Practice report
MotoGP Japanese GP
Motegi MotoGP: Dovizioso fastest again ahead of qualifying
Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso returned to the top of the timesheets in third practice for MotoGP's Japanese Grand Prix, narrowly edging Cal Crutchlow and Johann Zarco.
Jamie Klein
Edited: Oct 20, 2018, 1:56 AM
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After FP2 was rendered unrepresentative by rain, Saturday morning's session took place in sunny weather, although it took until the final couple of minutes for Friday's best times to be beaten.
With 10 minutes left on the clock, the top six overall remained unchanged from Friday, with only a handful of riders improving prior to the all-important final runs.
LCR rider Crutchlow was first to beat Dovizioso's FP1 benchmark with a 1m45.134s, with Honda stablemate Marc Marquez slotting into second moments later with a time 0.155s slower.
But Dovizioso was able to go 0.027s quicker than Crutchlow on his final run to retake the top spot with a 1m45.107s.
A late improvement for the Tech 3 Yamaha of Zarco shuffled Marquez down to fourth place, the Frenchman ending up just three thousandths shy of Crutchlow, creating an identical top four to FP1.
Valentino Rossi had dropped as low as 11th in the closing stages, outside the automatic Q2 cut-off, but the factory Yamaha rider booked his place in the pole shootout by going fifth fastest on his final lap, 0.315s off the pace.
Dani Pedrosa (Honda) was next up, followed by Maverick Vinales (Yamaha) and the lead Suzuki of Alex Rins.
Taking the final automatic Q2 places were Andrea Iannone (Suzuki) and Jack Miller, whose Pramac Ducati teammate Danilo Petrucci ruled himself out with a late crash at Turn 12.
Alvaro Bautista (Nieto Ducati) also found himself squeezed out of the top 10, 0.054s behind Miller.
Katsuyuki Nakasuga led Japanese home hopes in 14th on his wildcard Yamaha, two places ahead of LCR Honda's Takaaki Nakagami.
Sylvain Guintoli, riding a 2019-spec machine for Suzuki this weekend, was 25th and last, but ahead of Avintia Ducati of Jordi Torres - who had an early fall at Turn 7 - on the overall timesheets.
Practice results:
Pos. # Rider Bike Time Gap 1 4 
Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1'45.107 2 35 
Cal Crutchlow Honda 1'45.134 0.027 3 5 
Johann Zarco Yamaha 1'45.137 0.030 4 93 
Marc Marquez Honda 1'45.289 0.182 5 46 
Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1'45.422 0.315 6 26 
Dani Pedrosa Honda 1'45.428 0.321 7 25 
Maverick Viñales Yamaha 1'45.470 0.363 8 42 
Alex Rins Suzuki 1'45.508 0.401 9 29 
Andrea Iannone Suzuki 1'45.599 0.492 10 43 
Jack Miller Ducati 1'45.688 0.581 11 19 
Alvaro Bautista Ducati 1'45.742 0.635 12 21 
Franco Morbidelli Honda 1'46.125 1.018 13 9 Danilo Petrucci Ducati 1'46.216 1.109 14 89 
Katsuyuki Nakasuga Yamaha 1'46.341 1.234 15 44 
Pol Espargaro KTM 1'46.488 1.381 16 30 
Takaaki Nakagami Honda 1'46.491 1.384 17 41 
Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 1'46.518 1.411 18 45 
Scott Redding Aprilia 1'46.561 1.454 19 55 
Hafizh Syahrin Yamaha 1'46.579 1.472 20 10 
Xavier Simeon Ducati 1'46.608 1.501 21 12 
Thomas Luthi Honda 1'47.048 1.941 22 38 
Bradley Smith KTM 1'47.179 2.072 23 17 
Karel Abraham Ducati 1'47.387 2.280 24 81 Jordi Torres Ducati 1'47.542 2.435 25 50 
Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki 1'47.893 2.786
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