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Buriram MotoGP: Dovizioso tops FP3, Marquez to contest Q1 after crash

Andrea Dovizioso remained on top in third practice for MotoGP's Thailand race, as Marc Marquez crashed and consigned himself to a place in the first part of qualifying

After setting the pace in Friday's second session, Dovizioso was again fastest on Saturday morning at new-for-2018 venue Buriram, leaving it late to set the best time of 1m30.399s.

Marquez had been first to beat the Italian's FP2 benchmark, with a 1m31.079s that remained the time to beat until the final 10 minutes when Jack Miller (Pramac Ducati) leapt to the top with a 1m30.566s.

That time proved good enough for second only to Dovizioso, while Yamaha's Maverick Vinales led the charge against the Ducatis just a further tenth behind Miller.

As more and more riders set times with the soft rear tyre, Marquez slipped down the order, and after the reigning champion abandoned his penultimate run after running wide at the last corner, he had been bumped out of the top 10.

The Spaniard barely made it out of the pits in time for one more flying lap, crossing the start/finish line with seconds to spare, but lost the front end of his works Honda at Turn 4 and crashed.

His previous time was good enough only for 11th, 0.064 seconds short of the automatic Q2 cut-off.

Cal Crutchlow took over the mantle as top Honda runner in fourth place, ahead of Danilo Petrucci (Pramac) and the lead factory Honda of Dani Pedrosa.

Valentino Rossi was seventh on the second factory Yamaha, while the remaining top 10 spots went to Andrea Iannone (Suzuki), Johann Zarco (Tech3 Yamaha) and Nieto Ducati rider Alvaro Bautista.

Alex Rins struggled to match the pace of Suzuki stablemate Iannone, ending the session in 16th behind both KTMs and the leading Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro.

Jorge Lorenzo did not take part in FP3 after his monster crash on Friday afternoon, which left him with a hairline fracture in his left wrist. He will take no further part in the Buriram weekend.

FP3 times

Pos Rider Team Bike Time Gap Laps
1 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 1m30.399s - 21
2 Jack Miller Pramac Ducati Ducati 1m30.566s 0.167s 20
3 Maverick Vinales Yamaha Yamaha 1m30.647s 0.248s 23
4 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda Honda 1m30.719s 0.320s 19
5 Danilo Petrucci Pramac Ducati Ducati 1m30.727s 0.328s 19
6 Dani Pedrosa Honda Honda 1m30.818s 0.419s 22
7 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 1m30.859s 0.460s 23
8 Andrea Iannone Suzuki Suzuki 1m30.881s 0.482s 22
9 Johann Zarco Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 1m30.979s 0.580s 19
10 Alvaro Bautista Aspar Ducati Ducati 1m31.015s 0.616s 23
11 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 1m31.079s 0.680s 21
12 Franco Morbidelli MVDS Honda Honda 1m31.117s 0.718s 21
13 Bradley Smith KTM KTM 1m31.118s 0.719s 19
14 Pol Espargaro KTM KTM 1m31.169s 0.770s 19
15 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia Aprilia 1m31.187s 0.788s 20
16 Alex Rins Suzuki Suzuki 1m31.209s 0.810s 23
17 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda Honda 1m31.385s 0.986s 23
18 Hafizh Syahrin Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 1m31.728s 1.329s 18
19 Thomas Luthi MVDS Honda Honda 1m31.816s 1.417s 19
20 Xavier Simeon Avintia Ducati Ducati 1m31.867s 1.468s 18
21 Scott Redding Aprilia Aprilia 1m32.028s 1.629s 17
22 Karel Abraham Aspar Ducati Ducati 1m32.148s 1.749s 19
23 Jordi Torres Avintia Ducati Ducati 1m32.272s 1.873s 21


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