Stoner fastest in first practice

Although sunshine appeared in the final minutes of the hour, the track remained soaked throughout the session, with heavy rain falling for most of the morning.

Stoner took the top spot just before the chequered flag with a 1:43.749, with reigning champion Nicky Hayden improving to take second, 0.032 seconds behidn Stoner, shortly afterwards.

That pushed Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet, who had held first position several times during the session, down to third.

Chris Vermeulen fell on the exit of the final hairpin on his first lap, but recovered to lead the times briefly with 20 minutes to go, before eventually ending up fourth.

When conditions were at their worst early on, Dani Pedrosa and new Kawasaki signing Anthony West had been comfortably fastest - with renowned wet weather specialist West making good use of his smooth riding style to repeatedly top the times on his return to MotoGP.

Pedrosa twice went off the road as the session progressed, but was able to stay upright and continue each time. He ultimately took fifth, with West a still impressive eighth, behind Alex Barros and Valentino Rossi.

Rossi did not feature at the top of the times and went off at McLeans early on, falling while in the gravel but getting back on the bike and returning to the pits.

Pos  Rider             Bike      Time
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    1:43.749
 2.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     1:43.781  + 0.032
 3.  Randy de Puniet   Kawasaki  1:44.302  + 0.553
 4.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    1:45.064  + 1.315
 5.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     1:45.073  + 1.324
 6.  Alex Barros       Ducati    1:45.774  + 2.025
 7.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    1:45.825  + 2.076
 8.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  1:45.922  + 2.173
 9.  John Hopkins      Suzuki    1:46.048  + 2.299
10.  Alex Hofmann      Ducati    1:46.254  + 2.505
11.  Toni Elias        Honda     1:46.777  + 3.028
12.  Carlos Checa      Honda     1:47.027  + 3.278
13.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     1:47.083  + 3.334
14.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    1:47.646  + 3.897
15.  Loris Capirossi   Ducati    1:47.727  + 3.978
16.  Kurtis Roberts    KR        1:48.776  + 5.027
17.  Marco Melandri    Honda     1:48.831  + 5.082
18.  Sylvain Guintoli  Yamaha    1:49.604  + 5.855
19.  Makoto Tamada     Yamaha    1:51.864  + 8.115