Rossi leads opening Jerez practice
Valentino Rossi was quickest in Friday practice for the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez
Yamaha's world champion beat Loris Capirossi to the top spot by 0.364 seconds, with Casey Stoner 0.621s down on his title rival in third.
Stoner had briefly been fastest in the early moments of the session, before the Ducati rider was deposed by Rossi.
Yamaha then established a one-two-three sweep for much of the afternoon, with Rossi ahead of his factory squad team-mate and championship leader Jorge Lorenzo, and Tech 3's Colin Edwards moved up to third.
As the session neared its end, Stoner edged back up to second place, but he would loose this spot in the closing minutes as Capirossi buoyed Suzuki by grabbing second and ending the day as Rossi's closest challenger.
Lorenzo remained fourth, with Edwards falling to sixth at the end as Honda's Andrea Dovizioso improved.
LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet took a promising seventh, ahead of Chris Vermeulen on the second Suzuki.
Marco Melandri again impressed for Hayate Kawasaki by beating last year's Jerez winner Dani Pedrosa (Honda) to ninth.
It was another poor session for Stoner's team-mate Nicky Hayden. The former champion continued to struggle with the factory Ducati and was back in 17th place, 2.3s off the pace.
Pos Rider Bike Time Gap 1. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m39.647s 2. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1m40.011s + 0.364s 3. Casey Stoner Ducati 1m40.268s + 0.621s 4. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m40.441s + 0.794s 5. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m40.601s + 0.954s 6. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m40.703s + 1.056s 7. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda 1m40.866s + 1.219s 8. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1m41.063s + 1.416s 9. Marco Melandri Hayate Kawasaki 1m41.182s + 1.535s 10. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m41.208s + 1.561s 11. James Toseland Tech 3 Yamaha 1m41.461s + 1.814s 12. Sete Gibernau Hernando Ducati 1m41.531s + 1.884s 13. Alex de Angelis Gresini Honda 1m41.557s + 1.910s 14. Mika Kallio Pramac Ducati 1m41.584s + 1.937s 15. Toni Elias Gresini Honda 1m41.736s + 2.089s 16. Yuki Takahashi Scot Honda 1m41.898s + 2.251s 17. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m41.916s + 2.269s 18. Niccolo Canepa Pramac Ducati 1m42.063s + 2.416s
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Hamilton accepts blame for incident with Albon in F1 Brazilian GP
Ferrari drivers called to F1 stewards over Brazilian GP collision
Will Alonso's Indy failure end the age of versatility?
Why Rossi's serious approach to car racing in 2024 may create a dilemma
Rossi's team-mates revealed for BMW WEC and GTWCE campaigns
MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi to test WRT's LMP2 car in Bahrain
Russell: Mercedes locked in F1 "battle of fine margins"
Acosta: MotoGP paddock 'needs more people like Kevin Schwantz'
What is the cooldown room in F1? All you need to know about the procedure
Bottas: Permanent fix for Sauber F1 pitstop woes "by Imola"
Can anyone stop "changed" Bagnaia as Ducati tightens its grip on MotoGP?
The signs that MotoGP's Japanese powerhouses are changing for the better
The other Suzuki signing that could transform Honda's MotoGP form
How the MotoGP paddock has offered refuge to Suzuki's former team
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments