Dani Pedrosa denied Valentino Rossi the top spot in a wet second MotoGP practice session at Jerez.
Conditions had improved little from the morning's running - when all the factory teams opted not to venture out, but the reticence was not repeated as riders seized the opportunity to sample the damp track.
Rossi was one of the first to get down to a respectable time and with 30 minutes remaining it was the Italian, who suffered a disastrous opener in Qatar, who led the way with a 1m51.440s on his Ducati.
For a long while it looked like that would be enough to earn him first place, but with 10 minutes on the clock Pedrosa went out for only his third run of the session and managed to shave six tenths off the benchmark, putting Honda top. Rossi rejoined on the second Ducati chassis but did not improve and stayed second, while team-mate Nicky Hayden completed a positive day for the Desmosedici by finishing fifth fastest.
The pair were split by Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo and the second factory Honda of Casey Stoner, both of whom finished more than one second down on Pedrosa.
Tech 3 Yamaha pair Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow claimed sixth and eighth, split by Alvaro Bautista on the satellite Gresini Honda. Ben Spies (Yamaha) was the last of the factory riders in ninth, ahead of LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl. Randy de Puniet finished as the fastest CRT rider in 11th, more than three seconds down on Pedrosa.
Aspar Aprilia rider de Puniet was however able to finish ahead of Karel Abraham on the satellite Pramac Ducati, which ended the session in 13th.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap
1. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m50.780s
2. Valentino Rossi Ducati 1m51.440s + 0.660s
3. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m51.873s + 1.093s
4. Casey Stoner Honda 1m52.106s + 1.326s
5. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m52.254s + 1.474s
6. Andrea Dovizioso Tech 3 Yamaha 1m53.070s + 2.290s
7. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 1m53.166s + 2.386s
8. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m53.352s + 2.572s
9. Ben Spies Yamaha 1m53.409s + 2.629s
10. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1m53.409s + 2.629s
11. Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia 1m54.155s + 3.375s
12. Mattia Pasini Speed Master Aprilia 1m54.370s + 3.590s
13. Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati 1m54.378s + 3.598s
14. Hector Barbera Pramac Ducati 1m54.581s + 3.801s
15. Colin Edwards Forward Suter-BMW 1m54.707s + 3.927s
16. Ivan Silva Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki 1m54.748s + 3.968s
17. Yonny Hernandez Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m54.915s + 4.135s
18. Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Aprilia 1m55.752s + 4.972s
19. Michele Pirro Gresini FTR-Honda 1m56.067s + 5.287s
20. James Ellison Paul Bird Aprilia 1m57.475s + 6.695s
21. Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia 1m57.789s + 7.009s