Jorge Lorenzo stays ahead in MotoGP practice at Mugello

The world championship leader set a 1m48.076s early on, and that proved unbeatable. He lost some track time after running straight on at the first corner, San Donato, and eventually having to let his Yamaha tip over, but was soon back on the circuit doing consistent 1m48s lap.

Initially Lorenzo's pace put him 0.7 seconds clear of the field, but by the end Honda's Dani Pedrosa and Ducati's Nicky Hayden were within a tenth of him.

Casey Stoner was only sixth on the other works Honda, although his final run was a troubled one - with traffic on one flying lap and a minor error on the next.

Hector Barbera impressed on the Pramac Ducati with fourth position, achieved solo rather than in a group of riders. The Spaniard was riding his spare bike by that time following an accident at the Casanova/Savelli esses that ended with his Ducati landing on the circuit after tumbling down the edge of the track.

A five-minute stoppage was required to clear up debris. Barbera was quickly thrown clear and was unhurt.

Other incidents included Alvaro Bautista crashing his Gresini Honda at San Donato, where Randy de Puniet (Aspar Aprilia) also had a trip off the road, and Avintia rider Ivan Silva having a fall.

Between Barbera and Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso was top Tech 3 Yamaha rider in fifth.

Valentino Rossi was the slowest of the three Ducati riders in ninth.

Pos  Rider              Team/Bike                  Time       Gap
 1.  Jorge Lorenzo       Yamaha                    1m48.076s
 2.  Dani Pedrosa        Honda                     1m48.107s  + 0.031s
 3.  Nicky Hayden        Ducati                    1m48.157s  + 0.081s
 4.  Hector Barbera      Pramac Ducati             1m48.254s  + 0.178s
 5.  Andrea Dovizioso    Tech 3 Yamaha             1m48.308s  + 0.232s
 6.  Casey Stoner        Honda                     1m48.527s  + 0.451s
 7.  Ben Spies           Yamaha                    1m48.540s  + 0.464s
 8.  Cal Crutchlow       Tech 3 Yamaha             1m48.650s  + 0.574s
 9.  Valentino Rossi     Ducati                    1m49.017s  + 0.941s
10.  Stefan Bradl        LCR Honda                 1m49.022s  + 0.946s
11.  Alvaro Bautista     Gresini Honda             1m49.208s  + 1.132s
12.  Aleix Espargaro     Aspar Aprilia             1m50.015s  + 1.939s
13.  Randy de Puniet     Aspar Aprilia             1m50.269s  + 2.193s
14.  Michele Pirro       Gresini FTR-Honda         1m51.130s  + 3.054s
15.  Yonny Hernandez     Avinita BQR-Kawasaki      1m51.322s  + 3.246s
16.  Mattia Pasini       Speed Master Aprilia      1m51.384s  + 3.308s
17.  Colin Edwards       Forward Suter-BMW         1m51.857s  + 3.781s
18.  James Ellison       Paul Bird Aprilia         1m51.966s  + 3.890s
19.  Danilo Petrucci     Ioda-Aprilia              1m52.109s  + 4.033s
20.  Ivan Silva          Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki  1m52.558s  + 4.482s