Jack Miller leads a Ducati fivefold finish in the third practice at Aragon

Jack Miller led an all-Ducati top five, while Marc Marquez made it to Q1 in the third and the final practice session for the Aragon Grand Prix at the Motorland Aragon track.

Marquez admitted on Friday that his first accident of the comeback was coming sooner or later as he preferred later than sooner after missing the last grand prix weekend for nearly four months.

The six-time premier class world champion folded the front when he washed out wide at the final corner at the beginning of third practice, nearly losing the battle, but he was able to stabilize himself and his Honda RC213V in the run-off in a signature save.

Only the recovering Joan Mir decided to try and surpass his best times from Friday before the frenzied final minutes of the practice started, with the majority of the MotoGP contingent choosing to perform race runs on old rubber.

The first of the anticipated front-runners to post a time was Takaaki Nakagami of LCR Honda, who finished first with a time of 1:47.703s before cutting another tenth and a half of a second off his effort on the following trip.

His reign at the top would be short-lived, however, as Miller was able to put together a fantastic single-lap surge to clock in at 1:46.992, which was by far the fastest lap of the weekend and put him well ahead of the field.

The Australian’s pace would ultimately stand as the best among his competitors, with factory Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia getting the closest when he crossed the finish line 0.030 seconds later.

In order to move into third and fourth place overall at the very end of the race, Marco Bezzecchi and Enea Bastianini both utilized the tow from Bagnaia’s Desmosedici, while FP2 leader Jorge Martin also lapped within a tenth of Miller to round out the top five, marking four different Ducati vehicles within the five.

Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira, both works riders, secured Q2 spots in sixth and seventh, respectively, for KTM, who had an unexpectedly excellent single-lap performance. Lastly, Quartararo, Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda), and Suzuki’s Alex Rins received automatic Q2 places.

Aleix Espargaro finished 11th, lamenting his difficulties in the final sector. Maverick Vinales, another Aprilia rider, also failed to finish, appearing unable to complete a proper lap on new soft tyres late in the race.

As a result, a number of well-known drivers will be required to compete in Q1 on Saturday afternoon. Aleix Espargaro, riding an Aprilia narrowly missed the cut by 0.049 seconds. However, he was the fastest of the riders, finishing just ahead of fellow Spaniard Marc Marquez.

Maverick Vinales made sure that both Aprilias would have to race in Q1 by managing only a dismal 17th, while Johann Zarco was another to struggle on his Pramac Ducati, finishing in 15th overall.

Mir was 18th in the test, ahead of Tech 3 KTM rookie Remy Gardner and factory Yamaha racer Franco Morbidelli, while a crash for RNF Yamaha rider Cal Crutchlow relegated him to 21st in the test, he was only 0.961s off of Miller’s benchmark. 

Along with the British rider, a number of other riders also suffered Motorland Aragon injuries in the last moments of Practice 3. The Binder brothers, Brad and Darryn, both of RNF Yamaha, suffered get-offs at Turns 2 and 10, respectively, and Rins crashed at Turn 5.

ARAGON MOTOGP FREE PRACTICE 3 RESULTS