Argentina MotoGP: Marquez tops wet FP3, Ducatis to Q1

A wet-weather session left championship leader Andrea Dovizioso and teammate Jorge Lorenzo - as well as the other 2018-spec Ducati of Pramac rider Danilo Petrucci – outside of the combined practice top 10, after the Italian marque's bikes struggled on Friday.

Rain overnight followed by overcast conditions throughout the day meant the track surface did not dry enough in time for third practice, and riders were thus resigned to wet-tyre testing.

Marquez monopolised the top spot in the opening minutes, but was soon surpassed by Dovizioso, before Tech 3 duo Hafizh Syahrin and Johann Zarco took turns out front.

The reigning champion reclaimed the lead with the session's first sub-1m51s lap, before subsequent improvements shuffled him down the order.

Yet Marquez saved his best for last, logging a 1m48.896s in the final seconds – which left him comfortably first, despite being over nine seconds down on his Friday benchmark.

Zarco improved at the chequered flag to cut Marquez's lead to 0.607s, while Nieto Ducati pair Alvaro Bautista and Karel Abraham were the only other two riders within a second of the Honda man.

Petrucci made it three Ducatis in the top five, followed by LCR's Cal Crutchlow and KTM rider Pol Espargaro, with Syahrin, Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa making up the top 10 in FP3.

While both works Ducatis will have to fight their way through Q1, the rest of MotoGP's leading factories are assured of having their bikes in the pole shoot-out.

Marquez and Pedrosa will be joined in Q2 by the privateer Honda of Crutchlow, with the Suzukis of Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins and the Yamahas of Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales likewise booking their spots.

Zarco and Pramac Ducati's Jack Miller are also in as the two riders to advance on the strength of their FP1 times – with Miller joined by fellow GP17 rider Tito Rabat as the only other Ducati to make sure of a Q2 spot.

Session results

Pos.	#	Rider	Bike	Laps	Time	Gap
1	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	14	1'48.896
2	5	Johann Zarco	Yamaha	21	1'49.503	0.607
3	19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	20	1'49.828	0.932
4	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati	15	1'49.892	0.996
5	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	15	1'49.948	1.052
6	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	13	1'50.149	1.253
7	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	15	1'50.245	1.349
8	55	Hafizh Syahrin	Yamaha	18	1'50.261	1.365
9	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	17	1'50.396	1.500
10	26	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	16	1'50.463	1.567
11	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	19	1'50.645	1.749
12	29	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	17	1'50.679	1.783
13	25	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	17	1'50.685	1.789
14	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	14	1'50.747	1.851
15	45	Scott Redding	Aprilia	12	1'50.972	2.076
16	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati	18	1'51.001	2.105
17	53	Tito Rabat	Ducati	20	1'51.051	2.155
18	21	Franco Morbidelli	Honda	19	1'51.170	2.274
19	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	17	1'51.197	2.301
20	38	Bradley Smith	KTM	13	1'51.296	2.400
21	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	20	1'51.636	2.740
22	12	Thomas Luthi	Honda	17	1'52.352	3.456
23	10	Xavier Simeon	Ducati	18	1'52.462	3.566
24	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	6	1'52.648	3.752