Marc Marquez took first position in this morning’s third three practice session, however, the story of the morning was the fact Jorge Lorenzo missed out on Q2, and will have go run in the Q1 session later today.
The sun was out for FP3, making track conditions much more favourable for the riders compared to yesterday.
It was a session packed with running as teams and riders looked to get valuable data after yesterday’s unusually cold conditions. There was only one fall in the session, presumably only one due to the higher grip levels, and that was Cal Crutchlow at Turn 1 early on. However, even though the session was full of running it wasn’t until 8mins left in the session when Vinales’ time from FP2 was topped marginally by Rossi. The fast times were all set right at the end of the session.
Marquez, running a new frame this morning, asserted himself at the top of the standings by being the first rider to dip into the 1:21s with a 21.6. He then improved further to a 1m21.552s which would turn out to be the fastest time of the session.
The Repsol Honda man was followed by Iannone and Vinales, who continued to show their potential for the weekend. Iannone was just over a tenth of a second off Marquez’s time. Rossi was 4th, making considerable gains from yesterday and proving that he might still be able to challenge Marquez in the race if all goes well for him.
Also straight through into Q2 is Pol Espargaro, Dani Pedrosa, Aleix Espargaro, Hector Barbera, Andrea Dovizioso and Yonny Hernandez, with Jorge Lorenzo down in 15th. Lorenzo was still seemingly lacking in confidence in the fast sector 3 (where he crashed yesterday morning) and therefore unable to set competitive laps. He’ll be facing Q1 now and with Crutchlow and Petrucci also in it (who have looked reasonably strong this weekend), it seems a genuine possibility Lorenzo could not make Q2. The FP4 session just before qualifying will be crucial for Lorenzo to build his confidence up before Q1.
