Argentina MotoGP: Marquez crashes but still tops third practice

WIth track conditions improving compared to the first two sessions on Friday, it took no time at all for factory Honda rider Marquez to break through the benchmark he had set in FP2, recording a 1m40.899s on only his second flying lap.

The two-time champion followed that up with a succession of improvements, working his way down to a 1m40.529s with just under 20 minutes remaining before improving to a 1m40.368s.

In the last 10 minutes, Marquez lost the front end of his factory Honda RC213V at Turn 1, ending up in the gravel - promptly dashing back to the pits to use the spare bike, but failing to improve thereafter.

Lorenzo, who had ended a miserable Friday down in 14th, came closest to deposing Marquez, setting a number of overall best third sector times only to lose ground in the last sector.

In the end, the Yamaha rider finished just 0.024s adrift, three tenths clear of the factory Ducati of Andrea Iannone in third place.

A late improvement for Hector Barbera promoted the Avintia Ducati rider to a surprise fourth place, just under four tenths adrift, ahead of Suzuki's Maverick Vinales and the second works Honda of Dani Pedrosa.

Aleix Espargaro (Suzuki), Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda), Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) and a somewhat off-colour Valentino Rossi on the slower of the factory Yamahas completed the top 10, all sealing automatic spots in Q2.

Marc VDS rider Jack Miller, fourth on Friday, just missed out on a place in Q2 in 11th, and will have to fight his way through the first qualifying session along with the Tech 3 Yamahas of Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith.

Scott Redding had a tough time aboard the Pramac Ducati, ending the session down in 17th, two places behind teammate Michele Pirro - who only arrived on Friday afternoon and missed both FP1 and FP2.

Practice results:

Pos	Rider	Team	Bike	Time	Gap
1	Marc Marquez	Repsol Honda Team	Honda RC213V	1:40.368
2	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha YZR-M1	1:40.392	+0.024
3	Andrea Iannone	Ducati Team	Ducati Desmosedici GP16	1:40.741	+0.373
4	Hector Barbera	Avintia Racing	Ducati Desmosedici GP14	1:40.766	+0.398
5	Maverick Vinales	Team Suzuki ECSTAR	Suzuki GSX-RR	1:40.796	+0.428
6	Dani Pedrosa	Repsol Honda Team	Honda RC213V	1:40.807	+0.439
7	Aleix Espargaro	Team Suzuki ECSTAR	Suzuki GSX-RR	1:40.893	+0.525
8	Cal Crutchlow	Team LCR	Honda RC213V	1:40.929	+0.561
9	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati Team	Ducati Desmosedici GP16	1:41.040	+0.672
10	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha YZR-M1	1:41.101	+0.733
11	Jack Miller	Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda RC213V	1:41.145	+0.777
12	Pol Espargaro	Tech 3	Yamaha YZR-M1	1:41.171	+0.803
13	Bradley Smith	Tech 3	Yamaha YZR-M1	1:41.246	+0.878
14	Loris Baz	Avintia Racing	Ducati Desmosedici GP14	1:41.359	+0.991
15	Michele Pirro	Octo Pramac Yakhnich	Ducati Desmosedici GP15	1:41.379	+1.011
16	Alvaro Bautista	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia RS-GP	1:41.679	+1.311
17	Scott Redding	Octo Pramac Yakhnich	Ducati Desmosedici GP15	1:41.726	+1.358
18	Tito Rabat	Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda RC213V	1:41.798	+1.430
19	Stefan Bradl	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia RS-GP	1:41.909	+1.541
20	Yonny Hernandez	Aspar Racing Team	Ducati Desmosedici GP14	1:41.924	+1.556
21	Eugene Laverty	Aspar Racing Team	Ducati Desmosedici GP14	1:42.106	+1.738