Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) remains the fastest man so far at Motegi after FP3, leading the charge to Q2 ahead of title rival Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team). Aeix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) remains third, just ahead of Ducati Team’s Jorge Lorenzo.
The biggest news saw Italian Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) dig deep after a tough time for the Yamaha factory bikes in the wet on Friday, and the nine-time World Champion managed to get into the top ten and then the top five. Teammate Maverick Viñales was the big name left out, and the Spaniard will head through Q1.
Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) goes through once more in P6, ahead of a positive weekend so far for Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) in seventh. Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing), after a difficult Aragon, was back in the mix in eighth.
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) went safely through in P9, with Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) the final automatic entrant to Q2 after proving one of the 12 riders to improve his time on Saturday morning – making it both Hamamatsu factory machines moving through. For full results, click here!
After FP4, qualifying gets underway from 14:10 (GMT +9).