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Motegi MotoGP: Marc Marquez sets record pace on spare Honda

Marc Marquez overcame an early technical problem that forced him onto his spare Honda to set the pace in third practice for MotoGP's Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi

Marquez had a fraught Friday by his standards, crashing in the morning and unhappy with his handling all day.

He then had to park at the trackside early in Saturday's opening session and get a lift back for his second bike.

But once up to speed on the spare, Marquez quickly moved to the top and then put in a record lap of 1m44.940s.

That gave him the final top spot in the session by two tenths of a second over Valentino Rossi's Yamaha.

Marquez can clinch his second straight MotoGP title this weekend if he maintains his current 75-point margin over team-mate Dani Pedrosa.

Rossi was edged down towards the foot of the top 10 cut-off for automatic Q2 places late in practice three, before a series of late quick laps moved him up to second.

He headed a trio of Yamahas, with Tech 3's Pol Espargaro putting in a time good enough for an eventual third before slewing into the gravel and falling late on. Jorge Lorenzo was fourth.

Andrea Iannone's late push to ensure a Q2 place took him to fifth, with Bradley Smith, Cal Crutchlow, Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso and Stefan Bradl also avoiding having to go through Q1.

Both Friday pacesetter Dovizioso and Bradl earned their Q2 spots by virtue of day one times that they could not improve on in this session. Dovizioso's Friday afternoon lap was still quicker than anyone bar Marquez managed in practice three.

Aleix Espargaro is the surprise name in the Q1 pack. He briefly edged into the combined top 10 late in practice three before being pushed back to 12th.

Alvaro Bautista and Yonny Hernandez also found themselves shuffled beyond the Q2 cut-off as the likes of Iannone, Rossi and Crutchlow rescued their top-10 places with late laps.

The local riders ended practice 15th and 16th, with Yamaha's guest Katsuyuki Nakasuga one place ahead of Aspar Honda rider Hiroshi Aoyama, who began Saturday with his second crash of the weekend.

PRACTICE THREE TIMES:

Pos Rider Team Bike Time Gap
1 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 1m44.940s -
2 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 1m45.167s 0.227s
3 Pol Espargaro Tech 3 Yamaha 1m45.239s 0.299s
4 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Yamaha 1m45.363s 0.423s
5 Andrea Iannone Pramac Racing Ducati 1m45.400s 0.460s
6 Bradley Smith Tech 3 Yamaha 1m45.477s 0.537s
7 Cal Crutchlow Ducati Ducati 1m45.538s 0.598s
8 Dani Pedrosa Honda Honda 1m45.548s 0.608s
9 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 1m45.565s 0.625s
10 Alvaro Bautista Gresini Racing Honda 1m45.780s 0.840s
11 Aleix Espargaro Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 1m45.933s 0.993s
12 Yonny Hernandez Pramac Racing Ducati 1m46.114s 1.174s
13 Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1m46.204s 1.264s
14 Hector Barbera Avintia Racing Ducati 1m46.835s 1.895s
15 Katsuyuki Nakasuga Yamaha Yamaha 1m46.919s 1.979s
16 Hiroshi Aoyama Aspar Honda 1m47.382s 2.442s
17 Nicky Hayden Aspar Honda 1m47.401s 2.461s
18 Alex de Angelis Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 1m47.414s 2.474s
19 Danilo Petrucci IodaRacing Project ART/Aprilia 1m47.729s 2.789s
20 Karel Abraham Cardion AB Motoracing Honda 1m47.881s 2.941s
21 Scott Redding Gresini Racing Honda 1m47.960s 3.020s
22 Broc Parkes Paul Bird Motorsport PBM/Aprilia 1m48.786s 3.846s
23 Mike Di Meglio Avintia Racing Avintia/Kawasaki 1m48.802s 3.862s
24 Michael Laverty Paul Bird Motorsport PBM/Aprilia 1m48.917s 3.977s


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