Lorenzo dominates third MotoGP free practice session at Jerez

Having topped both of Friday’s sessions, Lorenzo once again dominated, the factory Yamaha rider setting an untouchable best lap of 1m38.493s amid a late flurry of improvements near the end of the session.

The first of these came from Lorenzo’s teammate Valentino Rossi, who beat the long-standing benchmark of Honda’s Marc Marquez to go fastest before immediately being beaten by Tech 3 man Pol Espargaro, whose 1m38.547s was still good enough for second behind Lorenzo.

Jumping to third in the closing stages was Cal Crutchlow aboard the LCR Honda, who ended up just 0.082s off the pace and looked set to improve further on the following lap before he backed off.

Suzuki is enjoying a more level playing field this weekend due to the nature of the Jerez circuit, and Aleix Espargaro took full advantage on the GSX-RR machine with the fourth-best lap of 1m38.653s.

Factory Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso took fifth place, one place ahead of championship leader Rossi who made better progress on his factory YZR-M1 to end in sixth.

Marquez was close behind in seventh, despite his hand injury, booking his place in the second phase of qualifying ahead of Andrea Iannone, who continued to threaten the top riders on the Ducati GP15.

British riders Bradley Smith (Tech 3 Yamaha) and Scott Redding (Marc VDS Honda) rounded off the top 10, securing their Q2 spots at the expense of Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales and the Pramac Ducati of Danilo Petrucci, both of which had been inside the top 10 for much of the session.

Practice results: