Star Metro - Bezzecchi edges Marquez brothers in blazing Spanish MotoGP practice

The trio were separated by 0.038ec at the end, making it the closest ever top-three in a Friday session.

Reigning champion Marc Marquez was fastest in the morning and opened the afternoon by breaking his own lap record on his Ducati with a time of 1min 45.493.

In a furious finale, Bezzecchi of Aprilia broke that record with a time of 1:45.455 with Alex Marquez of Ducati-Gresini jumping to second 10 thousandths of a second behind.

Bezzecchi started the season with three straight wins but sputtered after winning in round seven at Mugello and ceded the championship lead to team-mate Jorge Martin.

He said he is still "in pain" following crashes in the German race in July.

Motorland is a rare anti-clockwise circuit and has a lot of left turns.

"The left side of my body is struggling a bit," he said. "The shoulder is painful and the knee is more painful. I'm a bit worried because it's going to be a long weekend."

He added that he suspected that Marc Marquez, who has won seven times on the MotorLand circuit, was "hiding a bit" and would show more pace over the weekend.

Marquez said he was happy with his display.

"I'm under the record but not the fastest," said Marquez.

"So, that means everybody is super-fast, and everything is very close, and it will be a tough weekend."

Italian Fabio Di Giannantonio on a Ducati-VR46 was fourth, 0.299sec behind Bezzecchi. He was followed by four Spaniards: Fermin Aldeguer on a Ducati-Gresini, Raul Fernandez of Aprilia-Trackhouse, Martin and Pedro Acosta of KTM.

The top ten skip the opening qualifying session on Saturday and go straight to Q2 which decides the first four rows on the grid.

T. MacDonald--SMC