Valentino Rossi got straight on the pace today in Australia, setting the fastest time in FP1 by a 0.135s margin in cool, calm and dry conditions at Phillip Island.
Second fastest was Australia’s Casey Stoner – the winner of his home race for the last two years – as he registered his fastest time on the very last of his 22 laps on the Ducati Marlboro Desmosedici GP9.
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) is looking to make amends for his crash in last year’s race and will be aiming for the podium this weekend after starting with the third best time of the first session. The Spaniard was half a second down on Rossi’s pace.
Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) were fourth and fifth respectively on their satellite 800cc prototypes, both lapping within a second of Rossi.
It was certainly a case of ‘first round’ to Rossi in the psychological battle with his main championship rival and team-mate Jorge Lorenzo as the Majorcan rider lowsided near the end of the session and could only manage the sixth best time of the afternoon – more than a second off the Italian’s hot lap.
The top ten was completed by James Toseland (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda), Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki).
Toseland and Kallio both had low speed crashes, whilst Kallio’s colleague Niccolò Canepa also hit the deck and was taken to the medical centre for a check-up on his right elbow - and has since been ruled out for the rest of the Grand Prix.
MotoGP Free Practice Nr. 1 Classification
Pos. Num. Rider Nation Team Motorcycle Lap time Km/h Gap
1 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 1'31.032 317.491 2 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 1'31.167 323.462 0.135 3 3 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'31.528 317.584 0.496 4 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1'31.786 322.116 0.754 5 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'31.846 315.918 0.814 6 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 1'32.077 314.086 1.045 7 52 James TOSELAND GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'32.255 315.458 1.223 8 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'32.502 319.269 1.470 9 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Pramac Racing Ducati 1'32.572 322.308 1.540 10 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 1'32.606 315.366 1.574 11 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 1'32.771 316.471 1.739 12 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 1'32.808 316.749 1.776 13 24 Toni ELIAS SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1'33.304 320.591 2.272 14 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA Hayate Racing Team Kawasaki 1'33.422 315.642 2.390 15 7 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 1'33.504 311.200 2.472 16 41 Gabor TALMACSI HUN Scot Racing Team MotoGP Honda 1'33.818 309.423 2.786 17 88 Niccolo CANEPA ITA Pramac Racing Ducati 1'34.546 313.995 3.514
