Pedrosa quickest in practice three

Friday pacesetter Pedrosa's benchmark time of 2m00.454s came on his very first run and proved unbeatable.

It put his Honda 0.165 seconds clear of Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo's eventual best effort.

Lorenzo edged out Pedrosa's team-mate Marc Marquez by 0.044s as the world champion made a late improvement to go third.

The session was red-flagged with 2m26s to go after Espargaro had a big high-side at Turn 1 that left him requiring medical attention while his Tech 3 Yamaha caught fire after it came to rest.

Espargaro had earlier had a smaller crash, and just before the second incident was warned by the passing Scott Redding of a problem with his bike, which appeared to be producing smoke.

Although Espargaro had set a time good enough to earn a Q2 spot, it remains to be seen whether he will be fit for qualifying.

Andrea Iannone is also a medical doubt. Already in pain from his Phillip Island crash, he sustained an arm injury in a Friday practice accident triggered by a brush with Marquez, who later apologised.

Iannone was not quick enough to get into Q2 and withdrew from practice three early.

There was enough time to resume the session once the track had been cleared following Espargaro's crash, and the majority of the field hurried out to try to get a final flying lap in.

The only frontrunner who managed an improvement in the subsequent dash over the line was Andrea Dovizioso, who brought his Ducati up to fourth.

He narrowly edged out Stefan Bradl, Cal Crutchlow and Valentino Rossi in a quartet covered by 0.131s.