Marquez was the only rider to dip beneath the 1m34s mark, clocking a best lap of 1m33.983s on the works Honda just beyond halfway through the 20-minute session.

That gave him a 0.394s buffer over nearest rival Dovizioso, but the works Ducati rider was able to cut the deficit to 0.242s with a lap of 1m34.181s in the closing stages.

Maverick Vinales was third, a further two tenths back, on the best of the Yamahas, while Andrea Iannone made it four different manufacturers in the top four on the Suzuki.

Jorge Lorenzo completed the top five on the second factory GP18 ahead of KTM's Pol Espargaro and satellite Ducati pair Danilo Petrucci (Pramac) and Alvaro Bautista (Nieto).

Valentino Rossi was ninth and 0.720s adrift of Marquez on the second works Yamaha, having had a laptime deleted for corner-cutting, ahead of fellow front row starter Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda).

Dani Pedrosa's subdued weekend continued with the 18th-best time on the second Repsol Honda, two places behind the leading Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro.

Session results:

Pos.	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	1'33.939
2	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'34.181	0.242
3	25	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	1'34.371	0.432
4	29	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	1'34.407	0.468
5	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati	1'34.475	0.536
6	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	1'34.534	0.595
7	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1'34.599	0.660
8	19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	1'34.647	0.708
9	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1'34.659	0.720
10	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1'34.735	0.796
11	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	1'34.740	0.801
12	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	1'34.760	0.821
13	5	Johann Zarco	Yamaha	1'34.760	0.821
14	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1'34.761	0.822
15	38	Bradley Smith	KTM	1'34.777	0.838
16	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1'34.783	0.844
17	53	Tito Rabat	Ducati	1'34.956	1.017
18	26	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	1'35.090	1.151
19	45	Scott Redding	Aprilia	1'35.108	1.169
20	55	Hafizh Syahrin	Yamaha	1'35.164	1.225
21	12	Thomas Luthi	Honda	1'35.623	1.684
22	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati	1'35.832	1.893
23	10	Xavier Simeon	Ducati	1'36.078	2.139