After narrowly missing out on top spot during Friday free practice, Francesco B꧅agnaia regained the upper-hand over Fabio Quartararo heading into qualifying for the Algarve MotoGP. 

The top two riders in the championship were once again the clear pace sett൲ers and ended FP3 with just -0.001s between them.

While Friday’s combined time✱s took a while to be challenged, Bagnaia cemented his status as a pre-race favorite alongside Quartarಞaro during the very first laps.

The Italian led a Ducati 1-2 with Jorge Martin a further two tenths back, however, Bagnaia’🔴s battle with Fabio Quartararo resumed once the Yamaha rider went half a tenth faster - 15 minutes into FP3. 

Franco Morbidelli’s promising start on Friday continued during the opening stages of FP3. The Italian rider sat in fourth place, while Repsol Honda rider Pol Esparga♊ro occupied fifth which was the same position he finished on day-one. 

Bagnaia returned to pit lane shortly after losing top spot, while Quartararo continued on with his first stint andꦏ went even quicker to set a 1:40.048s. 

As was the case in both FP1 and FP2, Joan Mir was very early iﷺn starting his time attack run - over 20 minutes left of the session

The Spaniard initially went second fastest in regards to FP3’s best times, before going third🐈 overall with a 1:39.586s. 

Quaꦚrtararo then extended his gap at the front by going another two tenths under his best time from Friday -🍨 three tenths better than Bagnaia. 

However, B𝓀agnaia responded on his 👍very next lap to better Quartararo by just four hundredths of a second. 

With just three minutes to go, Mir made it three riders within ha🔴lf a tenth by going third quickest, showing that Suzuki could be real challengers for a front row. There was a return to form for Alex Marquez as he went fifth late on - a position he maintained until the end. 

Quartararo’s final effort was the lap that brought the gap between him and Bagnaia dow♏n to +0.001s, while Miller consolidﷺated fourth on his final flying lap. 

Rounding out the top ten was Morbidelli, Rins, P. Espargaro, Luca Marini and Mไartin.