Pedrosa tops first Donington practice

Dani Pedrosa set the fastest time in the first MotoGP free practice session of this weekend's British round of the championship at Donington Park

The hour-long practice was wet throughout, with the track just beginning to dry towards the end of the session.

The Yamahas of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo traded quickest time between them while the circuit was at its wettest in the first half of the session, before Ducati's Casey Stoner joined in as the spray began to die down.

Stoner held the fastest time until the very last lap of the session, when Pedrosa's Honda blasted round a couple of tenths of a second quicker.

Rossi finished up third, ahead of Andreo Dovizioso on the second Honda, Lorenzo - who also set his best time on the last lap, and Marco Melandri, who was among the frontrunners throughout the session on his Hayate Kawasaki.

Mika Kallio was seventh quickest for Pramac Ducati, ahead of Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha) and Toni Elias (Gresini Honda), with Nicky Hayden completing the top 10 on the second factory Ducati.

Home rider James Toseland was 12th fastest, behind Loris Capirossi's Suzuki, and suffered a problem right at the end of the session that forced him to park on his slowing down lap.

Pos  Rider             Bike             Time       Gap
 1.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda            1m38.627s
 2.  Casey Stoner      Ducati           1m38.872s  + 0.245s
 3.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha           1m38.917s  + 0.290s
 4.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda            1m39.069s  + 0.442s
 5.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha           1m39.105s  + 0.478s
 6.  Marco Melandri    Hayate Kawasaki  1m39.130s  + 0.503s
 7.  Mika Kallio       Pramac Ducati    1m39.209s  + 0.582s
 8.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha    1m39.379s  + 0.752s
 9.  Toni Elias        Gresini Honda    1m39.755s  + 1.128s
10.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati           1m40.116s  + 1.489s
11.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki           1m40.419s  + 1.792s
12.  James Toseland    Tech 3 Yamaha    1m40.522s  + 1.895s
13.  Gabor Talmacsi    Scot Honda       1m40.850s  + 2.223s
14.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki           1m41.467s  + 2.840s
15.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda        1m41.861s  + 3.234s
16.  Alex de Angelis   Gresini Honda    1m42.210s  + 3.583s
17.  Niccolo Canepa    Pramac Ducati    1m42.696s  + 4.069s