#AustralianGP MotoGP FP3: Marquez surfs the water in front of Zarco!

Like yesterday, it rained very early this morning on Phillip Island, but like yesterday, the sun and the wind quickly dried out the track. Very quickly is also the adjective which characterizes the changes in weather concerning the circuit, since we can see very different conditions during the same session.

This is also the case this morning with the rain interrupting the end of Moto3 FP3, after a start under bright sunshine.

At the start of this third MotoGP session, the track is wet but it is no longer raining, the sky is grey-white-blue depending on where you look, the temperatures are 13° in the air and 19° on the ground. , and the wind is less present than yesterday, with 10 km/h.

#AustralianGP MotoGP™	2016	2017
FP1	1'40.957 Cal Crutchlow (See here)	1'29.602 Marc Marquez (See here)
FP2	1'51.958 Hector Barbera (See here)	1'29.225 Aleix Espargaro (See here)
FP3	1'33.155 Marc Marquez (See here)	1'38.522 Marc Marquez
FP4	1'36.810 Nicky Hayden (See here)
Qualification 1	1'38.467 Cal Crutchlow (See here)
Qualification 2	1'30.189 Marc Marquez (See here)
Warm Up	1'29.897 Marc Marquez (See here)
Course	Crutchlow, Rossi, Vinales (See here)
All time lap record	1'27.899 Jorge Lorenzo 2013

With a track still wet but rain which has ceased, “it seems urgent to wait” and few MotoGP riders take to the track as soon as it opens.

However, some pilots including Marc Marquez, Jack Miller, Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Iannone and Loris Baz to test the adhesion of Australian bitumen while, on the contrary, Valentino Rossi, Andrea Dovizioso, Maverick Vinales and Johann Zarco prefer to stay in their box hoping that conditions will improve.

Marc Márquez sets the benchmark in 1'41.532 ahead Jack Miller, before Johann zarco recorded a 1'41.489, when the rain increased in intensity on certain parts of the circuit.

There are then only six drivers to continue racing: Johann Zarco, Pol Espargaro, Jorge Lorenzo, Scott Redding, Tito Rabat and Álvaro Bautista, with 30 minutes remaining in the session.

Lighting the first three sectors in red, Johann zarco finds the limit of grip and falls without gravity while doing a little highside at turn #10.

The track, now very wet, does not prevent some attempts, like Maverick Vinales and Andrea Dovizioso.

Danilo Petrucci takes command in 1'39.356 ahead Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa, at the moment when Andrea Iannone minor fall at turn number 4.

In terms of weather, the conditions do not seem likely to improve and the vast majority of drivers are on track halfway through the session where we find the following hierarchy: Petrucci, Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Vinales, Marquez, Miller, Pol Espargaro, Zarco, Barbera and Rins.
Loris Baz is currently 14th, Valentino Rossi 17e.

Marc Márquez strikes a big blow by lowering the provisional reference to 1'39.194 then 1'38.522.

A quarter of an hour into the session, Valentino Rossi is provisionally positioned ninth and Andrea Dovizioso third: the leading trio is then the same as in Misano and Motegi!

The Yamaha rider continues his effort and climbs to 7th place while John Zarco made a jump from 14th to 4th to 3rd place!

The final minutes see the trajectories begin to dry out when Jorge Lorenzo suffered a fall at fast turn number 8. Instead of sliding as usual, the Ducati rider performs a series of rolls and gets up a little stunned before heading towards the circuit's medical center.

Marc Márquez follows the Majorcan driver on the ground, this time at turn number 6 and without gravity.

During the last seconds, Johann zarco takes second position in 1'39.211 ahead Espargaro Pol et Karel Abraham, to 5 tenths of Marc Marquez. 

In the combined ranking, there were no changes and Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo will have to go through Q1.

#AustralianGP MotoGP FP3 Ranking: