---
title: "Rossi grits his teeth to go top in third practice"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2017/06/03/rossi-grits-teeth-go-top-third-practice/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Lewis Duncan"
section: "MotoGP News"
published: "2017-06-03T09:01:00Z"
modified: "2017-06-03T09:01:32Z"
---

# Rossi grits his teeth to go top in third practice

Home hero Valentino Rossi gritted his teeth in third practice at Mugello to go top of the pile with a lap close to the outright circuit record.

The Yamaha rider has been struggling this weekend with ‘severe pain’ in his chest and abdomen following a motocross training accident last week. Running only mild painkillers this morning, the Italian showed no signs of his injury affecting him as he began to up his pace in the closing stages.

![Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/06/691581544.jpg)

Initially hopping up to fourth, Rossi dug deep on his final effort, finding a massive three tenths of a second in the third sector alone to go fastest of all with a 1m46.543s, breaking the Spanish monopoly on the top five.

Honda’s Marc Marquez had taken over from compatriot Jorge Lorenzo at the top of the standings with three minutes to go, though was 0.322 seconds adrift of Rossi at the chequered flag, while Lorenzo was a further 0.046s behind in third.

![Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/06/691593134.jpg)

Aspar Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista was pleased with his day’s work on Friday, the Spaniard seventh on the combined times heading into today. Once again showing strong pace on his year-old GP16, Bautista was fourth fastest in FP3 ahead of championship leader Maverick Vinales.

Marc VDS Honda’s Tito Rabat completed the top six, which will see him contest the second part of qualifying for the first time in his MotoGP career.

Ducati test rider Michele Pirro headed factory team-mate Andrea Dovizioso by just 0.010s at the chequered flag in seventh spot, while Dani Pedrosa creeped into the top 10 at the end of the session with the ninth quickest time.

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro had sat top of the pile for much of FP3, the Spaniard’s RS-GP fitted with a new engine and swingarm. At the chequered flag he was shuffled back to 10th, hanging onto a QP2 spot by just 0.084s from Tech 3 rider Johann Zarco.

Cal Crutchlow was the fastest rider heading into today’s third practice, but a crash on his out-lap at the beginning of the session hindered his progress and could only manage 12th fastest ahead of compatriot Scott Redding, who has been struggling with the tyres available to him this weekend.

> Twitter: Tough start to the day for fastest on combined times #CC35, sliding into the gravel on his out lap!\
> \#RiderOK… https://t.co/F4let4TKyi (@MotoGP)

Danilo Petrucci had shown top six pace, but a crash at Turn 1 with 25 minutes left called time on his session, as his number one bike also laid stricken in his garage after a tumble on his out-lap at the start of FP3. The Italian ended the morning 14th, with Avntia’s Hector Barbera a disappointing 15th after ending Friday’s running sixth overall.

![](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/06/2017-06-03-1-1.png)