Marc Marquez has topped the third practice session for MotoGP at Phillip Island ahead of qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.
Following Free Practice 3, the top 10 in the combined practice times crucially advance to Qualifying 2, adding weight to the Saturday morning session.
Johann Zarco’s 1:29.475s from Friday stood for much of the 45-minute encounter, though KTM’s Miguel Oliveira slotted into fifth in the early running.
As expected, there was a flurry of quick times in the final 15 minutes as riders attempted to book a spot in Q2.
Australian Remy Gardner made a big jump up the order to 14th.
Consecutive session-best times came from Joan Mir, Maverick Vinales, and Jorge Martin, with the latter putting nearly six-tenths on the field with a 1:28.616s.
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Marco Bezzecchi went to second ahead of Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia in fourth, while championship leader Fabio Quartararo ran deep at Honda Corner on his initial time attack.
When Quartararo did get a lap in, he went fourth, while the rider in his slipstream, Alex Marquez, went one better to third.
That left a top two of Martin and Bezzecchi, with Jack Miller putting in a strong final sector to leap from 22nd to third.
In the final time attack runs, Marc Marquez initially improved to second but continued pushing on his next lap.
Out of nowhere, Luca Marini went to the top on a 1:28.592s, and while that was impressive, it would not stand for long.
The elder Marquez laid down a commanding 1:28.462s to end the session quickest ahead of Marini and Martin.
Aleix Espargaro and Bezzecchi completed the top five, with Miller sixth.
Quartararo was at risk of missing a berth in Q2, though scraped in with the 10th quickest time, four-tenths off the pace.
Meanwhile, Gardner was 22nd on his KTM.
Free Practice 4 for MotoGP, a 30-minute session, begins at 13:30 local time/AEDT and is immediately followed by Qualifying 1 (14:10) and Qualifying 2 (14:35).
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