Pedrosa sets Aragón standard in FP1

Dani Pedrosa, fresh from the news of a renewed deal with HRC for the next two seasons and brimming with confidence after back-to-back wins in the two previous rounds, was the quickest rider in the first practice at the Gran Premio A-Style de Aragón on Friday. The Repsol Honda rider set a best time of 1'50.506 on the new circuit as he continued his superb form.

Ending the 45-minute session - the first of three this weekend in a trial of the former format - 0.411s ahead of Ducati's Nicky Hayden, Pedrosa set a rapid pace. Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo was third fastest on his Fiat Yamaha M1 at just 0.011s further down on Hayden, making the Spaniard the final rider under the 1'51" barrier this morning.

Casey Stoner was next up on the timesheet as he took his Desmosedici GP10 round in the fourth best time of the session, and with an effort of 1'51.195 was the last rider within a second of Pedrosa. Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) was the fastest rookie in fifth with a 1'51.768, just a thousandth of a second ahead of fellow Italian and reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha).

Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) put in an impressive penultimate lap to end seventh, whilst Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda), Colin Edwards and Ben Spies (both Monster Yamaha Tech 3) completed the top ten.

There was one fall during the session as Aleix Espargaró suffered an early high-side on only his second lap. The Pramac Racing rider fell victim to a cold tyre as he crashed at turn two and fortunately escaped injury, returning to the track shortly after and setting the 13th fastest time.