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Barcelona MotoGP: Suzuki fastest again with Maverick Vinales

Suzuki rider Maverick Vinales beat Jorge Lorenzo to the top spot in the third session of MotoGP's Catalunya Grand Prix at Barcelona while compatriot Dani Pedrosa failed to make Q2

Vinales deposed long time session leader Lorenzo with three minutes remaining as he set the fastest lap during a frantic period as riders scrambled to get into the second phase of qualifying.

Friday pacesetter Aleix Espargaro completed the top three on the second Suzuki after the Spanish rider pushed Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso down to fourth place.

Pol Espargaro was fifth ahead of Valentino Rossi, who ended the session sixth overall and just made it into Q2 with his final lap of the session.

The Yamaha rider had spent the majority of third practice fighting to make it into the top 10 after his times from Friday's sessions were only good enough for 11th.

But Rossi's late improvement pushed Pedrosa down to 11th and the Honda rider will have to go through Q1 - as will Ducati's Mugello podium finisher Andrea Iannone.

Marc Marquez ended the session in seventh place as he was one of only four riders who did not improve their personal best time from the previous sessions.

The world champion looked to be struggling with the braking on his Honda as he twice missed the apex at Turn 10.

Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith also needed late improvements to secure eighth and 10th respectively, with Yonny Hernandez finishing the session in ninth on his Pramac Ducati.

Smith spent the majority of the session languishing in 19th but found time in the final few minutes.

Eugene Laverty had an early incident when he dropped his bike under braking for Turn 5. He was able to walk away but his Aspar Honda was badly damaged.

Jack Miller also crashed when he carried too much speed into Turn 4 and lightly hit the barrier after skating across the gravel trap on the exit of the corner.

PRACTICE THREE TIMES:

Pos Rider Team Bike Time Gap Laps
1 Maverick Vinales Suzuki Suzuki 1m41.105s - 17
2 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Yamaha 1m41.158s 0.053s 17
3 Aleix Espargaro Suzuki Suzuki 1m41.232s 0.127s 19
4 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 1m41.384s 0.279s 17
5 Pol Espargaro Tech 3 Yamaha 1m41.473s 0.368s 19
6 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 1m41.479s 0.374s 20
7 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 1m41.563s 0.458s 19
8 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda 1m41.644s 0.539s 18
9 Yonny Hernandez Pramac Racing Ducati 1m41.658s 0.553s 18
10 Bradley Smith Tech 3 Yamaha 1m41.667s 0.562s 18
11 Dani Pedrosa Honda Honda 1m41.699s 0.594s 20
12 Andrea Iannone Ducati Ducati 1m41.864s 0.759s 19
13 Scott Redding Marc VDS Honda 1m41.994s 0.889s 18
14 Hector Barbera Avintia Racing Ducati 1m42.222s 1.117s 18
15 Danilo Petrucci Pramac Racing Ducati 1m42.381s 1.276s 17
16 Stefan Bradl Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 1m42.458s 1.353s 18
17 Alvaro Bautista Aprilia Gresini Aprilia 1m42.519s 1.414s 19
18 Mike Di Meglio Avintia Racing Ducati 1m42.623s 1.518s 18
19 Nicky Hayden Aspar Honda 1m42.723s 1.618s 17
20 Jack Miller LCR Honda 1m42.805s 1.700s 16
21 Loris Baz Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 1m42.817s 1.712s 14
22 Karel Abraham AB Motoracing Honda 1m43.013s 1.908s 17
23 Eugene Laverty Aspar Honda 1m43.267s 2.162s 13
24 Alex de Angelis IodaRacing Project ART/Aprilia 1m44.571s 3.466s 18
25 Marco Melandri Aprilia Gresini Aprilia 1m45.206s 4.101s 17


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