Forward NGM’s Aleix Espargaro has topped the third MotoGP free practice timesheet at Qatar, making it a clean sweep so far as he dropped his laptime yet again to finish on a 1’54.773 on the Open class Yamaha.
The young Spaniard put in a late run on the soft option tyre to bag top spot but was chased by Pramac Ducati’s Andrea Iannone who got a tow from Dani Pedrosa to set a 1’55.186 with Alvaro Bautisa sitting in third place, less than a tenth slower than the Italian.
Andrea Dovizioso set a 1’55.250 to take fourth place on the works Ducati while reigning MotoGP Champion Marc Marquez upped his game from the earlier session to finish a little under seven tenths off the pace.
Monster Yamaha’s Bradley recovered from a massive highside at turn five, and was lucky his satellite M1 didn’t land on him, to finish in sixth, one place ahead of the still-tantruming Jorge Lorenzo.
Dani Pedrosa was sitting in second place early in the session but slipped to eighth place, one ahead of Stefan Bradl on the LCR Honda. Valentino Rossi spent most of the session on the hard tyre and ended in tenth, just less than a second off the pace.
Cal Crutchlow slipped off halfway through the session, losing the front into turn ten but recovered to go 12th quickest, just behind Pol Espargaro. Colin Edwards was 13th and Nicky Hayden 14th, while Scott Redding took another three tenths off his time to go 17th. Michael Laverty was 22nd.
