Valentino Rossi topped a tight third MotoGP practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix ahead of Yamaha stablemate Johann Zarco on the satellite Tech3 bike.
Despite a heavy downpour in the morning before track action commenced leaving damp patches in places, improvements on first practice times were immediate.
Pramac Ducati’s Scott Redding – who has had to peel himself off his sick bed this morning – improved to 16th on the combined times, while Marc VDS Honda’s Jack Miller moved up to 13th on the overall standings and top of the third practice timesheet with a 2m01.714s.
Rossi took over top spot just under 15 minutes in with a 2m01.689s, but remained 12th on the combined times, with Yamaha team-mate Maverick Vinales deposing him shortly thereafter with a 2m01.547s.
A 2m01.274s from Miller returned him to the top of the pile and put him just 0.080 seconds outside of the top 10 on the combined times in 11th, while Rossi edged closer to a Q2 place with a 2m01.284s set on the hard rear tyre.
The Italian put in a 2m01.185s with 18 minutes to go on that harder option tyre to move up to 10th, while Cal Crutchlow went fastest in the session and fourth overall with a 2m00.853s.
A fastest lap of the weekend of 2m00.406s set on the soft tyre with 13 minutes remaining put Miller top on both timesheets, and signalled the beginning of a frantic shoot-out to secure a place in Q2.
With seven minutes left, Rossi‘s second lap on the soft tyre put him fastest of all with a 2m00.246s before former team-mate Jorge Lorenzo took his factory Ducati to top spot with a 2m00.163s.
Honda’s Dani Pedrosa took over from compatriot Lorenzo as the session’s pacesetter, though only briefly as Zarco edged ahead with a 2m00.024s.
The French rider, a double winner at Sepang in the Moto2 class, looked set to remain fastest of all heading into qualifying, but was denied at the death with a 1m59.947s from Rossi. Pedrosa completed the top three.
Friday pacesetter Andrea Dovizioso was fourth, while title rival Marc Marquez – who spent much of the session evaluating the hard rear tyre – ended the session ninth ahead of the sister factory Yamaha of Maverick Vinales.
Between them cam Suzuki’s Andrea Iannone in eighth, Crutchlow, Miller and Lorenzo – the top 10 covered by 0.748 seconds at the chequered flag.
Alvaro Bautista suffered two falls during the 45-minute third session, which denied him a spot in Q2 by just 0.047s as he was unable to improve on his Friday best. Alex Rins was a further 0.004s adrift in 12th.
Danilo Petrucci’s dry form still proved to be lacking in 13th ahead of Karel Abraham and Bradley Smith. Tech3 replacement rider Michael van der Mark completed the 22-strong field with a 2m01.984s – 2.037s off of the pace.
