Blue skies, few clouds and temperatures creeping up towards 20 degrees was the scene on Saturday morning for FP3, with Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0) initially the only men able to lower their laptimes from Friday – taking between three and four tenths off.
In the last 15 minutes the action hotted up once again, and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) took the top spot in the final shootout - getting down to two tenths off Lorenzo’s Best Lap of the circuit - with Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Maverick Viñales in P2 – and Lorenzo’s Friday laptime keeping the Spartan in third on combined times.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) is fourth quickest going through the Q2, with Repsol Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa back from injury in stunning style to complete the top five. Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) led brother Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki Ecstar) next on the timesheets, with Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) taking eighth.
Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) was ninth quickest and safely through to Q2, with Bradley Smith winning the battle of the Brits to complete the top ten – and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) the big name left heading for Q1 in P11.