Lorenzo fastest as Rossi crashes

Rossi lost control as he turned in to the left-hand element of the medium-speed Biondetti esses, and he was launched into a spectacular high-side.

The seven-time champion was clearly in agony as he lay in the gravel trap, clutching his right ankle, which appeared to be bent over at a worrying angle.

He was taken to the medical centre for treatment. His participation in this afternoon's qualifying session is clearly in doubt.

Lorenzo ignored the sad fate of his colleague, and unleashed a staggering sequence of five consecutive laps in the 1m49s bracket that sent out a clear message of intent over his race pace. He ended the session on 1m49.282s on the last of his 26 laps.

Andrea Dovizioso led the Honda charge in second ahead of team-mate Dani Pedrosa, who were within a tenth of each other but almost four-tenths off Lorenzo's pace.

Rossi's best lap before his crash was good enough for fourth, ahead of the impressive Randy de Puniet on the LCR Honda.

Ducati's Casey Stoner was sixth fastest, but suffered an early off into the gravel trap as his troubled weekend continued. He only set four flying laps, and was almost a second off Lorenzo's fastest time.

Pos  Driver            Team               Time       Gap
 1.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha             1m49.282s
 2.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda              1m49.620s  + 0.338s
 3.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda              1m49.701s  + 0.419s
 4.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha             1m49.923s  + 0.641s
 5.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda          1m50.214s  + 0.932s
 6.  Casey Stoner      Ducati             1m50.233s  + 0.951s
 7.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha      1m50.357s  + 1.075s
 8.  Ben Spies         Tech 3 Yamaha      1m50.392s  + 1.110s
 9.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati             1m50.426s  + 1.144s
10.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki             1m50.495s  + 1.213s
11.  Hector Barbera    Aspar Ducati       1m50.562s  + 1.280s
12.  Aleix Espargaro   Pramac Ducati      1m50.764s  + 1.482s
13.  Marco Melandri    Gresini Honda      1m50.922s  + 1.640s
14.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Interwetten Honda  1m51.160s  + 1.878s
15.  Marco Simoncelli  Gresini Honda      1m51.318s  + 2.036s
16.  Mika Kallio       Pramac Ducati      1m51.393s  + 2.111s
17.  Alvaro Bautista   Suzuki             1m53.837s  + 4.555s