Nicky Hayden set the pace in a wet opening practice session for MotoGP's 2012 finale at Valencia.
A late rally allowed him to work his way down to a 1m44.485s, over one second clear of the field, although the soaked surface was far from conducive to chasing outright times.
Dani Pedrosa had been fastest with two minutes to run, but was in the pits and therefore unable to respond as Hayden made his charge. The Honda rider, twice a winner at the Spanish track, had to settle for second, 1.005s down.
Newly crowned champion Jorge Lorenzo was four tenths down the road in third, ahead of Tech 3's Andrea Dovizioso. Valencia will mark the Italian's final race with the satellite Yamaha squad before he moves across to Ducati.
Stablemate Cal Crutchlow had held the intra-team advantage when he moved into third with nine minutes to run, but with a flurry of late improvements found himself pushed down to eighth at the flag. Separating him and Dovizioso were Gresini's Alvaro Bautista, CRT points leader Aleix Espargaro and the second Ducati of Valentino Rossi.
Rossi, like Dovizioso facing his last race for his current team, was just over two seconds down on Hayden. The second CRT Aspar of Randy de Puniet beat Phillip Island race winner Casey Stoner to ninth.
Despite the conditions there were only two fallers – James Ellison and Katsuyuki Nakasuga, who is replacing the injured Ben Spies this weekend. Both were unhurt.
Pos Rider Bike Time Laps
1. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m44.485s 18
2. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m45.490s + 1.005 17
3. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m45.945s + 1.460 14
4. Andrea Dovizioso Yamaha 1m46.021s + 1.536 19
5. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 1m46.413s + 1.928 18
6. Aleix Espargaro ART 1m46.574s + 2.089 19
7. Valentino Rossi Ducati 1m46.678s + 2.193 17
8. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m46.839s + 2.354 17
9. Randy De Puniet ART 1m47.039s + 2.554 17
10. Casey Stoner Honda 1m47.527s + 3.042 14
11. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1m47.825s + 3.340 19
12. Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati 1m47.862s + 3.377 19
13. Katsuyuki Nakasuga Tech 3 Yamaha 1m48.110s + 3.625 17
14. Michele Pirro FTR 1m48.244s + 3.759 17
15. Ivan Silva BQR 1m48.918s + 4.433 18
16. Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Suter 1m49.143s + 4.658 14
17. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 1m49.444s + 4.959 14
18. Colin Edwards Suter 1m49.748s + 5.263 9
19. James Ellison ART 1m50.735s + 6.250 14
20. Roberto Rolfo ART 1m51.826s + 7.341 13
21. Claudio Corti Inmotec 1m51.996s + 7.511 12
22. Hiroshi Aoyama BQR 1m54.245s + 9.760 17