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MotoGP Austin: Marquez continues domination with Iannone in pursuit

Former MotoGP champion Marc Marquez continued his domination of the Austin timesheets today, setting a 2’03.741 to set the quickest lap of the weekend so far but was chased hard by Andrea Iannone’s works Ducati.Marquez had almost a half a second in hand as the session drew to a close but Iannone had designs on top spot, putting in a 2’03.937 to cement the runner-up place he had grabbed with a 2’04.329 a few minutes previously.

Iannone was only able to put on one 2’03s lap but Marquez strung together three at the end of his last exit using the medium tyre which Michelin only made available for this session. That looks to be the Repsol Honda man’s pace, which is ominous for everyone.

Reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo was the first Yamaha home in third but is almost six-tenths slower than his title rival while Ecstar Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales continues to show his pace, grabbing fourth with a 2’04.336 to go 0.005 slower than his compatriot on the Yamaha.

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Lorenzo is able to lap in the low 2’04s as is Vinales while fifth-placed man Cal Crutchlow put in another of his bite-the-screen laps to pull a 2’04.408 out of the bag with his penultimate circulation.

His Movistar Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi dropped under the 2’05s barrier just once with a 2’04.450 while Dani Pedrosa, who with Crutchlow is struggling to understand why the Honda is being out accelerated by almost everything out there, ended in seventh place.

Frenchman Loris Baz got a tow from Lorenzo to take himself into qualifying two by right, lapping at 2’04.576 while a crash from Andrea Dovizioso meant he slid down the timesheet to ninth.

Scott Redding nicked the final automatic qualifying spot with a 2’04.769 which pushed Pol Espargaro back into 11th and qualifying two. His Suzuki-mounted brother Aleix was 12th with Hector Barbera, Michele Pirro and Yonny Hernandez completing the top 15.

Jack Miller, who broke a load of bones in his foot during yesterday’s whopping highside, remained in 17th with the struggling Bradley Smith one place behind.

Eugene Laverty, who also had a big crash yesterday, ended in 19th.

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