Marc Marquez carried over his Friday form to top third practice ahead of the Catalan Grand Prix, while both factory Yamaha riders face the first part of qualifying after dropping out of the top 10.
Honda rider Marquez was confident coming to his home round, after the Spaniard topped a private test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya two weeks ago.
Despite having to re-learn last year’s layout of the final sector, Marquez looked instantly comfortable on his RC213V. A small tumble at Turn 10 in the early stages did nothing rattle the Spaniard, and he proceeded to post a 1m44.178s in the final few minutes to go a tenth clear of team-mate Dani Pedrosa.
Aspar’s Alvaro Bautista followed Marquez into the Turn 10 run-off area, but he too was left unaffected by it and completed the top three on his Desmosedici GP16 with a 1m44.395s.
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro was an impressive fourth, the Spaniard pipping Mugello race winner Andrea Dovizioso by two tenths of a second, with the sister factory Ducati of Jorge Lorenzo completing the top six.
Andrea Iannone has been enjoying a slightly more positive weekend in Barcelona, the Suzuki rider an encouraging seventh quickest in third practice from the Pramac duo of Scott Redding and Danilo Petrucci and Avintia’s Hector Barbera.
Tech3 Yamaha’s Jonas Folger just missed out on a place inside the top 10 in 11th, the German narrowly quicker than LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow.
But the big shock of the session came in the form of the factory Yamaha duo, both of whom failing to get into the top 10. Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi have been struggling with traction and stability over the circuit’s harsh bumps, and their fortunes failed to improve this morning.
Championship leader Vinales was 13th in the session, while Rossi was two spots further behind in 15th. A fast crash at Turn 9 20 minutes from the end left Johann Zarco down in 16th.
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