Under sunny yet windy conditions it was Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo who laid down the marker for the weekend at the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM at Mugello, setting the fastest time of the day in the afternoon session ahead of Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden.

Despite an early run-off into the gravel, a lap in low 1.48s by Lorenzo relegated Repsol Honda Team’s Pedrosa into second place, who yesterday announced he had signed a two year extension with the Japanese factory. In third, Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden put in a tremendous performance to finish third, posting a time within one hundredth of Lorenzo.

Pramac Racing Team’s Héctor Barberá did tremendously well to recover from a big crash half way through the session, which briefly saw the practice red flagged, to set the fourth fastest time of the day. Fifth spot went to Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso, who is looking for his fourth podium finish this season at his home race.

Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner had a subdued session for his standards, ending the day in sixth, yet did encounter some traffic on his final hot laps. Seventh place was occupied by Lorenzo’s teammate Ben Spies, who will be aiming to put in a good showing this weekend, after narrowly missing out on the podium in Germany. In eighth, Dovizioso’s teammate Cal Crutchlow was just over half a second off the front, showing just how tightly the group was bunched at the Italian track.

Ninth spot went to Ducati’s Valentino Rossi, who will be disappointed he could not match the pace of Hayden or Barberá in front of his home fans. Completing the top ten was LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl, while top CRT spot went to Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaró.

San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista had a day to forget as he crashed out at turn one in both practice sessions, while Avintia Blusens’ Yonny Hernandez also crashed out of the afternoon session with just over 20 minutes remaining. None of the riders were hurt in the incidents.

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