Motorcycling - Lorenzo on top as Marquez struggles

Eurosport - Yamaha MotoGP rider Jorge Lorenzo of Spain (Reuters)

By Scott Mitchell | AutoSport.

Lorenzo was in a class of his own for the opening half hour, improving his Friday benchmark early on before whittling it down to 1m47.972s aboard his Yamaha. He was the only rider below the 1:48s mark.

While the reigning champion progressed serenely through to Q2, Marquez will have to test his injured shoulder even more after missing the cut.

The Honda rider suffered another crash, though this was a low-speed tumble in the Turn 12 gravel, and he would go on to complete the session.

However, he could only manage the 12th fastest time and will be joined in Q1 by Andrea Iannone's Pramac Ducati - sixth after Friday – and Bradley Smith's Tech 3 Yamaha, with top CRT rider Aleix Espargaro delivering a superb lap to earn the final spot in Q2 on his Aspar Aprilia.

As Lorenzo remained unchallenged at the top of the timesheets, behind the places swapped almost every minute. First Andrea Dovizioso went second fastest before Dani Pedrosa and Stefan Bradl took over.

Eventually, it was Pedrosa's Honda which emerged as Lorenzo's closest challenger – significantly closer than on Friday, but still a quarter of a second behind.

Valentino Rossi and Cal Crutchlow were fourth and sixth respectively after low-key sessions ended with late improvements, while Nicky Hayden and wildcard Michele Pirro made it three Ducatis in the top 10.