Jorge Martin dominated both Moto3 practice sessions on Friday ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, with title rival Aron Canet second quickest.
Martin was the early pacesetter in the opening 40-minute Moto3 session of the weekend with a 1:59.200, which he improved to a 1:58.078s in the closing stages to cement top spot in FP1 on his Gresini Honda.
Canet ended the morning second fastest ahead of Philipp Oettl and last year's Mugello race winner Andrea Migno, while his Nieto teammate and the French Grand Prix victor Albert Arenas was only 20th.
Once again Martin set the pace in the early stages of the second session with a 1:58.537s, though was soon usurped by team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio.
Di Giannantonio's 1:57.900s stood as the time to beat for much of the session, with Martin finally reclaiming top spot with just over three minutes left in FP2 with a 1:57.603s.
0.001 seconds up on his best effort as he entered the final sector of his second lap, Martin found 0.150s on the run to the line without a tow to go 0.339s clear of the field with a 1:57.259s.
Canet led the charge on Martin in second, with SIC58 Squadra Corse's Tatsuki Suzuki – who crashed in FP1 – getting his team's home race off to a promising start in third.
The Japanese rider's team-mate Niccolo Antonelli was fifth fastest in FP1, and was set for another strong result in the second session before suffering a nasty highside crash exiting the Savelli corner in the final quarter of FP2.
Antonelli was stretchered off track, and has been taken to the medical centre for further checks. He was shuffled back to 13th on the combined times as a result.
Oettl carried on his strong FP1 form to finish the day fourth overall ahead of Kaito Toba and championship leader Marco Bezzecchi.
Bezzecchi's Prustel GP team-mate Jakub Kornfeil was seventh after Friday's running, with CIP's John McPhee, early FP2 pacesetter Di Giannantonio and Arenas completing the top 10 on the combined timesheets.
