Valencia MotoGP: Marquez shades Vinales in third practice
Marc Marquez led third practice for the final round of the MotoGP season at Valencia, beating Maverick Vinales by a little over a tenth of a second.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
It took until the final minutes of the session before Jorge Lorenzo's Friday benchmark, a 1m30.463s, was challenged, although the Yamaha rider was the first man of the morning to dip beneath the 1m31s.
The Spaniard held sway at the top of the times with a 1m30.743s, set with 12 minutes to go, before Marquez recorded a 1m30.507s to go quickest of the session, if not overall, some five minutes later.
That was soon corrected as Marquez improved to a 1m30.258s on his next lap, the Repsol Honda rider beating Lorenzo's Friday time by 0.205s and taking over as the fastest man of the weekend so far.
Only Vinales could threaten Marquez in the closing stages, the Suzuki rider getting to within 0.103s of his compatriot after establishing himself as the second-quickest rider of the session.
Lorenzo was classed as third overall on the strength of his Friday effort, but third quickest in the session was Andrea Dovizioso's Ducati, 0.385s off the pace.
He was followed by Dani Pedrosa on the second factory Honda and Lorenzo, with Pol Espargaro bagging the final spot in the top six overall after getting within half a second of Marquez on the Tech 3 Yamaha.
Next up, both for the session and overall, were Aleix Espargaro (Suzuki) and Andrea Iannone (Ducati), while Valentino Rossi only just squeezed into the automatic Q2 spots with a late effort good enough for ninth, 0.594s off the pace.
Bradley Smith (Tech 3 Yamaha) sealed the final automatic place in the pole shootout, forcing fellow countrymen Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) and Scott Redding (Pramac Ducati) to go through Q1.
Jack Miller (Marc VDS Honda) was another rider to miss out on the top 10, after suffering a crash in the closing stages of the session.
Mika Kallio once more brought up the rear on the KTM, but this time was only 2.514s off the pace and only a couple of tenths behind Loris Baz on the Avintia Ducati in 21st.
Third practice results (session only):
Cla | # | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1'30.258 | |
2 | 25 | Maverick Viñales | Suzuki | 1'30.361 | 0.103 |
3 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'30.643 | 0.385 |
4 | 26 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | 1'30.711 | 0.453 |
5 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | 1'30.743 | 0.485 |
6 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | Yamaha | 1'30.745 | 0.487 |
7 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Suzuki | 1'30.769 | 0.511 |
8 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Ducati | 1'30.834 | 0.576 |
9 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1'30.852 | 0.594 |
10 | 38 | Bradley Smith | Yamaha | 1'31.002 | 0.744 |
11 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'31.023 | 0.765 |
12 | 45 | Scott Redding | Ducati | 1'31.147 | 0.889 |
13 | 8 | Hector Barbera | Ducati | 1'31.308 | 1.050 |
14 | 6 | Stefan Bradl | Aprilia | 1'31.410 | 1.152 |
15 | 43 | Jack Miller | Honda | 1'31.550 | 1.292 |
16 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | 1'31.589 | 1.331 |
17 | 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Aprilia | 1'31.894 | 1.636 |
18 | 53 | Tito Rabat | Honda | 1'31.976 | 1.718 |
19 | 68 | Yonny Hernandez | Ducati | 1'31.991 | 1.733 |
20 | 50 | Eugene Laverty | Ducati | 1'32.240 | 1.982 |
21 | 76 | Loris Baz | Ducati | 1'32.464 | 2.206 |
22 | 36 | Mika Kallio | KTM | 1'32.772 | 2.514 |
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