Marc Marquez headed back to the top of the times in the third MotoGP practice at Brno in wet conditions, setting a time over half-a-second faster than anyone else.
Marquez, along with the rest of the field, headed out early to get a feel for the slippy conditions with a few slower sighting laps.
Marquez quickly began to push though, and started lapping around three-seconds faster than his competitors, posting a 2:04.830 while the riders behind failed to get under the 2:07 barrier.
The Honda man was able to shave off a further six-tenths soon after with what would ultimately be his and the overall fastest time of the session, a 2:04.279 that guarantees him the first automatic Q2 spot.
Behind Marquez came Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales, the Assen race winner getting closest to the championship leader’s incredible pace with a 2:04.967, just over half-a-second in arrears.
This means he will also go to staright to Q2 later on, unlike third-placed Sylvain Guintoli whose best dry lap yesterday was insufficient to progress direct to the final qualifying session.
Danilo Petrucci was next up in fourth place on the first of the Ducati machines, just ahead of fellow Q2 starters Valentino Rossi and FP2 pace-setter Fabio Quartararo.
The top ten positions were completed by riders that will have to compete in Q1, as despite a dry line becoming visible towards the end of the session, slicks were still not a viable option and therefore times failed to drop compared to the wetter conditions towards the beginning of the 45-minute test.
Joan Mir was seventh for Suzuki just ahead of the KTM RC16 of Pol Espargaro, while Miguel Oliveira one again impressed with ninth on his Tech 3 KTM just ahead of Andrea Iannone’s Aprilia.
Five of the ten Q2 runners failed to make the top ten in this session, with Cal Crutchlow in 11th on his LCR Honda the fastest.
He led Pramac Racing’s Jack Miller in 12th and Andrea Dovizioso on the second of the factory Ducati bikes in 13th, while Franco Morbidelli and Alex Rins will contest Q2 with their SRT Yamaha and Suzuki machines with the 14th and 15th fastest times respectively.
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