Pramac Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci was the fastest man in MotoGP free practice three, booking his way directly into Q2, however, Factory Movistar Yamaha duo, Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi will both be forced to come through Q1.

A heavy rain shower kept conditions difficult after Friday’s washout and the first half of the session saw nobody improve on their Friday times, however the Italian, who will replace Jorge Lorenzo in the factory Ducati team for 2019, edged out 2018 World Champion Marc Marquez.

With conditions starting to dry, riders started to push, however a nasty highside by Valentino Rossi at turn four just reminded riders that conditions were still extremely tough.

With rain abating and temperatures slightly rising, Petrucci went fastest with a time of 1:39.712, just under a tenth faster than Marquez’ previously best time.

Andrea Dovizioso was a big improver on his Ducati, moving second fastest in the session and third fastest in combined free practice times, with Marquez failing to improve on his Friday time in second.

Jack Miller was fourth, showing Ducati strength around the Spanish circuit in the damp conditions. Johann Zarco was top Yamaha in fifth, with out-going Dani Pedrosa showing strong in sixth. Pol Espargaro guided his KTM RC-16 into seventh with Alex Rins, Aleix Espargaro and Michele Pirro rounding out the top ten, with all three suffering late crashes.

Vinales was eleventh and will have to go through Q1 along with his team-mate who could only finish thirteenth after his crash. The Yamaha duo will also be joined by the likes of Andrea Iannone and Jorge Lorenzo who were fifteenth and seventeenth respectively.