Petrucci goes top as Vinales, Rossi miss out on Q2 spots

Danilo Petrucci has demonstrated his impressive pace in tricky wet conditions ahead of his final race for Pramac Ducati to edge out Friday’s fastest rider Marc Marquez while both Movistar Yamaha riders toiled to miss out on the top 10.

Despite the morning’s Moto3 FP3 action starting in damp but drying conditions, rain arrived just as MotoGP’s third practice began which initially stalled any quick laps.

Rossi was an early faller in the wet at Turn 4, but was able to return to his garage to continue on his second factory Yamaha, while Andrea Iannone also suffered an off for Suzuki.

As the rain relented as the session progressed, times duly began to sharpen compared to the wet running across Friday’s practice sessions which saw Petrucci bolt to the top with a 1m 39.712s – 0.088s quicker than Marquez’s best effort from Friday.

Andrea Dovizioso was another key improver to jump up to second in the session and third overall with Marquez third in FP3 and Jack Miller taking fourth for Pramac Ducati despite a late crash.

Johann Zarco found vital gains to move up to fifth place on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 late on to edge Dani Pedrosa into sixth on the Repsol Honda.

Pol Espargaro continued to impress by keeping hold on his top 10 spot with seventh place for Red Bull KTM ahead of Alex Rins on the Suzuki, another late faller in the session while pushing, as Aleix Espargaro produced a final-lap flyer to break into the automatic Q2 spots for Aprilia.

Ducati test rider and wildcard at Valencia Michele Pirro grabbed the final top 10 place to edge out Maverick Vinales who continued to struggle for pace in the wet.

Marc VDS Honda’s Franco Morbidelli split the factory Yamaha’s in 12th place with Rossi only 13th after running off track during his final FP3 lap.

Having crashed out earlier in the session, Iannone was another high-profile name to miss out on the automatic Q2 spots in 15th place for Suzuki.

Jorge Lorenzo continued to battle his recently-operated left wrist in 17th place in FP3 for Ducati.

Xavier Simeon has been declared unfit for the remainder of the Valencia MotoGP, missing his final race for Avintia Ducati, after sustaining injury and suspected concussion in an off during Friday practice.