MotoGP
Casey Stoner was the quickest rider on the opening day of the Gran Premio bwin de España at Jerez on Friday, as his time from the first practice session in the morning stood as the quickest of the day.
The Repsol Honda rider put down a best effort of 1’39.551 in FP1, with team-mate Dani Pedrosa the only other rider under 1’40” on day one, also during the first session. Indeed the top seven in MotoGP on Friday all set their best times in FP1, as strong wind during the afternoon’s second free practice made it hard to improve on lap times.
Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team), Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini), Jorge Lorenzo (Factory Yamaha Racing), Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and Ben Spies (Factory Yamaha Racing) were those who completed the top seven, with Dovizioso unaffected by a fall during the first session.
The sun was in full force on day one and Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) both managed to improve on their lap times in the FP2 session to get into the combined top ten, with Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) tenth. John Hopkins, riding as a substitute for the injured Álvaro Bautista on the Rizla Suzuki team, made progress throughout the two sessions, eventually timing in 2.754s off the top time in his first competitive session MotoGP ride since Valencia 2008.
Moto2
In Moto2 Tom Lüthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) led the way with a best lap of 1’43.528, placing him 0.315s ahead of season-opening race winner Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing). The two set their times in FP1, with Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing), Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) and Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar) posting FP2 times that placed them in the combined top five. Takahashi was clearly unaffected by a crash in the morning session as he went on to improve his lap time.
Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2), Simone Corsi (Ioda Racing Project), Aleix Espargaró (Pons HP 40), Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing) and Andrea Iannone (Speed Master) completed the top ten across the combined sessions timesheet.
125cc
The 125s were the bikes most affected by the increased wind in the afternoon, with Nico Terol (Bankia Aspar) setting the fastest lap of Friday during FP1 – a best effort of 1’48.384. Sandro Cortese (Intact Racing Team Germany) topped the later session to place second across both, 0.333s off Terol, with Efrén Vázquez (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) third – he escaped uninjured from a FP2 crash which cut his session drastically short – and Héctor Faubel (Bankia Aspar) and Jonas Folger (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) fourth and fifth respectively across the combined times.
PEV-Blusens-SMX-Paris Hilton duo Sergio Gadea and Maverick Viñales, Luis Salom (RW Racing), Johann Zarco (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) and Danny Kent (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) all set top-ten times on Friday.