Luca Marini set the fastest lap in Friday practice for the MotoGP finale at Valencia as title contender Fabio Quartararo just beat championship leader Francesco Bagnaia to eighth.

Marini clocked a 1:30.217s with less than three minutes to go in Free Practice 2 at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo on his Mooney VR46 Ducati, and it would be an all-Desmosedici top three.

Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) earned second with a 1:30.322 while Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) set a 1:30.345 just before the chequered flag to grab third.

Marc Marquez crashed his Repsol Honda once in each of the day’s two sessions but still finished up fourth on the timesheet with a 1:30.390s, ahead of Enea Bastianini (Gresini Ducati), Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM), and Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Ducati).

Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) topped Free Practice 1 but ended up eighth for the day on a 1:30.442s, 0.005s quicker than Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), with Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) rounding out the top 10.

Bagnaia arrived at Valencia with a 23-point margin and need only finish 14th this Sunday to guarantee that the title is his, while Quartararo must win the race to have any chance of going back-to-back.

Remy Gardner was 21st-quickest in his final MotoGP round, at least for the foreseeable future, one spot behind Tech3 KTM team-mate Raul Fernandez.

Friday practice: Valencia MotoGP Combined times