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Aragon MotoGP: Marc Marquez fastest in FP3, Rossi makes Q2 in 10th

Marc Marquez set the pace in the third MotoGP practice at Aragon ahead of Maverick Vinales, as Valentino Rossi made it directly into Q2 by taking 10th place

Dani Pedrosa finished third, with Andrea Dovizioso in sixth.

The Saturday morning session was the first dry running of the weekend and it served as a shootout for the 10 Q2 spots.

Loris Baz went fastest early on with a 1m52.745s, but times quickly went down below the 1m50s-mark, with KTM wildcard Mika Kallio the first rider to do so.

Marquez then took over and he improved twice to lead the way with a 1m49.411s during the mid-session lull.

Kallio continued to impress by getting as close as 0.033-seconds to the top spot, but then Marquez improved again, this time by 0.1s.

The Honda rider's lead was briefly interrupted by title rival Dovizioso with seven minutes to go, only for Marquez to go 0.6s faster soon afterwards.

Marquez's effort of 1m48.252s ended up as the benchmark time of the session.

Ducati rider Dovizioso was also demoted by Yamaha's Vinales who, despite improving one more time, ended up more than 0.3s slower than Marquez.

Pedrosa then jumped into third during the final minute on the second works Honda, with Aspar Ducati's Alvaro Bautista was just a tenth slower in fourth.

Kallio completed his impressive session in fifth, comfortably beating KTM regulars Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith, who were 12th and 22nd respectively.

Dovizioso eventually dropped down to sixth, and was followed by Aleix Espargaro, LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow and Suzuki's Andrea Iannone, who crashed after the chequered flag fell at Turn 5.

Although he spent the majority of the session in the second half of the time sheets, Rossi completed his first dry session of the weekend in 10th.

In doing so he beat Jorge Lorenzo to the final Q2 spot by 0.063s, as the Ducati rider lost time early in the session after his knee slider fell off.

Both Tech3 Yamaha riders Johann Zarco and Jonas Folger crashed during the session and failed to make it to Q2.

Other fallers were Jack Miller, who came down at the first corner, and Aprilia's Sam Lowes.

FP3 results

Pos Rider Team Gap Laps
1 Marc Marquez Honda 1m48.252s 20
2 Maverick Vinales Yamaha 0.310s 20
3 Dani Pedrosa Honda 0.431s 19
4 Alvaro Bautista Aspar Ducati 0.531s 20
5 Mika Kallio KTM 0.559s 18
6 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 0.629s 19
7 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 0.668s 17
8 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda 0.769s 18
9 Andrea Iannone Suzuki 0.887s 15
10 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 0.971s 19
11 Jorge Lorenzo Ducati 1.034s 16
12 Pol Espargaro KTM 1.048s 18
13 Danilo Petrucci Pramac Ducati 1.137s 18
14 Tito Rabat MVDS Honda 1.221s 19
15 Jack Miller MVDS Honda 1.271s 17
16 Scott Redding Pramac Ducati 1.301s 18
17 Hector Barbera Avintia Ducati 1.361s 18
18 Loris Baz Avintia Ducati 1.496s 17
19 Johann Zarco Tech3 Yamaha 1.620s 15
20 Karel Abraham Aspar Ducati 1.881s 18
21 Alex Rins Suzuki 1.884s 18
22 Bradley Smith KTM 2.501s 16
23 Jonas Folger Tech3 Yamaha 2.667s 11
24 Sam Lowes Aprilia 2.824s 9

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