After a three week break, MotoGP finally got back on track in a warm and sunny Le Mans (and this is a rarity) with Valentino Rossi taking the top spot in today’s free practice with a last lap lunge that pushed Casey Stoner out of first spot.

Rossi put in 1′34″402 on hard and already scrubbed in tires, but his rivals were close to the Fiat Yamaha rider. Stoner’s second was just 0.106s from Rossi, proving that the GP10 has improved on the French track which has always been a sort of bête noire for the Ducati machine, and current points leader Jorge Lorenzo was a mere 0.140sec from the top in third.

Andrea Dovizioso, who is using the new chassis he tested at the post race tests at Jerez took fourth and was only 0.223sec from Rossi and ahead of his team mate Dani Pedrosa. The Spanish rider who is celebrating his 150th GP, took fifth place and was almost six tenths from the top spot.

Sixth went to Colin Edwards who was just one tenth from Pedrosa and followed by Nicky Hayden, who notoriously has trouble on this track, while Ben Spies was eighth on his first time on the Le Mans circuit.

Pramac Ducati’s rookie Aleix Espargaro was ninth and Marco Melandri closed out the top ten for San Carlo Honda Gresini.

Loris Capirossi after running in the top ten dropped back to eleventh, while Alvaro Bautista who broke his collarbone and underwent surgery just a week ago, managed only 19 laps during the session and was 17th, more than three seconds off the pace.

MotoGP Le Mans Free Practice Results:

01- Valentino Rossi – Fiat Yamaha Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – 1′34.402
02- Casey Stoner – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 0.106
03- Jorge Lorenzo – Fiat Yamaha Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.140
04- Andrea Dovizioso – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 0.223
05- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 0.587
06- Colin Edwards – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.687
07- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 0.821
08- Ben Spies – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.889
09- Aleix Espargaro – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 1.048
10- Marco Melandri – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 1.241
11- Loris Capirossi – Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – Suzuki GSV-R – + 1.283
12- Marco Simoncelli – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 1.557
13- Hector Barbera – Paginas Amarillas Aspar – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 1.607
14- Randy De Puniet – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 1.684
15- Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 1.890
16- Hiroshi Aoyama – Interwetten Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 2.396
17- Alvaro Bautista – Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – Suzuki GSV-R – + 3.123

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