Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) kept his spot at the top by the end of FP3, leading the combined timesheets by 0.295 ahead of a leap up the timesheets from LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow. Reigning Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) kept his place in Q2 P3, with many other big names unable to improve to make it straight through to Q2.
With rain falling late in the session, the story remained largely unchanged for the big casualties of Friday practice combined times – with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team), Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) left without automatic graduation to the second qualifying session – and only two spots up for grabs in Q1.
Karel Abraham and Alvaro Bautista kept Pull&Bear Aspar Team’s Q2 fire burning in P4 and P5 on combined, ahead of more Independent Team heroes in the form of Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing), Loris Baz (Reale Avintia Racing), Jonas Folger (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini). With Crutchlow the only one to move up and from a place already in the top ten, Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) remains the final rider moving through to Q2.
Pedrosa did improve in FP3 to move up to P11, ahead of Scott Redding (Octo Pramac Racing), Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and ‘DesmoDovi’. Hector Barbera (Reale Avintia Racing) completed the top 15 as he comes back from a broken collarbone in preseason.
Jack Miller (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) was sixteenth, ahead of nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) in P17 – with Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) just behind his former teammate.
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Next for MotoGP™ is FP4 as we wait and see how the weather changes – before Q1 and Q2 get underway from 14:10 local time (GMT -3).