125s: Gades on top

The 23-year-old Spaniard, who is one of the hot favourites for the title after announcing he will stay with champion team Aspar Aprilia over the winter, set the pace in 2:05.982.

Frenchman Mike di Meglio was his nearest rival and was three tenths of a second slower on his Ajo Derbi, while Britain's Danny Webb was a hugely impressive third fastest on his de Graaf Aprilia.

Nico Terol headed the chasers on his Fontana Aprilia with Britain's great championship hope Bradley Smith fifth on his Polaris World-run example.

Another Briton - 15-year-old rookie Scott Redding caused a major stir on his Blusens Aprilia by out-pacing defending world champion Gabor Talmacsi's Aspar bike by over two tenths of a second.

Raffaele de Rosa was eighth quickest on his Scot KTM while Simone Corsi's Fontana Aprilia and Stefan Bradl's Kiefer Aprilia completed the top ten.

Esteve Rabat - on his own in the Repsol KTM team following Marc Marquez's arm injury sustained in Barcelona - had a crash on his way to the 11th best time, but the Spaniard shrugged it off as "just one of those things."

"It was nothing really," he said. "The rear tyre suddenly skidded, but fortunately it was a soft fall and I wasn't tossed into the air."