Jorge Lorenzo saved his best run for the final minutes of FP3 at the Losail circuit in Qatar. The Yamaha factory rider dipped under the 1.56 mark three consecutive times and with his third lap, using a soft rear tire, posted the best time of 1.55.032 that took him to the top of the timesheets and for the first time this long weekend finished ahead of his rival Casey Stoner. This practice session showed off more the Yamaha’s than the Honda’s, as Cal Crutchlow grabbed the second spot on the grid and he was just 0.154s from his factory counterpart, which bodes very well for tomorrow’s qualifying session.
Casey Stoner lead most of the session and posted a 1.55.674 on his fourth lap out, but when he went for the last flying lap found a slower Alavaro Bautista in his way and had to settle for third giving the Spaniard the famous Australian head shake of displeasure. Andrea Dovizioso put his Yamaha Tech3 into 4th and was the last rider to break the 1.56 barrier.
Hector Barbera was again the fastest Ducati rider and just 0.049s from Pedrosa. The Pramac rider took the sixth spot – he was as high up as third when on his third lap, and did a 1.56.163 – grabbing a tow from Lorenzo – however he couldn’t better himself after his team did some fine tuning, but he was the last rider to be within a second from Lorenzo. Nicky Hayden managed to take 7th after lingering down the charts for most of the practice. Valentino Rossi will be doing some head scratching again as he ended up behind both Ducati riders in 8th and 1.233 seconds off the top of the time sheets.
Following Rossi was Stefan Bradl who again bettered his lap times but it wasn’t enough to get him past the 9th spot, while the guilty Alvaro Bautista who ruined Stoner’s flying lap was 10th. Ben Spies had a big tumble at turn 12 at the beginning of the session that compromised all the hard work he’s been doing, he tried to return for a pair of laps but then sat out the rest of the session – he ended up in 11th. Asapr Art rider Randy de Puniet also had a big crash at turn 7 on his last flying lap that left him visibly limping, but he managed to pip Colin Edwards this time and be the fastest CRT rider of session.
MotoGP Qatar FP3 results
01. Jorge Lorenzo — Yamaha Factory Racing — Yamaha YZR M1 — 1’55.302
02. Cal Crutchlow — Monster Yamaha Tech 3 — Yamaha YZR M1 — + 0.154
03. Casey Stoner — Repsol Honda Team — Honda RC213V — + 0.372
04. Andrea Dovizioso — Monster Yamaha Tech 3 — Yamaha YZR M1 — + 0.603
05. Dani Pedrosa — Repsol Honda Team — Honda RC213V — + 0.812
06. Hector Barbera — Pramac Racing Team — Ducati Desmosedici GP12 — + 0.861
07. Nicky Hayden — Ducati Team — Ducati Desmosedici GP12 — + 1.100
08. Valentino Rossi — Ducati Team — Ducati Desmosedici GP12 — + 1.233
09. Stefan Bradl — LCR Honda MotoGP — Honda RC213V — + 1.449
10. Alvaro Bautista — San Carlo Honda Gresini — Honda RC213V — + 1.469
11. Ben Spies — Yamaha Factory Racing — Yamaha YZR M1 — + 1.728
12. Karel Abraham — Cardion AB Motoracing — Ducati Desmosedici GP12 — + 1.921
13. Randy De Puniet — Power Electronics Aspar — ART GP12 — + 2.959
14. Colin Edwars — NGM Mobile Forward Racing — Suter BMW — + 3.008
15. Michele Pirro — San Carlo Honda Gresini — FTR Honda — + 3.498
16. Yonny Hernandez — Avintia Blusens — FTR Kawasaki — + 3.785
17. Aleix Espargaro — Power Electronics Aspar — ART GP12 — + 3.867
18. Danilo Petrucci — CAME Iodaracing Project — Ioda TR003 — + 4.215
19. Ivan Silva — Avintia Blusens — FTR Kawasaki — + 4.733
20. Mattia Pasini — Speed Master Team — ART GP12 — + 4.924
21. James Ellison — Paul Bird Motorsport — ART GP12 — + 5.261
