MOTOGP: Hernandez leads damp first Mugello practice

Aspar Ducati rider Yonny Hernandez was a surprise pacesetter as damp conditions affected opening practice for MotoGP's Italian Grand Prix.

Heavy rain hit Mugello on Thursday and continued into the evening, and while conditions improved on Friday morning, the circuit was not dry for the first 45 minutes of running.

Only 14 riders set times, with Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, Honda's Marc Marquez and Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso among those without a presence on the time sheets.

Rossi's running was limited to a series of in and out-laps, practicing starts at the end of pitlane each time, while Marquez only appeared at the very end and Lorenzo not at all. Clear and warmer weather is forecast for the balance of the weekend.

Hernandez set the pace early with a 2m02.055s lap and then 2m00.349s, before Pramac Ducati's Scott Redding became the first rider to use Michelin's new-for-MotoGP intermediate tire in a grand prix weekend. With 11 minutes to go, Redding produced the day's first laps below the 2m00s barrier, with a 1m58.870s, improving the next time around to 1m57.891s.

LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow moved to the top with eight minutes to go, with a 1m57.869s, before Hernandez regained the ascendancy three minutes later.

Initially, Hernandez set a 1m55.723s on intermediate tires, before improving to a 1m55.325s then 1m54.199s in the closing stages.

Redding regained second place with his final lap, 0.774 seconds behind Hernandez, with fellow British riders Crutchlow and Bradley Smith third and fourth.

On a third factory Ducati as a wild card, Michele Pirro was fifth, ahead of Suzuki's Maverick Vinales.

Of the other leading riders, Andrea Iannone was eighth on his Ducati, while Honda's Dani Pedrosa was at the foot of the times with an unrepresentative 2m04.748s.

PRACTICE 1 TIMES

Originally on Autosport.com