Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez continues to hog the top spot at the private
MotoGP test at the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, after the final morning session of the thee-day shakedown.
Rookie Marquez improved his time by half a second from Wednesday on the RC213V with a best lap in 2m 03.357s keeping him ahead of team-mate Dani Pedrosa, who knocked a tenth of a second off his Wednesday best to post a lap in 2m 03.898s.
LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl lapped in 2m 04.255s before the lunchtime break.
The factory Yamaha team of reigning world champion
Jorge Lorenzo and
Valentino Rossi left the circuit on Wednesday after completing two days of testing.
Marquez, who completed 26 laps in the morning, said: “This morning has been quite good, from the beginning the grip on the track wasn't too bad.
“We found our rhythm pretty quickly and we began to try a few things that we first tired yesterday and saw that they could be better and we confirmed these feelings.
“So at the moment everything is going well and now we will plan our final programme for the afternoon session,” added last year's Moto2 world champion.
Pedrosa, who completed 14 laps before lunch, added: “We didn't do anything too special this morning, just confirmed some settings with the rear shock from yesterday and some other set-up items.
“Now we have the final session this afternoon to finish our programme before we leave.”