Pedrosa Fastest after First Practice at Donington

Reloaded Dani Pedrosa topped the first practice session at Donington Park on Friday, finishing the P1 with the best time of 1:38.627. The overall podium was completed by Ducati's Casey Stoner and Yamaha's Valentino Rossi, both within 0.3 seconds from the 23-year old Spaniard.

This was again a rain-affected free practice – following last weekend's German GP practice at the Sachsenring – as the track was wet throughout the first half of action. Under the circumstances, Yamaha duo Rossi and Lorenzo exchanges spots on top of the time charts by the mid-session, after which Stoner led his GP9 to a quick lap of his own once the track started to dry out.

Neither Rossi, nor Lorenzo managed to match Stoner's time in the last part of the session, but the Australian was to be denied of his 1st place by a late surge from Honda's Pedrosa. The Spaniard passed Stoner on his very last lap at the Leicestershire circuit, making it impossible for the Ducati rider to response.

Lorenzo scored his best time of the afternoon late in the session also, good enough only for 5th place. Honda's Andrea Dovizioso also upped his game in the late stages of P1 and clinched 4th place, only 0.036 seconds ahead of the Yamaha rider.

Hayate Racing's Marco Melandri also finished the first practice session at Donington Park in the top field, after recording the 6th best time of the day. Mika Kallio, Colin Edwards, Toni Elias and Nicky Hayden completed the Top 10. Hunagrian rider Gabor Talmacsi took his Scot Racing prepared Honda to 13th place overall, the first time he didn't finish at the rear of the pack since making his MotoGP debut earlier this year.

Here are the complete results of today's FP at Donington Park:

1. Dani Pedrosa (Honda)                              1:38.627
2. Casey Stoner (Ducati)                               1:38.872
3. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha)                         1:38.917
4. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda)                        1:39.069
5. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)                           1:39.105
6. Marco Melandri (Hayate Kawasaki)          1:39.130
7. Mika Kallio (Pramac Ducati)                      1:39.209
8. Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha)               1:39.379
9. Toni Elias Gresini (Honda)                         1:39.755
10. Nicky Hayden (Ducati)                             1:40.116
11. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki)                           1:40.419
12. James Toseland (Tech 3 Yamaha)           1:40.522
13. Gabor Talmacsi (Scot Honda)                  1:40.850
14. Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki)                        1:41.467
15. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda)                1:41.861
16. Alex de Angelis (Gresini Honda)              1:42.210
17. Niccolo Canepa (Pramac Ducati)             1:42.696