
Celebrating his new two-year deal with Aprilia, which was announced on Thursday, Espargaro guided his RS-GP - which in FP2 was powered by a new engine - to top spot with a 1m45.891s.
He was shadowed by the factory Ducati of Francesco Bagnaia on a 1m45.940s, who led an onslaught of Ducatis consisting of team-mate Jack Miller, Pramac's Johann Zarco, VR46's Luca Marini and Gresini's Enea Bastianini.