Ivan Silva fastest at Jerez as top MotoGP names skip damp first practice
Ivan Silva was the unlikely pacesetter in MotoGP's first Jerez practice session, as adverse conditions meant all the typical frontrunners opted not to set a time
In truth there was next to no value to be had from the morning, which was neither fully wet nor fully dry.
In such greasy conditions the works Honda, Yamaha and Ducati squads all elected to sit out the session in its entirety.
Of the eight riders who did venture out, only Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda) and Alvaro Bautista (Gresini Honda) were not on CRT machinery.
Bradl ended the session second fastest, but he could do little to deprive Silva of top spot - the Avintia man, who has a new Inmotec chassis to try this weekend, almost six seconds clear at the front.
Aspar Aprilia's Randy de Puniet beat Bautista to third, with Mattia Pasini (Speed Master ART), Michele Pirro (Gresini FTR-Honda) and Yonny Hernandez on the second Avintia machine rounding out the top seven.
Forward's Colin Edwards was the last rider to set a time, but his 2m05.991s - almost 20s down on Silva - served to emphasise not only how tricky the conditions were, but also how meaningless the session was in general.
The second MotoGP practice session at Jerez starts at 14.10 local time.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Ivan Silva Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki 1m48.674s 2. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1m54.641s + 5.967s 3. Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia 1m55.214s + 6.540s 4. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 1m56.398s + 7.724s 5. Mattia Pasini Speed Master Aprilia 1m56.853s + 8.179s 6. Michele Pirro Gresini FTR-Honda 1m59.239s + 10.565s 7. Yonny Hernandez Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 2m02.868s + 14.194s 8. Colin Edwards Forward Suter-BMW 2m05.991s + 17.317s 9. Casey Stoner Honda 10. Andrea Dovizioso Tech 3 Yamaha 11. Hector Barbera Pramac Ducati 12. Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Aprilia 13. Ben Spies Yamaha 14. Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati 15. Dani Pedrosa Honda 16. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 17. Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia 18. Valentino Rossi Ducati 19. Nicky Hayden Ducati 20. James Ellison Paul Bird Aprilia 21. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha
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| Series | MotoGP |
| Teams | AB Motoracing |
| Author | Sam Tremayne |
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