Valencia MotoGP: Andrea Iannone quickest in third practice

Lorenzo was the only rider who could not improve on his Friday time in the Saturday morning session, although he had been set to do so before being baulked by Ducati's extra rider, Michele Pirro.

Rossi lived up to his promise to continue working on outright pace as normal despite being consigned to the back-of-the-grid start, and was in the thick of the battle at the front of the field with Marc Marquez when the session ramped up after a low-key start.

Ultimately, both Marquez and Rossi were upstaged by Iannone's late 1m30.925s lap, and though Rossi found more pace on his final run, he fell 0.063 seconds short of his compatriot's time.

Marquez ended up third, but produced a very consistent and rapid longer run and had been the pacesetter in the first part of the session.

After a quiet Friday, Bradley Smith surged up the standings to fourth in the session, which confirmed his participation in Q2 later today.

Lorenzo and Honda's second rider Dani Pedrosa completed the top six, both within two tenths of pacesetter Iannone.

The Suzuki riders will be the main contenders in Q1, both Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales were unable to break into the top 10 as Pramac Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci held on to the final guaranteed Q2 spot.

On his final weekend in MotoGP before heading to World Superbikes, Nicky Hayden had a minor incident on his first run but quickly rejoined.

Aprilia rider Alvaro Bautista also stopped on track in the opening minutes.

FP3 results: