Practice report

Marquez back on top in Argentina MotoGP FP3

Reigning champion Marc Marquez jumped into top spot in third practice at Termas de Rio Hondo, ahead of fellow Honda rider Cal Crutchlow and Suzuki's Aleix Espargaro.

Scott Redding, Marc VDS Racing Team Honda

Marquez returned to his familiar spot atop the time sheets, the facory Honda rider setting a best lap of 1m38.602s to guarantee himself a spot in second qualifying.

Crutchlow was a close second on the LCR Honda, while Aleix Espargaro, who topped both of the previous sessions, continued to impress by setting the third fastest time, 0.174s slower than Marquez.

A number of riders were bumped out of automatic qualification for Q2, but the factory Ducati bikes of Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso wer not among them, the Italian duo sitting in fourth and fifth respectively ahead of factory Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo.

Valentino Rossi also made it into Q2 with the seventh best lap, the championship leader leading Pramac Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci and the second Suzuki of Maverick Vinales.

Marc VDS rider Scott Redding ended up in 10th, while Pol Espargaro was lucky to snatch an automatic Q2 place with the Tech 3 rider 11th. Taking the final Q2 spot was the Open Class Aspar machine of Eugene Laverty.

FP3 Results:

Pos	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	Marc Marquez	Honda	1m38.602
2	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	0.056
3	Andrea Iannone	Ducati	0.189
4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	0.216
5	Aleix Espargaro	Suzuki	0.317
6	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha	0.350
7	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	0.417
8	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	0.595
9	Maverick Vinales	Suzuki	0.651
10	Scott Redding	Honda	0.710
11	Pol Espargaro	Yamaha	0.724
12	Eugene Laverty	Honda	0.760
13	Bradley Smith	Yamaha	0.869
14	Yonny Hernandez	Ducati	1.126
15	Nicky Hayden	Honda	1.160
16	Hector Barbera	Ducati	1.192
17	Stefan Bradl	Forward Yamaha	1.210
18	Alvaro Bautista	Aprilia	1.336
19	Jack Miller	Honda	1.397
20	Karel Abraham	Honda	1.533
21	Hiroshi Aoyama	Honda	1.586
22	Mike Di Meglio	Ducati	1.653
23	Marco Melandri	Aprilia	1.930
24	Loris Baz	Forward Yamaha	2.203
25	Alex de Angelis	ART	2.963