MotoGP news

Lorenzo fastest in Italy on Friday

Jorge Lorenzo has finished fastest in first practice for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix. The Spaniard, currently leading the championship, was quicker than team-mate and 'Mugello Master' Valentino Rossi, who was second, with Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa piling on the pressure for effective bike setups this weekend.

With the top four in the standings the top four in practice - albeit with the second and third riders reversed - the tension will be high heading into second practice and qualifying on Saturday. Lorenzo produced a best effort of 1.49.870 on the Yamaha to finish just under two tenths of a second down on Rossi, who has won at home every year since 2002. The duo set the highest number of individual laps in the Italian sunshine of Friday, with 27 to each of their names.

Behind Stoner's Ducati and Pedrosa's Honda - who were three tenths and a full second down on Lorenzo respectively - was Colin Edwards' Tech 3 Yamaha with a confidence-boosting sixth position for Gresini's Alex de Angelis. Fourth-placed Pedrosa did hold one first position, however, on the results for top speeds as the Repsol Honda touched 349.3km/h (217mph) through the speed trap - the fastest ever recorded speed in MotoGP, beating the previously quickest record of 343.7km/h (213.6mph) by Makoto Tamada in Shanghai three years ago.

In the top six, de Angelis was happy with the Honda Gresini's performance despite going off the race track briefly during the session. With Rossi the leading Italian in second, the crowd was pleased to see compatriot Loris Capirossi's Suzuki seventh with Frenchman Randy de Puniet on the Honda LCR in eighth. Andrea Dovizioso's works Honda was ninth with Marco Melandri's Kawasaki confirming eight different teams in the top ten places.

Finn Mika Kallio was the slowest of the seventeen runners on the Pramac bike with a lap time of 1.52.619, although Nicky Hayden continues to struggle for Ducati and finished the afternoon in just fifteenth position, the best part of 1.3 seconds slower than team-mate Stoner. The second one-hour practice period begins at 9:55 local time (GMT +1) on Saturday.

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