Marquez stamps authority on practice 3 at Aragon
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| Marquez |
Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez set the fastest time of the weekend so far at MotorLand Aragon to top FP3. The Spaniard managed a 1.47.380 that he set on just his fifth lap. Despite setting it so early, it was good enough to top the timesheets despite the usual frantic end to the session as riders attempted to secure their progress through to Q2. His time was just two-tenths of his Pole Record from last year in a session where the top seven riders were separated by almost a second. The Spaniard was utilizing a new swingarm his team debuted yesterday and it seemed to pay dividends.
Movistar Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo tried aerodynamics winglets on his M1 for the first time this weekend during FP3. Despite this he did not improve his time from Friday and ended the session 0.137s off the pace of Marquez.
Marquez's teammate Dani Pedrosa (+0.283s) did improve his time during the session to complete the provisional front row in third. Valentino Rossi (+0.312s) managed to improve his time by over half a second from Friday to end the session in fourth overall, but significantly closer to the time of his teammate and main title rival Lorenzo.
Ducati Team's Andrea Iannone (+0.406s) rode without painkillers despite his injured left shoulder that he re-dislocated in a training accident. The Italian gritted his teeth to finish fifth fastest as he improved his time from Friday by almost a second on the softer option tire.
LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow (+0.877s) improved from 13th on Friday to end the session in sixth as the leading Satellite rider. Up next were the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 duo of Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro. Smith had a big crash at turn 5 during the session but was unhurt and finished in sixth, while Espargaro was seventh.
Team Suzuki Ecstar's Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro secured their progress to Q2 by finishing in 9th and 10th respectively as they also utilized the softer option tire available to them. Vinales improving his Friday time by 1.2s despite crashing at turn 2 half way through the session.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), Scott Redding (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing) are the big names that will have to fight it out in Q1. Dovizioso just missing out on an automatic place in Q2 by just 0.051s.
Forward Racing's Loris Baz was one of a number of riders to be caught out by slightly colder conditions as he crashed at turn 2 and was taken to the Medical Centre for checks on his neck, but was okay. There was also a crash for Jack Miller (LCR Honda) at the same corner, with the rider unhurt.
Results
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Time | Gap 1st/Prev. |
| 1 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 1'47.380 | 0.000 / 0.000 |
| 2 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 1'47.663 | 0.283 / 0.283 |
| 3 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 1'47.692 | 0.312 / 0.029 |
| 4 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 1'47.775 | 0.395 / 0.083 |
| 5 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 1'47.786 | 0.406 / 0.011 |
| 6 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | LCR Honda | Honda | 1'48.257 | 0.877 / 0.471 |
| 7 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | SPA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 1'48.449 | 1.069 / 0.192 |
| 8 | 25 | Maverick VIÃ'ALES | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 1'48.449 | 1.069 |
| 9 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 1'48.589 | 1.209 / 0.140 |
| 10 | 45 | Scott REDDING | GBR | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | 1'48.615 | 1.235 / 0.026 |
| 11 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 1'48.839 | 1.459 / 0.224 |
| 12 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 1'48.900 | 1.520 / 0.061 |
| 13 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | COL | Octo Pramac Racing | Ducati | 1'49.112 | 1.732 / 0.212 |
| 14 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Aspar MotoGP Team | Honda | 1'49.237 | 1.857 / 0.125 |
| 15 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ITA | Octo Pramac Racing | Ducati | 1'49.238 | 1.858 / 0.001 |
| 16 | 63 | Mike DI MEGLIO | FRA | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 1'49.464 | 2.084 / 0.226 |
| 17 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 1'49.581 | 2.201 / 0.117 |
| 18 | 43 | Jack MILLER | AUS | LCR Honda | Honda | 1'49.726 | 2.346 / 0.145 |
| 19 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 1'49.890 | 2.510 / 0.164 |
| 20 | 50 | Eugene LAVERTY | IRL | Aspar MotoGP Team | Honda | 1'50.181 | 2.801 / 0.291 |
| 21 | 15 | Alex DE ANGELIS | RSM | E-Motion IodaRacing Team | ART | 1'50.485 | 3.105 / 0.304 |
| 22 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | CZE | AB Motoracing | Honda | 1'51.292 | 3.912 / 0.807 |
| 23 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | GER | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 1'51.312 | 3.932 / 0.020 |
| 24 | 24 | Toni ELIAS | SPA | Forward Racing | Yamaha Forward | 1'51.561 | 4.181 / 0.249 |
| 25 | 76 | Loris BAZ | FRA | Forward Racing | Yamaha Forward | – | – |