The China Mail - Bruised Alex Marquez sets course to top Jerez practise times

The younger Marquez brother set a time of 1min 35.991sec on a Ducati Gresini, 0.103sec ahead of Italy's Francesco Bagnaia on a factory Ducati and 0.036 inside the course record the Italian set last year.

Italian Franco Morbidelli was third on a VR46 Ducati. Championship leader Marc Marquez was fourth on a factory Ducati.

Frenchman Fabio Quartararo, displaying the rediscovered competitiveness of his Yamaha, was fifth and the top non-Ducati.

The session had been halted after nine minutes when Alex Marquez slid out as high speed on turn five. His bike rocketed across the gravel and through an air fence, forcing stewards to wave red flags while the barrier was repaired.

After picking himself up, Marquez was ferried back on a scooter nursing his right hand.

Alex Marquez had also crashed in the morning session but still set the fastest time. He repeated the trick in the afternoon.

He returned for the final minutes of the session and quickly jumped to third before catapulting to a new record, as stewards repeatedly waved yellow warning flags.

Quartararo, Jack Miller, Ai Ogura, Raul Fernandez and Joan Mir, were among riders who crashed during the session.

Fermin Aldeguer, on the second Gresini bike, Johann Zarco on a Honda, KTM's Pedro Acosta, Fabio Di Giannantonio on a VR46 and Joan Mir on a Honda completed the top 10 who advance directly to the 12-rider final qualifying session on Saturday.

That will determine the first four rows of the grid for the evening's 12-lap sprint and Sunday's 25-lap main race.

The other 13 riders must ride in an earlier session with two places in Q2 at stake.

Marc Marquez, the six-time world champion, has dominated so far this season, taking all four poles, all four sprints and only missing out on a sweep when he fell while leading the Grand Prix of the Americas in Texas last month.

He appeared to complete the afternoon session on one set of tyres, conserving his options for later in the weekend.

Marquez, who leads the standings by 17 points ahead of younger brother Alex, is a three-time winner in Jerez -- in 2014, 2018 and 2019, but Bagnaia has triumphed in each of the last three years.

Bagnaia won in the US after Marquez's error, but the Italian is already 26 points off the pace in third overall.

R.Yeung--ThChM