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MotoGP Aragon: Crutchlow fastest in FP3, factory Yamahas to contest Q1

Cal Crutchlow set the pace in third practice for MotoGP's Aragon round, as Valentino Rossi and Yamaha team-mate Maverick Vinales missed the automatic Q2 cut after a crash

Crutchlow set the quickest time in the dying moments of the 45-minute session, the LCR Honda rider recovering from an earlier crash at Turn 2, but his 1m47.393s effort came up 0.011 seconds shy of Marc Marquez's benchmark from FP2.

Barring an early improvement from Suzuki man Alex Rins, the combined top 10 order did not change in the opening half of the session until Crutchlow went fastest on a 1m48.041s with 20 minutes remaining.

That remained the best time until Pramac Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci bettered that by two tenths, but after a brief spell at the top for Marquez, Crutchlow retook first with less than a minute left on the clock.

Jack Miller (Pramac) slotted into second, just 0.020s behind, while factory Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone (Suzuki) bumped Marquez down to fifth in the FP3 order.

Marquez's Friday effort ensured he topped the combined timesheets ahead of Crutchlow and Miller, while Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati) ended up fourth overall despite not improving on his Friday time ahead of Dovizioso and Iannone.

Next up in seventh was Honda rider Dani Pedrosa, ahead of Petrucci, Alvaro Bautista's Nieto Ducati and Rins, who hung on for the final automatic Q2 spot.

Missing out on a top 10 place by just 0.036s was the Yamaha of Vinales, but his team-mate Valentino Rossi ended up way down in 18th, 1.5s off the pace, after crashing on his final run at Turn 2.

Bradley Smith was an encouraging 12th for KTM ahead of Franco Morbidelli's Marc VDS Honda, while Aleix Espargaro rounded out the top 15 behind the Tech3 Yamaha of Johann Zarco.

Pol Espargaro had to be taken to the medical centre suffered a crash at Turn 14.

The KTM rider appeared to be in pain, having only just recovered from a broken collarbone sustained last month in Brno, and MotoGP later confirmed he had broken his collarbone again. KTM said Espargaro would have surgery on Saturday.

The only other rider to crash was Avintia Ducati stand-in Jordi Torres, who was once again 24th and last.

FP3 times

Pos Rider Team Bike Time Gap Laps
1 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda Honda 1m47.393s - 17
2 Jack Miller Pramac Ducati Ducati 1m47.413s 0.020s 19
3 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 1m47.575s 0.182s 17
4 Andrea Iannone Suzuki Suzuki 1m47.604s 0.211s 19
5 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 1m47.606s 0.213s 19
6 Dani Pedrosa Honda Honda 1m47.629s 0.236s 18
7 Danilo Petrucci Pramac Ducati Ducati 1m47.746s 0.353s 18
8 Alvaro Bautista Aspar Ducati Ducati 1m47.891s 0.498s 20
9 Alex Rins Suzuki Suzuki 1m48.051s 0.658s 19
10 Jorge Lorenzo Ducati Ducati 1m48.057s 0.664s 15
11 Maverick Vinales Yamaha Yamaha 1m48.087s 0.694s 19
12 Bradley Smith KTM KTM 1m48.096s 0.703s 18
13 Franco Morbidelli MVDS Honda Honda 1m48.129s 0.736s 16
14 Johann Zarco Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 1m48.154s 0.761s 17
15 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia Aprilia 1m48.397s 1.004s 18
16 Karel Abraham Aspar Ducati Ducati 1m48.423s 1.030s 17
17 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda Honda 1m48.450s 1.057s 20
18 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 1m48.905s 1.512s 18
19 Thomas Luthi MVDS Honda Honda 1m49.259s 1.866s 17
20 Hafizh Syahrin Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 1m49.361s 1.968s 15
21 Scott Redding Aprilia Aprilia 1m49.421s 2.028s 18
22 Xavier Simeon Avintia Ducati Ducati 1m49.564s 2.171s 19
23 Pol Espargaro KTM KTM 1m49.701s 2.308s 6
24 Jordi Torres Avintia Ducati Ducati 1m51.171s 3.778s 17

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