Marquez romps to fastest time in FP3

Marc Marquez showed no signs of relenting as he continued to dominate the second MotoGP round of 2018, the world champion topping a wet FP3 session by a full eight tenths of a second.

The premier class riders encountered a wet track for the first time this weekend, with rain falling throughout the 45-minute session. Thus the overall free practice leader-board would remain unchanged, with factory Ducati pairing Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo the notable names outside the top ten and facing a run out in this afternoon’s Q1.

Like he so often proved through 2017, Marquez is as adept in the wet as he was in the dry, the reigning world champion taking his RC213V to a late succession of laps, the fastest of which put significant distance between himself and Johann Zarco.

After a torrid first day of running, there was some respite for the Ducati men here, with Alvaro Bautista placing third, ahead of team-mate Karel Abraham (fourth) and Pramac Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci (fifth).

Cal Crutchlow was sixth, with Pol Espargaro (seventh) putting the KTM RC16 inside the top ten for the first time this year. Impressive rookie Hafizh Syahrin was an excellent eighth, and spent part of the session in the leading position.

Dovizioso was ninth and appeared slightly happier than he had on Friday, while Dani Pedrosa had the opportunity to sample’18 Honda’s RC213V in conditions in which he struggled comprehensively a year ago.

The Movistar Yamahas were outperformed considerably by the satellite machines of Zarco and Syahrin. Valentino Rossi could do no better than eleventh, while it took a late run for Maverick Viñales (13^th) to break into the top twenty. Andrea Iannone was twelfth.

It was another tough session for the exasperated Jorge Lorenzo, who was 16^th and 2.1s slower than Marquez’s best.

Click Here for the full FP3 results...