MotoGP Jerez: Crutchlow fastest in third practice
Cal Crutchlow was fastest in the third MotoGP practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix
Crutchlow set the quickest time of the weekend so far - his best lap a 1m38.975s - to become the first driver to dip below the 1m39s mark.
His satellite Tech 3 Yamaha, which had experienced a front-brake problem earlier in the session, edged out Dani Pedrosa's Honda by less than two hundredths of a second.
Friday pacesetter Jorge Lorenzo was third fastest, the 26-year-old starting his birthday by beating Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi to fourth.
Marc Marquez was only sixth on the timesheets, well behind the leading four, who have been clear of the rest in all three sessions. He was beaten by Andrea Dovizioso, who gave Ducati some encouragement by completing the top five.
Marquez was only a tenth ahead of the lead CRT bike - Hector Barbera's Avintia FTR, the pace of which was such that he demoted Nicky Hayden in the second Ducati, Andrea Iannone's Pramac Ducati and Alvaro Bautista's Gresini Honda.
Stefan Bradl will have to fight for his place in second qualifying after the LCR Honda missed out on the top 10 altogether, a combination of traffic and an error on his final flier condemning him to 11th.
Karel Abraham did not feature in third practice. The Czech rider broke his collarbone two weeks ago in Austin and withdrew after taking part in Friday practice.
Pos Rider Bike Time Gap Laps 1. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m38.975s 19 2. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m38.994s + 0.019s 19 3. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m39.078s + 0.103s 19 4. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m39.105s + 0.130s 22 5. Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1m39.494s + 0.519s 19 6. Marc Marquez Honda 1m39.500s + 0.525s 20 7. Hector Barbera Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m39.615s + 0.640s 16 8. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m39.620s + 0.645s 21 9. Andrea Iannone Pramac Ducati 1m39.687s + 0.712s 21 10. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 1m39.770s + 0.795s 21 11. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1m39.833s + 0.858s 21 12. Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia 1m39.888s + 0.913s 15 13. Bradley Smith Tech 3 Yamaha 1m39.984s + 1.009s 18 14. Michele Pirro Ducati 1m40.035s + 1.060s 17 15. Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Suter-BMW 1m40.409s + 1.434s 21 16. Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia 1m40.554s + 1.579s 22 17. Hiroshi Aoyama Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m41.104s + 2.129s 21 18. Lukas Pesek Ioda-Suter-BMW 1m41.196s + 2.221s 15 19. Bryan Staring Gresini FTR-Honda 1m41.518s + 2.543s 14 20. Yonny Hernandez Paul Bird Aprilia 1m41.707s + 2.732s 20 21. Colin Edwards Forward FTR-Kawasaki 1m41.715s + 2.740s 17 22. Michael Laverty Paul Bird PBM-Aprilia 1m42.013s + 3.038s 18 23. Claudio Corti Forward FTR-Kawasaki 1m42.297s + 3.322s 16
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