Andrea Iannone has ended free practice on top of the pile, the factory Ducati rider just squeaking past Jorge Lorenzo to end the day as the fastest man in FP3. Iannone had a little help from Lorenzo, though, much to the Spaniard's chagrin. The Italian followed the Yamaha M1 of Lorenzo through a blistering final lap, using the tow to propel him to the top of the timesheets.
Iannone may have been faster over a single lap, but it was Valentino Rossi who was fastest for most of FP3. The Italian had overcome his problems with vibration from the first day, and topped the timesheet until the last five minutes, when riders went for their time attacks.
Those last few minutes were frenetic. Positions swapped second by second as riders crossed the line, Iannone taking first from Lorenzo right at the death. Pol Espargaro ended the session as third overall, the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha really finding his groove at Le Mans. Maverick Viñales put the Suzuki GSX-RR into fifth, perhaps piqued by the reports that Dani Pedrosa has taken the second bike at Yamaha. Viñales' lawyer and Yamaha both denied the Pedrosa signing to various TV stations, but that is to be expected.
Dani Pedrosa ended the session in sixth, directly behind Maverick Viñales, and perhaps providing the Suzuki rider with a little more encouragement. The Repsol Honda rider was nearly four tenths off the pace of Iannone, but just ahead of Valentino Rossi, whose one-lap pace was not as strong as his race pace.
Andrea Dovizioso put the second factory Ducati into eighth place, ending just ahead of two British riders, Bradley Smith making it four Yamahas in the top ten with his ninth position, while Cal Crutchlow held on with the LCR Honda to take tenth. Crutchlow's fast lap just forced the two Pramac Ducatis out of the top ten, and into Q1.
Results:
Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Diff Previous |
1 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Ducati | 1'32.528 | ||
2 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | 1'32.533 | 0.005 | 0.005 |
3 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | Yamaha | 1'32.662 | 0.134 | 0.129 |
4 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1'32.718 | 0.190 | 0.056 |
5 | 25 | Maverick Viñales | Suzuki | 1'32.839 | 0.311 | 0.121 |
6 | 26 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | 1'32.915 | 0.387 | 0.076 |
7 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1'33.012 | 0.484 | 0.097 |
8 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'33.013 | 0.485 | 0.001 |
9 | 38 | Bradley Smith | Yamaha | 1'33.182 | 0.654 | 0.169 |
10 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'33.242 | 0.714 | 0.060 |
11 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | 1'33.413 | 0.885 | 0.171 |
12 | 45 | Scott Redding | Ducati | 1'33.522 | 0.994 | 0.109 |
13 | 8 | Hector Barbera | Ducati | 1'33.619 | 1.091 | 0.097 |
14 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Suzuki | 1'33.682 | 1.154 | 0.063 |
15 | 68 | Yonny Hernandez | Ducati | 1'33.878 | 1.350 | 0.196 |
16 | 43 | Jack Miller | Honda | 1'33.984 | 1.456 | 0.106 |
17 | 50 | Eugene Laverty | Ducati | 1'34.067 | 1.539 | 0.083 |
18 | 76 | Loris Baz | Ducati | 1'34.146 | 1.618 | 0.079 |
19 | 6 | Stefan Bradl | Aprilia | 1'34.485 | 1.957 | 0.339 |
20 | 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Aprilia | 1'34.716 | 2.188 | 0.231 |
21 | 53 | Tito Rabat | Honda | 1'34.898 | 2.370 | 0.182 |