Factory Honda MotoGP star Marc Marquez topped the combined free practice sessions after posting the fastest time in free practice three, in a session which saw an uncharacteristic mistake from Andrea Dovizioso which saw the Italian crash out in the closing stages in Argentina.
Coming into free practice three inside the top ten but without a time attack under his belt, Marquez – notably without the newly approved Ducati-style accessory fitted to his RC213V – waited until the final ten minutes of the session before sticking a new front tyre in and preparing for qualifying.
Marquez continued to improve on his final run of the session, getting his fastest time down to a 1:38.471, which was 0.206 seconds ahead of the Pramac Ducati of Jack Miller.
Miller had spent a 30 seconds as the fastest man after his own late lap, only for the World Champion to jump back ahead of the Aussie. Miller’s good friend Cal Crutchlow was third fastest, and will be buoyed by his longer run pace, even after a small wave-off with Marquez.
Vinales was fourth fastest and top Yamaha on his factory Monster Yamaha YZR-M1, after testing a range of different tyre combinations, before his soft-soft pairing helped fire him into the top five. Danilo Petrucci will head directly into Q2 along with fellow Italians Franco Morbidelli, Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso.
Dovizioso failed to improve on his time from Friday after crashing with just over three minutes to go when he lost the front end of his GP19 going into turn one. Dovi walked away unharmed but didn’t get a chance to have a mini-quali run at the end of the session.
Jorge Lorenzo improved on his Friday time and found himself ninth fastest after a late lap on his Honda, with Fabio Quartararo waiting until the final moments of the session to pip Taka Nakagami for the final spot in the top ten.
Pecco Bagnaia was the top rookie in twelfth place, just ahead of the Espargaro brothers, with Aleix 0.021 seconds ahead of Pol. Alex Rins was thirteenth and questions will be asked of Suzuki after a disastrous session with Joan Mir down in seventeenth.
