Marc Marquez topped the timesheets on the final day of 2019 MotoGP testing as inclement weather meant running at Jerez was extremely limited.
Following a 30-minute delay to the start of proceedings, Avintia’s Tito Rabat was the first to emerge from his garage and take to the track, with Petronas SRT’s Fabio Quartararo following the Ducati rider not long after.
Quartararo continued his evaluation of Yamaha’s 2020 engine on Tuesday and was fastest of the handful of runners after the first hour with a 1m39.342s.
This was beaten almost immediately as the second hour began by Marquez, who guided his 2019-spec Honda to a 1m37.820s to move 0.017 seconds clear of Suzuki’s Alex Rins.
The track fell silent around 45 minutes after Marquez went to the top of the times as fine rain began to fall around the circuit.
This soon intensified, leading to over an hour without any track action, and would ensure Marquez’s lap time would remain the benchmark.
Marquez aggravated a previously partially dislocated right shoulder in a crash on Monday, and will now spend the winter recovering from an operation due to take place on Wednesday in Barcelona.
Several riders, including the rookie crop of Iker Lecuona (Tech3), KTM’s Brad Binder and Marquez’s brother Alex (Honda) used the opportunity to gain some experience of riding a MotoGP bike in the wet.
Quartararo, team-mate Franco Morbidelli and works Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Monday pacesetter Maverick Vinales also ventured out onto the damp surface to gather some data on the new M1 engine in wet conditions.
With conditions failing to improve, the entire field had packed up as the session entered its final hour.
Marquez completed just 14 laps and very few on the 2020 prototype, while Rins led Suzuki team-mate Joan Mir to round out the top three.
Vinales was fourth-quickest ahead of Quartararo, with Andrea Dovizioso the top Ducati runner in sixth having completed just five laps on the Desmosedici.
Morbidelli, Pramac’s Jack Miller – who did just four laps – KTM’s Pol Espargaro and Rossi completed the top 10.
For a second day, Alex Marquez finished as top rookie in 17th, beating 20th-place Lecuona by six tenths, while Binder was 22nd ahead of Avintia Academy rider Eric Granado.