Barcelona MotoGP: Dovizioso tops FP3, Marquez misses Q2 cut

Marquez was within the combined practice top 10 when he fell while braking hard into the sharp Turn 10 left-hander in the dying minutes of FP3.

Then, when Dovizioso put in a late flying lap to top the session, Marquez was shuffled down and denied an automatic Q2 spot.

The Spaniard will now have to fight through Q1 for the first time since the Mugello round of the 2015 season.

The reigning champion had begun the day outside the combined top 10 - but took no time to force himself in, kicking off FP3 with his first run using a soft rear tyre this weekend.

He set an initial 1m39.705s before swiftly lowering that to 1m39.390s, which left him comfortably quickest until the late-session qualifying simulation runs.

Avintia Ducati rider Tito Rabat, who spent much of FP3 in second place behind Marquez, took over at the top with eight minutes left on the clock.

Yamaha's Valentino Rossi went quickest a few moments later, narrowly surpassing Rabat with a 1m39.234s effort, before Johann Zarco (Tech3) fired in a 1m39.143s.

This was bettered by LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow, who had crashed at Turn 2 earlier in the session.

But a last-ditch effort from Dovizioso - a 1m38.923s - sealed FP3 honours for the Italian, as he narrowly beat team-mate Jorge Lorenzo's Friday benchmark in the process.

Yamaha's Maverick Vinales lapped within a tenth of Dovizioso to slot into second at the chequered flag, ahead of Crutchlow, Zarco, Rossi and Pramac Ducati's Danilo Petrucci.

Dani Pedrosa was seventh in the session on the second factory Honda, leading Rabat, Marquez and Tech3's Hafizh Syahrin.

But it was Lorenzo and Andrea Iannone progressing to Q2 automatically at Marquez and Syahrin's expense, with the Ducati and Suzuki riders' Friday times enough to comfortably assure them of a spot in the combined top 10.

Marc VDS Honda rider Franco Morbidelli, who elected to go to the hospital on Friday after hurting his neck in a hard FP2 fall, was 17th - despite crashing late on in the session in what was his third accident in three practice sessions.

FP3 Results

Pos	Rider	Team	Gap	Laps
1	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1m38.923s	19
2	Maverick Vinales	Yamaha	0.089s	21
3	Cal Crutchlow	LCR Honda	0.118s	15
4	Johann Zarco	Tech3 Yamaha	0.220s	19
5	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	0.227s	19
6	Danilo Petrucci	Pramac Ducati	0.279s	19
7	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	0.296s	22
8	Tito Rabat	Avintia Ducati	0.333s	23
9	Marc Marquez	Honda	0.467s	18
10	Hafizh Syahrin	Tech3 Yamaha	0.605s	18
11	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	0.674s	20
12	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati	0.754s	18
13	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	0.789s	17
14	Alvaro Bautista	Aspar Ducati	0.797s	19
15	Jack Miller	Pramac Ducati	0.893s	19
16	Takaaki Nakagami	LCR Honda	0.896s	22
17	Franco Morbidelli	MVDS Honda	0.949s	17
18	Pol Espargaro	KTM	1.050s	18
19	Mika Kallio	KTM	1.111s	18
20	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1.117s	21
21	Bradley Smith	KTM	1.124s	19
22	Xavier Simeon	Avintia Ducati	1.368s	18
23	Scott Redding	Aprilia	1.466s	19
24	Sylvain Guintoli	Suzuki	1.692s	18
25	Thomas Luthi	MVDS Honda	1.715s	19
26	Karel Abraham	Aspar Ducati	1.816s	16