Andrea Dovizioso sent Ducati to the top of the time sheets with his final flying lap of Twin-Ring Motegi to eclipse Marc Marquez by a quarter-second. The #04 Ducati Desmosedici GP16 lapped the course in 1min45.786sec to beat Honda’s championship favorite Marquez by 0.245 seconds. Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were third and fourth, 0.395 and 0.436sec off top spot, ahead of last year’s winner, Dani Pedrosa on the second works Honda. Maverick Vinales survived a couple of off-course excursions to put Suzuki sixth, just ahead of teammate Aleix Espargaro who also had a late off. Cal Crutchlow went down toward the end of the session but put the LCR Honda eigthth, while Alvaro Bautista was...
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