Sachsenring MotoGP: Marquez fastest, Rossi and Dovizioso to Q1

Marquez's nearest rival Fabio Quartararo had a massive moment at the end of the session when his Yamaha shook violently at Turn 11. While he didn't crash, he was left in obvious pain in his left shoulder.

The Frenchman, along with other Yamaha riders, also struggled with the first corner of the circuit early on.

Quartararo went off twice, and works rider Maverick Vinales then came close to hitting the wall on two occasions. Quartararo's teammate Franco Morbidelli also had a trip through the gravel at the corner.

At the start, Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro impressively came within four tenths of Marquez's Friday benchmark, and led the majority of FP3, with the Honda rider sitting second.

Quartararo then put on a new soft rear tyre and took the lead, setting the best time of the weekend with a 1m20.515s, which he recorded while running behind Marquez.

Vinales progressively closed the gap to Quartararo, in the end ending up just one tenth behind the rookie.

However, both Yamaha riders were beaten by Marquez in the end, the Honda rider doing a 1m20.347s on his second flyer after he had made a mistake on his first.

Quartararo ended up second from Vinales and Cal Crutchlow, who was fourth-fastest with a fractured right knee. Suzuki's Alex Rins was fifth, with Morbidelli taking sixth.

Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller were the top Ducatis in seventh and eighth respectively, with ninth-placed Joan Mir making it two Suzukis in the top 10.

KTM rider Pol Espargaro also made it to Q2 in 10th, but ended the session with a crash at Turn 3.

Espargaro beat Valentino Rossi by 0.013s, the Yamaha man once again confined to Q1 - where he will be joined by Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso, who was only 14th.

Pramac Ducati rookie Francesco Bagnaia returned to riding after missing FP2 following his hospital visit in the aftermath of his FP1 crash. He was last in the Saturday morning session.

Cla	Rider	Bike	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Marc Marquez	Honda	26	1'20.347
2	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	22	1'20.515	0.168
3	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	22	1'20.634	0.287
4	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	21	1'20.653	0.306
5	Alex Rins	Suzuki	23	1'20.679	0.332
6	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	22	1'20.833	0.486
7	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	22	1'20.867	0.520
8	Jack Miller	Ducati	23	1'20.891	0.544
9	Joan Mir	Suzuki	22	1'20.986	0.639
10	Pol Espargaro	KTM	19	1'21.019	0.672
11	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	25	1'21.026	0.679
12	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	18	1'21.086	0.739
13	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	24	1'21.125	0.778
14	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	22	1'21.184	0.837
15	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	23	1'21.375	1.028
16	Andrea Iannone	Aprilia	25	1'21.381	1.034
17	Johann Zarco	KTM	20	1'21.435	1.088
18	Stefan Bradl	Honda	24	1'21.443	1.096
19	Tito Rabat	Ducati	22	1'21.611	1.264
20	Karel Abraham	Ducati	21	1'21.832	1.485
21	Hafizh Syahrin	KTM	19	1'21.972	1.625
22	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	21	1'22.150	1.803
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