SPIELBERG, Aug 10 — Marc Marquez continued his domination of practice for the Austrian MotoGP with the quickest time in third session this morning.
The Spaniard finished the session with a best time of just over 1 minute 23 seconds, 0.340sec ahead of Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales, and the signs are encouraging that the world champion can prevent Ducati winning the race for a fourth consecutive time on his Honda.
The Ducati, ridden by Marquez’s closest challenger, Andrea Dovizioso, was third quickest.
The other two Ducatis ridden by Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller came in fourth and seventh respectively.
The fourth and final practice session is followed today by qualifying from 1210 GMT for tomorrow’s race, the 11th leg of the 19-race season with Marquez enjoying a 63-point lead over Dovizioso as he hunts down his sixth MotoGP title.
He is seeking his 51st career race win tomorrow but none of those have come in Austria.
Austrian third practice session:
1. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda): 1:23.251, 2. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Yamaha) at 0.340, 3. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati) 0.342, 4. Danilo Petrucci (ITA/Ducati) 0.342, 5. Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha-SRT) 0.386, 6. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 0.451, 7. Jack Miller (AUS/Ducati) 0.498, 8. Takaaki Nakagami (Honda-LCR) 0.513, 9. Alex Rins (ESP/Yamaha) 0.723, 10.Pol Espargaro (ESP/KTM) 0.765 — AFP
