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Malaysian Grand Prix, Sepang, MotoGP FP3: Viñales doesn't give up against Márquez, Zarco in the top 5

by | Nov 3, 2018

The MotoGP riders have been the luckiest since the start of the weekend: their first two free practice sessions took place in the dry. In these conditions, three men each time placed themselves in the top 5. These are Maverick Viñales as well as teammates Jack Miller and Danilo Petrucci. Álex Rins, for his part, finished first in combined times. This is an unusual ranking, but the top drivers are not far away. Marc Márquez, Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi all finished among the top five in one of the sessions, and we can therefore expect a competitive FP3.

This will nevertheless be done without Jorge Lorenzo who finally withdrew. He is replaced by Michele Pirro who will therefore enter the track for the first time during this third session.

The weather seems to be holding up for now, but until when?

Start of FP3 at 3:55 a.m. French time.

Sepang MotoGP™

 2017

2018
FP1

2'00.671 Andrea Dovizioso (see here)

 1'59.697 Andrea Dovizioso (see here)
FP2

2'11.640 Andrea Dovizioso (see here)

 1'59.608 Alex Rins (see here)
FP3

1'59.947 Valentino Rossi (see here)

 1'59.231 Maverick Vinales
FP4

2'00.438 Marc Marquez (see here)
Qualification 1

2'00.138 Alex Rins (see here)
Qualification 2

1'59.212 Dani Pedrosa (see here)
Warm Up

2'00.456 Andrea Dovizioso (see here)
Course

Dovizioso, Lorenzo, Zarco (see here)
All time lap record

1'59.053 Dani Pedrosa 2015 (old coating)

It was still not raining when the MotoGP field set off for the third free practice session. It's 25 degrees in the air and 34 degrees on the track. Maverick Vinales is the first to establish the reference time in 2'03.633 ahead of Alvaro Bautista et Alex Rins. Marc Márquez takes the lead on the next lap.

After ten minutes, the seven-time World Champion still leads and has dropped the time to 2'01.257. It precedes Maverick Vinales, Alvaro Bautista, Danilo Petrucci, Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso et Alex Rins. Then Jack Miller, Hafiz Syahrin et Takaaki Nakagami complete the top 10 ahead Andrea Iannone et Valentino Rossi which are eleventh and twelfth. Michele Pirro is sixteenth, under the watchful eye of Jorge Lorenzo.

Halfway through the session, Casa Particular in Viñales regained command for a tenth over Marquez The two men are ahead of their teammates Kidneys et Iannone as well as Red, Baptist et Petrucci. We then find Pedrosa, Dovizioso et zarco who rank among the top ten.

Five minutes later, Jordi Torres makes a mistake in turn 9. He is imitated shortly after by Michele Pirro at turn 15 then through Xavier Simeon.

A quarter of an hour from the end, Pedrosa settles in third position while Márquez regains first place. But Casa Particular in Viñales hasn't said his last word and takes it back from him.

A few minutes later, it's zarco who came to win by 16 thousandths over the two Spaniards, while behind, Red came to take fourth place. The Italian then went through Pedrosa, then by a surprising Stefan Bradl, replacing Cal Crutchlow.

As is often the case, the last minutes wake up the session, and the places in the rankings continue to move. It is now Miller who has the best time ahead Casa Particular in Viñales et Pedrosa, While Márquez et Red were relegated to sixth and seventh. zarco is ninth.

Márquez takes the lead again at the checkered flag, but it's ultimately Casa Particular in Viñales who wins the duel by 26 thousandths. The places for Q2 are now fixed: Pedrosa eject Aleix Espargaró thanks to his very good performance. The latter will therefore have to go through Q1 with the others.

Note thatAndrea Dovizioso only finished seventeenth.

FP3 results:

1 25 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 325.2 1'59.231
2 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 325.4 1'59.257 0.026 / 0.026
3 43 Jack MILLER AUS Alma Pramac Racing Ducati 325.4 1'59.375 0.144 / 0.118
4 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 325.3 1'59.599 0.368 / 0.224
5 5 Johann ZARCO FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 321.5 1'59.655 0.424 / 0.056
6 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Alma Pramac Racing Ducati 328.6 1'59.671 0.440 / 0.016
7 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 323.8 1'59.773 0.542 / 0.102
8 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 325.4 1'59.799 0.568 / 0.026
9 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Angel Nieto Team Ducati 326.3 2'00.130 0.899 / 0.331
10 21 Franco MORBIDELLI ITA EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 321.0 2'00.405 1.174 / 0.275
11 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda CASTROL Honda 325.5 2'00.428 1.197 / 0.023
12 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 320.9 2'00.513 1.282 / 0.085
13 55 Hafizh SYAHRIN MAL Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 319.6 2'00.558 1.327 / 0.045
14 30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI JPN LCR Honda IDEMITSU Honda 319.0 2'00.638 1.407 / 0.080
15 42 Alex RINS SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 324.8 2'00.649 1.418 / 0.011
16 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 323.0 2'00.737 1.506 / 0.088
17 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 325.9 2'00.810 1.579 / 0.073
18 51 Michele PIRRO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 319.0 2'01.090 1.859 / 0.280
19 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 318.4 2'01.223 1.992 / 0.133
20 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Angel Nieto Team Ducati 318.2 2'01.385 2.154 / 0.162
21 12 Thomas LUTHI SWI EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 318.0 2'01.470 2.239 / 0.085
22 45 Scott REDDING GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 318.9 2'02.442 3.211 / 0.972
23 81 Jordi TORRES SPA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 323.6 2'03.142 3.911 / 0.700
24 10 Xavier SIMEON BEL Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 316.2 2'03.455 4.224 / 0.313