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Practice report

Sachsenring MotoGP: Marquez fastest, Rossi and Dovizioso to Q1

Honda rider Marc Marquez topped the third MotoGP practice session at the Sachsenring, while Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso will have to take part in Q1.

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Marquez's nearest rival Fabio Quartararo had a massive moment at the end of the session when his Yamaha shook violently at Turn 11. While he didn't crash, he was left in obvious pain in his left shoulder.

The Frenchman, along with other Yamaha riders, also struggled with the first corner of the circuit early on.

Quartararo went off twice, and works rider Maverick Vinales then came close to hitting the wall on two occasions. Quartararo's teammate Franco Morbidelli also had a trip through the gravel at the corner.

At the start, Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro impressively came within four tenths of Marquez's Friday benchmark, and led the majority of FP3, with the Honda rider sitting second.

Quartararo then put on a new soft rear tyre and took the lead, setting the best time of the weekend with a 1m20.515s, which he recorded while running behind Marquez.

Vinales progressively closed the gap to Quartararo, in the end ending up just one tenth behind the rookie.

However, both Yamaha riders were beaten by Marquez in the end, the Honda rider doing a 1m20.347s on his second flyer after he had made a mistake on his first.

Quartararo ended up second from Vinales and Cal Crutchlow, who was fourth-fastest with a fractured right knee. Suzuki's Alex Rins was fifth, with Morbidelli taking sixth.

Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller were the top Ducatis in seventh and eighth respectively, with ninth-placed Joan Mir making it two Suzukis in the top 10.

KTM rider Pol Espargaro also made it to Q2 in 10th, but ended the session with a crash at Turn 3.

Espargaro beat Valentino Rossi by 0.013s, the Yamaha man once again confined to Q1 - where he will be joined by Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso, who was only 14th.

Pramac Ducati rookie Francesco Bagnaia returned to riding after missing FP2 following his hospital visit in the aftermath of his FP1 crash. He was last in the Saturday morning session.

Session results:

Cla # Rider Bike Time Gap
1 93 Spain Marc Marquez
Honda 1'20.347
2 20 France Fabio Quartararo
Yamaha 1'20.515 0.168
3 12 Spain Maverick Viñales
Yamaha 1'20.634 0.287
4 35 United Kingdom Cal Crutchlow
Honda 1'20.653 0.306
5 42 Spain Alex Rins
Suzuki 1'20.679 0.332
6 21 Italy Franco Morbidelli
Yamaha 1'20.833 0.486
7 9 Italy Danilo Petrucci
Ducati 1'20.867 0.520
8 43 Australia Jack Miller
Ducati 1'20.891 0.544
9 36 Spain Joan Mir
Suzuki 1'20.986 0.639
10 44 Spain Pol Espargaro
KTM 1'21.019 0.672
11 46 Italy Valentino Rossi
Yamaha 1'21.026 0.679
12 41 Spain Aleix Espargaro
Aprilia 1'21.086 0.739
13 30 Japan Takaaki Nakagami
Honda 1'21.125 0.778
14 4 Italy Andrea Dovizioso
Ducati 1'21.184 0.837
15 88 Portugal Miguel Oliveira
KTM 1'21.375 1.028
16 29 Italy Andrea Iannone
Aprilia 1'21.381 1.034
17 5 France Johann Zarco
KTM 1'21.435 1.088
18 6 Germany Stefan Bradl
Honda 1'21.443 1.096
19 53 Spain Tito Rabat
Ducati 1'21.611 1.264
20 17 Czech Republic Karel Abraham
Ducati 1'21.832 1.485
21 55 Malaysia Hafizh Syahrin
KTM 1'21.972 1.625
22 63 Italy Francesco Bagnaia
Ducati 1'22.150 1.803

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