Ducati's Valentino Rossi stole top spot in the opening MotoGP free practice session at a wet Silverstone this morning, pipping team-mate Nicky Hayden by less than a tenth of a second with his final lap of the Northamptonshire track.
Hayden himself had only just gone to the top of the table ahead of reiging champion Casey Stoner on a 2'19.405 but Rossi, who thinks his best chance of a result this weekend is in wet conditions, just had an edge over the American.
Monster Yamaha's Andrea Dovizioso was sniffing around the top spot all session and eventually secured third but is the best part of eight-tenths off the pace with Stoner a further two-tenths in arrears.
Britain's Cal Crutchlow led with ten minutes left, putting in his fastest lap of 2'21.263 on the 12th of 14 but he was shuffled down the order as the clock ticked away. Stefan Bradl took sixth place on his LCR Honda with the second factory Honda of Dani Pedrosa in seventh.
Alvaro Bautista crashed at Stowe corner, just minutes after Ben Spies did the same thing, but an earlier lap was enough to secure ninth with Hector Barbera rounding out the top ten. Spies placed 11th but is five seconds off the pace.
Randy De Puniet is the top CRT entrant in 12th with Mattia Pasini and Danilo Petrucci behind him. James Ellison ran 11th fastest early on but slipped back to 17th while Colin Edwards failed to put in a fast enough lap to trouble the scorers.
