Aragon MotoGP: Marquez tops FP3, Rossi books Q2 spot
Marc Marquez set the pace in the Saturday morning MotoGP practice at Aragon, as Valentino Rossi made it directly into Q2 by taking 10th.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Being the first dry session of the weekend, FP3 served as a shootout for the 10 Q2 spots.
Loris Baz kicked off the session with a 1m52.745s, but times quickly went down below 1m50s, first achieved by KTM wildcard Mika Kallio.
Marquez then took over, the Spaniard twice improving to lead the way with a 1m49.411s during the mid-session lull.
Kallio continued to impress by going as close as 0.033s, but then Marquez improved again by a tenth.
The Honda rider's lead was finally put to an end by chief title rival Andrea Dovizioso with seven minutes to go, only for Marquez to go six-tenths faster soon afterwards.
Marquez's effort of 1m48.252s ended up as the benchmark time of the session.
Ducati rider Dovizioso was also demoted by Yamaha's Maverick Vinales who, despite improving one more time, ended up more than three tenths slower than Marquez.
Dani Pedrosa jumped into third during the final minute on the second works Honda, as Aspar Ducati's Alvaro Bautista was just a tenth slower in fourth.
Kallio completed his impressive session in fifth, comfortably beating KTM regulars Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith, who were 12th and 22nd respectively.
Dovizioso dropped down to sixth, followed by Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro, LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow and Suzuki's Andrea Iannone, who crashed after the chequered flag fell at Turn 5.
While spending the majority of the session outside of the top 10, Valentino Rossi completed his first dry session of the weekend in 10th.
He beat Jorge Lorenzo to the final Q2 spot by 0.063s, the Ducati rider losing time early in the session after losing his knee slider.
Both Tech 3 Yamahas Johann Zarco and Jonas Folger crashed during the session and failed to make it to Q2. Folger appeared to have hit his neck during his high-side crash, and was taken to the medical centre for a scan.
Other riders to fall were Jack Miller at the first corner and Aprilia's Sam Lowes.
Practice results:
Pos. | # | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1'48.252 | |
2 | 25 | Maverick Viñales | Yamaha | 1'48.562 | 0.310 |
3 | 26 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | 1'48.683 | 0.431 |
4 | 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Ducati | 1'48.783 | 0.531 |
5 | 36 | Mika Kallio | KTM | 1'48.811 | 0.559 |
6 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'48.881 | 0.629 |
7 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 1'48.920 | 0.668 |
8 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'49.021 | 0.769 |
9 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | 1'49.139 | 0.887 |
10 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1'49.223 | 0.971 |
11 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | 1'49.286 | 1.034 |
12 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | KTM | 1'49.300 | 1.048 |
13 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | 1'49.389 | 1.137 |
14 | 53 | Tito Rabat | Honda | 1'49.473 | 1.221 |
15 | 43 | Jack Miller | Honda | 1'49.523 | 1.271 |
16 | 45 | Scott Redding | Ducati | 1'49.553 | 1.301 |
17 | 8 | Hector Barbera | Ducati | 1'49.613 | 1.361 |
18 | 76 | Loris Baz | Ducati | 1'49.748 | 1.496 |
19 | 5 | Johann Zarco | Yamaha | 1'49.872 | 1.620 |
20 | 17 | Karel Abraham | Ducati | 1'50.133 | 1.881 |
21 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1'50.136 | 1.884 |
22 | 38 | Bradley Smith | KTM | 1'50.753 | 2.501 |
23 | 94 | Jonas Folger | Yamaha | 1'50.919 | 2.667 |
24 | 22 | Sam Lowes | Aprilia | 1'51.076 | 2.824 |
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