Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo put in the fastest ever MotoGP lap of Mugello to top the third practice session at Italy while reigning champion Marc Marquez will have to make his way through qualifying one after slumping to 11th place.
Lorenzo stuck in a 1’46.617 with his final flying lap to oust Andrea Iannone, who is riding with a fractured humerus, had topped the session with one minute left on a 1’47.008 but Lorenzo went almost four-tenths quicker.
Yesterday, Marquez said he was struggling to not only stop the RC213V but also calm down its aggressive nature on corner exit and any work done overnight doesn’t seem to have done the trick as he is almost a second off the pace.
In a frantic final five minutes, Britain’s Bradley Smith went third quickest on a 1’47.495 as Dani Pedrosa hopped into the top five before Pol Espargaro went into third and Scott Redding moved into the top eight and into an automatic qualifying two spot.
The everyone upped their game, Lorenzo shot from tenth to second on a 1’47.061 behind Iannone, who used the concessionary soft tyre to top the sheets, and then the Spaniard put in the lap of a lifetime to secure top spot.
Andrea Dovizioso, who was fastest yesterday, sealed third on the soft tyre with a 1’47.113 and towed Ducati test rider Michele Pirro round to fourth place. Pol Espargaro ended in fifth just 0.014s behind Pirro, pushing Cal Crutchlow down a spot.
The CWM LCR Honda man’s 1’47.210 had been good enough for third place but he was pushed down the order as the pace got hotter. Dani Pedrosa jumped out of a qualifying one slot into seventh with his last lap and demoted Smith to eighth place.
Valentino Rossi had been in second spot with six minutes left but The Doctor found himself on the cusp of qualifying one as the chequered flag came out. Maverick Vinales was the last of the qualifying two men, putting the Suzuki into tenth place with a lap of 1’47.557 as positions two to ten are covered by just half a second.
Marquez has some work to do from 11th place while Scott Redding will have Aleix Espargaro and a hotter track temperature to contend with in the fight for a qualifying two promotion place this afternoon and the two Pramac Ducatis, with their soft-tyre concession, will also be in the mix.
Eugene Laverty slid down to 24th place while Marco Melandri’s best lap was a 1’52.050, some 5.4s off the pace and only two seconds faster than a showroom Ducati Panigale on road tyres has lapped the Italian circuit.
