Italy's Marco Simoncelli posted the fastest time in opening practice for the his home round of the MotoGP season in Mugello.
Italian fastest in Friday practice at home track
Italy's Marco Simoncelli posted the fastest time in opening practice at his home round of the MotoGP season in Mugello.
Compatriot Andrea Dovizioso went quickest in the second session of the day but rain in the afternoon meant he was some way short of Simoncelli's mark of 1 minute 48.987 seconds.
Dovizioso was third quickest in the morning session behind Repsol Honda team-mate Casey Stoner, although the top three riders were split by just a tenth of a second.
Yamaha Factory Racing duo Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies completed the top five ahead of Colin Edwards and Dani Pedrosa, who is back in action after three races out with a broken collarbone.
The Spaniard led from start to finish at last year's event and will need to play catch up this season after his injury lay-off left him 75 points adrift of championship leader Stoner.
The two Repsol Hondas of Stoner and Pedrosa did not take part in the in the second session as steady drizzle left a slippery track that was not wet enough for rain tyres.
Most of the field wrote the afternoon off but when suitable conditions returned with only a few minutes left in the session, Dovizioso set the benchmark ahead of Toni Elias and home favourite Valentino Rossi.
