Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales beat Marc Marquez by 0.190s in a tight second practice for the MotoGP French Grand Prix, while Valentino Rossi missed the provisional Q2 placements in 13th.
The early fast laps did nothing to trouble the best efforts on the combined times from first practice, with Pramac's Jack Miller once again leading way with a 1:34.224s before tipping off at the Dunlop chicane.
Franco Morbidelli moved his Petronas SRT Yamaha to the top of the pile with a 1:33.729s shortly afterwards, with Suzuki's Alex Rins, and then Marquez usurping him.
Marquez's 1:32.763s was scrubbed due to a track limits violation, though he was soon back on top with a 1:32.301s, which he improved to a 1:32.217s to move 0.053s clear of Honda stablemate Cal Crutchlow on the LCR bike.
Still running the hard tyre he started the session on, Marquez moved the goalposts further with 14 minutes to go with a 1:32.200s.
With rain forecast for Saturday, a flurry of fast laps were thrown in at the end of the session as the field tried to bag a provisional place in the second part of qualifying.
Vinales got the ball rolling with a 1:31.983s with just under four minutes remaining, though was quickly beaten by Honda's Jorge Lorenzo.
The Yamaha rider regained control on his next lap with a 1:31.549s, which he improved on his final effort to a 1:31.428s to head Marquez by 0.190s at the chequered flag.
First practice pacesetter Fabio Quartararo moved his Petronas SRT Yamaha into third late on, with Lorenzo making amends for his difficult morning session by holding onto fourth on second works Honda.
Andrea Dovizioso was the lead Ducati runner in fifth, 0.020s adrift of Lorenzo, while team-mate Danilo Petrucci brushed off a strange crash at the beginning of the session exiting Garage Vert to end the day sixth overall.
Pol Espargaro was twice a crasher in FP2, but held onto a provisional Q2 placement on seventh on the KTM ahead of brother Aleix on the Aprilia, who also fell late on.
Takaaki Nakagami held second briefly with a 1:32.203s, but was shuffled back to ninth in the end ahead of Morbidelli and Crutchlow, who fell at La Chapelle in the closing moments.
Valentino Rossi was caught out by a set-up change which didn't work as expected, and could do nothing to move his Yamaha out of the provisional Q1 places in 13th.
Both Suzuki's also failed to find the top 10 in FP2, with Joan Mir – who fell at the end of the session – leading Alex Rins in 14th.
Miller took a second tumble at Turn 11 at the end and was 16th in the session. However, his 1:32.238s from FP1 was good enough to keep him 10th on the combined timesheets.
