Morbidelli had picked up where he left off at the start of the afternoon hour, as riders began switching from the medium rear of the morning to the soft.

Marc Marquez made a huge (65-degree) front-end save with his knee and elbow at Turn 10, reminiscent of his Honda day before taking over at the top just before the midway stage.

Fabio Quartararo was another to suffer a scare while Pedro Acosta fell from his GASGAS in the early stages before rebounding to take over from Marquez in P1.

Fabio di Giannantonio, still debating shoulder surgery, also impressed on a used soft rear with Morbidelli, Misano 2 winner Enea Bastianini and Martin looking the quickest on the medium.

Yamaha’s Quartararo was on course to shock the favourites by going fastest on his opening time attack, before his M1 squirmed again. 

The Frenchman, denied a season-best fifth after running out of fuel last Sunday, went on to achieve his goal of direct Qualifying 2 access with sixth place, behind VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi.

Marc Marquez, Acosta, di Giannantonio (who fell) and Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales completed the top ten.

LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco was first to miss out on a direct place in Q2, with Repsol’s Luca Marini a fraction behind. Alex Rins and Brad Binder were also within 0.6s of Bastianini.

Aleix Espargaro, just 19th this morning, lost the front and fell at Turn 16… twice.