MotoGP Jerez - Crutchlow tops third practice

Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow has topped the third MotoGP free practice session at Jerez this morning, heading Dani Pedrosa by 0.019s despite having an apparent brake problem with his satellite YZR-M1.

The British rider was the first rider to drop under the 1'39s barrier with his seventh lap of 19 to set a 1'38.975 which stood until the chequered flag. Not long after, he ran off track and then berated his team when he came back into the pits.

Repsol Honda's Pedrosa put in a fast run at the end of the session but couldn't quite match Crutchlow's time, his best a 1'38.994 which was enough to stay ahead of yesterday's quickest man Jorge Lorenzo by just under one one-hundredth of a second.

Valentino Rossi also put in some late, fast laps ending in fourth place on a 1'39.105. Andrea Dovizioso, on the works Ducati, was struggling outside the top ten until he found a lap up his sleeve to go fifth with a 1'39.494 and demote Marc Marquez to sixth.

Hector Barbera was the surprise of the session, pushing his way into seventh place on the Gresini CRT machine with a lap just six-tenths off the pace of Crutchlow. Nicky Hayden was eighth and Andrea Iannone ninth despite breaking down at session end.

Alvaro Bautista was the last man to make it into qualifying two by right but Stefan Bradl, on the LCR Honda, will have to go out in qualifying one this afternoon to try and make it through. He will be joined by Aleix Espargaro.

Bradley Smith failed to make it into qualifying one, finishing in 13th place while Michael Laverty again closed the gap to the leaders and is now just three seconds off the pace.

By MotoGP desk

Image by Bonnie Lane