last time MotoGP race at COTA also jumped up the order for Suzuki.

Yellow flags were brought out with five minutes remaining as Aleix Espargaro suffered a second crash this weekend at turn 12.

At the front, Marquez threatened to displace Miller late on, before the Australian set the first and only sub 2m 03s time so far this weekend, a lap that was a stunning six tenths quicker than Nakagami in second. Luca Marini became the third rider to fall late on at turn two.

AUSTIN MOTOGP, COTA – FREE PRACTICE (3) RESULTS

POS		RIDER	NAT	TEAM	TIME/DIFF	LAP	MAX
1	^1	Jack Miller	AUS	Ducati Team (GP21)	2’02.923s	15/16	348k
2	^3	Takaaki Nakagami	JPN	LCR Honda (RC213V)	+0.679s	15/16	341k
3	^6	Alex Rins	SPA	Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)	+0.804s	16/17	341k
4	˅3	Marc Marquez	SPA	Repsol Honda (RC213V)	+0.881s	15/17	345k
5	^3	Johann Zarco	FRA	Pramac Ducati (GP21)	+0.900s	15/17	346k
6	˅3	Fabio Quartararo	FRA	Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)	+0.944s	13/17	340k
7	˅3	Pol Espargaro	SPA	Repsol Honda (RC213V)	+1.097s	12/12	344k
8	^3	Brad Binder	RSA	Red Bull KTM (RC16)	+1.117s	15/15	342k
9	˅3	Francesco Bagnaia	ITA	Ducati Team (GP21)	+1.202s	14/15	347k
10	˅3	Jorge Martin	SPA	Pramac Ducati (GP21)*	+1.274s	14/15	344k
11	^7	Miguel Oliveira	POR	Red Bull KTM (RC16)	+1.337s	16/16	343k
12	˅2	Enea Bastianini	ITA	Avintia Ducati (GP19)*	+1.504s	16/16	346k
13	=	Joan Mir	SPA	Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)	+1.571s	14/16	340k
14	^1	Franco Morbidelli	ITA	Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)	+1.587s	14/16	339k
15	^2	Valentino Rossi	ITA	Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1)	+1.937s	17/17	338k
16	^5	Iker Lecuona	SPA	KTM Tech3 (RC16)	+1.967s	13/14	340k
17	˅3	Andrea Dovizioso	ITA	Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1)	+2.387s	15/15	335k
18	˅2	Alex Marquez	SPA	LCR Honda (RC213V)	+2.616s	12/14	344k
19	=	Aleix Espargaro	SPA	Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)	+2.635s	3/12	346k
20	˅8	Luca Marini	ITA	Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati (GP19)*	+3.005s	3/12	342k
21	˅1	Danilo Petrucci	ITA	KTM Tech3 (RC16)	+3.127s	11/15	339k