Valentino Rossi leads Ducati one-two in Silverstone MotoGP practice
Valentino Rossi led a Ducati one-two in a wet opening MotoGP practice session for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone
The Ducati rider had led the field during the first half of the session as the weather conditions restricted riders from dipping below the 2m23s bracket.
But as the light rain eased and eventually stopped in the final 10 minutes, times improved by around four seconds. That allowed Rossi to knock his team-mate Nicky Hayden off the top spot by 0.077 seconds with a time of 2m19.328s.
Andrea Dovizioso was another to set a late flyer, the Tech 3 Yamaha rider snatching third after the chequered flag and knocking the Honda of world champion Casey Stoner back to fourth.
Dovizioso's British team-mate Cal Crutchlow briefly held the top spot with eight minutes remaining, but fell back to fifth at the end. He was followed by Stefan Bradl's LCR Honda, Dani Pedrosa's factory example and the Yamaha of world championship leader Jorge Lorenzo.
Gresini Honda rider Alvaro Bautista was ninth, despite crashing at Stowe with nine minutes remaining - just a minute after Ben Spies high-sided his Yamaha at the same place. Hector Barbera completed the top 10 on his Pramac Ducati with Randy de Puniet the best of the CRT riders in 12th on his Aspar Aprilia.
Only 11 MotoGP prototypes are in the field, as Cardion Ducati's Karel Abraham has been forced to sit out the event due to a hand injury from testing.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Valentino Rossi Ducati 2m19.328s 2. Nicky Hayden Ducati 2m19.405s + 0.077s 3. Andrea Dovizioso Tech 3 Yamaha 2m20.127s + 0.799s 4. Casey Stoner Honda 2m20.321s + 0.993s 5. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 2m21.263s + 1.935s 6. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 2m21.917s + 2.589s 7. Dani Pedrosa Honda 2m22.713s + 3.385s 8. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 2m23.174s + 3.846s 9. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 2m23.326s + 3.998s 10. Hector Barbera Pramac Ducati 2m24.150s + 4.822s 11. Ben Spies Yamaha 2m24.214s + 4.886s 12. Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia 2m24.360s + 5.032s 13. Mattia Pasini Speed Master Aprilia 2m24.390s + 5.062s 14. Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Aprilia 2m25.012s + 5.684s 15. Michele Pirro Gresini FTR-Honda 2m25.051s + 5.723s 16. Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia 2m25.065s + 5.737s 17. James Ellison Paul Bird Aprilia 2m25.150s + 5.822s 18. Yonny Hernandez Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 2m25.298s + 5.970s 19. Ivan Silva Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki 2m28.615s + 9.287s 20. Colin Edwards Forward Suter-BMW 2m31.468s + 12.140s
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