Iannone’s Ducati on top in final Red Bull Ring practice

Andrea Iannone

Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) topped FP3 ahead of teammate Andrea Dovizioso, after the older Italian had gone fastest on Friday ahead of his 250th GP start. Team Suzuki Ecstar rider Maverick Vinales was third fastest after having topped FP1, with reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) taking a big leap up the timesheets into P4.

The focus of the session focused on an incident at Turn 3, however, as Marc Marquez was the first to improve on Saturday morning and the Repsol Honda Team rider went up into third on the combined timesheets – but the championship leader suffered an incident later and was forced to watch the lap times tumble as his Q2 position came under threat.

The drama at Turn 3 for Marquez almost became drama for the entire Repsol Honda Team as Dani Pedrosa headed into the corner off the racing line, with teammate Marquez following – and then getting to the corner too hot and having to avoid his teammate. The split second decision made by the younger rider saw him take to the outside, further unsettling his Repsol Honda as he just missed Pedrosa – and then took a hard impact just ahead of the run off area. The 2013 and 2014 World Champion was slow to his feet and headed back to the box – before heading to the medical center. Marquez is reported to have briefly dislocated his shoulder, with the tyre warmers remaining on in the Repsol Honda garage as the 4-time world champion headed off for further checks. After extensive check ups, the points leader was given the all-ok.

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