Jorge Lorenzo got up to speed fastest as the MotoGP field acclimatized to the new Silverstone in Friday practice. The championship leader ended the first hour of running 0.142sec ahead of Casey Stoner's Ducati.
Stoner had been the early pacesetter, before the impressive Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) and Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) took turns on top for a while.
Yamaha's sole works rider Lorenzo then moved to the head of the order with 12 minutes to go, improving his time to 2m05.991sec on his next lap. Any other gains were prevented when a hard rain shower started two minutes from the end, sending everyone to the pits. Stoner improved just before then, pushing Dovizioso and de Puniet back to third and fourth, with Ben Spies completing the top five for Tech 3 Yamaha.
Mugello winner Dani Pedrosa was back in sixth on the second works Honda, while Ducati's Nicky Hayden was 10th. Gresini Honda got both riders in the top 10 – Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli in seventh and ninth, split by Pramac Ducati's Aleix Espargaro.
Pos Rider Team Time Gap
1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 2m05.991s
2. Casey Stoner Ducati 2m06.133s + 0.142s
3. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 2m06.347s + 0.356s
4. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda 2m06.439s + 0.448s
5. Ben Spies Tech 3 Yamaha 2m07.250s + 1.259s
6. Dani Pedrosa Honda 2m07.586s + 1.595s
7. Marco Melandri Gresini Honda 2m07.588s + 1.597s
8. Aleix Espargaro Pramac Ducati 2m07.927s + 1.936s
9. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda 2m07.951s + 1.960s
10. Nicky Hayden Ducati 2m08.300s + 2.309s
11. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 2m08.452s + 2.461s
12. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 2m08.525s + 2.534s
13. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki 2m08.666s + 2.675s
14. Hiroshi Aoyama Interwetten Honda 2m09.639s + 3.648s
15. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 2m09.805s + 3.814s
16. Mika Kallio Pramac Ducati 2m10.227s + 4.236s