Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA
Practice report

Motegi MotoGP: Petrucci leads Marquez in wet FP3

Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci topped third practice for MotoGP’s Japanese Grand Prix at a wet Twin Ring Motegi, leading recently-crowned six-time champion Marc Marquez.

Danilo Petrucci, Ducati Team

Danilo Petrucci, Ducati Team

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Honda man Marquez led a rain-delayed FP3 from virtually start to finish, breaking the 1m55s barrier 15 minutes into the session to put himself comfortably ahead of the opposition.

It wasn’t until 20 minutes to go in the session that any rider was able to lap within one second of Marquez’s best time of 1m54.884s, Suzuki wildcard Sylvain Guintoli impressing to set the second-quickest lap.

It appeared Marquez would end FP3 at the top of the timesheets, but Petrucci fired in a 1m54.710s to snatch the top spot moments after the chequered flag dropped.

Marquez failed to improve on his previous benchmark in his final run and ended up 0.174s behind in second, with Petronas Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli improving late on to jump up to third.

Maverick Vinales was fourth on the leading factory Yamaha, while Guintoli slipped to fifth ahead of the second Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso and his Suzuki teammate Alex Rins.

Petronas Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo was eighth, while Pol Espargaro (KTM) and Miguel Oliveira (Tech 3 KTM) completed the top 10.

Valentino Rossi was a distant 12th for Yamaha, while struggling Honda rider Jorge Lorenzo set the 22nd-quickest time in the wet, only ahead of former Moto2 champion Tito Rabat, whose session came to an early halt.

With the entire FP3 taking place on a damp circuit, there was no change in the combined classification, leaving Rins and LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow - who trailed in 20th place in FP3 - among others to navigate their way through Q1 in qualifying.

Session results:

Cla # Rider Bike Time Gap
1 9 Italy Danilo Petrucci
Ducati 01'54.710
2 93 Spain Marc Marquez
Honda 01'54.884 00.174
3 21 Italy Franco Morbidelli
Yamaha 01'55.175 00.465
4 12 Spain Maverick Viñales
Yamaha 01'55.458 00.748
5 50 France Sylvain Guintoli
Suzuki 01'55.590 00.880
6 4 Italy Andrea Dovizioso
Ducati 01'55.722 01.012
7 42 Spain Alex Rins
Suzuki 01'55.796 01.086
8 20 France Fabio Quartararo
Yamaha 01'55.811 01.101
9 44 Spain Pol Espargaro
KTM 01'55.824 01.114
10 88 Portugal Miguel Oliveira
KTM 01'55.860 01.150
11 36 Spain Joan Mir
Suzuki 01'55.972 01.262
12 46 Italy Valentino Rossi
Yamaha 01'56.230 01.520
13 82 Finland Mika Kallio
KTM 01'56.243 01.533
14 41 Spain Aleix Espargaro
Aprilia 01'56.397 01.687
15 30 Japan Takaaki Nakagami
Honda 01'56.537 01.827
16 17 Czech Republic Karel Abraham
Ducati 01'56.809 02.099
17 35 United Kingdom Cal Crutchlow
Honda 01'56.812 02.102
18 43 Australia Jack Miller
Ducati 01'56.840 02.130
19 63 Italy Francesco Bagnaia
Ducati 01'57.176 02.466
20 29 Italy Andrea Iannone
Aprilia 01'57.226 02.516
21 55 Malaysia Hafizh Syahrin
KTM 01'57.555 02.845
22 99 Spain Jorge Lorenzo
Honda 01'57.605 02.895
23 53 Spain Tito Rabat
Ducati 01'58.621 03.911

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Promoted: How working from home boosted motorsport TV coverage
Next article Motegi MotoGP: Marquez scores 10th pole of 2019

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA