Vinales Heads FP3 As Lorenzo Puts In the Long Runs

Jun 13, 2015
3 min read

Maverick Vinales heads into qualifying as the fastest man after topping the time sheets in the third free practice session. The Suzuki rider started lighting up the timing screens in the final five-minutes, going 3rd initially and then top with a 1:41.105. Though on the soft rear Bridgestone this is still an impressive lap.

And Suzuki's excitement didn't end there as Aleix Espargaro ended the session 2nd quickest, his best time from yesterday cementing him into that position. The GSX-RR will be a big headache for some of the others later this afternoon.

Jorge Lorenzo was 3rd quickest having matched Aleix Espargaro's 1:41.158 early on in the 45-minute session. The Spaniard was only 7th after FP2 but wasn't concerned about his pace as he spent his time doing race simulations on used tyres. With a fresh medium front/medium rear combo fitted to his Movistar YZR-M1 Yamaha Lorenzo was on mighty form. He set a run of ten laps in the mid 1:41s which points towards a repeat of the last three races for the Spaniard.

Andrea Dovizioso was 4th on the Ducati in a tricky session for the factory team. Team-mate Andrea Iannone was knocked out of the top ten and will have to contest QP1. Ironically it was the satellite GP14.2 of Yonny Hernandez that dropped the Italian as he put in a great lap to go 9th.

Dani Pedrosa was the other big casualty from FP3. He was 11th after switching from the new-exhaust shod RC213V back to the older spec one for his final flying laps. This lack of pace is odd considering Dani was putting in some decent laps yesterday on the older bike. Marc Marquez's quick pace from yesterday somewhat evaporated this morning as the Spanish rider was unable to improve on his best time from FP2 and was 5th. He too completed some long runs and his pace was decent, but not to the same level as Lorenzo.

Valentino Rossi spent much of yesterday running back-to-back comparisons between two different set-ups which meant he was only 11th. It was touch and go for the Italian in the closing minutes but he produced a lap of 1:41.479 to go 7th. He'll need to fins something in FP4 if he is to have a good qualifying. Both Tech 3 riders enjoyed a better morning and both made it through to QP2. Pol Espargaro tested a new exhaust on his M1 and it appeared to give him something as he was 6th fastest, with Smith 10th without the new exhaust.

Eugene Laverty and Jack Miller head into FP4 with some work to do as they both crashed their RC213V-RS Honda's in FP3. The Irishman dropped the front-end through turn five early on, whilst the Australian ran too deep into turn four and had to bail. Both were unhurt.

QP2 Runners:

Maverick Vinales, Team Suzuki Ecstar

Aleix Espargaro, Team Suzuki Ecstar

Jorge Lorenzo, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

Pol Espargaro, Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Valentino Rossi, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Cal Crutchlow, CWM LCR Honda

Yonny Hernandez, Octo Pramac Racing Ducati

Bradley Smith, Monster Yamaha Tech 3

QP1 Runners:

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team