Marquez early leader
After Quartararo kicked things off in FP1 to edge out the reigning champion, it was Marquez who was the early leader in FP2 as the FIM MotoGP Championship leader got straight down to business, closing down the rookie's FP1 advantage to just 0.018 on the combined timesheets to head the afternoon session by over four-tenths.
The likes of Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) had jumped into the overall top ten in the early stages of FP2, with Morbidelli and Rossi also improving on their FP1 times.
Quartararo rocks
The afternoon then went quiet in terms of personal best times, the riders getting some valuable work done on different tyres to see what their preference will be for Sunday's race.
But with just over ten minutes remaining - and after a couple of close front-end moments - Quartararo was yet to improve his FP1 time and so was Vinales. The traditional FP2 time attack was forthcoming, however, and with eight minutes to go, we had plenty of movement.
Rossi moves up
Rossi moved into P3 overall on his first flying run on the soft rear, but team-mate Vinales would move the goalposts at the top as a 1:32.775 saw the Spaniard leap over three tenths clear.
Quartararo was on a personal best behind, but the rookie sensation was not quite able to match Vinales' time as the 20-year-old went a tenth off.
Dovizioso quiet
The Ducati Team riders had a quiet morning but both Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Dovizioso then found a way into the top ten, with Vinales looking like he had P1 in the bag as the flag dropped.
Silverstone winner Alex Rins and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) just lost out on the top ten on Friday, but just 0.6sec splits Dovizioso in P10 to Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) in P21. It is all to play for in the fight for an automatic Q2 place in FP3.