Jerez MotoGP: Rossi denies Marquez by 0.046s in third practice

Reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo's Friday benchmark of 1m39.555s stood for nearly the entire session, with the times only really tumbling in the final five minutes.

Marquez was first to dip beneath Lorenzo's FP2 time as he set a 1m39.421s, with Tech 3 rider Pol Espargaro - who described his Friday pace as "disgusting" - following closely in his wheeltracks to nab second, just 0.014s off the pace.

Lorenzo improved to a 1m39.490s shortly after to consolidate third place, but was demoted by Yamaha teammate Rossi, who set a time only 0.039s adrift of Marquez.

There was more to come from the Italian, however, as he blitzed the timesheets on his next lap just before the chequered flag fell to knock Marquez off the top spot with a best time of 1m39.244s.

It was the first time Rossi has topped a MotoGP session since last year's warm-up at Silverstone, and the first dry session since qualifying at Assen in 2015.

Marquez was forced to be content with second in front of his home crowd - 0.046s back - with Espargaro holding onto third ahead of Lorenzo, who was 0.246s behind his teammate in the final reckoning.

Dani Pedrosa took a solid fifth on the second of the Repsol Hondas, 0.325s off the pace, ahead of Maverick Vinales on the best of the Suzukis and top Ducati man Andrea Dovizioso.

Completing the top 10 and sealing their automatic Q2 spots were Aleix Espargaro (Suzuki), Andrea Iannone (Ducati) and Friday star Hector Barbera (Avintia Ducati).

Alvaro Bautista only narrowly missed out on a Q2 berth with an impressive 11th aboard the Aprilia.

Along with the Spaniard, Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda), Bradley Smith (Tech 3 Yamaha) and Scott Redding (Pramac Ducati), who was a lowly 16th, will be forced to battle their way through the first part of qualifying.

Practice results:

Pos	Rider	Team	Bike	Time	Gap
1	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha YZR-M1	1:39.244
2	Marc Marquez	Repsol Honda Team	Honda RC213V	1:39.290	+0.046
3	Pol Espargaro	Tech 3	Yamaha YZR-M1	1:39.435	+0.191
4	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha YZR-M1	1:39.490	+0.246
5	Dani Pedrosa	Repsol Honda Team	Honda RC213V	1:39.579	+0.335
6	Maverick Viñales	Team Suzuki ECSTAR	Suzuki GSX-RR	1:39.742	+0.498
7	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati Team	Ducati Desmosedici GP16	1:39.801	+0.557
8	Aleix Espargaro	Team Suzuki ECSTAR	Suzuki GSX-RR	1:39.812	+0.568
9	Andrea Iannone	Ducati Team	Ducati Desmosedici GP16	1:39.819	+0.575
10	Hector Barbera	Avintia Racing	Ducati Desmosedici GP14	1:39.828	+0.584
11	Alvaro Bautista	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia RS-GP	1:39.935	+0.691
12	Yonny Hernandez	Aspar Racing Team	Ducati Desmosedici GP14	1:39.983	+0.739
13	Cal Crutchlow	Team LCR	Honda RC213V	1:40.261	+1.017
14	Bradley Smith	Tech 3	Yamaha YZR-M1	1:40.289	+1.045
15	Eugene Laverty	Aspar Racing Team	Ducati Desmosedici GP14	1:40.363	+1.119
16	Scott Redding	Octo Pramac Yakhnich	Ducati Desmosedici GP15	1:40.424	+1.180
17	Loris Baz	Avintia Racing	Ducati Desmosedici GP14	1:40.597	+1.353
18	Michele Pirro	Octo Pramac Yakhnich	Ducati Desmosedici GP15	1:40.916	+1.672
19	Stefan Bradl	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia RS-GP	1:41.055	+1.811
20	Tito Rabat	Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda RC213V	1:41.442	+2.198
21	Jack Miller	Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda RC213V	1:41.530	+2.286