Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez has set his marker for this weekend's Misano MotoGP round, topping the first free practice timesheet by just over two-tenths of a second from team-mate Dani Pedrosa who halved the gap with his last lap.
But it was bad news for Britain's Cal Crutchlow who could only muster 11th place and is 1.4s off the pace. The Monster Yamaha man is still carrying the arm injury from his Friday crash at Silverstone and said last night he thought he would struggle this weekend.
Marquez, using the softer of the Bridgestone options, is half a second off Jorge Lorenzo's lap record on a 1'34.476 with the factory Yamaha man putting the seamless-shift gearbox to good use to bag third place and end the session 0.476 behind.
He was chased by team-mate and local hero Valentino Rossi on a 1'34.978 while Alvaro Bautista launched himself into fifth place with his final circuit of 1'35.269 to sneak ahead of fellow satellite Honda man Stefan Bradl in sixth.
Nicky Hayden also picked up his pace at session end, putting the works Ducati into seventh and one place ahead of team-mate Andrea Dovizioso with only a tenth splitting the pair and Ducati test rider Michele Pirro, who is again standing in for Ben Spies, just behind in ninth.
Aleix Espargaro, who spat his dummy at Michael Laverty for no discernable reason, was top CRT in tenth place and a tenth ahead of Crutchlow. Hector Barbera, in 12th, will use a pneumatic-valved version of his Kawasaki motor sometime this weekend.
Bradley Smith is mired down in 13th just ahead of Colin Edwards and Hiro Aoyama. Laverty is in 22nd and 4.3s off the pace.
