---
title: "Marquez leads Vinales in FP3"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2016/11/12/marquez-leads-vinales-in-fp3/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Lewis Duncan"
section: "MotoGP News"
published: "2016-11-12T10:09:54Z"
modified: "2016-11-12T10:23:22Z"
---

# Marquez leads Vinales in FP3

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez heads into this afternoon’s final qualifying session of the 2016 season as the man to beat after topping the third free practice session at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit.

Track and air temperatures were barely in double figures when FP3 got underway, casting doubt as to whether we would see any improvements on lap times from yesterday. Several rider towards the back of the field made slight improvement, but it wasn’t until the final 15 minutes when we had our first big mover.

LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow jumped up from 11th to sixth with a lap of 1m31.140s, opening the floodgates for a frantic end to the morning session. With five minutes to go, Marquez began setting the timing screens ablaze with fastest sectors and crossed the line to go top with a 1m30.258s.

> Twitter: Whoops! Turn gets the better of both #MM93 & #PE44… how’s that turning circle?![](https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2/svg/1f61d.svg)
>
> \#ValenciaGP https://t.co/9H0x4MkFWs (@MotoGP)

The Spaniard tried to consolidate his position with yet another fastest lap of the weekend, though missed out by just under a tenth of a second. Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales moved into second with a 1m30.361s, the GSX-RR a bike that always works well when it is cold.

Jorge Lorenzo didn’t improve on his best time from FP2, but didn’t need to. Only the two ahead were able to depose him, whilst he still held a two-tenth advantage over the riders behind. Instead the Yamaha rider opted to focus on race set-up, setting a consistent run of mid 1m31s laps on the harder rear tyre.

Andrea Dovizioso made it four manufacturers inside the top four after he put his Ducati GP16 fourth fastest with a 1m30.643, while Honda’s Dani Pedrosa jumped up to fifth despite riding in quite some discomfort from his collarbone and leg injury. Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro carried on his excellent form from yesterday and was sixth quickest this morning, a few hundredths ahead of his big brother Aleix on the Suzuki.

Andrea Iannone left it late but leaped up the order in the closing seconds from 12th to eighth to bag himself a place in QP2 ahead of Valentino Rossi and Bradley Smith, the British rider brushing off a bout of food poisoning to depose countryman Cal Crutchlow for the final QP2 spot.

Crutchlow will be furious at missing out on the top 10 by just 0.021s, and will have his hands full in QP1 later this afternoon. Both Pramac Ducatis and the Avintia GP14.2 of Hector Barbera will pose a massive threat, the quartet covered by just three tenths of a second.

Mika Kallio and KTM were left feeling disappointed after their debut yesterday, as the gap to the leaders was over three seconds. Given that they were eight tenths of a second faster than what they were at a test in Valencia last month, the Austrian marque expected a little more from today. Though Kallio was still last on the time sheets, the Finn was able to shave off eight tenths and reduce his gap to the leaders to 2.5 seconds.

> Twitter: A VERY near ‘miss’ between #AI29 & #YH68… close to a disaster for the pair!
>
> \#WingletWatch #ValenciaGP https://t.co/UGqYFTF6KT (@MotoGP)

Estrella Galicia Marc VDS’ Jack Miller was the only faller in the session, coming off his Honda at Turn 4 right at the end of FP3. However, there was an odd incident between Iannone and Yonny Hernandez earlier on. The Italian rider wasn’t paying attention to where he going and wiped the wings off from the left side of his GP16 on Hernandez’ bike. Luckily, no-one was hurt, though Iannone may have to take a trip to Race Direction later.

![2016-11-12-1](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2016/11/2016-11-12-1-904x459.png)