Marc Marquez finished with the best time the third MotoGP free practice of the Grand Prix of Argentine that took part in the Termas de Rio Hondo track.
In a track with less dust and more grip, most of the riders went faster than in previous sessions since the first minutes. Marc Marquez kept the lead of the combined results, followed by Aleix Espargaro and Dani Pedrosa.
The Yamaha factory riders looked more comfortably today after suffering issues yesterday. Both Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were in the top 5 with 20 minutes to go. Pol Espargaro suffered a crash without big consequences –a bleeding finger– for the rider in the last turn when he tried to improve his time. The marshals waved the oil flag just after the incident.
With 13 minutes left on the clock, several riders went to boxes in order to change to new tyres. Lorenzo improved his time and went second, just ahead of Aleix Espargaro.
The fight for the direct Q2 spots started in the last six minutes, when several top 10 drivers started improving their times. Rossi climbed to third place while Andrea Dovizioso tried to find a time that put him in a safe place. He did it and went fourth fastest.
In the end, Marquez finished in the first place with a time of 1:39.171, followed by Pedrosa and Rossi. Aleix Espargaro, Dovizioso, Stefan Bradl, Lorenzo, Andrea Iannone, Alvaro Bautista and Pol Espargaro got the direct pass to Q2.
