Rossi, Pedrosa break top 10 in FP3, Dovi left out

Andrea Iannone returned to the top of the MotoGP timesheets during Saturday morning's FP3 session at Sachsenring.

The Suzuki rider - quickest in FP1, before slipping to third on Friday afternoon – got the better of Pramac Ducati's Danilo Petrucci by just 0.099s during the late push on new soft rear tyres.

Rossi, Pedrosa break top 10 in FP3, Dovi left out

Andrea Iannone returned to the top of the MotoGP timesheets during Saturday morning's FP3 session at Sachsenring.

The Suzuki rider - quickest in FP1, before slipping to third on Friday afternoon – got the better of Pramac Ducati's Danilo Petrucci by just 0.099s during the late push on new soft rear tyres.

But while one Ducati rider was celebrating there was misery for factory star Andrea Dovizioso, who couldn't stay in the top ten and will now need to take part in Qualifying 1.

Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa had been staring at that fate overnight, but both were able to up their pace enough to claim fourth and tenth overall on Saturday morning.

Pedrosa was just 0.430s slower than Iannone and 0.047s quicker than Dovizioso.

Title leader Marc Marquez, unbeaten at Sachsenring for eight years, had steered clear of soft tyres on Friday - raised concerns from his rivals that he might disappear at the end of FP3. 

That didn't happen, and the Repsol Honda rider could only manage sixth place, albeit just 0.296s from the top.

Marquez was also behind fellow Honda rider Cal Crutchlow, who put the LCR machine into third overall, with Angel Nieto Ducati's Alvaro Bautista doing a fine job to split Rossi and Marquez in fifth.

Unfortunately for Bautista it looks to be too late to claim the SIC Yamaha ride, now rumoured to have gone to Fabio Quartararo.

Between Marquez and Pedrosa were Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha), Friday leader Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati) and Alex Rins (Suzuki).

Joining Dovizioso in Qualifying 1 will be the likes of Aleix Espargaro (12th) - the Aprilia rider furious after being held up early in the session, only to accidentally block Marquez late on - Jack Miller (13th), Johann Zarco (15th) and rookie Takaaki Nakagami (16th), who had been seventh on Friday.

Bradley Smith was the top KTM rider in 14th, with wild-card Mika Kallio eliminated from the weekend by a Friday knee injury.

Stefan Bradl, making his MotoGP return in place of the injured Franco Morbidelli at Marc VDS Honda, gained one place for 20th.

Click Here for the full FP3 results…
 

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