Aragon MotoGP: Marquez tops FP3, him and Rossi among crashers
MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez comfortably topped FP3 at Aragon despite crashing out in the latter stages of the session.
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Marquez was one of the many riders to take a fall in the chaotic Saturday morning practice, with main championship rival Valentino Rossi likewise crashing.
Rossi's crash took place at the very start of the session, the Italian thrown off his bike at the corkscrew Turn 9 on his out-lap.
As the Italian was making his way back into the pits on a scooter, Marquez was already lapping in earnest, lowering the weekend benchmark right away to a 1m48.185s.
On the next lap, during which he powered past Pramac's Danilo Petrucci with a late dive at Turn 4, Marquez improved further to a 1m47.810s.
For most of the session, Marquez was the only rider in the top 10 to improve on his Friday pace - but while times weren't tumbling down, there were crashes and chaos aplenty.
In one of the heavier practice incidents of the season, Pol Espargaro lost his Tech 3 Yamaha at the treacherous Turn 2, the bike sliding into the path of Petrucci, who had just been exiting the pitlane and was launched into the air and off his Pramac.
Neither was hurt - and, luckily, nobody was hurt in the other multi-bike incident Espargaro found himself involved in when the Tech 3 rider emerged out of the pits on his second bike.
As Nicky Hayden fell at Turn 14, Marquez and Espargaro followed suit shortly thereafter, taking to the surface in the same corner just moments apart.
With Hayden's bike being recovered by the track marshals from the escape road, Marquez's Honda slid past, while Espargaro's Yamaha hit the stationary Marc VDS #69 bike at a slow speed.
In the dying minutes of the session, as the qualifying runs began, Cal Crutchlow cut the deficit to Marquez with a lap 0.362s off, with Jorge Lorenzo and Maverick Vinales moving into the top four, past Friday pacesetter Dani Pedrosa.
At the chequered flag, Crutchlow improved to 0.196s off Marquez - and while the Spaniard couldn't up his pace with his final efforts, his top spot would not be troubled.
Vinales took third, ahead of Lorenzo and teammate Aleix Espargaro, while Pedrosa's FP2 time proved good enough for sixth.
Scott Redding gave himself an automatic Q2 spot with a last-gasp lap, advancing alongside Andrea Dovizioso, Rossi and Pol Espargaro.
Among those who will have to fight their way through Q1 are Andrea Iannone's Ducati substitute rider Michele Pirro, who placed 14th, and returnee Nicky Hayden, who was 2.8s off in 19th.
Aprilia's Alvaro Bautista, 16th, and Alex Lowes, 21st, both joined the sizable list of riders to crash in FP3.
Combined free practice results
Pos. | # | Driver | Bike | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1'47.810 | |
2 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'48.006 | 0.196 |
3 | 25 | Maverick Viñales | Suzuki | 1'48.052 | 0.242 |
4 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | 1'48.298 | 0.488 |
5 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Suzuki | 1'48.308 | 0.498 |
6 | 26 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | 1'48.429 | 0.619 |
7 | 45 | Scott Redding | Ducati | 1'48.627 | 0.817 |
8 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'48.652 | 0.842 |
9 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1'48.669 | 0.859 |
10 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | Yamaha | 1'48.749 | 0.939 |
11 | 8 | Hector Barbera | Ducati | 1'48.970 | 1.160 |
12 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | 1'49.065 | 1.255 |
13 | 68 | Yonny Hernandez | Ducati | 1'49.137 | 1.327 |
14 | 51 | Michele Pirro | Ducati | 1'49.250 | 1.440 |
15 | 6 | Stefan Bradl | Aprilia | 1'49.298 | 1.488 |
16 | 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Aprilia | 1'49.301 | 1.491 |
17 | 50 | Eugene Laverty | Ducati | 1'49.738 | 1.928 |
18 | 53 | Tito Rabat | Honda | 1'49.804 | 1.994 |
19 | 69 | Nicky Hayden | Honda | 1'50.617 | 2.807 |
20 | 76 | Loris Baz | Ducati | 1'50.617 | 2.807 |
21 | 22 | Alex Lowes | Yamaha | 1'50.988 | 3.178 |
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