Light rain before the second session secured Takaaki Nakagami with 1: 23,805 minutes from FP1 as the best time on Friday, as FP2 was mainly driven on a wet track.
MotoGP rainy weather specialist Danilo Petrucci was the first on the track to test the conditions on his Tech 3 KTM, followed by teammate Iker Lecuona.
Lecuona set the first benchmark with 1: 37.716 minutes, but crashed immediately in Turn 1 – but suffered no damage and drove on.
Petrucci put Lecuona down shortly after with 1: 36.188 minutes before the latter returned to the top with 1: 35.611 minutes, which he improved two laps later to 1: 34.319.
After a little more than 15 minutes of the 45-minute session, Marc Marquez shot to the top of the ranking with 1: 33.334 minutes and improved it to 1: 33.206s on his following tour.
In the middle distance, Marquez continued to pull away from the field with a time of 1: 32.841 minutes, which remained unchallenged until the last eight minutes of the session when the track began to dry out.
Johann Zarco von Pramac was the first to improve Marquez’s time with 1: 32.807 minutes before Ducati’s works colleague Francesco Bagnaia was faster with 1: 32.310 minutes.
Aprilias Savadori then took over the top position with 1: 31.304 minutes, while Jack Miller from the other works team Ducati was the first to venture on slick tires.
Miller’s adventure eventually ended with Australia finishing 14th on the checkered flag.
Savadori stayed in the lead, 0.154 seconds ahead of Zarco, while World Champion Joan Mir on his Suzuki completed the top three.
Bagnaia was another 0.616 seconds behind Mir, ahead of Aleix Espargaro’s sister Aprilia, while Alex Rins finished sixth on the Suzuki.
Alex Marquez jumped to seventh place on his last attempt on the LCR Honda, ahead of Lecuona, Maverick Vinales on the only Yamaha in the top 10 in FP2 and Marc Marquez on the factory Honda.
Championship leader Fabio Quartararo was 2.1 seconds behind in a typically difficult session for Yamaha riders in dry conditions, while Petronas SRT Cal Crutchlow was 20th and retired Valentino Rossi on sister SRT M1 was 22nd.
Petrucci was pushed back to 18th place after his early run at the sharp end, while factory KTM rider Miguel Oliveira only completed one out lap in FP2 due to wrist pain from his FP1 crash.