Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa has blitzed the first MotoGP free practice session at Brno, going just under a second faster than team-mate Casey Stoner in second and Marco Simoncelli, who crashed on his last lap, in third place.
The diminutive Spaniard is already inside the lap record with his 1'56.328 and even a final flyer by the Australian was only good enough to register a 1'57.294. Gresini Honda's Simoncelli set his time of 1'57.408 with a few minutes left before he lost the front going into turn 13 but walked away from the crash.
Reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo ended the session in fourth with his 1'57.587 set with 15 minutes left to run while the third Repsol bike of Andrea Dovizioso popped into fifth five minutes from the end but he is nearly 1.5s off the pace.
The second works Yamaha of Ben Spies is in sixth with his best lap, set in the final minute, of 1'57.903 just enough to keep British Superbike front-runner John Hopkins in seventh. The American is nearly two seconds off the pace but only a second slower than Stoner.
Team-mate Alvaro Bautista, who won't be happy with Hopkins' lap, is in eighth just in front of a resurgent Cal Crutchlow on the Monster Yamaha. The former footballer knows Brno well and still holds the World Supersport lap record at the Czech circuit.
Colin Edwards rounds out the top ten just ahead of Marlboro Ducati's Valentino Rossi who is a full 2.5s off the pace. It will be great comfort that the nine-time world champion is the leading Ducati.
