Factory Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo edged out compatriot and title rival Dani Pedrosa for top spot in this morning's opening MotoGP free practice at Jerez by just three one-thousandths of a second, putting in a 1'39.701 with his final lap of the session.
Pedrosa, on the Repsol Honda, had been in control for the whole of the first period, with just a fractional lead over his fellow Spaniard but Lorenzo just had his measure as the chequered flag came out, beating Pedrosa's 1'39.704 as just three-quarters of a second covered the top five.
Valentino Rossi hovered around the top four before a final run of laps saw him put in a 1'40.095 and then a 1'40.067 to grab third place and push Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow into fourth place. The British rider had been in second with 20 minutes left to run and is only four-tenths off the pace on a 1'40.113.
As the track temperature rose, Austin race winner Marc Marquez hauled himself from 11th to fifth with a 1'40.485 on his 15th lap of 18 and he is two-tenths ahead of leading Ducati rider Nicky Hayden, whose quickest lap was enough to push LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl down to seventh with Alvaro Bautista eighth.
Aleix Espargaro is first CRT man in ninth place and ahead of Andrea Dovizioso in tenth but a cigarette paper covers the pair as they both lapped 1.2 seconds slower than Lorenzo, no mean feat for Espargaro on the Aspar CRT machine.
Andrea Iannone ended in 11th place with Michele Pirro, who is riding as a wildcard on Ducati's laboratory GP13, in 12th place. Hector Barbera and Randy De Puniet finish the CRT top three in 12th and 13th respectively. Bradley Smith was 17th.
PBM's Michael Laverty was down in 24th place and 4.2s in arrears, however, the Irishman has a raft of new parts and settings to test this weekend, including steering head cups, a more progressive shock linkage and an updated Marelli electronics package.