MotoGP Mugello: Foggia continues to fly in FP3

Leopard’s Dennis Foggia maintained his commanding presence at home with a 1’56.576 lap around Mugello in Saturday’s FP3.

The Italian held off a late charge from Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Daniel Holgado in the closing minute with just four riders under the 1’57 barrier in the final practice session of the Italian GP. Both John McPhee and Scott Ogden securing their places on the Q2 shootout from ninth and twelfth respectively.

The lightweight class set out in perfect conditions for the final free practice despite the looming threat of storms for later in the weekend. Ayumu Sasaki declared unfit after a terrifying Friday crash, with the Sterilgarda Husqvarna rider suffering concussion and double broken collarbones having been transferred to a Milan hospital for specialist treatment.

Tech3 KTM’s Deniz Öncü headed the initial times before Ryusei Yamanaka took charge, first with a low 1’58 then high 1’57. The MT Helmets MSI rider leading PruestelGP’s Carlos Tatay and Sic58’s Riccardo Rossi in the top three after ten minutes on track with a personal best to promote his overall time to sixth, before Foggia and Jaume Masia joined the fray in second and fourth in the session.

Six-hundredths covered the top three as the session continued, Öncü, Yamanaka and Foggia vying for dominance with the Leopard winning out after seven laps of the 5.2km layout. Sole Sterilgarda rider McPhee kicked off his Saturday action from 11th in FP3, two places higher than VisionTrack Honda’s Ogden with the second Leopard of Tatsuki Suzuki in between.

The last quarter of an hour began with the second MT Helmets rider Diogo Moreira in charge by one-hundredth of a second, Rossi second with Sergio Garcia rising to third before the Leopard pair arrived. Foggia