MOTOGP: Marquez tops third practice at Valencia

Honda's MotoGP champion Marc Marquez set the pace in third practice for the 2016 season finale at Valencia.

Marquez led the way for the bulk of a session that started relatively slowly, with track conditions cooler than on Friday afternoon. With 10 minutes to go, only Bradley Smith (into 16th), Tito Rabat (into 20th), Cal Crutchlow (into sixth), and Aleix Espargaro (into fourth) had gained places in the combined order that determines the 10 automatic Q2 participants.

Marquez was the next to do so, with seven minutes remaining, going fastest in the session and moving to with 0.044 seconds of Jorge Lorenzo's Friday benchmark. The next time around he bettered Lorenzo's time by two tenths with a 1m30.258s, signaling the start of a shootout in the final five minutes.

While Marquez did not go faster again, he had done enough to secure the top spot. Suzuki's Maverick Vinales was his closest challenger, recording a 1m30.361s with a little over one minute remaining to finish 0.103s behind.

Lorenzo did not use the softest rear tire on his final run, and wound up fifth for the session, but his faster Friday time was still good enough for third in the combined order.

Andrea Dovizioso for Ducati and Honda's Dani Pedrosa were third and fourth, Pedrosa picking up his pace on his return from a broken collarbone.

Tech3 Yamaha's Pol Espargaro was sixth, pipping his Suzuki-riding brother Aleix, while Andrea Iannone, Valentino Rossi and Smith completed the top 10 and booked guaranteed places in Q2.

Iannone was involved in an odd incident mid-session, when he collected the rear of Yonny Hernandez's Aspar Ducati exiting Turn 1. Both riders had slowed ostensibly to check the big screen on the infield, and Iannone rode into the back of Hernandez as they both moved off line, ripping the winglets from the left of the factory Ducati.

Smith, meanwhile, made Q2 for just the third time this year in his final weekend with Tech3, as he continues to recover from the knee injury that forced him to miss three races.

LCR Honda's Crutchlow was 11th and just 0.021s slower than Smith, while Pramac Ducati pair Scott Redding and Danilo Petrucci will also contest the first phase of qualifying.

Surprised to have finished three seconds off the pace on Friday, KTM and Mika Kallio finished 22nd and last again, but closed the gap to the front to 2.514s.

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Originally on Autosport.com