Rossi blistering in opening practice

Rossi spent most of the session at or near the top of the times. With 30 seconds of the session remaining, Rossi's teammate Jorge Lorenzo went to the top with a 2:03.179.

But Rossi was not done with, and after the chequered flag fell set a time of 2:02.693 to go almost half a second clear of his nearest rival.

Lorenzo remained second, 0.016 of a second ahead of Ducati's Casey Stoner, who spent most of the session swapping fastest times with Rossi.

Next fastest was Colin Edwards, three-quarters of a second behind Rossi but consistently near the top of the times through the session.

Behind Edwards were a pair of Hondas, Randy de Puniet a tenth faster than Repsol's Nicky Hayden, with Suzuki's Loris Capirossi just over a second behind Rossi in eighth.

An improved showing for Marco Melandri saw him thirteenth, just under a second slower than teammate Stoner and faster than both the Alice Ducatis, while Dani Pedrosa ended the session seventeenth, eight tenths of a second slower than teammate Hayden.

Nobuatsu Aoki's wildcard ride on the Suzuki has got off to a slow start, a clear last, nearly five seconds off the pace.

Pos  Rider             Bike           Time
 1.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)  2:02.693
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    (M)  2:03.179  + 0.486
 3.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  2:03.195  + 0.502
 4.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  2:03.439  + 0.746
 5.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)  2:03.535  + 0.842
 6.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  2:03.649  + 0.956
 7.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)  2:03.735  + 1.042
 8.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)  2:03.785  + 1.092
 9.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)  2:03.839  + 1.146
10.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)  2:03.964  + 1.271
11.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  2:04.137  + 1.444
12.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)  2:04.169  + 1.476
13.  Alex de Angelis   Honda     (B)  2:04.256  + 1.563
14.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki  (B)  2:04.267  + 1.574
15.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  2:04.383  + 1.690
16.  Toni Elias        Ducati    (B)  2:04.399  + 1.706
17.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     (B)  2:04.460  + 1.767
18.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)  2:04.833  + 2.140
19.  Nobuatsu Aoki     Suzuki    (B)  2:07.530  + 4.837