Lorenzo, Rossi tied on time, confident for qualifying

Movistar Yamaha riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi set exactly the same lap time during a dry FP3 session for the Americas MotoGP.

Lorenzo, who had struggled with bronchitis on day one, was credited with third place, just 0.345s behind Honda riders Marc Marquez and Cal Crutchlow.

"My physical condition is a little bit better than yesterday but I still feel tired," he said. "It's difficult for me to ride but anyway with the track in good conditions we can be quite fast and finally we are in the Q2, which is very important in order to fight for the first or second row.

"Despite the strange conditions we are riding with, it's definitely going better than last year, when we were quite far from top. I know we can still improve with the bike so we'll work hard this afternoon to reduce the gap."

Rossi improved from sixth and 0.856s behind Marquez on Friday and is also confident ahead of qualifying.

"It's been a very good practice because it's always a big fight for staying in the top ten," said the Qatar winner. "In the end I am happy because we have improved a lot the bike and the setting. I am in fourth position and I have exactly the same lap time of Jorge, which is very interesting.

"The good thing is that we are not so far from Marquez and this means that the bike works very well, especially considering that also Espargar? and Smith are quite fast. Now the big question mark is the front tyre because last year we had a problem so we have to work hard to try to avoid the same issue this year."

Tech 3 Yamaha riders Smith and Espargaro were fifth and sixth quickest in FP3.

Final practice takes place just before qualifying, with rain still a real risk.