Jerez MotoGP: Marc Marquez quickest in second practice

In the hotter conditions of the afternoon, Honda rider Marquez's benchmark of 1m39.757s - which he set on only his third lap - was four tenths of Espargaro's practice one pace.

Marquez's only issue came after the chequered flag, when he stalled his bike while attempting a practice start and required help from the marshals.

Jerez is the only current MotoGP track where the reigning champion has not yet won a race at some stage during his career.

Espargaro jumped up to second on his Forward Yamaha late on, lapping 0.216 seconds adrift of Marquez.

That moved the Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso - another late improver - down to third, with long-time second-place man Valentino Rossi in fourth ahead of Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.

Last year's Jerez winner Dani Pedrosa was sixth.

Alvaro Bautista, Stefan Bradl, Andrea Iannone and Nicky Hayden completed the top 10.

Hiroshi Aoyama, Bradley Smith and Hector Barbera all had late crashes. Smith's was the most destructive, but fortunately he was clear of his Tech 3 Yamaha before it began tumbling violently through the gravel.

Cal Crutchlow was 15th as he continued to assess the condition of the hand injury that prevented him from racing in Argentina last weekend.

Folllow all the action from MotoGP race day at Jerez with AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live on Sunday. Coverage starts from Moto3 and Moto2 from 10am UK time

Pos Rider             Bike                    Time       Gap     Laps
 1. Marc Marquez      Honda                   1m39.757s           18    
 2. Aleix Espargaro   Forward Yamaha          1m39.973s  +0.216s  17    
 3. Andrea Dovizioso  Ducati                  1m40.028s  +0.271s  19    
 4. Valentino Rossi   Yamaha                  1m40.125s  +0.368s  20    
 5. Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                  1m40.133s  +0.376s  18    
 6. Dani Pedrosa      Honda                   1m40.491s  +0.734s  19    
 7. Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda           1m40.616s  +0.859s  19    
 8. Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda               1m40.672s  +0.915s  19    
 9. Andrea Iannone    Pramac Ducati           1m40.742s  +0.985s  18    
10. Nicky Hayden      Aspar Honda             1m40.788s  +1.031s  19    
11. Pol Espargaro     Tech 3 Yamaha           1m40.918s  +1.161s  20    
12. Michele Pirro     Ducati                  1m40.930s  +1.173s  16    
13. Yonny Hernandez   Pramac Ducati           1m41.092s  +1.335s  17    
14. Hiroshi Aoyama    Aspar Honda             1m41.188s  +1.431s  15    
15. Cal Crutchlow     Ducati                  1m41.353s  +1.596s  16    
16. Bradley Smith     Tech 3 Yamaha           1m41.360s  +1.603s  17    
17. Scott Redding     Gresini Honda           1m41.465s  +1.708s  17    
18. Danilo Petrucci   Ioda Aprilia            1m41.589s  +1.832s  15    
19. Hector Barbera    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki    1m41.619s  +1.862s  14    
20. Colin Edwards     Forward Yamaha          1m41.831s  +2.074s  15    
21. Michael Laverty   PBM Aprilia             1m41.914s  +2.157s  17    
22. Karel Abraham     Cardion Honda           1m41.934s  +2.177s  17    
23. Mike di Meglio    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki    1m42.220s  +2.463s  18    
24. Broc Parkes       PBM Aprilia             1m42.424s  +2.667s  15