Ivan Silva was the unlikely pacesetter in MotoGP's first Jerez practice session, as adverse conditions meant all the typical frontrunners opted not to set a time.
In truth there was next to no value to be had from the morning, which was neither fully wet nor fully dry. In such greasy conditions the works Honda, Yamaha and Ducati squads all elected to sit out the session in its entirety.
Of the eight riders who did venture out, only Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda) and Alvaro Bautista (Gresini Honda) were not on CRT machinery.
Bradl ended the session second fastest, but he could do little to deprive Silva of top spot, the Avintia man, who has a new Inmotec chassis to try this weekend, almost six seconds clear at the front.
Aspar Aprilia's Randy de Puniet beat Bautista to third, with Mattia Pasini (Speed Master ART), Michele Pirro (Gresini FTR-Honda) and Yonny Hernandez on the second Avintia machine rounding out the top seven.
Forward's Colin Edwards was the last rider to set a time, but his 2m05.991s – almost 20sec down on Silva – served to emphasize not only how tricky the conditions were, but also how meaningless the session was in general.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap
1. Ivan Silva Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki 1m48.674s
2. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1m54.641s + 5.967s
3. Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia 1m55.214s + 6.540s
4. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 1m56.398s + 7.724s
5. Mattia Pasini Speed Master Aprilia 1m56.853s + 8.179s
6. Michele Pirro Gresini FTR-Honda 1m59.239s + 10.565s
7. Yonny Hernandez Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 2m02.868s + 14.194s
8. Colin Edwards Forward Suter-BMW 2m05.991s + 17.317s
9. Casey Stoner Honda
10. Andrea Dovizioso Tech 3 Yamaha
11. Hector Barbera Pramac Ducati
12. Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Aprilia
13. Ben Spies Yamaha
14. Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati
15. Dani Pedrosa Honda
16. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha
17. Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia
18. Valentino Rossi Ducati
19. Nicky Hayden Ducati
20. James Ellison Paul Bird Aprilia
21. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha