Stefan Bradl was the fastest rider in MotoGP Free Practice Three Saturday morning at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Riding his LCR Honda RC213V, the 24-year-old German lapped the newly-repaved and newly-reconfigured 2.591-mile infield road course in 1:32.882.
That’s five seconds faster than Marc Marquez’s 2013 Circuit Best lap record of 1:37.958.
Bradl did his fastest time on his final lap, displacing nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi (1:32.538) from the top spot. Rossi finished in second position, just ahead of his Movistar Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo (1:32.606).
Fourth-fastest in FP3 was Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso with a time of 1:32.767.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro ended up fifth with a lap of 1:32.797 in spite of a huge moment during the practice. With about 20 minutes to go in the 45-minute session, Espargaro was riding on the inside curb in the left-hand Turn 16 when his left knee appeared to get caught on something in the grass. That catch nearly ripped Espargaro off his YZR-M1 and caused him to crash, but the 23-year-old Spaniard miraculously landed back on his Yamaha and was able to continue riding in the session.
Defending MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez (1:32.862) came out of the session in an uncharacteristic sixth place.
Pramac Ducati’s Andrea Iannone (1:33.015) was near the top of the order throughout much of the session, but the Italian dropped to seventh in the late going.
Pol Espargaro’s teammate Bradley Smith (1:33.202) was eighth-quickest.
Dani Pedrosa’s (1:33.220) rough weekend continued with him finishing the practice in ninth.
Aleix Espargaro (1:33.453) was 10th in the session on his Open-class NGM Mobile Forward Racing Yamaha and 10th in the combined practice times, earning him the final ticket straight to Qualifying Practice Two.
With six minutes left in the practice Alvaro Bautista was unable to save a big rear tire slide in Turn 13 and suffered a huge highside crash. In spite of getting lunched high in the air and landing on his head and shoulders on the asphalt, the GO&FUN Honda rider was able to get up and walk away from the incident.
Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix
FIM MotoGP World Championship
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis, Indiana
August 9, 2014
Free Practice Three Results (all on Bridgestone tires):
1. Stefan BRADL, Germany (HONDA), 1:32.522 (New Circuit Best Lap Record)
2. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (YAMAHA), 1:32.538
3. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:32.606
4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (DUCATI), 1:32.767
5. Pol ESPARGARO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:32.797
6. Marc MARQUEZ, Spain (HONDA), 1:32.862
7. Andrea IANNONE, Italy (DUCATI), 1:33.015
8. Bradley SMITH, UK (YAMAHA), 1:33.202
9. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), 1:33.220
10. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (FORWARD YAMAHA), 1:33.453
11. Yonny HERNANDEZ, Colombia (DUCATI), 1:33.634
12. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (HONDA), 1:33.676, crash
13. Scott REDDING, UK (HONDA), 1:33.765
14. Cal CRUTCHLOW, UK (DUCATI), 1:34.118
15. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Japan (HONDA), 1:34.267
16. Karel ABRAHAM, Czech Republic (HONDA), 1:34.745
17. Danilo PETRUCCI, Italy (ART-APRILIA), 1:34.772
18. Hector BARBERA, Spain (FTR-KAWASAKI), 1:34.801
19. Mike DI MEGLIO, France (FTR-KAWASAKI), 1:34.938
20. Leon CAMIER, UK (HONDA), 1:35.010
21. Colin EDWARDS, USA (FORWARD YAMAHA), 1:35.122
22. Broc PARKES, Australia (PBM-APRILIA), 1:35.521
23. Michael LAVERTY, UK (PBM-APRILIA), 1:35.915