Andrea Iannone and Suzuki top MotoGP's German GP third practice

Marc Marquez, who was fifth on Friday despite using an old rear tyre at the end of second practice, was the early pace-setter in the third session with a 1m21.263 seconds lap.

The Honda rider led Yamaha's Valentino Rossi for the majority of the session until Iannone became the first rider to beat Jorge Lorenzo's second practice benchmark with a lap completed in 1m20.845s.

Iannone only held first place for a few minutes until Danilo Petrucci edged ahead with Marquez and Alvaro Bautista taking it in turns to temporarily hold the top sport.

But in the end both Petrucci and then Iannone fought back, with the latter topping the session with a time of 1m20.438s set in the final minute of the session.

Petrucci was 0.099s adrift in second with Cal Crutchlow and Rossi leading Honda's and Yamaha's efforts in third and fourth respectively.

Nieto Ducati's Bautista was an impressive fifth as Marquez ended up sixth, his last flyer compromised by the Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro.

Yamaha's Maverick Vinales took seventh with free practice two pace-setter Lorenzo dropping down to eighth, ahead of Alex Rins on the second Suzuki.

Dani Pedrosa (Honda) was the last rider to make it to Q2 in 10th, edging out factory Ducati rider Dovizioso by half a tenth.

Espargaro led Aprilia's efforts in 12th, with Bradley Smith ending up as the top KTM in 14th, ahead of Zarco on the Tech 3 Yamaha.

Stefan Bradl is replacing the injured Franco Morbidelli at Marc VDS Honda this weekend and was 20th, beating his Marc VDS team-mate Tom Luthi in 22nd place.

Free practice three results