Brno MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo quickest in first practice

The world champion has not won a race since Mugello in June, the last event prior to his run of injuries, but was a clear step ahead of his rivals on Friday morning in the Czech Republic.

Lorenzo had a few challenges from Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi and Honda's Dani Pedrosa, before ending the session 0.343 seconds clear of the latter with a 1m56.698s lap on the chequered flag.

Cal Crutchlow was third on the Tech 3 Yamaha, just 0.017s behind Pedrosa.

Championship leader Marc Marquez, winner of the last three races, was a relatively quiet fourth, 0.422s off the pace.

Rossi was pushed down to fifth in the end.

Satellite Honda riders Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl took sixth and seventh, ahead of top Ducati runner Andrea Dovizioso.

Aleix Espargaro set the CRT pace, just 0.086s ahead of Hiroshi Aoyama.

Gresini's CRT rider Bryan Staring was the only man to crash, having a minor fall late on.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike             Time       Gap
 1.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                1m56.698s
 2.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                 1m57.041s  +0.343s
 3.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha         1m57.058s  +0.360s
 4.  Marc Marquez      Honda                 1m57.120s  +0.422s
 5.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha                1m57.243s  +0.545s
 6.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda         1m57.610s  +0.912s
 7.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda             1m57.694s  +0.996s
 8.  Andrea Dovizioso  Ducati                1m57.930s  +1.232s
 9.  Bradley Smith     Tech 3 Yamaha         1m57.947s  +1.249s
10.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                1m58.030s  +1.332s
11.  Andrea Iannone    Pramac Ducati         1m58.725s  +2.027s
12.  Michele Pirro     Pramac Ducati         1m59.019s  +2.321s
13.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia         1m59.092s  +2.394s
14.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m59.178s  +2.480s
15.  Colin Edwards     Forward FTR-Kawasaki  1m59.416s  +2.718s
16.  Hector Barbera    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m59.531s  +2.833s
17.  Claudio Corti     Forward FTR-Kawasaki  2m00.293s  +3.595s
18.  Yonny Hernandez   PBM Aprilia           2m00.307s  +3.609s
19.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Suter-BMW        2m00.316s  +3.618s
20.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Aprilia       2m01.213s  +4.515s
21.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia         2m01.331s  +4.633s
22.  Martin Bauer      Remus Aprilia         2m01.441s  +4.743s
23.  Michael Laverty   PBM-Aprilia           2m01.489s  +4.791s
24.  Bryan Staring     Gresini FTR-Honda     2m02.112s  +5.414s
25.  Lukas Pesek       Ioda-Suter-BMW        2m04.091s  +7.393s