MotoGP Sachsenring: Rossi, Dovizioso into Q1, Marquez fastest

Marquez's nearest rival Fabio Quartararo had a massive moment at the end of the session when his Yamaha shook violently at Turn 11.

Quartararo avoided a crash, but he was suffering obvious pain in his left shoulder, and he was one of several Yamaha riders to struggle at the first corner.

The Petronas SRT Yamaha rider went off twice, works rider Maverick Vinales then came close to hitting the wall twice and Quartararo's team-mate Franco Morbidelli took a trip through the gravel at the same corner.

Quartararo spent time in the lead of the session after Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro impressively came within four-tenths of Marquez's Friday benchmark early on and led the majority of FP3, with Marquez in second.

The then-pacesetter Quartararo had gone top after bolting on a new soft rear tyre and took the lead after setting a 1m20.515s lap, recorded while running behind Marquez.

Vinales progressively closed the gap to Quartararo and ended up just one tenth behind the rookie.

But both Yamaha riders were defeated by Marquez in the end by virtue of a 1m20.347s lap on his second flyer after he had made a mistake on his first.

Quartararo ended up second from Vinales and Cal Crutchlow, who was fourth-fastest with a fractured right knee.

Suzuki's Alex Rins was fifth and Morbidelli took sixth.

Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller were the top Ducatis in seventh and eighth respectively, with ninth-placed Joan Mir making it two Suzukis in the top 10.

KTM rider Pol Espargaro also made it to Q2 in 10th but ended the session with a crash at Turn 3.

Espargaro beat Valentino Rossi by 0.013s, with the Yamaha man once again confined to Q1 where he will be joined by Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso who could only muster 14th.

Pramac Ducati rookie Francesco Bagnaia returned to riding after missing FP2 when he visited the hospital visit following his FP1 crash.

He placed last in the Saturday morning session.

Free practice three result