Maverick Vinales made it three from three as he topped the third Australian MotoGP practice session for Yamaha at Phillip Island in mixed conditions.
The Spaniard posted a late flying effort to relegate Marc Marquez at the death to second position by just 0.239, despite the tricky climactic conditions.
The session was red flagged in bizarre fashion just a few minutes after the start, as a pit board held by one of Jack Miller’s mechanics was ripped from him by the powerful winds hitting the circuit.
The board was thrown into the middle of the circuit on the start/finish straight, forcing officials to bring the session to a short halt while the object was removed.
Johann Zarco had managed to set the fastest time-albeit a relatively uncompetitive 1:35.628- shortly before the red flag was shown, one of only five to set a timed lap.
Several riders-including Fabio Quartararo and Cal Crutchlow- headed out shortly after the session resumed, but returned to the pits after only a couple of laps due to the extreme wind and rain showers upsetting bike behaviour.
The track remained pretty much empty aside from a handful of exploration laps over the next half-an-hour, before conditions improved sufficiently for the riders to post competitive times.
Marquez immediately bested Zarco’s earlier effort with a 1:33.867, followed soon after with a 1:32.187.
He continued to lap until the end of the session, ultimately trimming his leading benchmark to a 1:31.577 that looked to secure him the session.
Vinales though was on his final flyer, and snatched another couple of tenths from Marquez’s effort to continue his Australian domination-having now topped all three practice sessions so far this weekend.
Third fastest was Pol Espargaro’s KTM who managed a time 1.651 down on Vinales, while Zarco and Miller completed the top five.
Fabio Quartararo was sixth fastest for SRT Petronas Yamaha ahead of the second factory KTM of Mika Kallio, with Alex Rins just behind in eighth for Suzuki.
Francesco Bagnaia and Karel Abraham closed out the top ten runners, while Franco Morbidelli and Crutchlow rounded out the riders to set a time.
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