The #04 Ducati Desmosedici GP16 lapped the course in 1min45.786sec to beat Honda’s championship favourite Marquez by 0.245 seconds.

Yamaha pair 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 an impressive ninth for Aprilia.

Hector Barbera, grabbing his first chance on a works Ducati, was 10th and just over a second off his pace-setting teammate.

The man who replaced him this weekend on the Avintia Ducati, Australian Superbike champion Mike Jones, was predictably last, 4.4sec but only two places behind teammate Loris Baz, who ended his session in the sand.

The injured Bradley Smith appears well out of sorts on the Tech 3 Yamaha – 21st and 4.4sec behind his teammate Pol Espargaro.

First practice times:

Cla	#	Driver	Bike	Time	Gap
1	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'45.786
2	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	1'46.031	0.245
3	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha	1'46.181	0.395
4	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1'46.222	0.436
5	26	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	1'46.314	0.528
6	25	Maverick Viñales	Suzuki	1'46.349	0.563
7	41	Aleix Espargaro	Suzuki	1'46.406	0.620
8	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1'46.590	0.804
9	19	Alvaro Bautista	Aprilia	1'46.721	0.935
10	8	Hector Barbera	Ducati	1'46.853	1.067
11	44	Pol Espargaro	Yamaha	1'46.998	1.212
12	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1'47.125	1.339
13	6	Stefan Bradl	Aprilia	1'47.426	1.640
14	45	Scott Redding	Ducati	1'47.641	1.855
15	68	Yonny Hernandez	Ducati	1'47.704	1.918
16	43	Jack Miller	Honda	1'47.777	1.991
17	50	Eugene Laverty	Ducati	1'47.988	2.202
18	21	Katsuyuki Nakasuga	Yamaha	1'48.058	2.272
19	53	Tito Rabat	Honda	1'48.409	2.623
20	76	Loris Baz	Ducati	1'48.914	3.128
21	38	Bradley Smith	Yamaha	1'51.415	5.629
22	7	Mike Jones	Ducati	1'53.191	7.687