The benchmark set by LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow on Friday, a 1m47.365s, was beaten early on in the 45-minute session by the Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro, who went to the top of the times with a 1m47.173s.

That survived as the best time until the closing minutes, when the order was comprehensively reshuffled by a flurry of fast times set using soft tyres.

Ducati rider Jorge Lorenzo was the first to beat Espargaro with a 1m46.911s with four minutes remaining, vaulting up from 14th place, before Honda man Marquez took over at the top a 1m46.865s moments later.

But Marquez's time was beaten with just 30 seconds left on the clock by Rossi, who had suffered with arm pain on his way to 11th and 12th in Friday's sessions following his motocross crash last week.

The Yamaha rider clocked a 1m46.543s to end the session 0.322s clear of Marquez and 0.368s ahead of Lorenzo, who stayed third.

Alvaro Bautista put his 2016-spec Aspar Ducati in fourth, beating the second Yamaha of Maverick Vinales, who ended the session 0.429s adrift of his teammate Rossi.

Tito Rabat took full advantage of Marquez's slipstream to end up sixth aboard the Marc VDS Honda, followed by the remaining works Ducatis of Michele Pirro and Andrea Dovizioso and the second Repsol bike of Dani Pedrosa.

Espargaro's early time was just enough for him to take 10th and the final automatic berth in Q2, the Spaniard shading Johann Zarco on the best of the Tech 3 Yamahas by less than a tenth.

Crutchlow, who crashed on his outlap at Turn 14, failed to improve on his Friday time and ended up 12th, ahead of the two Pramac Ducatis of Scott Redding and Danilo Petrucci, the Italian crashing twice.

Andrea Iannone was the best of the Suzukis in 17th, one place ahead of lead KTM rider Pol Espargaro.

Practice results (FP3 times only):

Pos.	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1'46.543
2	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	1'46.865	0.322
3	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati	1'46.911	0.368
4	19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	1'46.959	0.416
5	25	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	1'46.972	0.429
6	53	Tito Rabat	Honda	1'47.048	0.505
7	51	Michele Pirro	Ducati	1'47.110	0.567
8	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'47.120	0.577
9	26	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	1'47.166	0.623
10	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1'47.173	0.630
11	5	Johann Zarco	Yamaha	1'47.257	0.714
12	45	Scott Redding	Ducati	1'47.428	0.885
13	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1'47.429	0.886
14	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1'47.456	0.913
15	8	Hector Barbera	Ducati	1'47.528	0.985
16	29	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	1'47.566	1.023
17	94	Jonas Folger	Yamaha	1'47.624	1.081
18	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	1'48.017	1.474
19	76	Loris Baz	Ducati	1'48.096	1.553
20	22	Sam Lowes	Aprilia	1'48.229	1.686
21	43	Jack Miller	Honda	1'48.337	1.794
22	38	Bradley Smith	KTM	1'48.531	1.988
23	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati	1'48.551	2.008
24	50	Sylvain Guintoli	Suzuki	1'49.212	2.669