Gresini Honda's Marco Simoncelli topped the opening MotoGP free practice session at Mugello this morning, keeping Casey Stoner at bay while Valentino Rossi struggled to find some and finished down in 13th place.
In what is becoming a trademark, Simoncelli left it until his his very last lap to pinch top spot with a 1'48.987 with Stoner only 0.40s in arrears while Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso was third and he is in very close attendance on a 1'49.088.
Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo is in fourth place and a little under s quarter of a second off the pace with team-mate Ben Spies in fifth and Colin Edwards in sixth but the Texan is only a second slower than Simoncelli.
The returning Dani Pedrosa, who labelled Simoncello air airhead yesterday, is seventh with Nicky Hayden eighth, Hiro Aoyama ninth and Alvaro Bautista in tenth. Britain's Cal Crutchlow is 11th but has never ridden at Mugello before. Rossi suffered a mechanical problem and enlisted the help of marshals to push his GP11.1 to the side of the track.
