Ducati’s Jorge Lorenzo has taken charge of the Friday MotoGP timesheets at Valencia putting the soft rear Michelin - which the multiple champion could race on Sunday - to good use with a 1’30.640, a tenth faster than compatriot Dani Pedrosa.

Lorenzo hit the front with a 1’31.164 with six minutes left and then set the quickest lap of the weekend so far before getting held up in the last sector by Alvaro Bautista which knocked an even faster lap on the head.

Pedrosa opted for a medium front and soft rear combination to put in a 1’30.762 for second while team-mate and world champion-elect Marc Marquez asked too much of his hard front Michelin - which had done 20 laps - at turn two and went down unhurt.

The Repsol Honda man matched a soft rear to the hard front on one bike and then moved them over to his second bike before putting in a 1’31.243 for fifth place in the session and sixth overall. He managed eight 1’31s laps on those tyres before he went down.

Title rival Andrea Dovizioso dropped his laptime on the soft rear down to a1'30.949 with a medium front with a couple of 1’31s to boot. The Italian was slower on a soft/soft combination but ended the day third overall, one ahead of Andrea Iannone, whose time on the soft tyre this morning was enough for fourth on the combined sheets.

It has been a very difficult day for the Movistar Yamaha men, ending in 11th and 12th overall. Valentino Rossi didn’t bother with a soft tyre run at the end, setting his best time of 1’31.488 early on the medium rear. He had done two runs on the soft but was significantly slower.

Maverick Vinales opted for medium/medium for his first two runs and then switched to a soft rear and put in a 1’31.624 for 11th in the session. Johann Zarco, easily the fastest Yamaha, put his satellite Monster M1 in fifth overall with a 1’30.949 on soft Michelins all round but also had 1’31s pace on the mediums.

Jack Miller, who was second quickest on a medium rear this morning, tried a soft on his final run and ended with a 1’31.357, the exact same time he managed in free practice one. Cal Crutchlow finished in seventh place with Michele Pirro ninth and Pol Espargaro in tenth on combined times.

Espargaro crashed the KTM at turn three this afternoon just seconds after his brother Aleix ditched the Aprilia. Aleix finished in 13th, just behind the factory Yamahas, with a best of 1’31.698 set this afternoon. Scott Redding and Karel Abraham, caravanning Lorenzo, completed the top 15.

KTM wildcard Mika Kallio finished in 17th with team-mate Bradley Smith in 23rd. Sam Lowes was one place behind with Michael van der Mark cutting his gap to the leaders, ending 2.461s off the pace.

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