Marquez tops FP3 as Pedrosa crashes

But it was bad news for his team-mate Dani Pedrosa who suffered a monster highside in the first corner early in the session. He crashed at relatively slow speed but was flicked a long way in the air to land on his elbow. First reports state there are no fractures but he remains in the Clinica Mobile.

Espargaro put in a stunning lap with only a couple of minutes left to top the sheets with a 1'22.129 and only Marquez, and the power of HRC, could go faster. Valentino Rossi ended the session in third place and four-tenths of the second in arrears.

After a slow start, Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow was less than a tenth behind his factory Yamaha team-mate on a 1'22.377 which deposed home-town hero Stefan Bradl but only by 12 one-hundredths of a second.

Alvaro Bautista clawed his way into the top ten with his last lap, just nipping ahead of Bradley Smith for sixth place while Nicky Hayden finished in eighth. Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso rounded out the top ten with Randy De Puniet and Claudio Corti completing the CRT top three.

PBM Aprilia's Michael Laverty crashed right at the end of the session but walked away. He finished in 20th place on a 1'24.606.

1. Marc Marquez 1:21.903

2. Aleix Espargaro +00.226

3. Valentino Rossi +00.403

4. Cal Crutchlow +00.474

5. Stefan Bradl +00.486

6. Alvaro Bautista +00.711

7. Bradley Smith +00.855

8. Nicky Hayden +00.971

9. Andrea Iannone +01.128

10. Andrea Dovizioso +01.160