Reigning MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo proved to be the danger man on day one of practice at Phillip Island, leading both the Friday free practice sessions and once again showing metronomic precision with lap times.
The Spaniard was the only rider to go under the 1'29s barrier with a 1'28.961 right at the end of the second session and backed that up with no less than ten 1'29s laps from a total of 18 using both the soft and harder option Bridgestone tyres. He is also only three-tenths off Casey Stoner's circuit lap record.
Title rival Marc Marquez was second quickest with his time from the opening period as an early crash at Lukey Heights in the afternoon upset his rhythm. The young Spaniard lost the rear as he hit a bump at the crest but walked away from the incident. His 1'29.225 was almost three-quarters of a second faster than the afternoon's effort.
Alvaro Bautista also bounced back from a crash to set a quick time, lobbing it early in free practice two but recovering to go third fastest overall with a 1'29.438 and half a second slower than the Factory Yamaha of Lorenzo.
Dani Pedrosa had to contend with the rear engine bolt falling out of his Repsol Honda at the end of the second session. He pulled off the track at the Hayshed after setting the fourth fastest time of the day and 00.40s slower than Bautista.
Valentino Rossi is the second quickest Yamaha in fifth but has Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith right on his tail. The Doctor was right at the sharp end for a majority of the afternoon but slipped back with a 1'29.537. However, his race pace is as good as Lorenzo's, with 11 laps in the 1'29s.
Crutchlow's Monster Yamaha is a tenth slower while the sister machine of Smith is another half a second in arrears and has the Aspar Aprilia of Randy De Puniet for company in eighth. The Frenchman is easily fastest of the newly-designated Open class bikes, some three-quarters of a second quicker than Colin Edwards.
Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso round out the top ten, 1.7s off the pace, with Andrea Iannone in 11th and Aleix Espargaro finishing the Open class top three. Michael Laverty was up as high as 16th early in session two but then slipped back to 19th. He is only three seconds off the pace and has never seen the circuit before but is sharing a crew chief with Damian Cudlin this weekend as Scott Smart is on British Supersport riding duty at Brands Hatch.
LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl took part in the opening session but was declared unfit afterwards. Team boss Lucio Cecchinello doesn't expect the German to take any further part in the weekend's action.
