Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow has topped the third MotoGP free practice session at Jerez this morning, heading Dani Pedrosa by 0.019s despite having an apparent brake problem with his satellite YZR-M1.
The British rider was the first rider to drop under the 1'39s barrier with his seventh lap of 19 to set a 1'38.975 which stood until the chequered flag. Not long after, he ran off track and then berated his team when he came back into the pits.
Repsol Honda's Pedrosa put in a fast run at the end of the session but couldn't quite match Crutchlow's time, his best a 1'38.994 which was enough to stay ahead of yesterday's quickest man Jorge Lorenzo by just under one one-hundredth of a second.
Valentino Rossi also put in some late, fast laps ending in fourth place on a 1'39.105. Andrea Dovizioso, on the works Ducati, was struggling outside the top ten until he found a lap up his sleeve to go fifth with a 1'39.494 and demote Marc Marquez to sixth.
Hector Barbera was the surprise of the session, pushing his way into seventh place on the Gresini CRT machine with a lap just six-tenths off the pace of Crutchlow. Nicky Hayden was eighth and Andrea Iannone ninth despite breaking down at session end.
Alvaro Bautista was the last man to make it into qualifying two by right but Stefan Bradl, on the LCR Honda, will have to go out in qualifying one this afternoon to try and make it through. He will be joined by Aleix Espargaro.
Bradley Smith failed to make it into qualifying one, finishing in 13th place while Michael Laverty again closed the gap to the leaders and is now just three seconds off the pace.
Entrants to qualifying two:
1 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'38.975 7 19 290.1
2 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'38.994 16 19 0.019 0.019 293.5
3 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing YAMAHA 1'39.078 4 19 0.103 0.084 288.5
4 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Yamaha Factory Racing YAMAHA 1'39.105 18 22 0.130 0.027 288.0
5 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'39.494 16 19 0.519 0.389 288.1
6 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'39.500 10 20 0.525 0.006 290.0
7 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Blusens FTR 1'39.615 12 16 0.640 0.115 279.6
8 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'39.620 16 21 0.645 0.005 285.8
9 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Energy T.I. Pramac Racing DUCATI 1'39.687 11 21 0.712 0.067 288.0
10 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini HONDA 1'39.770 18 21 0.795 0.083 293.1
