MotoGP Jerez: Valentino Rossi tops third practice session

Rossi, who said on Friday he is feeling more comfortable earlier in grand prix weekends this year, moved to the top inside the final minute.

Both Rossi and Honda's Marc Marquez were on flying laps at the same time amid a frenetic conclusion to the session, with Rossi crossing the line first to set a 1m39.244s.

Marquez ultimately lost a little bit of time late in the lap to record a 1m39.290s, the margin of 0.046 seconds incidentally matching Rossi's iconic race number.

For most of the 45 minutes, nobody was able to better the lap set by Jorge Lorenzo on Friday afternoon.

With five minutes to go, the world champion was one of just five riders yet to improve on their Friday times, his morning having included a run on Yamaha's alternate M1 with the further-rear-mounted fuel tank.

Lorenzo's best lap of the morning at the time, 1m40.095s, was nearly half a second slower than his second-practice benchmark, and he was eighth in the session entering the closing minutes.

He did improve twice after that, though, with his best of 1m39.490s putting him fourth in the final order, 0.246s behind Rossi.

Wedged between the factory riders, Tech3 Yamaha's Pol Espargaro was third.

Dani Pedrosa set the fifth-fastest time, ahead of Suzuki's Maverick Vinales, who appeared in danger of missing an automatic Q2 spot before jumping up from sixth with his final lap.

Ducati made progress after struggling with rear traction on Friday, with Andrea Dovizioso seventh and Andrea Iannone ninth, split by Aleix Espargaro.

Hector Barbera was 10th to secure the final guaranteed position in the second part of qualifying.

In a promising performance for Aprilia, Alvaro Bautista narrowly missed out on that by just 0.107s, taking 11th ahead of Yonny Hernandez, Cal Crutchlow, Bradley Smith, Eugene Laverty and Scott Redding.

FP3 TIMES