Jorge Lorenzo kept the upper hand over Marc Marquez as the two remained the class of the field in FP3 at the British Grand Prix. The Movistar Yamaha rider opened up a four tenth advantage over the reigning champion in a typically frantic session, going quicker than the existing circuit record at Silverstone.
Marquez and Lorenzo both picked up where they left off on Friday when the morning’s running got underway, each finding half a second on their previous best. Marquez was the first to improve, clocking the fastest time of the weekend with a 2:01.888, but Lorenzo was matching him punch for punch and joined him in the 2:01s.
While the two Spaniards fought their own private battle at the top of the leaderboard, a fierce scrap was developing further down the order with Q2 places up for grabs. Valentino Rossi and Cal Crutchlow were the two biggest names under pressure and both made early improvements, climbing to seventh and tenth respectively, but Andrea Iannone quickly responded on the factory Ducati to knock the LCR rider back out of Q2.
After unsuccessful attempts by Eugene Laverty and Maverick Vinales, Iannone was plunged back into danger by Crutchlow who finally secured safety with the third quickest time. The Ducati rider rescued the situation with a minute to go and with Scott Redding also snatching a Q2 spot in the dying seconds, both Suzuki riders were eliminated.
Behind the dominant Spanish duo, Andrea Dovizioso grabbed third for Ducati ahead of Dani Pedrosa while Redding’s late flyer shot him up to fifth, just ahead of Bradley Smith and Valentino Rossi. Crutchlow held on to eighth ahead of Pol Espargaro and Andrea Iannone while Aleix Espargaro was forced to count the cost of a crash at Abbey, leaving him down in twelfth.
