Pedrosa fastest in first practice

Dani Pedrosa delighted the Spanish crowd by setting the fastest time in the opening free practice session at Catalunya

Suzuki's John Hopkins had held the top spot for most of the hour, before Pedrosa moved ahead with ten minutes to go.

The Repsol Honda rider then proceeded to set four laps that would have been fast enough to stand as the quickest of the morning, ending the session on a 1:43.099, nearly half a second clear of the field.

Championship leader Casey Stoner moved up to second in the final minutes, ahead of another Spaniard - Gresini Honda's Toni Elias.

Hopkins was pushed down to fourth, with Loris Capirossi fifth on the second factory Ducati and Valentino Rossi completing the top six.

Pos  Rider             Bike      Time
 1.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda     1:43.099
 2.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    1:43.543  + 0.444
 3.  Toni Elias        Honda     1:43.551  + 0.452
 4.  John Hopkins      Suzuki    1:43.605  + 0.506
 5.  Loris Capirossi   Ducati    1:43.631  + 0.532
 6.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    1:43.705  + 0.606
 7.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    1:43.768  + 0.669
 8.  Marco Melandri    Honda     1:43.816  + 0.717
 9.  Carlos Checa      Honda     1:43.866  + 0.767
10.  Alex Barros       Ducati    1:44.011  + 0.912
11.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    1:44.037  + 0.938
12.  Randy de Puniet   Kawasaki  1:44.436  + 1.337
13.  Alex Hofmann      Ducati    1:44.528  + 1.429
14.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     1:44.689  + 1.590
15.  Olivier Jacque    Kawasaki  1:44.742  + 1.643
16.  Makoto Tamada     Yamaha    1:44.815  + 1.716
17.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     1:44.842  + 1.743
18.  Sylvain Guintoli  Yamaha    1:45.150  + 2.051
19.  Kenny Roberts Jr  KR        1:45.467  + 2.368
20.  Kurtis Roberts    KR        1:45.871  + 2.772