Petrucci beats Marquez with lap record, Rossi in Q1

Full FP3 results for the Spanish MotoGP

Danilo Petrucci has set the fastest-ever lap of Jerez to top FP3 and beat Marc Marquez ahead of the Spanish MotoGP, while Valentino Rossi was shuffled out of the top 10 and will have to progress through Q1.

Petrucci beats Marquez with lap record, Rossi in Q1

Full FP3 results for the Spanish MotoGP

Danilo Petrucci has set the fastest-ever lap of Jerez to top FP3 and beat Marc Marquez ahead of the Spanish MotoGP, while Valentino Rossi was shuffled out of the top 10 and will have to progress through Q1.

In a hectic end to the practice session with all riders taking on new soft tyres to reach the top 10 and an automatic Q2 spot, the motorcycle lap record at the Spanish circuit was smashed on multiple occasions before settling with Ducati’s Petrucci who set a 1m 36.957s.

That time saw him edge out Marquez by just 0.061s at the top of the times, while Petronas Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo starred throughout FP3 with the MotoGP rookie taking third place in the session.

Quartararo’s stunning efforts saw Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso shuffled to fourth place late on, while Suzuki duo Joan Mir and Alex Rins demonstrated their improved single lap speed by taking fifth and sixth respectively.

With the LCR Honda pair of Takaaki Nakagami and Cal Cructhlow duly following in seventh and eighth, while the latter suffered a heavy crash midway through the session, the fight for the final top 10 places was hotly contested by some key names.

Franco Morbidelli sneaked into ninth place for Petronas Yamaha, ensuring both SRT-run Yamaha bikes made it into Q2, with birthday boy Jorge Lorenzo taking the gift of 10th place on his Repsol Honda.

It meant Rossi missed out in 11th place by 0.041s on the factory Yamaha, while things could have been worse with Jack Miller’s final lap putting him 12th for Pramac Ducati and only 0.007s off the Italian rider.

Pol Espargaro on the Red Bull KTM edged brother Aleix Espargaro on the Aprilia in 13th and 14th respectively, which left Maverick Vinales down in 15th place on the factory Yamaha. But such was the impressive pace in FP3, all of the top 14 riders went under the previous outright lap record set last year by Crutchlow.

Earlier in FP3 the session was suspended with a little over 17 minutes remaining as red flags were required so track marshals could safely repair the air fence barrier between Turn 9 and Turn 10 which was broken by Crutchlow’s off - with the British rider appearing to crash while using the new Honda carbon swingarm.

Honda wildcard Stefan Bradl, a top 10 contender after Friday practice, was shuffled to 16th place but ahead of Francesco Bagnaia on the Pramac Ducati.

With Tito Rabat (Avintia Ducati) 18th, Johann Zarco’s difficult start to life at Red Bull KTM continued down in 19th place as Aprilia’s Andrea Iannone rounded out the top 20.

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