Pramac Ducati rider Johann Zarco started the race day perfectly when he finished first in the morning warm-up after Maverick Vinales had canceled the fastest time.
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Zarco drove a lap time of 1: 37.688 seconds in cool and cold conditions to finally overtake Vinales, who himself had taken over from his team-mate Fabio Quartararo late at the front, before his time was canceled because the track limits were exceeded.
The difficult conditions again led to several falls, with Marc Marquez suffering another major fall, this time at Turn 4.
Fortunately, the Spaniard was uninjured and was back on his feet immediately, while Pol Espargaro also suffered a quick fall at Turn 10.
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There were also falls for Iker Lecuona, who continues to have problems aboard the Tech 3 KTM, while a third Takaaki Nakagami Honda also crashed at Turn 2.
All drivers were fine and with no noticeable damage. Brad Binder’s KTM was behind the top three from Zarco, Vinales and Quartararo.
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While it has been up and down for Binder so far, the South African was fast for most of the weekend and ended +0.330 seconds behind.
World Champion Joan Mir was fifth fastest and appears to be one of the fastest drivers in terms of race pace going into the 25-lap event this afternoon.
Second on today’s grid Franco Morbidelli was sixth fastest for the Petronas Yamaha Team.
The first appearance of a rookie in the top ten this weekend was Enea Bastianini for the Avintia Esponsorama Ducati team, who finished seventh fastest.
Francesco Bagnaia completed the top ten in eighth, Aleix Espargaro in ninth and the fastest Honda rider Alex Marquez.