Instead of being the first free practice, today’s MotoGP’s opening practice at Silverstone looked more like qualifying.
In the tough and risky conditions that the track was in, Valentino Rossi and team mate Nicky Hayden showed off the mysterious prowess of the Ducati GP12 in the wet and flew around the circuit.
The Italian was never out of the top five in the 45 minute session and actually led the session in the first half hour showing a strange confidence with the British track until the rest of the rest of riders started rapidly shaving off lap times.
Rossi finally topped the timesheets in 2:19.
328 in his last flying lap and pipping Hayden by just 0.
077s.
Andrea Dovizioso was the fastest Yamaha rider as he completed the session in third and he looked like he could overtake the Ducati duo on the top of the timesheets with his last lap, but was disturbed by traffic.
Casey Stoner was the last rider within a second from Rossi, but despite lamenting that his Honda has trouble in the wet the Australian was also the rider who put in the least number of laps in the wet conditions, excluding the riders that crashed.
Cal Crutchlow took the fifth fastest time and he finished ahead of LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl.
Dani Pedrosa could manage only the 7th position but he was more than 3.
3 seconds off pace.
Jorge Lorenzo fresh from his renewal with Yamaha was 8th, but it looked like he wasn’t pushing and he even stopped with three minutes left in the session.
Alvaro Bautista was ninth after a crash at the Stowe, the same spot that caught out Ben Spies just minutes earlier.
Spies ended up 11th behind Hector Barbera who has a new electronics package.
Missing from the MotoGP line-up is Karel Abraham who is suffering from a hand injury including a double fracture his finger, that he picked up during the Motorland Aragon test and is unable to ride.
Randy de Puniet was the fastest CRT rider and took the twelfth spot and five seconds off pace.
MotoGP Silverstone FP1 results:01- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – 2’19.
328 02- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.
077 03- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
799 04- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.
993 05- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.
935 06- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 2.
589 07- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 3.
385 08- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 3.
846 09- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 3.
998 10- Hector Barbera – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 4.
822 11- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 4.
886 12- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 5.
032 13- Mattia Pasini – Speed Master Team – ART GP12 – + 5.
062 14- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda TR003 – + 5.
684 15- Michele Pirro – San Carlo Honda Gresini – FTR Honda – + 5.
723 16- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 5.
737 17- James Ellison – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP12 – + 5.
822 18- Yonny Hernandez – Avintia Blusens – BQR MotoGP – + 5.
970 19- Ivan Silva – Avintia Blusens – BQR MotoGP – + 9.
287 20- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – Suter BMW – + 12.
140