Marquez fastest in crash-strewn FP3

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez continued to cement his and Honda’s position as the ones to beat this weekend at MotorLand Aragon after topping a third practice session stricken with crashes.

Conditions, though sunny, were a lot cooler this morning and this caught out a number of riders. Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi was on his first out-lap when he asked too much of the left shoulder of his cold hard rear tyre and was launched into the air at Turn 9. The Italian was thankfully unhurt and was able to get back out on track to go ninth quickest, progressing straight through to QP2.

Twitter: Drama early on as @ValeYellow46 crashes on his outlap!

The Doctor is up and OK, however! #AragonGP https://t.co/FIxI458Ri6 (@MotoGP)

Just moments later, Tech 3’s Alex Lowes came off at the end of the back straight. The Briton required assistance out of the gravel and was taken to the medical centre for checks on a sore foot. We are currently waiting to hear of his condition.

Meanwhile, Marquez was getting straight down to business and improving on his times from yesterday to go top of the pile. The Spaniard managed a 1m48.1s initially, eventually bringing that down to a 1m47.810 to go two tenths of a second clear of the field.

However, Marquez’ session was not without incident either. The Spaniard crashed at Turn 14 with 17 minutes to go, tucking the front under hard braking in response to the yellow flags being waved for Nicky Hayden’s crash at the same place.

Pol Espargaro, who had just returned to track after a horrible crash at Turn 2 involving Pramac’s Danilo Petrucci – the Spaniard dropping his Yamaha under braking and skittling the Italian who was exiting pit lane – was an unfortunate victim in Marquez’ incident. The Tech 3 rider was on the outside of his compatriot at Turn 14 when Marquez came down, bringing Espargaro with him.

Hayden and the marshals attempting to recover his stricken Marc VDS Honda were lucky not to get hit by Espargaro’s errant Yamaha, which slid into their path and smacked into Hayden’s bike.

Twitter: Another scary looking crash involving #NH69 #MM93 #PE44

Thankfully riders AND marshals OK! #AragonGP https://t.co/zqEpGKXcmH (@MotoGP)

Despite the conditions catching a number of rider out, the final few minutes of the session saw a flurry of quick laps come in as everyone scrambled to bag a place in QP2.

LCR’s Cal Crutchow went second quickest with a 1m48.006s, carrying on his strong form from Friday. The Briton complained yesterday of problems entering corners, but it looks as if his LCR team have gotten on top of that issue.

Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales was just a few hundredths adrift in third, the Spaniard going two tenths quicker than Jorge Lorenzo and three tenths faster than his teammate Aleix Espargaro in fifth. Whether Suzuki will remain as competitive when the track temperature rise later today remains to be seen as they slipped back a little in the slightly warmer FP2 yesterday.

Dani Pedrosa failed to improve on his best effort from Friday and ended FP3 sixth fastest on the combined times. Scott Redding dragged his Pramac GP15 to an excellent 1m48.627s to go seventh right at the death, with the first of the factory Desmosedicis of Andrea Dovizioso eighth. Rossi and the luckless Pol Espargaro rounded out the top 10.

Hector Barbera will be disappointed to miss out of a direct slot in QP2 having looked strong on Friday. The Spaniard was 11th in FP3 and will have a fight on his hands in the first part of qualifying later today. Petrucci, thankfully unharmed from his crash, was 12th ahead of Yonny Hernandez, Michele Pirro and Stefan Bradl.

Twitter: Terrible fortune for @Petrux9, wiped out by @polespargaro’s bike while leaving pit lane!

Both up & #AragonGP https://t.co/dI2AOrqePl (@MotoGP)

Alvaro Bautista’s session was hampered by a fall at Turn 14, the Aprilia rider taking the chequered flag in 16th. Eugene Laverty felt that his Aspar team made a big breakthrough with his GP14.2 yesterday in regards to its cornering ability, but the Irishman will be left frustrated after only going 17th in FP3. Tito Rabat, Hayden, Loris Baz and Lowes brought up the rear of the time sheets.