Submitted by David Emmett on
Johann Zarco has made good on his promise from yesterday to crack into the 1'29s by doing just that, posting not one but two laps under 1'30 on Sunday morning, using a soft tire. The Monster Tech 3 Yamaha man is just ahead of LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow, and Repsol HOnda's Marc Marquez. As they have been previously, Suzuki's Alex Rins and Pramac Ducati's Jack Miller are close behind.
Factory Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso is just a couple of thousandths slower than Miller, and a quarter of a second ahead of Taka Nakagami, the LCR Honda rookie making strong a strong debut in the MotoGP class.
There are plenty of new parts making an appearance. KTM have a new aerodynamics package, and Repsol Honda have been testing extensively with a carbon swingarm, which had been used in Valencia and Sepang. Both Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa used the carbon swingarm on Saturday, but now Pedrosa has gone back to the aluminum swinger, giving Marquez the opportunity to use the carbon one on both his bikes.
Over at Pramac Ducati, Danilo Petrucci has been deprived of the GP17 in his garage, as Jorge Lorenzo has gone back to last year's bike in a bid to understand why he can't get on with the GP18 at Buriram.
The track is growing quiet now, as some of the teams start to pack up early. Several of them have gotten through all of the fuel they brought to the test already: they had expected to be stuck in the garage and unable to rider for long periods at Buriram due to the heat, but it has not been as bad as they feared. So everyone has been able to run through their program and finish early. This was despite a brief red flag this morning, when the track was closed due to a snake being found on the track, and having to be removed.
The track is open until 5pm local time.
Times at 3:15pm:
| Pos | No | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Prev |
| 1 | 5 | Johann Zarco | Yamaha M1 | 1:29.867 | ||
| 2 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda RC213V | 1:30.064 | 0.197 | 0.197 |
| 3 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda RC213V | 1:30.143 | 0.276 | 0.079 |
| 4 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki GSX-RR | 1:30.178 | 0.311 | 0.035 |
| 5 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati GP17 | 1:30.190 | 0.323 | 0.012 |
| 6 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati GP18 | 1:30.192 | 0.325 | 0.002 |
| 7 | 30 | Takaaki Nakagami | Honda RC213V | 1:30.456 | 0.589 | 0.264 |
| 8 | 53 | Tito Rabat | Ducati GP17 | 1:30.476 | 0.609 | 0.020 |
| 9 | 26 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda RC213V | 1:30.510 | 0.643 | 0.034 |
| 10 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati GP18 | 1:30.573 | 0.706 | 0.063 |
| 11 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha M1 | 1:30.637 | 0.770 | 0.064 |
| 12 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki GSX-RR | 1:30.718 | 0.851 | 0.081 |
| 13 | 25 | Maverick Viñales | Yamaha M1 | 1:30.725 | 0.858 | 0.007 |
| 14 | 38 | Bradley Smith | KTM RC16 | 1:30.921 | 1.054 | 0.196 |
| 15 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia RS-GP | 1:31.056 | 1.189 | 0.135 |
| 16 | 21 | Franco Morbidelli | Honda RC213V | 1:31.101 | 1.234 | 0.045 |
| 17 | 36 | Mika Kallio | KTM RC16 | 1:31.169 | 1.302 | 0.068 |
| 18 | 45 | Scott Redding | Aprilia RS-GP | 1:31.311 | 1.444 | 0.142 |
| 19 | 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Ducati GP17 | 1:31.486 | 1.619 | 0.175 |
| 20 | 55 | Hafizh Syahrin | Yamaha M1 | 1:31.537 | 1.670 | 0.051 |
| 21 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati GP18 | 1:31.627 | 1.760 | 0.090 |
| 22 | 12 | Tom Luthi | Honda RC213V | 1:31.934 | 2.067 | 0.307 |
| 23 | 10 | Xavier Simeon | Ducati GP16 | 1:32.019 | 2.152 | 0.085 |
| 24 | 17 | Karel Abraham | Ducati GP16 | 1:32.024 | 2.157 | 0.005 |
