Iannone fastest but Marquez and Lorenzo looking strong

Andrea Iannone was fastest in FP4 but as ever the times that matter in the final practice session aren’t the headline grabbing single lap times but rather the long run pace of riders. Iannone’s race pace looked solid and was he able to all but match Jorge Lorenzo who once again looks to be the strongest rider in the field for the race with a string of 42’s despite finishing eighth fastest.

Valentino Rossi was fourth fastest and looked to have strong long run pace. This is the strongest that we’ve seen Rossi on a Saturday in quite some time but his struggles in qualifying will still mean that he’ll need to have a fast time in qualifying if he’s to be able to hold hopes of fighting with Lorenzo tomorrow.

Marc Marquez was second fastest and set ten laps underneath the 1m43s barrier as he looks to prove that Honda has made progress from their disastrous form of late. His teammate, Dani Pedrosa, will have to take part in QP1 but ended FP4 third fastest.

Scott Redding and Cal Crutchlow were both in the top ten with Bradley Smith 16th fastest. Eugene Laverty crashed at the end of the session at turn five and eventually finished the session 19th fastest and within a couple of tenths of the fastest Open Honda. Karel Abraham was 20th but the Czech rider had a big crash and was taken to the medical centre where he was diagnosed with dislocated toe.