Sachsenring MotoGP: Marc Marquez on top in practice three
Marc Marquez finished the third MotoGP practice session at the Sachsenring quickest, half a second faster than Aleix Espargaro's free practice two time
The championship leader's closet competitor was Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo, who came close to toppling Honda rider Marquez, but finished two tenths down .
Home rider Stefan Bradl set the first time in the 1m20s, and held on for third behind Marquez and Lorenzo.
Aleix Espargaro had been quickest throughout the opening day, and swapped fastest times in the opening minutes of practice three with Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi but he could not make it a clean sweep of top spots from the three practice sessions. His time was good enough for fourth.
Bradley Smith ditched his Yamaha after losing control in the chicane to add to the two shunts he suffered during free practice one, but managed to bump start it on track to continue back to the pits, and did well to recover to fifth - 0.4 seconds down on Marquez.
Despite good early pace from Rossi, he nearly did not make the top 10 but managed to post a time for sixth in the closing seconds, while Marquez's team-mate Dani Pedrosa managed seventh.
Turn 11 was the cause of two big falls, starting with Broc Parkes 25 minutes into the session, but it was Pol Espargaro's wobble at the end that brought the yellow flags out as his Yamaha spread several parts across the gravel, leaving him unable to better eighth.
Andrea Iannone and Alvaro Bautista completed the top 10 that will go through to Q2 in the afternoon qualifying session.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Marc Marquez Honda 1m21.581s 2. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m21.848s +0.267s 3. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1m21.874s +0.293s 4. Aleix Espargaro Forward Yamaha 1m21.997s +0.416s 5. Bradley Smith Tech 3 Yamaha 1m22.001s +0.420s 6. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m22.041s +0.460s 7. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m22.086s +0.505s 8. Pol Espargaro Tech 3 Yamaha 1m22.101s +0.520s 9. Andrea Iannone Pramac Ducati 1m22.162s +0.581s 10. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 1m22.221s +0.640s 11. Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1m22.234s +0.653s 12. Yonny Hernandez Pramac Ducati 1m22.431s +0.850s 13. Cal Crutchlow Ducati 1m22.500s +0.919s 14. Scott Redding Gresini Honda 1m22.706s +1.125s 15. Nicky Hayden Aspar Honda 1m22.840s +1.259s 16. Hiroshi Aoyama Aspar Honda 1m22.960s +1.379s 17. Karel Abraham Cardion Honda 1m23.064s +1.483s 18. Danilo Petrucci Ioda Aprilia 1m23.207s +1.626s 19. Michael Laverty PBM Aprilia 1m23.290s +1.709s 20. Colin Edwards Forward Yamaha 1m23.555s +1.974s 21. Mike di Meglio Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m23.624s +2.043s 22. Hector Barbera Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m23.738s +2.157s 23. Broc Parkes PBM Aprilia 1m23.923s +2.342s
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