Le Mans MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo pips Marc Marquez in FP3
Jorge Lorenzo stole the limelight in the dying moments of MotoGP free practice on Saturday morning to top the times ahead of championship leader Marc Marquez
Honda rider Marquez had set the pace for the majority of the session, quickly surpassing the early marks set by the Yamahas of Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi.
The Spaniard then beat his own best time from Friday's running just after the halfway stage, and as the session continued he set several laps that were closer than anyone else could get to his best.
With three minutes remaining Lorenzo - who was only just ahead of the cut-off to automatically get through to Q2 later today - returned to the pits to fit a new soft tyre.
That gave him enough time to set one flying lap, with which he beat Marquez's best by 0.024s.
Behind the two MotoGP world champions, Pol Espargaro was best of the rest in third, while Alvaro Bautista put in a late lap to take fourth.
Rossi was on the fringe of the battle at the front throughout the session without ever lighting up the timing screens, and he ended up fifth ahead of Stefan Bradl and Dani Pedrosa.
Pedrosa briefly fell below the Q2 cut-off just before the session reached the half-hour mark, but he responded to that by returning to the track and setting a time that was good enough for second at that moment.
While Andrea Dovizioso got one factory Ducati into the top 10 and therefore through to Q2, his team-mate Cal Crutchlow had to settle for 13th fastest, meaning he will have to earn his way into the pole-deciding session during Q1.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m33.021s 2. Marc Marquez Honda 1m33.045s +0.024s 3. Pol Espargaro Tech 3 Yamaha 1m33.241s +0.220s 4. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 1m33.250s +0.229s 5. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m33.331s +0.310s 6. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1m33.368s +0.347s 7. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m33.449s +0.428s 8. Bradley Smith Tech 3 Yamaha 1m33.510s +0.489s 9. Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1m33.716s +0.695s 10. Andrea Iannone Pramac Ducati 1m33.784s +0.763s 11. Aleix Espargaro Forward Yamaha 1m33.851s +0.830s 12. Yonny Hernandez Pramac Ducati 1m34.209s +1.188s 13. Cal Crutchlow Ducati 1m34.333s +1.312s 14. Hiroshi Aoyama Aspar Honda 1m34.382s +1.361s 15. Colin Edwards Forward Yamaha 1m34.604s +1.583s 16. Nicky Hayden Aspar Honda 1m34.626s +1.605s 17. Karel Abraham Cardion Honda 1m35.727s +2.706s 18. Hector Barbera Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m36.014s +2.993s 19. Scott Redding Gresini Honda 1m36.127s +3.106s 20. Mike di Meglio Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m36.462s +3.441s 21. Broc Parkes PBM Aprilia 1m36.513s +3.492s 22. Michael Laverty PBM Aprilia 1m37.117s +4.096s
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