Rossi quickest in first Catalunya practice

The world champion had sat in second behind his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo for most of the hour, but produced a 1m43.038s lap with five minutes to go to beat the Spaniard.

That put Rossi half a second clear, and although Lorenzo reduced the gap by two tenths, he had to settle for second.

The result will be a boost for Rossi after a difficult month that saw him crash at Le Mans and then only finish third at Mugello - ending a seven-year winning streak at his home track.

Casey Stoner took third for Ducati, despite having to switch to his spare bike following a fall at the hairpin at the end of the back straight. But the more significant result for the team was Nicky Hayden's encouraging sixth place on the second Ducati - his most competitive performance of the season so far.

The two Ducatis were split by Honda's Andrea Dovizioso and LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet, the latter showing his usual strong Barcelona form.

Loris Capirossi was the fastest Suzuki rider in seventh, ahead of Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin Edwards.

Dani Pedrosa took a tenative 14th on the second factory Honda as he nursed his injured hip, while his compatriot Sete Gibernau was 12th for Hernando Ducati as he returned after the collarbone breakage that forced him to miss Mugello.

Unsurprisingly given that his first taste of the bike came during the session, Scot Honda's new recruit Gabor Talmacsi was slowest of all. Amid rumours that Talmacsi will soon become the team's sole rider, his current team-mate Yuki Takahashi showed he will not relinquish the seat without a fight by taking ninth.

Pos  Rider             Bike             Time       Gap
 1.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha           1m43.038s
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha           1m43.340s  + 0.302s
 3.  Casey Stoner      Ducati           1m43.636s  + 0.598s
 4.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda            1m43.684s  + 0.646s
 5.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda        1m43.871s  + 0.833s
 6.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati           1m44.152s  + 1.114s
 7.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki           1m44.340s  + 1.302s
 8.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha    1m44.419s  + 1.381s
 9.  Yuki Takahashi    Scot Honda       1m44.484s  + 1.446s
10.  James Toseland    Tech 3 Yamaha    1m44.580s  + 1.542s
11.  Marco Melandri    Hayate Kawasaki  1m44.649s  + 1.611s
12.  Sete Gibernau     Hernando Ducati  1m44.678s  + 1.640s
13.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki           1m44.744s  + 1.706s
14.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda            1m45.043s  + 2.005s
15.  Toni Elias        Gresini Honda    1m45.101s  + 2.063s
16.  Alex de Angelis   Gresini Honda    1m45.126s  + 2.088s
17.  Mika Kallio       Pramac Ducati    1m45.394s  + 2.356s
18.  Niccolo Canepa    Pramac Ducati    1m45.454s  + 2.416s
19.  Gabor Talmacsi    Scot Honda       1m47.654s  + 4.616s