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Motegi MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo quickest in first practice

Jorge Lorenzo edged out his MotoGP title rival Dani Pedrosa by 0.141 seconds in a close battle in opening practice at Motegi

Lorenzo initially put his Yamaha 0.7s clear of the field, before Pedrosa's Honda got within 0.014s of the benchmark.

A late improvement then stretched Lorenzo's advantage to nearly two tenths of a second, the championship leader lapping in 1m46.558s.

Pedrosa also went quicker, but could only manage a 1m46.699s so had to settle for second.

Casey Stoner marked his return to the second Honda after his injury absence with fourth place. The reigning champion was 0.6s down on team-mate Pedrosa as he assessed his fitness, and also had to make an early switch to his spare bike after electrical problems.

Tech 3 Yamaha's Andrea Dovizioso split the two Hondas in third. Fellow Yamaha men Ben Spies and Cal Crutchlow completed the top six.

The works Ducatis were back in seventh and 10th with Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi.

Yamaha test rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga - who stood in for Lorenzo when he was injured late last year - was 11th on his return to MotoGP action for a one-off guest outing.

Roberto Rolfo has replaced Mattia Pasini on Speed Master's CRT Aprilia. He was 20th fastest.

Pos  Rider               Team/Bike             Time       Gap
 1.  Jorge Lorenzo       Yamaha                1m46.558s
 2.  Dani Pedrosa        Honda                 1m46.699s  + 0.141s
 3.  Andrea Dovizioso    Tech 3 Yamaha         1m46.919s  + 0.361s
 4.  Casey Stoner        Honda                 1m47.316s  + 0.758s
 5.  Ben Spies           Yamaha                1m47.328s  + 0.770s
 6.  Cal Crutchlow       Tech 3 Yamaha         1m47.366s  + 0.808s
 7.  Nicky Hayden        Ducati                1m47.551s  + 0.993s
 8.  Stefan Bradl        LCR Honda             1m47.561s  + 1.003s
 9.  Alvaro Bautista     Gresini Honda         1m47.637s  + 1.079s
10.  Valentino Rossi     Ducati                1m47.786s  + 1.228s
11.  Katsuyuki Nakasuga  Yamaha                1m48.390s  + 1.832s
12.  Hector Barbera      Pramac Ducati         1m49.106s  + 2.548s
13.  Karel Abraham       Cardion Ducati        1m49.160s  + 2.602s
14.  Aleix Espargaro     Aspar Aprilia         1m49.265s  + 2.707s
15.  Randy de Puniet     Aspar Aprilia         1m49.354s  + 2.796s
16.  Colin Edwards       Forward Suter-BMW     1m50.184s  + 3.626s
17.  Michele Pirro       Gresini FTR-Honda     1m50.268s  + 3.710s
18.  Yonny Hernandez     Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m50.771s  + 4.213s
19.  James Ellison       Paul Bird Aprilia     1m51.039s  + 4.481s
20.  Roberto Rolfo       Speed Master Aprilia  1m51.225s  + 4.667s
21.  Ivan Silva          Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m52.044s  + 5.486s
22.  Danilo Petrucci     Ioda Suter-BMW        1m52.188s  + 5.630s

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