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Sepang MotoGP: Honda's Dani Pedrosa fastest again in practice three

Dani Pedrosa was fastest again in third Sepang MotoGP practice, a session interrupted by a big crash for Pol Espargaro

Friday pacesetter Pedrosa's benchmark time of 2m00.454s came on his very first run and proved unbeatable.

It put his Honda 0.165 seconds clear of Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo's eventual best effort.

Lorenzo edged out Pedrosa's team-mate Marc Marquez by 0.044s as the world champion made a late improvement to go third.

The session was red-flagged with 2m26s to go after Espargaro had a big high-side at Turn 1 that left him requiring medical attention while his Tech 3 Yamaha caught fire after it came to rest.

Espargaro had earlier had a smaller crash, and just before the second incident was warned by the passing Scott Redding of a problem with his bike, which appeared to be producing smoke.

Although Espargaro had set a time good enough to earn a Q2 spot, it remains to be seen whether he will be fit for qualifying.

Andrea Iannone is also a medical doubt. Already in pain from his Phillip Island crash, he sustained an arm injury in a Friday practice accident triggered by a brush with Marquez, who later apologised.

Iannone was not quick enough to get into Q2 and withdrew from practice three early.

There was enough time to resume the session once the track had been cleared following Espargaro's crash, and the majority of the field hurried out to try to get a final flying lap in.

The only frontrunner who managed an improvement in the subsequent dash over the line was Andrea Dovizioso, who brought his Ducati up to fourth.

He narrowly edged out Stefan Bradl, Cal Crutchlow and Valentino Rossi in a quartet covered by 0.131s.

Pos Rider Team Bike Time Gap
1 Dani Pedrosa Honda Honda 2m00.454s -
2 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Yamaha 2m00.619s 0.165s
3 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 2m00.663s 0.209s
4 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 2m00.770s 0.316s
5 Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 2m00.866s 0.412s
6 Cal Crutchlow Ducati Ducati 2m00.870s 0.416s
7 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 2m00.901s 0.447s
8 Bradley Smith Tech 3 Yamaha 2m01.426s 0.972s
9 Aleix Espargaro Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 2m01.498s 1.044s
10 Pol Espargaro Tech 3 Yamaha 2m01.885s 1.431s
11 Yonny Hernandez Pramac Racing Ducati 2m02.013s 1.559s
12 Alvaro Bautista Gresini Racing Honda 2m02.105s 1.651s
13 Hiroshi Aoyama Aspar Honda 2m02.360s 1.906s
14 Karel Abraham Cardion AB Motoracing Honda 2m02.581s 2.127s
15 Nicky Hayden Aspar Honda 2m03.476s 3.022s
16 Scott Redding Gresini Racing Honda 2m03.598s 3.144s
17 Alex de Angelis Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 2m03.654s 3.200s
18 Hector Barbera Avintia Racing Ducati 2m03.725s 3.271s
19 Danilo Petrucci IodaRacing Project ART/Aprilia 2m03.964s 3.510s
20 Michael Laverty Paul Bird Motorsport PBM/Aprilia 2m04.086s 3.632s
21 Mike Di Meglio Avintia Racing Avintia/Kawasaki 2m04.323s 3.869s
22 Broc Parkes Paul Bird Motorsport PBM/Aprilia 2m05.896s 5.442s
23 Andrea Iannone Pramac Racing Ducati 2m06.627s 6.173s


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