Austin MotoGP: Marc Marquez denies Cal Crutchlow in practice three

In a frantic final few moments of the session, Crutchlow moved his LCR Honda to the head of the times after dramatically improving in the final sector before Marquez arrived to claim the top spot for the factory team instead.

Jorge Lorenzo overcame his troubles with bronchitis to claim third ahead of Yamaha team-mate, and Qatar race winner, Valentino Rossi.

With rain expected to hit the Austin track during the morning, the majority of the field immediately headed out of the pits to try to improve their times as soon as the session went green.

Yonny Herndandez brought out the yellow flags early on as the Colombian rider dropped his Pramac Ducati on the downhill run from Turn 1, forcing him to switch to a spare bike.

His team-mate Danilo Petrucci was later spotted running down the pitlane in search of his own spare machine after encountering problems.

Marquez topped the times for much of the first half of the session with an aggressive lap while Lorenzo battled Bradley Smith under braking for Turn 12 as he chased a place in Q2. The Spanish rider had started the day only 11th overall in combined times after the first two practice sessions.

Spots of rain began to fall as the session entered its final third but it did not hinder the riders as Aleix Espargaro took the top spot away from Marquez on his Suzuki, becoming the first man to enter the 2m03s.

Pol Espargaro then briefly went fastest before being demoted in the flurry of fast times at the end of the session. The Tech 3 Yamaha rider wound end up sixth behind his team-mate Smith.

Aleix Esparagaro finished eighth ahead of the first Ducati of Andrea Dovisioso and Scott Redding on the Marc VDS Racing Honda.

Petrucci recovered to claim the final spot in Q2, just ahead of countryman DAndrea Iannoue, meaning the works Ducati rider will have to come through Q1.

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