Catalan Grand Prix Barcelona MotoGP FP3: The Ducatis attack, the Yamahas resist, Marquez stumbles!

That Jorge Lorenzo appears at the top of the standings at the end of the first day is not a huge surprise: in just a few days, the Mallorcan driver was able to transform his image and plunge into a very positive spiral consisting of a victory in the Mugello associated with his announced arrival within the Repsol Honda team.

Morale is therefore high on Por Fuera's side, especially since Barcelona has already seen him climb to the top of the podium in 5 seasons: 2007 in 250cc, and 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015 in MotoGP . Yesterday, Jorge Lorenzo beat the record for the new route set by Maverick Vinales a little over 15 days ago during tests requested by Michelin.

More surprising, Andrea Iannone, definitely in great spirits since he is no longer in the odor of sanctity at Suzuki, is the only one who was able to more or less keep up with number 99, the others, Maverick Vinales included, being relegated to at least 1/2 second.

Even more surprising, Marc Márquez, despite being leader of the world championship, does not appear this morning in the Top 10 drivers preselected for direct passage to Q2.

This FP3 will therefore provide some additional answers to questions which remain numerous, in particular on the best choice of tires for the race, all the solutions in this area having so far been used with more or less success, Jorge Lorenzo et Valentino Rossi stretching back, until Marc Marquez hard/hard.

Furthermore, the new asphalt of the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit always generates contrasting reactions from the drivers, whether it concerns its grip or its flatness.

For the moment, the Top 10 prequalified for Q2 is made up of Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Iannone, Maverick Vinales, Andrea Dovizioso, Valentino Rossi, Cal Crutchlow, Danilo Petrucci, Johann Zarco, Dani Pedrosa and Hafiz Syahrin.

Weather wise, the official body does not forecast rain for the coming days and, this Friday morning, the sky is clear with the sun already heating the air to 25° and the track to 30°.

We publish our chronometric references as usual, but this time, they are only of anecdotal interest, the route of the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit having been modified 3 times, in 2016 (Saturday), 2017 and 2018, continued to the tragic accident which cost the life of louis salom.

We remember that from the Saturday of the 2016 edition, the drivers took the chicane of the F1 track, then that a new chicane was created for the motorcycles in 2017, which the drivers overwhelmingly rejected. From then on, the initial curve was reinstated in the route for this 2018 edition, however with a clearance zone enlarged by 20 meters thanks to the movement of a grandstand.

On the other hand, the motorcycles definitely no longer take the parabolic that was turn #10 and, according to Marc Marquez himself, the curbs remain very high and tricky.

Barcelona MotoGP	2016	2017	2018
FP1	1'42.065 Vinales	1'45.875 Marquez	1'39.456 Rossi
FP2	1'41.712 Lorenzo	1'44.478 Marquez	1'38.930 Lorenzo
FP3	1'44.727 Vinales	1'44.178 Marquez	1'38.923 Dovizioso
FP4	1'45.194 Marquez	1'45.486 Pedrosa
Qualification 1	1'44.494 Barbera	1'44.239 Folger
Qualification 2	1'43.589 Marquez	1'43.870 Pedrosa
Warm Up	1'45.318 Rossi	1'45.004 Folger
Course	Rossi, Marquez, Pedrosa	Dovizioso, Marquez, Pedrosa
All time lap record	1'40.546 A. Espargaro 2015	1'43.589 Marquez 2016	1'38.974 Vinales (Test)

Finally, let's mention the wild cards Sylvain Guintoli and Mika Kallio, for Suzuki and KTM respectively.

When the red lights went out, we could see that the majority of drivers chose a soft/soft tire combination.

input, Marc Márquez achieves a time which places him in the top 10 to the detriment ofHafizh Syahrin. On the next pass, the Honda driver took 3rd position overall, in 1'39.390.

https://twitter.com/MotoGP/status/1007899777248292865

Alex Espargaro et Franco Morbidelli also improve during this first run led by Marc Marquez, Andrea Iannone, Jorge Lorenzo, Aleix Espargaro, Andrea Dovizioso, Cal Crutchlow, Valentino Rossi, Johann Zarco, Hafizh Syahrin and Takaaki Nakagami.

On resumption, Tito Rabat creates a surprise by positioning himself second in the session, 2 tenths behind Marc Márquez, which allows him to enter the top 10 combined in 8th position. Dani Pedrosa is therefore no longer qualified for Q2 at the moment.

Meanwhile, Cal Crutchlow who, unlike Marc Marquez validated the big wings for the race, fell without gravity at turn number 2.

The 2nd run does not allow us to observe many more elements and we must therefore wait until the last 10 minutes to see Danilo Petrucci climb to second place in the session, but also Andrea Dovizioso carry in its wake Tito Rabat. As a result, the Avintia driver finds himself first in the session and 3rd overall!

Things continue with the 2nd time achieved by Valentino Rossi, before the Italian recorded a 1'39.234 which put his name at the top of the time sheet.

Franco Morbidelli experienced another minor fall at turn 1.

In the last 3 minutes, Johann zarco, in 1'39.143, put his name at the top of the list at the same time as Marc Márquez minor fall at turn 10.

Maverick Vinales then places himself 2nd in front Valentino Rossi and, at this moment, we observe a Yamaha hat-trick. This one won't last because Cal Crutchlow immediately takes the best time.

Danilo Petrucci et Dani Pedrosa are placed respectively 5th and 6th, but it is Andrea Dovizioso which brings the chestnuts out of the fire (and the new record) by carrying the provisional reference in 1'38.923.

So, Marc Márquez is relegated to 11th place in the combined and will have to go through Q1.

The qualifiers for Q.2 are Andrea Dovizioso, Jorge Lorenzo, Maverick Vinales, Andrea Iannone, Cal Crutchlow, Johann Zarco, Valentino Rossi, Danilo Petrucci, Dani Pedrosa and Tito Rabat.

MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix FP3 classification:

Combined FP1/FP2/FP3 ranking:

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