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: Dovizioso fastest again ahead of qualifying

Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso returned to the top of the timesheets in third practice for MotoGP's Japanese Grand Prix, narrowly edging Cal Crutchlow and Johann Zarco.

Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team

Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

After FP2 was rendered unrepresentative by rain, Saturday morning's session took place in sunny weather, although it took until the final couple of minutes for Friday's best times to be beaten.

With 10 minutes left on the clock, the top six overall remained unchanged from Friday, with only a handful of riders improving prior to the all-important final runs.

LCR rider Crutchlow was first to beat Dovizioso's FP1 benchmark with a 1m45.134s, with Honda stablemate Marc Marquez slotting into second moments later with a time 0.155s slower.

But Dovizioso was able to go 0.027s quicker than Crutchlow on his final run to retake the top spot with a 1m45.107s.

A late improvement for the Tech 3 Yamaha of Zarco shuffled Marquez down to fourth place, the Frenchman ending up just three thousandths shy of Crutchlow, creating an identical top four to FP1.

Valentino Rossi had dropped as low as 11th in the closing stages, outside the automatic Q2 cut-off, but the factory Yamaha rider booked his place in the pole shootout by going fifth fastest on his final lap, 0.315s off the pace.

Dani Pedrosa (Honda) was next up, followed by Maverick Vinales (Yamaha) and the lead Suzuki of Alex Rins.

Taking the final automatic Q2 places were Andrea Iannone (Suzuki) and Jack Miller, whose Pramac Ducati teammate Danilo Petrucci ruled himself out with a late crash at Turn 12.

Alvaro Bautista (Nieto Ducati) also found himself squeezed out of the top 10, 0.054s behind Miller.

Katsuyuki Nakasuga led Japanese home hopes in 14th on his wildcard Yamaha, two places ahead of LCR Honda's Takaaki Nakagami.

Sylvain Guintoli, riding a 2019-spec machine for Suzuki this weekend, was 25th and last, but ahead of Avintia Ducati of Jordi Torres - who had an early fall at Turn 7 - on the overall timesheets.

Practice results:

Pos. # Rider Bike Time Gap
1 4 Italy Andrea Dovizioso  Ducati 1'45.107  
2 35 United Kingdom Cal Crutchlow  Honda 1'45.134 0.027
3 5 France Johann Zarco  Yamaha 1'45.137 0.030
4 93 Spain Marc Marquez  Honda 1'45.289 0.182
5 46 Italy Valentino Rossi  Yamaha 1'45.422 0.315
6 26 Spain Dani Pedrosa  Honda 1'45.428 0.321
7 25 Spain Maverick Viñales  Yamaha 1'45.470 0.363
8 42 Spain Alex Rins  Suzuki 1'45.508 0.401
9 29 Italy Andrea Iannone  Suzuki 1'45.599 0.492
10 43 Australia Jack Miller  Ducati 1'45.688 0.581
11 19 Spain Alvaro Bautista  Ducati 1'45.742 0.635
12 21 Italy Franco Morbidelli  Honda 1'46.125 1.018
13 9 Italy Danilo Petrucci  Ducati 1'46.216 1.109
14 89 Japan Katsuyuki Nakasuga  Yamaha 1'46.341 1.234
15 44 Spain Pol Espargaro  KTM 1'46.488 1.381
16 30 Japan Takaaki Nakagami  Honda 1'46.491 1.384
17 41 Spain Aleix Espargaro  Aprilia 1'46.518 1.411
18 45 United Kingdom Scott Redding  Aprilia 1'46.561 1.454
19 55 Malaysia Hafizh Syahrin  Yamaha 1'46.579 1.472
20 10 Belgium Xavier Simeon  Ducati 1'46.608 1.501
21 12 Switzerland Thomas Luthi  Honda 1'47.048 1.941
22 38 United Kingdom Bradley Smith  KTM 1'47.179 2.072
23 17 Czech Republic Karel Abraham  Ducati 1'47.387 2.280
24 81 Spain Jordi Torres  Ducati 1'47.542 2.435
25 50 France Sylvain Guintoli  Suzuki 1'47.893 2.786

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Can Marquez repeat his Motegi MotoGP coronation?
Next article Motegi MotoGP: Dovizioso grabs pole, Marquez sixth

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