Lorenzo instantly on the pace in first Brno practice

The MotoGP World Championship leader was over half a second faster than the remainder of the field in the opening session of the Cardion ab Grand Prix Czech Republic, ahead of the Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi.

Jorge Lorenzo picked up where he left off as the MotoGP class returned to the action at Brno following a three-week summer break. The Championship leader set the quickest lap of the first practice at the Cardion ab Grand Prix Czech Republic with a best time of 1’57.215 on his Fiat Yamaha M1, in a session that encountered rain in its final 15 minutes.

At 0.541s off Lorenzo’s pace was Dani Pedrosa as the Repsol Honda man set about mounting another challenge to the dominance of his compatriot. Pedrosa, who was leading the last round at the Laguna Seca when he crashed, will aim for a step up in pace to enable him to once more push Lorenzo for the win here in the round ten.

Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) completed the top three as the reigning World Champion timed in at just six-hundredths of a second off Pedrosa, displaying further progress on his way back to full fitness. Close on his tail was fellow Italian Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda), who was the fourth and the final rider under the 1’58” bar in the hour-long session.

Nicky Hayden was the highest placing Ducati on his factory machine at just over a full second off the top time, with Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Casey Stoner (Ducati Team) and Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) completing the top eight on the timesheet. Rookie Simoncelli experienced the only crash of the session early on, which did little to dent his confidence.

Making his return to action less than four weeks after suffering a broken left leg at Sachsenring was Randy de Puniet, with the LCR Honda rider 16th at just under three seconds off Lorenzo