Honda's Marc Marquez finishes Phillip Island MotoGP test on top

In contrast to the wet start to the opening two days of the test, Friday's running began under clear skies, with Marquez and Thursday pacesetter Maverick Vinales trading early times.

Suzuki's Vinales was on top again when both Marc VDS riders fell on the same lap, Tito Rabat at Turn 1 and Jack Miller at Turn 6.

Vinales would later fall during the morning, between Turns 6 and 7, along with team-mate Aleix Espargaro, while Tech3 Yamaha rider Pol Espargaro also crashed at Turn 2.

The rain then returned to the circuit around midday local time, costing teams more than three hours of running.

Aleix Espargaro and Rabat fell again in the afternoon, with Bradley Smith, Cal Crutchlow, Danilo Petrucci, Eugene Laverty, Jorge Lorenzo and Marquez all doing the same before the day was over.

Ten of the 11 riders who fell escaped injury, with Pramac Ducati man Petrucci fracturing his right hand in his Turn 8 fall and likely to require surgery, pending further checks in Melbourne on Saturday.

The timesheets remained relatively stable during the afternoon, with Marquez - who felt Honda turned a corner on Thursday - moving to the top with just under 90 minutes remaining with his time of 1m29.158s.

That lap was 0.027 seconds slower than the best of the test, Vinales' Thursday benchmark.

Vinales did not improve after his crash, and finished the day 0.141s behind Marquez, while LCR Honda's Crutchlow regrouped to set the third-fastest time inside the final 10 minutes, a further 0.049s adrift.

On Avintia's GP14.2 Ducati, Hector Barbera was fourth, having also improved inside the final hour, ahead of Valentino Rossi and Barbera's team-mate Loris Baz.

Dani Pedrosa finished the day seventh, ahead of Pol Espargaro and Lorenzo, who like many riders did not improve after the rain.

Ducati also had a low-key finish to the test, with Andrea Dovizioso 10th and Andrea Iannone 12th, split by Pramac's Scott Redding.

FRIDAY TESTING TIMES: