Marquez stays top as Vinales, Rossi miss Q2
Full MotoGP FP3 results from Aragon
Marc Marquez has retained his top spot from Friday practice at Aragon while further disaster developed for Yamaha with both Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi missing out on the top 10.
Full MotoGP FP3 results from Aragon
Marc Marquez has retained his top spot from Friday practice at Aragon while further disaster developed for Yamaha with both Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi missing out on the top 10.
With all eyes on who could reach the automatic Q2 spots, all Yamaha riders appeared to still be struggling for grip – as warned by Johann Zarco following Friday’s hot track conditions – and as the pace sharpened none of the Yamaha riders made it into the top 10.
Rossi was denied his chance to challenge by crashing out of his second lap of his final stint for Movistar Yamaha at Turn 2, condemning him to 18th place, while team-mate Vinales was bumped out in 11th place with Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa jumping ahead with his final lap.
It means both factory Yamaha riders will be sent into Q1, along with both Monster Yamaha Tech 3 riders, to heap more misery on the Japanese manufacturer during a difficult and winless 2018.
At the top, Marquez ended the combined practice sessions fastest with a 1m 47.382s, just 0.011s in front of LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow who topped FP3 with his 1m 47.393s, despite an early low-side crash at Turn 2.
Jack Miller impressed in FP3 to take third place for Pramac Ducati ahead of factory duo Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso to maintain the even fight between Ducati and Honda riders.
Andrea Iannone grabbed his Q2 spot for Suzuki in sixth place ahead of Pedrosa and Pramac Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci.
Both Alvaro Bautista (Angel Nieto Ducati) and Alex Rins (Suzuki) held on to their automatic Q2 spots following Pedrosa’s late improvement which bumped Vinales out into 11th place.
Red Bull KTM’s Bradley Smith impressed moving up to 12th place late on ahead of Franco Morbidelli (Marc VDS Honda) and Zarco (Tech 3).
Pol Espargaro missed the majority of FP3 following a nasty crash for the Red Bull KTM which left the Spanish rider walking away holding his shoulder. After a trip to the medical centre, it was confirmed Espargaro has sustained a broken left collarbone and will miss the rest of the race weekend.
Avintia Ducati’s stand-in Jordi Torres was another to crash out of FP3 to keep him 24th and last. Torres has been selected as replacement rider for the injured Tito Rabat – taking over from Christophe Ponsson.
