MotoGP Jerez: Marquez tops warm-up but crashes again

The Spaniard moved into the lead when he set a time of 1m38.864s early in the session, and did not give up the position for the rest of the warm-up.

Improving twice more, he ended up with a 1m38.687s time and a gap of 0.201s.

However, Marquez fell at Turn 6 in the dying stages of the session, in what was the third crash of the weekend for the reigning champion.

Pedrosa, who looked on course to demote Marquez with a fast lap, followed suit and also crashed at Turn 13 after the chequered flag fell.

Pedrosa had to settle for third as a result, with Suzuki's Andrea Iannone grabbing second.

Ducati satellite riders Jack Miller (Pramac) and Karel Abraham (Nieto) impressed in fourth and fifth, forcing factory rider Andrea Dovizioso to settle for sixth.

Polesitter for the Spanish GP, Cal Crutchlow was seventh ahead of top rookie Franco Morbidelli.

Johann Zarco was the top Yamaha in ninth, as the factory duo of Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi were 12th and 13th.

The top 10 was completed by the Ducati of Jorge Lorenzo.