Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo dominated the opening session at Montmeló, holding the top two spots between them for the entire 45-minute practice. It was eventually the Italian who topped the time sheets with his team-mate and local-hero just three tenths behind him, leaving the Fiat Yamaha duo looking in fine form for the weekend.
Current championship points leader Casey Stoner was third quickest after setting a best time of 1:43.636.
Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) was fourth fastest and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) fifth. Former MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro) had one of his best sessions so far this season with the sixth best time.
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“We made some changes to our base setting here and already it feels much better to ride. This practice went very well for us, we were strong from start to finish and to be in first position feels good. We have found out some very interesting things, especially about my feeling with the bike, but we need to keep on working because there are still some parts that we want to make better for tomorrow,” Valentino Rossi said.
“I am really happy to be able to ride the bike how I want to finally but there is still plenty more work to continue with to make sure we’re in the best possible shape for tomorrow afternoon and Sunday.”
“I always have a few doubts coming to each new track but today everything felt really good, my bike and my Bridgestone tyres. I feel very comfortable and we can see that we have the potential to put on a really good performance here. It feels great to be out in front of all my home fans here and I am really happy to have the FC Barcelona stickers on my bike!” Lorenzo said.
Pos. Num. Rider Team Lap time 1 46 Valentino ROSSI Fiat Yamaha Team 1'43.038 2 99 Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha Team 1'43.340 3 27 Casey STONER Ducati Marlboro Team 1'43.636 4 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1'43.684 5 14 Randy DE PUNIET LCR Honda MotoGP 1'43.871 6 69 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Marlboro Team 1'44.152 7 65 Loris CAPIROSSI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'44.340 8 5 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'44.419 9 72 Yuki TAKAHASHI Scot Racing Team MotoGP 1'44.484 10 52 James TOSELAND Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'44.580 11 33 Marco MELANDRI Hayate Racing Team 1'44.649 12 59 Sete GIBERNAU Grupo Francisco Hernando 1'44.678 13 7 Chris VERMEULEN Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'44.744 14 3 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1'45.043 15 24 Toni ELIAS San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'45.101 16 15 Alex DE ANGELIS San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'45.126 17 36 Mika KALLIO Pramac Racing 1'45.394 18 88 Niccolo CANEPA Pramac Racing 1'45.454 19 41 Gabor TALMACSI Scot Racing Team MotoGP 1'47.654
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