Stoner pips Pedrosa in first practice

Casey Stoner narrowly beat Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa to the fastest time in an intriguing first practice session at Jerez

Though Stoner had assumed his habitual position at the top of the times early on, he was beaten first by Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) before getting embroiled in a long battle with Pedrosa that saw them swap first place several times.

By the end of the 45 minutes, Stoner had got down to a 1m39.551s to beat Pedrosa by just 0.028 seconds, as their pace took them half a second clear of the rest.

Valentino Rossi had an extremely encouraging morning for Ducati, staying among the frontrunners throughout and taking third place ahead of Marco Simoncelli's Gresini Honda, and Lorenzo - who did not improve on his early time.

Andrea Dovizioso was back in sixth on the third factory Honda and was 0.8s off the pace. He also had a crash at Turn 11 on his final lap, but was unhurt.

Ben Spies (Yamaha), Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha), Randy de Puniet (Pramac Ducati) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati) completed the top 10.

On his return to MotoGP to deputise for Alvaro Bautista at Suzuki, John Hopkins was unsurprisingly at the foot of the times as he got back up to speed, but was just a few tenths of a second away from Pramac Ducati's Loris Capirossi and LCR Honda's Toni Elias.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike       Time       Gap
 1.  Casey Stoner      Honda           1m39.551s
 2.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda           1m39.579s  + 0.028s
 3.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati          1m40.077s  + 0.526s
 4.  Marco Simoncelli  Gresini Honda   1m40.176s  + 0.625s
 5.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha          1m40.420s  + 0.869s
 6.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda           1m40.429s  + 0.878s
 7.  Ben Spies         Yamaha          1m40.887s  + 1.336s
 8.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha   1m41.063s  + 1.512s
 9.  Randy de Puniet   Pramac Ducati   1m41.064s  + 1.513s
10.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati          1m41.233s  + 1.682s
11.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati  1m41.398s  + 1.847s
12.  Hector Barbera    Aspar Ducati    1m41.601s  + 2.050s
13.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Gresini Honda   1m41.816s  + 2.265s
14.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha   1m41.949s  + 2.398s
15.  Toni Elias        LCR Honda       1m42.157s  + 2.606s
16.  Loris Capirossi   Pramac Ducati   1m42.313s  + 2.762s
17.  John Hopkins      Suzuki          1m42.538s  + 2.987s