Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa has topped the MotoGP timesheets for the first free practice at Donington Park this afternoon, setting his quickest laptime with his final circuit which knocked Casey Stoner down to second.
The Spaniard lapped at 1'38.627 on a drying track which was a quarter of a second quicker than the Australian with Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi rounding out a theoretical front row, just three tenths slower than Pedrosa.
In a session that started with a soaking wet track, Jorge Lorenzo was the first man out of the pitlane and immediately set the quickest time of a 1'43.056 but it was bettered by Rossi just a lap later.
Britain's James Toseland made a bright start, going to eighth with 41 minutes to go and then promoting himself to sixth two laps later. Rossi and Lorenzo continued to scrap for the fastest time until Hayate Marco Melandri joined the party, going second fastest with a 1'42.800.
Stoner hit the top spot for the first time with 35 minutes left to go, setting a 1'41.577 but it was bettered by Lorenzo five minutes later as the Spaniard did a 1'40.758. A lap later, Toseland got himself into third place with a 1'42.161 as Lorenzo then started a charge.
Rossi went out for a run with 20 minutes left in the session, going quickest on a 1'40.366, which he bettered a lap later with a 1'40.029. Melandri and Stoner then began a battle for second place which ended up being a scrap for the top spot.
With 10 minutes left Melandri went quickest on a 1'39.566 but was busted back to second a lap later by Stoner while Toseland brought himself back into contention, setting a fifth-best lap.
Pedrosa's team-mate Andrea Dovizioso left it until there was only six minutes left to put in his charge, going third fastest on a 1'39.658 while Pramac Ducati's Mika Kallio went fifth quickest on a 1'39.839.
As the chequered flag came out, Pedrosa started his final lap as a clear dry line began to appear and managed to set the quickest time, and a flurry of late and fast laps saw Lorenzo and Melandri shuffled back onto the second row.
Kallio, Colin Edwards and and Toni Elias comprise the third row while Toseland ended up in 12th place after running out of fuel at the Old Hairpin.
