#CatalanGP MotoGP FP3: Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa set the tone. The 4 Yamahas in Q1!

Jack Miller caused smiles in the paddock on Friday by mistakenly taking the F1 chicane, when it was the RACC chicane that was supposed to be used. On this Saturday morning, the Australian from the Marc VDS team is a pioneer, because he was right. The adoption of the Miller chicane was decided after consultation with the drivers on Friday evening, and we therefore started from scratch for the third session, all Friday times having been cancelled.

Andrea Dovizioso was also a pioneer, who had proposed some time ago that qualification for Q2 should be based solely on the results of FP3, and not the three free sessions combined. Andrea Dovizioso is the fourth winner of the year since the Italian GP. The last time we saw four different riders win in the first six races was in 2008. Three Ducatis were in the top 5 at the finish of the Italian Grand Prix (which was no longer arrived in the dry since the 2007 Australian Grand Prix), while by placing third in the Italian Grand Prix, Danilo Petrucci signed the first podium for a satellite Ducati since Toni Elias at the 2008 San Marino Grand Prix .

This third free practice session became the only qualifying session for Q2. So we couldn't miss it. The air temperature was 26° and that of the track 32°.

Alvaro Bautista set the first time in 1'46.208. Marc Marquez took over in 1'45.205. This was already faster than Maverick Vinales' lap record set last year on Suzuki. Aleix Espargaró had achieved pole position two years ago, ahead of his teammate Maverick Vinales, Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez. No Suzuki rider has managed to take pole since the Dutch Grand Prix in 2007 with Chris Vermeulen, then in front Casey Stoner et Randy de Puniet (on Kawasaki).

Marc Marquez and Alvaro fell separately without seriousness in turn 10.

Aleix Espargaro took first position half an hour from the checkered flag on his Aprilia in 1'45.198, 0.007 ahead of Marquez and 0.08 ahead of Pedrosa. Among the non-qualifiers in the top 10 then were Petrucci, Crutchlow, Zarco and Lorenzo.

Marc Marquez regained first position in 1'45.087, 0.1 ahead of Aleix Espargaro. Maverick Vinales was ninth and Valentino Rossi tenth. Valentino Rossi in 2006 and Jorge Lorenzo in 2010 are the only riders to have won a MotoGP race in Catalonia after starting from pole position. Valentino won ten victories there (one in 125 cc, two in 3 cc, one in 250 cc and six in MotoGP).

Maverick Vinales moved into second, 0.002 behind Marquez. Johann zarco fell without seriousness in turn 9. He was then in fourteenth position in the session, 18 minutes from the end.

Alvaro Bautista took the best performance in 1'44.594, ahead of Aleix Espargaro at 0.263. The Aprilia rider progressed in 1'44.587. He preceded Bautista 5 minutes from the end, which was not really expected.

Dani Pedrosa took the lead in 1'44.279. Then in the final moments Marc Marquez won in 1'44.178, ahead of Dani Pedrosa, Alvaro Bautista, Aleix Espargaro, Andrea Dovizioso, Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Iannone, Scott Redding, Danilo Petrucci and Hector Barbera. All the others (including the 4 Yamahas) had to go through Q1.

Results of the third free practice session:

1. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 44.178s [Lap 16/18] 341km/h (Top Speed)
2. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 44.279s +0.101s [16/18] 340km/h
3. Alvaro Bautista ESP Pull&Bear Aspar Team (Desmosedici GP16) 1m 44.395s +0.217s [16/18] 347km/h
4. Alex Espargaro ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 1m 44.409s +0.231s [16/16] 338km/h
5. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP17) 1m 44.615s +0.437s [14/15] 342km/h
6. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP17) 1m 44.623s +0.445s [16/18] 343km/h
7. Andrea Iannone ITA Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 1m 44.656s +0.478s [17/18] 341km/h
8. Scott Redding GBR Octo Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP16) 1m 44.676s +0.498s [18/18] 343km/h
9. Danilo Petrucci ITA Octo Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP17) 1m 44.681s +0.503s [16/18] 344km/h
10. Hector Barbera ESP Reale Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP16) 1m 44.740s +0.562s [15/18] 338km/h

11. Jonas Folger GER Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1)* 1m 44.763s +0.585s [17/18] 338km/h
12. Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda (RC213V) 1m 44.803s +0.625s [16/18] 339km/h
13. Maverick Vinales ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 1m 44.889s +0.711s [17/19] 341km/h
14. Loris Baz FRA Reale Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP15) 1m 44.985s +0.807s [15/16] 340km/h
15. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 1m 45.053s +0.875s [18/19] 337km/h
16. ˅Johann Zarco ENG Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1)* 1m 45.240s +1.062s [13/16] 338km/h
17. Tito Rabat ESP Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 1m 45.252s +1.074s [15/17] 341km/h
18. Jack Miller AUS Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 1m 45.289s +1.111s [16/18] 339km/h
19. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 1m 45.912s +1.734s [17/20] 338km/h
20. Espargaro Pol ESP Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (RC16) 1m 46.243s +2.065s [17/19] 339km/h
21. ˅Karel Abraham CZE Pull&Bear Aspar Team (Desmosedici GP15) 1m 46.259s +2.081s [11/19] 339km/h
22. Sam Lowes GBR Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)* 1m 46.267s +2.089s [12/14] 334km/h
23. Bradley Smith GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (RC16) 1m 46.853s +2.675s [16/16] 334km/h

Reference times (qualifying track and 2016 GP race):

Test record: 1'43.589 by Marc Marquez (Honda) in 2016

Lap record: 1'45.971 by Maverick Vinales (Suzuki) in 2016

Maximum speed: 347,2 km/h for Andrea Iannone (Ducati) in FP3 in 2016

Provisional ranking of the World Championship:

1 Maverick VIÑALES-Yamaha 105 points

2 Andrea DOVIZIOSO-Ducati 79

3 Valentino ROSSI-Yamaha 75

4 Marc MARQUEZ-Honda 68

5 Dani PEDROSA-Honda 68

6 Johann ZARCO-Yamaha 64

7 Jorge LORENZO-Ducati 46

8 Danilo PETRUCCI-Ducati 42

9 Jonas FOLGER-Yamaha 41

10 Cal CRUTCHLOW-Honda 40