With conditions still poor, Marquez's FP1 benchmark of 1m55.418s went unbeaten in the early stages of the afternoon's running.

That was until Dovizioso posted a 1m54.877s a little over 15 minutes into the session, surpassing Marquez's morning time by six tenths and opening up a 1.1s cushion on the field.

Tech 3 Yamaha's Johann Zarco slashed Dovizioso's advantage to a little under six tenths with 15 minutes to go as he leapt into second, before Marquez managed to come within 0.043s of beating the Italian.

But, shortly after moving into second, Marquez crashed his works Honda at Turn 4, bringing a premature end to his session and ensuring Dovizioso finished the day on top.

Despite his late fall, Marquez ended up second-fastest, as Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro made a late jump to third with a time 0.184s shy of Dovizioso.

Jorge Lorenzo was fourth on the second factory Ducati, 0.357s behind his teammate, with Zarco once again ending up as the best Yamaha rider in fifth place.

Danilo Petrucci made it three Ducati GP17s in the top six aboard his Pramac example, followed by Andrea Iannone's Suzuki - now sporting the Japanese marque's new 'moustache' fairing.

Honda pair Dani Pedrosa and Cal Crutchlow and the second Suzuki of Alex Rins rounded out the top 10.

It was another difficult session for works Yamaha riders Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi, who ended up 11th and 12th, 1.499s and 1.588s off the pace respectively.

Rossi only just beat Tech 3 novice Kohta Nozane by 0.018s, as Jonas Folger's replacement once more ended up comfortably quickest of the contingent of local riders.

Besides Marquez, Bradley Smith (KTM) and Scott Redding (Pramac Ducati) were the other riders to suffer crashes, both at Turn 11.

Practice results:

Pos.	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'54.877
2	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	1'54.920	0.043
3	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1'55.061	0.184
4	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati	1'55.234	0.357
5	5	Johann Zarco	Yamaha	1'55.468	0.591
6	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1'55.541	0.664
7	29	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	1'55.614	0.737
8	26	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	1'55.773	0.896
9	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1'56.149	1.272
10	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1'56.229	1.352
11	25	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	1'56.376	1.499
12	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1'56.435	1.558
13	31	Kohta Nozane	Yamaha	1'56.453	1.576
14	45	Scott Redding	Ducati	1'56.680	1.803
15	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati	1'56.776	1.899
16	19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	1'56.827	1.950
17	38	Bradley Smith	KTM	1'56.853	1.976
18	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	1'56.872	1.995
19	22	Sam Lowes	Aprilia	1'57.250	2.373
20	76	Loris Baz	Ducati	1'57.259	2.382
21	8	Hector Barbera	Ducati	1'57.540	2.663
22	7	Hiroshi Aoyama	Honda	1'57.548	2.671
23	53	Tito Rabat	Honda	1'57.645	2.768
24	21	Katsuyuki Nakasuga	Yamaha	1'58.341	3.464