Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Brad Binder heads into this afternoon’s Moto3 qualifying session as the man to beat after topping the final free practice session at the Twin Ring Motegi.
The South African had an off-colour day yesterday. Binder suffered not one, but two uncharacteristic falls across both practice sessions and ended up a rather lowly 27th on the time sheets. There were no such dramas this morning in FP3 for the new World Champion, and soared to top spot at the end of the 40-minute session by two tenths of a second with a lap of 1m56.651s.
Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda’s Jorge Navarro is aiming to finish the season as runner-up before he steps up to Moto2 with Gresini next year. The Spaniard was second fastest in final practice ahead of Leopard’s Fabio Quartararo, who is seeking his first rosrtum since Assen last year.
Sky Racing VR46’s Andrea Migno enjoyed another strong session at Motegi in fourth spot, as did Niccolo Antonelli on the Ongetta-Rivacold Honda four hundredths adrift in fifth. RW Racing’s Livio Loi completed the top six.
Enea Bastianini was seventh fastest despite suffering a tumble in the final quarter of an hour of FP3. The Italian was the overnight leader on the time sheets after topping FP2, and was troubling the sharp-end in FP3 before he came off at Turn 7. Gabrield Rodrigo, Niccolo Bulega and home favourite Tatsuki Suzuki rounded out the top 10 despite a late crash at Turn 9.
Philipp Oettl took the chequered flag in 11th on his Schedl GP machine, whilst Hiroki Ono finished the morning 12th after losing time in the early part of the session to a quick-shifter problem. Darryn Binder was an impressive 13th on the Platinum Bay Mahindra. Fabio Di Giannantonio, who tried a revised chassis package in FP3 on his Gresini Honda, and Jakub Kornfeil completed the top 15.
The Motegi gravel traps were once again a busy place. Wild card rider Shizuka Okazaki lost the front at Turn 10 in the closing stages, with Juanfran Guevara coming off just a moment beforehand at Turn 5. Aron Canet and Maria Herrera crashed in the opening 10 minutes of FP3, both suffering fairly heavy damage which limited their track time. Thankfully, all riders walked away unscathed.
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