Rossi tops opening Shanghai practice

Setting the second-fastest time just after halfway through the session, Rossi lowered his mark several times during the session but was unable to top the times until two minutes remained.

Then, after the chequered flag had fallen, he went faster again, with a lap of 1:59.906, to break the two-minute barrier.

Four-tenths behind him was reigning MotoGP champion Casey Stoner on his Ducati, who topped the times early in the session and again late in the session, but despite a last-minute attempt was unable to retake the top spot.

A pair of Hondas followed Stoner, Dani Pedrosa on his Repsol machine half a second behind Stoner, with Gresini's Andrea Dovizioso another 0.155 seconds further back.

Behind them, the next six riders were closely bunched, covered by less than half a second, Kawasaki's John Hopkins leading the way from Suzuki's Loris Capirossi, Colin Edwards, Nicky Hayden, Shinya Nakano and Chris Vermeulen.

Despite his strong showing in each race so far including victory at the previous round at Estoril, Jorge Lorenzo got off to a slow start in China. He was 15th fastest, just over 2.5 seconds off the pace of his teammate and just ahead of fellow Yamaha rookie James Toseland in 16th.

Lorenzo's practice was cut short after he highsided and crashed during the session.

Marco Melandri's struggles on the second factory Ducati continued, setting clearly the slowest time in the session, five seconds slower than the fastest time set by Rossi.

Pos  Rider             Bike           Time
 1.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)  1:59.906
 2.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  2:00.318  + 0.412
 3.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     (M)  2:00.819  + 0.913
 4.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)  2:00.974  + 1.068
 5.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki  (B)  2:01.153  + 1.247
 6.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)  2:01.249  + 1.343
 7.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  2:01.287  + 1.381
 8.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  2:01.419  + 1.513
 9.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)  2:01.513  + 1.607
10.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  2:01.588  + 1.682
11.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  2:01.984  + 2.078
12.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)  2:02.026  + 2.120
13.  Alex de Angelis   Honda     (B)  2:02.091  + 2.185
14.  Toni Elías        Ducati    (B)  2:02.199  + 2.293
15.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    (M)  2:02.480  + 2.574
16.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)  2:02.521  + 2.615
17.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)  2:03.174  + 3.268
18.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)  2:04.857  + 4.951