Alvaro Bautista puts Suzuki on top in the rain at Valencia

Although conditions eventually improved, and a hint of sunshine even appeared at the very end, much of the session saw a significantly wetter track than morning practice.

Once again, that led to a host of unusual names at the front of the field, as though world champion Casey Stoner (Honda) led the way at first, the likes of Tech 3 Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow, Pramac Ducati's Randy de Puniet, Cardion Ducati's Karel Abraham and Ducati's Nicky Hayden all had turns at the front before Bautista claimed the definitive top spot with a 1m47.975s.

Hayden ended up second, 0.341 seconds down on the Spaniard, with de Puniet, Abraham and Crutchlow keeping themselves in the top five to the end.

Andrea Dovizioso was the best of the works Honda in sixth, while his team-mates Stoner and Dani Pedrosa were eighth and ninth behind Valentino Rossi's Ducati.

Tech 3 Yamaha's stand-in rider Josh Hayes did a superb job to take 10th. The American Superbike champion, who is making his MotoGP debut in place of the injured Colin Edwards, was as high as fifth at one stage.

Fellow substitute Katsuyuki Nakasuga also moved up the order as he finished the session 11th on Jorge Lorenzo's regular Yamaha.

The wetter conditions saw several accidents, with Toni Elias (LCR Honda) falling at Turn 2 early on, Ben Spies crashing his Yamaha at the first corner, and Abraham and Gresini Honda's Hiroshi Aoyama also having late falls - with Abraham's Ducati significantly damaged as it rolled across the Turn 1 run-off. All four were unhurt, although Spies - still recovering from his violent Phillip Island crash - looked understandably sore as he walked away after his tumble through the gravel.

Pos  Rider               Team/Bike       Time       Gap
 1.  Alvaro Bautista     Suzuki          1m47.975s
 2.  Nicky Hayden        Ducati          1m48.316s  + 0.341s
 3.  Randy de Puniet     Pramac Ducati   1m48.684s  + 0.709s
 4.  Karel Abraham       Cardion Ducati  1m49.021s  + 1.046s
 5.  Cal Crutchlow       Tech 3 Yamaha   1m49.350s  + 1.375s
 6.  Andrea Dovizioso    Honda           1m49.422s  + 1.447s
 7.  Valentino Rossi     Ducati          1m49.613s  + 1.638s
 8.  Casey Stoner        Honda           1m49.674s  + 1.699s
 9.  Dani Pedrosa        Honda           1m49.820s  + 1.845s
10.  Josh Hayes          Tech 3 Yamaha   1m50.509s  + 2.534s
11.  Katsuyuki Nakasuga  Yamaha          1m51.277s  + 3.302s
12.  Loris Capirossi     Pramac Ducati   1m51.838s  + 3.863s
13.  Hector Barbera      Aspar Ducati    1m51.932s  + 3.957s
14.  Ben Spies           Yamaha          1m52.072s  + 4.097s
15.  Hiroshi Aoyama      Gresini Honda   1m53.286s  + 5.311s
16.  Toni Elias          LCR Honda       1m54.342s  + 6.367s