Jorge Lorenzo headed Dani Pedrosa in second practice for the Valencia Grand Prix, while MotoGP standings leader Marc Marquez suffered a late fall at the Doohan corner.
Having spent the entirety of the first session evaluating the same soft front and medium rear tyre, Marquez turned his attentions to trying out his preferred harder front option in the warmer temperatures.
After a brief stint at the top of the timesheets for Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro – who returns to action having missed the Sepang race with a finger injury – Marquez deposed his fellow Spaniard with a 1m31.578s six minutes into the afternoon outing.
Repsol Honda team–mate Pedrosa displaced him with a 1m31.346s, though Marquez re-assumed control with a 1m31.248s with 15 minutes on the clock.
As most switched to fresh soft slicks for a time attack at the end of the session, Marquez decided to simply have the hard front and soft rear he had been using switched over to his other bike to evaluate different set-ups.
Able to improve to a 1m31.243s on his final flying lap, his session came to an early halt with a minute on the clock when he crashed at the second corner – his 26th of the 2017 season.
Twitter: The first mistake of the #FinalShowdown weekend from the title contenders!
@marcmarquez93 racks up his 26th cras… https://t.co/VFG1q70ueS (@MotoGP)
Moments earlier, Ducati’s Lorenzo fired his Desmosedici GP17 to the top of the pile with a 1m30.640s to go half a second clear of the field – though Pedrosa cut his advantage down to just 0.122 seconds on his final effort.
Marquez’s title rival Andrea Dovizioso completed the top three with a 1m30.949s, with Tech3 Yamaha’s Johann Zarco splitting the two championship protagonists in fourth spot.
Marc VDS‘ Jack Miller was sixth fastest in the afternoon ahead of satellite Honda stablemate Cal Crutchlow and Ducati wildcard Michele Pirro.
Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi was a lowly 18th after the morning session, but improved by over a second to a 1m31.488s to go ninth quickest in the afternoon. The Italian was one of a few not to run the softer tyre towards the end of the 45-minute second practice.
KTM’s Pol Espargaro rounded out the top 10 after a late fall at Turn 3, the Spaniard coming off just one minute after his brother Aleix took a trip into the gravel trap.
The Aprilia rider was left stranded in 12th as a result, with the second factory Yamaha of Maverick Vinales splitting the pair in 11th – the 2013 Moto3 world champion almost a second off of the pace.
First practice pacesetter Andrea Iannone was 18th in the second session after crashing in the closing stages at Turn 10. However, his 1m31.045s from this morning keeps him fourth on the combined times.
The Suzuki rider headed KTM test rider Mika Kallio, while Tech3 stand-in Michael van der Mark once again completed the 25-rider field.
