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MotoGP Austria: Iannone goes faster but Vinales closes the gap

Factory Ducati’s Andrea Iannone upped his pace again in this morning’s third MotoGP free practice session, setting a 1’23.327 as his marker heading into qualifying but Maverick Vinales was also on point, closing the gap to four-tenths of a second as he ended in third place.

Iannone’s team-mate Andrea Dovizioso did not improve his time from yesterday - which was still good enough for second place - preferring to concentrate on his pace and save a softer-compound rear.

Iannone is able to lap in the low 1’24s at will and dropped into the 1’23 bracket three times while Vinales only managed one but ran it close on the softer tyre with two 1’24-flat laps.

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But it was disaster for Marc Marquez who has been taken to hospital for checks following a big crash at turn three which almost saw the Spaniard wipe out team-mate Dani Pedrosa before landing heavily on his shoulder (click here).

Title rival Jorge Lorenzo didn’t use the softer rear in practice yesterday, but slotted one in this morning and immediately found a second to haul himself into fourth place on a 1’24.843 while Scott Redding charged into fifth place with his final lap, posting a 1’23.962.

Valentino Rossi also found four-tenths of a second from yesterday as the track temperature increased and sits in sixth place while Aleix Espargaro put in an heroic ride with a broken finger to bag seventh place.

Hector Barbera had two fast laps cancelled for exceeding track limits but still ended in eighth place, one ahead of Marquez whose 1’24,265, set on his third lap of four, was enough to squeak into qualifying two by right. Pedrosa took the final automatic place.

Danilo Petrucci was dumped into qualifying one by Barbera’s fast lap while Cal Crutchlow crashed unhurt at the end of the session and wasn’t able to make it into qualifying two automatically. Eugene Laverty again found a lap from nowhere to take 13th place and has a real shot at Q2 this afternoon.

Monster Yamaha had a disastrous time of it as Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro ended in 17th and 18th respectively.

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