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Assen MotoGP: Marc Marquez pips Maverick Vinales in practice three

Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez led the way in Saturday morning's third practice session for the Dutch TT at Assen, leading Maverick Vinales by a single thousandth of a second

Vinales' Friday benchmark of 1m33.378s didn't get beaten until the very closing stages of the 45-minute session, as riders made soft tyre runs to ensure their place in the top 10 and the automatic Q2 spots.

LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow moved to the top spot on a 1m33.347s, giving himself a two-tenths of a second cushion over the field, before works rider Marquez - who had led the majority of the session - bettered that benchmark by 0.006s.

Yamaha's Vinales moved himself up to third on a 1m37.463s, before falling just 0.001s short of Marquez's 1m33.341s on his next lap to grab second.

Behind Crutchlow, Valentino Rossi was just 0.047s off the pace in fourth on the second of the factory Yamahas, while Suzuki's Andrea Iannone made it five riders with a tenth of the pace.

Lead Ducati rider Jorge Lorenzo was almost a further four tenths back in sixth place, but was seventh overall in combined practice rankings behind Pramac's Danilo Petrucci - who failed to better his Friday time.

Completing the top 10 overall were Aleix Espargaro (pictured), Alvaro Bautista and Andrea Dovizioso, who also qualified directly to Q2 on the strength of his Friday time.

Pol Espargaro managed to bring the KTM inside the top 10 for the session, but fell 0.056s shy of a place in Q2.

Joining Espargaro in Q1 are a host of other big names, including Johann Zarco, Jack Miller, Alex Rins and Dani Pedrosa.

It marks the first time this season Zarco has failed to qualify directly to Q2.

In a relatively incident free-session, the only crasher was Marc VDS Honda's Franco Morbidelli, who was taken to the medical centre for checks after a high-speed off at the Ruskenhoek.

FP3 times

Pos Rider Team Bike Time Gap Laps
1 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 1m33.341s - 23
2 Maverick Vinales Yamaha Yamaha 1m33.342s 0.001s 24
3 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda Honda 1m33.347s 0.006s 19
4 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 1m33.388s 0.047s 21
5 Andrea Iannone Suzuki Suzuki 1m33.403s 0.062s 21
6 Jorge Lorenzo Ducati Ducati 1m33.787s 0.446s 17
7 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia Aprilia 1m33.825s 0.484s 19
8 Alvaro Bautista Aspar Ducati Ducati 1m33.848s 0.507s 23
9 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 1m33.872s 0.531s 19
10 Pol Espargaro KTM KTM 1m33.915s 0.574s 17
11 Johann Zarco Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 1m33.939s 0.598s 19
12 Jack Miller Pramac Ducati Ducati 1m33.968s 0.627s 20
13 Danilo Petrucci Pramac Ducati Ducati 1m33.986s 0.645s 21
14 Dani Pedrosa Honda Honda 1m34.073s 0.732s 20
15 Tito Rabat Avintia Ducati Ducati 1m34.151s 0.810s 21
16 Alex Rins Suzuki Suzuki 1m34.202s 0.861s 21
17 Bradley Smith KTM KTM 1m34.624s 1.283s 18
18 Scott Redding Aprilia Aprilia 1m34.637s 1.296s 21
19 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda Honda 1m34.722s 1.381s 20
20 Franco Morbidelli MVDS Honda Honda 1m34.988s 1.647s 11
21 Karel Abraham Aspar Ducati Ducati 1m35.215s 1.874s 20
22 Hafizh Syahrin Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 1m35.576s 2.235s 16
23 Thomas Luthi MVDS Honda Honda 1m35.828s 2.487s 20
24 Xavier Simeon Avintia Ducati Ducati 1m35.927s 2.586s 18

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