Jorge Lorenzo was instantly on pace as the TIM TT Assen progressed on Thursday afternoon, claiming the quickest time in the first free practice. The infamous Dutch circuit has been modified since the Fiat Yamaha racer ended second in last season’s race, however he has shown a sound knowledge of its amended layout as he claimed a best lap of 1’35.169 to head the session.

Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner is still looking for his first podium of the year this weekend and he was off to a solid beginning. The Aussie was only 11 thousandths of a second off Lorenzo’s time on his Desmosedici GP10, as he stayed close on the Championship leader.

A further half a second back on the timesheet was Stoner’s colleague Nicky Hayden, the American arrived third fastest. He kept himself upright during a run off at Turn 5 towards the finish of the hour as he worked hard to improve his time.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 racer Colin Edwards was next in the order and only 0.013s off Hayden, as he improved the feeling on his bike. Repsol Honda duo Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa were separated by only five hundredths of a second in fifth and sixth respectively.

Aleix Espargaró’s year continues to be promising as the Pramac Racing competitor was right on Pedrosa’s heels (+0.005s), with Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) finishing the highest number of laps of the category. Marco Simoncelli and Marco Melandri (both San Carlo Honda Gresini) finished off the top ten.

Riding in substitute of the injured Hiroshi Aoyama for the Interwetten Honda MotoGP squad, was Kousuke Akiyoshi who 16th fastest, 6.163s off Lorenzo’s pace.