Lorenzo leads the MotoGP line in FP1

Jorge Lorenzo was immediately on the pace as the TIM TT Assen got underway on Thursday afternoon, setting the fastest time in the first free practice. The historic Dutch track has had some modifications since the Fiat Yamaha rider finished second in last year’s race, but he displayed a sound knowledge of its revised layout as he set a best lap of 1’35.169 to top the session.

Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner is searching for his first podium of the season this weekend and got his GP off to a solid start. The Australian was only 11-thousandths of a second off Lorenzo’s pace on his Desmosedici GP10, as he kept a close check on the Championship leader.

A further half-second back on the timesheet was Stoner’s team-mate Nicky Hayden, as the American ended the session third fastest. He stayed upright during a run off at Turn 5 towards the end of the hour as he pushed hard to improve on his time.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards was next up in the order and was just 0.013s off Hayden as he found an improved feeling on his machine. Repsol Honda pair Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa were separated by just five-hundredths of a second in fifth and sixth places respectively.

Aleix Espargaró’s season continues on its promising path and the Pramac Racing rider was hot on Pedrosa’s heels (+0.005s), with Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) completing the highest number of laps of the session with 29 and both had minor detours off track in the session. Marco Simoncelli and Marco Melandri (both San Carlo Honda Gresini) completed the top ten.

Riding in place of the injured Hiroshi Aoyama for the Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team, Kousuke Akiyoshi was 16th fastest, 6.163s off Lorenzo’s time.