Ducati stays on top in MotoGP Qatar FP3 with Andrea Iannone
Ducati's Andrea Iannone completed a sweep of Friday's two practice sessions for the MotoGP season opener in Qatar
Iannone led the way in the weekend's second practice earlier on Friday, and was the last rider to make his move during the 45-minute FP3 session.
When he did, he went straight to the top from fifth on the combined times, with a lap of 1m54.639s.
It was good enough to lead reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo by 0.137 seconds.
Lorenzo also moved up late, taking top spot with six minutes remaining with a time of 1m55.219s thanks largely to a stunning final sector.
The very next time around, the Yamaha rider improved again, becoming the first rider to break the 1m55s barrier this weekend with a 1m54.776s lap.
While that was 0.463s clear at the top at the time, Marc Marquez improved immediately and to halve that advantage, before Iannone struck late to claim top spot.
Marquez improved again to ensure the top three riders were split by just 0.196s, as 0.866s covered the top 12 in a frenetic session.
Iannone's team-mate Andrea Dovizioso claimed fourth with his final lap, ahead of Suzuki's Maverick Vinales and Honda's Dani Pedrosa, who sat atop the times for most of the session after making an early soft-tyre run.
Valentino Rossi moved up from ninth to seventh on his final lap, while Ducati satellite riders Hector Barbera and Scott Redding also booked places in Saturday's second phase of qualifying, despite Redding falling at the end.
Pol Espargaro was in the Tech3 Yamaha garage when the chequered flag flew, having run out of fuel, but he held onto 10th and the final Q2 spot by just 0.015s over brother and Suzuki rider Aleix Espargaro.
Bradley Smith had improved early in the session to be 10th at that point, but he crashed at the entry of Turn 6 with 12 minutes remaining.
Following his second fall in as many days, Smith dropped to 12th in the order, ahead of Loris Baz, Danilo Petrucci and Cal Crutchlow, while Jack Miller also crashed, at Turn 9, on his way to 17th.
** Follow qualifying for the Qatar GP and Sunday's race on Autosport Race Centre Live this weekend
FP3 TIMES
| Pos | Rider | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrea Iannone | Ducati | 1m54.639s | - | 18 |
| 2 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | 1m54.776s | 0.137s | 18 |
| 3 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1m54.835s | 0.196s | 17 |
| 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1m54.945s | 0.306s | 16 |
| 5 | Maverick Vinales | Suzuki | 1m54.976s | 0.337s | 17 |
| 6 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | 1m55.113s | 0.474s | 18 |
| 7 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1m55.175s | 0.536s | 17 |
| 8 | Hector Barbera | Avintia Ducati | 1m55.323s | 0.684s | 15 |
| 9 | Scott Redding | Pramac Ducati | 1m55.399s | 0.760s | 14 |
| 10 | Pol Espargaro | Tech3 Yamaha | 1m55.476s | 0.837s | 19 |
| 11 | Aleix Espargaro | Suzuki | 1m55.491s | 0.852s | 15 |
| 12 | Bradley Smith | Tech3 Yamaha | 1m55.505s | 0.866s | 20 |
| 13 | Loris Baz | Avintia Ducati | 1m55.773s | 1.134s | 18 |
| 14 | Danilo Petrucci | Pramac Ducati | 1m55.931s | 1.292s | 14 |
| 15 | Cal Crutchlow | LCR Honda | 1m55.946s | 1.307s | 16 |
| 16 | Yonny Hernandez | Aspar Ducati | 1m56.100s | 1.461s | 17 |
| 17 | Jack Miller | Marc VDS Honda | 1m56.207s | 1.568s | 13 |
| 18 | Tito Rabat | Marc VDS Honda | 1m56.625s | 1.986s | 18 |
| 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Aprilia | 1m56.749s | 2.110s | 18 |
| 20 | Stefan Bradl | Aprilia | 1m57.069s | 2.430s | 17 |
| 21 | Eugene Laverty | Aspar Ducati | 1m57.135s | 2.496s | 15 |
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