Photo by Gold & Goose
It was another good day for new Yamaha rider Maverick Viñales Friday in the final MotoGP FP3 session at Qatar. Viñales topped the session with a time of 1:54.834, as the young Spaniard continues to impress. The only downside was Viñales was unable to improve on his stunning 1:54.316 set Thursday in FP1. Perhaps the biggest surprise of FP3 was Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Andrea Iannone coming out of nowhere to rocket him into second in FP3 and overall with a time 1:54.848, leaving him and Viñales the only riders able to break into the 1:54 bracket so far this weekend.
The critical FP3 practice session, it’s the last opportunity for riders to finish in the top-10 and go directly into Q2 on Saturday without having to run the Q1 session.
Jorge Lorenzo continued to struggle on the factory Ducati. He will have to run in Q1 on Saturday, having only managed the 12th best time. He was clearly frustrated with the setup on his Ducati and it was especially disheartening for the former World Champ since three other Ducati riders managed better times.
Viñales was unfazed by a fairly spectacular looking crash in FP2. OCTO Pramac Racing’s Danilo Petrucci and Jonas Folger, of Monster Yamaha Tech 3 both crashed early in FP3. Petrucci at turn 10 and Folger at four. Both riders looked unhurt in their tumbles.
In an odd situation, the bodywork strangely blew off the mounts of Scott Redding’s OCTO Pramac Racing while he was riding down a straightaway. Redding, the surprising FP2 leader, ran off the track, but was able to ride back into the pits without incident.
Late in FP3 Redding crashed and looked to be limping away from his Pramac Ducati. Cal Crutchlow too, took a hard fall with about a minute remaining.
Also turning some heads is Tech 3 Yamaha’s Johann Zarco, who is looking very solid in his MotoGP debut and was third fastest in FP3.
Riders now turn their focus to Saturday’s qualifying session in this expanded four-day race weekend.
GRAND PRIX OF QATAR MotoGP Free Practice Nr. 3 Classification 2017
| 1 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | SPA | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 339.5 | 1’54.834 | |
| 2 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | ITA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 337.5 | 1’54.848 | 0.014 / 0.014 |
| 3 | 5 | Johann ZARCO | FRA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 341.0 | 1’55.008 | 0.174 / 0.160 |
| 4 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 348.0 | 1’55.042 | 0.208 / 0.034 |
| 5 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 344.0 | 1’55.113 | 0.279 / 0.071 |
| 6 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | LCR Honda | Honda | 339.8 | 1’55.211 | 0.377 / 0.098 |
| 7 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 343.0 | 1’55.296 | 0.462 / 0.085 |
| 8 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ITA | OCTO Pramac Racing | Ducati | 344.7 | 1’55.435 | 0.601 / 0.139 |
| 9 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 348.7 | 1’55.461 | 0.627 / 0.026 |
| 10 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 344.8 | 1’55.634 | 0.800 / 0.173 |
| 11 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | Pull&Bear Aspar Team | Ducati | 347.0 | 1’55.676 | 0.842 / 0.042 |
| 12 | 94 | Jonas FOLGER | GER | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 338.3 | 1’55.713 | 0.879 / 0.037 |
| 13 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 342.6 | 1’55.790 | 0.956 / 0.077 |
| 14 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | CZE | Pull&Bear Aspar Team | Ducati | 345.6 | 1’56.095 | 1.261 / 0.305 |
| 15 | 42 | Alex RINS | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 341.3 | 1’56.249 | 1.415 / 0.154 |
| 16 | 53 | Tito RABAT | SPA | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | 339.9 | 1’56.617 | 1.783 / 0.368 |
| 17 | 45 | Scott REDDING | GBR | OCTO Pramac Racing | Ducati | 342.7 | 1’56.662 | 1.828 / 0.045 |
| 18 | 43 | Jack MILLER | AUS | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | 341.7 | 1’56.692 | 1.858 / 0.030 |
| 19 | 22 | Sam LOWES | GBR | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 336.3 | 1’56.854 | 2.020 / 0.162 |
| 20 | 76 | Loris BAZ | FRA | Reale Avintia Racing | Ducati | 338.3 | 1’56.935 | 2.101 / 0.081 |
| 21 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Reale Avintia Racing | Ducati | 345.8 | 1’57.005 | 2.171 / 0.070 |
| 22 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | SPA | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 340.1 | 1’57.630 | 2.796 / 0.625 |
| 23 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | GBR | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 336.8 | 1’57.654 | 2.820 / 0.024 |
