Marquez leads Crutchlow, Dovizioso into Q1

Marc Marquez has gone under the lap record at Jerez to lead Saturday morning practice ahead of Cal Crutchlow while MotoGP championship leader Andrea Dovizioso missed out on the top ten which will see him go into Qualifying 1.

Friday’s pace-setter Crutchlow headed proceedings for the majority of FP3 by becoming the first rider to duck into the 1m 37s bracket but as the hunt for the single lap pace sharpened Repsol Honda’s Marquez nipped ahead of the LCR Honda rider with a 1m 37.702s.

Marquez leads Crutchlow, Dovizioso into Q1

Marc Marquez has gone under the lap record at Jerez to lead Saturday morning practice ahead of Cal Crutchlow while MotoGP championship leader Andrea Dovizioso missed out on the top ten which will see him go into Qualifying 1.

Friday’s pace-setter Crutchlow headed proceedings for the majority of FP3 by becoming the first rider to duck into the 1m 37s bracket but as the hunt for the single lap pace sharpened Repsol Honda’s Marquez nipped ahead of the LCR Honda rider with a 1m 37.702s.

The reigning MotoGP world champion’s time saw him beat the pole position record set by Jorge Lorenzo in 2015, with the Jerez track having been resurfaced over the winter, which is expected to help bring down lap times this weekend.

With Crutchlow shuffled into second place Suzuki’s Andrea Iannone made a late charge up to third place ahead of top Yamaha Johann Zarco on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 with the factory pair of Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales continuing to struggle.

Lorenzo kept himself in contention by ending FP3 fifth quickest on the factory Ducati GP18 less than one-tenth of a second ahead of Jack Miller on the Pramac Ducati.

Despite his issues from Friday, Rossi ensured his automatic spot in Qualifying 2 with seventh place in the session for Movistar Yamaha – over half a second off of Marquez’s top time – with Dani Pedrosa in eighth place for Repsol Honda as he continues to recover from his wrist injury.

Danilo Petrucci also booked his place in Qualifying 2 for Pramac Ducati with Suzuki’s Alex Rins rounding out the top 10 which saw championship leader Dovizioso the unlucky 11th-place rider to miss out on an automatic berth into the pole position shootout.

Movistar Yamaha’s Vinales was another high profile name to miss out in 12th place with Aleix Espargaro leading the Aprilia hunt in 13th. Tito Rabat missed out on a top 10 spot after crashing out unhurt at Turn 5 with 15 minutes remaining in FP3 with the Spanish rider’s frantic sprint back to the pits for his second bike not paying off.

Pol Espargaro ended the session as top KTM rider but down in 15th place.

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