Lorenzo quickest in Philip Island Moto GP practice
Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo once again demonstrated his prowess at the Moto GP circuit with a solid performance at the practice session at Philip Island.
The newly crowned world champion was in top gear in wet conditions on the track ensuring that he continues his dominance of the circuit.
After a two-hour delay to proceedings due to heavy wind and rain, the opening practice sessions for the Australian part of the Moto GP calendar started in the afternoon.
Jorge Lorenzo was the one who adapted best to the tricky conditions as he registered the quickest time for a rider around the damp circuit.
Lorenzo displayed great skills and application after he posted a time of time of 1 minute 41.146 seconds.
The Spaniard, who rides a Fiat Yamaha, was not willing to take the foot of the gas despite a superb season that has already guaranteed him the world title.
He claimed that he was determined to round off his title-winning 2010 campaign in style, and made a real fist of it despite conditions that were difficult because of the earlier rain and a drying track.
"It was very difficult conditions because the air was so cold and the drive was so wet and windy. I’m so happy to be so quick on the wet because it was one of the worst points I had in the past, so now I can see we are in general very quick", said the Spaniard
after the session.
Home boy Casey Stoner was second fastest, registering a time of a mere 0.334 seconds down on Lorenzo's time.
The Australian has an impeccable record in his home races having recorded wins at his home circuit for the past three seasons.
He brought his factory Desmosedici GP10 home ahead of Ducati team-mate Nicky Hayden, who hails from the United States.
There was stiff competition for other places also Marco Simoncelli registered the fourth best time of the day on his Honda.
The rookie battled with his rear grip before recording the time of 1 minute 41.881, with his team-mate and fellow Italian Marco Melandri a close behind on the fifth spot.
Melandri was the final rider to get within a second of Lorenzo while another Italian, Andrea Dovizioso of Honda was placed at the sixth spot.
Dovizioso was hopeful of posing a real challenging for victory again after second place finishes in the last two weekends.
There was disappointment for another Italian Valentino Rossi, who was placed at the seventh spot, the winner of the last week's race riding his Fiat Yamaha M1.
He had made rapid strides after recovering from a horrific crash earlier in the season, however, he was not at his best at Philip Island and would have to do a lot more in the qualifying session if he is to make an impression here.
Meanwhile, Alex de Angelis, who also hails from Italy was the Moto2 pace setter in the first practice for the intermediate class.
He succeeded in setting up a best lap of the hour-long session with an effort of 1 minute 36.295 seconds, he was riding JiR Motobi.
The effort by De Angelis gave him the slightest of advantage as he posted a time that was just 18-thousandths of a second ahead of 17 year-old British talent Scott Redding.
Redding was the second fastest in the session on his Suter machine, the Marc VDS Racing Team rider made full use of his recent rich vein of form by performing well in a tricky situation.
He succeeded in posting a time that was just under four-tenths quicker than Spain's Fonsi Nieto.
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