Vale was quickest on Friday.

From Fiat Yamaha

LORENZO FACES TOUGH TASK AFTER HEAVY MORNING CRASH

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Jorge Lorenzo has suffered a fractured left ankle and severe trauma and bruising to parts of the right ankle and foot after crashing in this morning's first free practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix. The 20-year-old joint World Championship leader was thrown from his M1 during a dramatic high-side at the chicane after turn one, mid-way through the session, on just his tenth lap.

After an initial examination at the circuit clinic Lorenzo was taken to the Huashan hospital in Shanghai for an MRI scan and further detailed diagnosis, before returning to the track and spending the remainder of the day resting at the Clinica Mobile. His condition will be re-assessed in the morning before any decision is taken about riding.

Dr Claudio Costa of the Clinica Mobile said: "Detailed examination has revealed that Jorge has re-fractured the top of the malleolo bone in the middle of the left ankle. Furthermore, the MRI scan showed that there are severe impact oedemas to the right heel, the astragalo bone and the tibia, but fortunately no signs of further fractures. The diagnosis shows the violence of the trauma he suffered to both his feet in the crash and Jorge now faces a very difficult task to participate in tomorrow's qualifying and Sunday's race."

Ramon Forcada Crew Chief

"It's a great pity this has happened, right at the start of Jorge's weekend; we were focused on his arm following his recent operation and we were quite confident that he could ride as usual. It was a very bad crash and it is not clear yet what happened because we lost all the data when the equipment was damaged at the time. As far as we can see from the TV, he lost grip on the rear. I do not know if Jorge will be able to ride tomorrow, but in any case we have lost two sessions and we will have to work today in order to prepare the bike with an ideal set-up for tomorrow. It will be hard, very hard, as tough as Jorge is!"

ROSSI ON TOP IN HOT AND HUMID SHANGHAI

Valentino Rossi made a strong start to his Chinese challenge in Shanghai today, finishing on top of the combined standings as the only rider to dip under the 1'59 mark. High temperatures are set to continue tomorrow but a strong chance of rain on Sunday could turn the race into a mirror of 2005, when Rossi won a soaking inaugural Chinese Grand Prix.

The Fiat Yamaha Team rider was fast from the off this morning and topped the time sheets for the majority of the first session. This afternoon the track temperature increased and Rossi finished second to Casey Stoner, but his time of 1'59.906 from the morning was good enough to leave him at the top of the overall time sheets for the day.

Rossi's team-mate Jorge Lorenzo meanwhile had a bad crash this morning and injured both ankles; the 20-year-old will now wait for tomorrow before making a decision about riding.

Valentino Rossi Position: 1st Time: 1'59.906 Laps: 47

"I'm quite happy with the start we've made. We were able to go fast from the start this morning and the bike setting and the Bridgestone tyres are working very well together. We were faster this morning because this afternoon the temperature of the asphalt reached more than 40 degrees and in these conditions the tyres start to slide a bit, which makes it harder. Anyway we have many different tyres to try, plenty of choices and I am quite relaxed. My rhythm is very good, I can ride more or less how I want and I think we're in good shape. It seems Stoner and I are a little bit faster than the others and so it looks like it could be another battle like last year! Our bike has more top speed here now so this is important for the long straight, but my corner speed is also good. The problem could be that the weather on Sunday might be completely different to how it is now; as usual I prefer to race in the dry but I think we are in quite good shape in the wet as well. I am sorry for Lorenzo's crash, it was quite a bad one and now I hope that he is able to recover enough to try to race on Sunday."

Davide Brivio Team Manager

"Jorge's crash was very unfortunate and I hope that he is able to recover enough to try tomorrow; we wish him well. Valentino has had a good day because the bike worked very well from the start this morning and we were able to start to work on the details straight away. Now we just need to continue to fine-tune our setting and tyre choice for tomorrow afternoon and Sunday. The problem is that we're working on setting the bike for the hot, humid conditions we have at the moment and on Sunday it might be wet, but let's hope not!"

JiR Honda

First day at 'magnificent' Shanghai track for Andrea Dovizioso

Summer weather today greeted the JiR Team Scot squad at the Shanghai race circuit for the first day of practice. The big difference in temperature between the morning and afternoon sessions was the crucial point of the working programme for both team and rider. After posting the fourth best time in the morning, Andrea Dovizioso concentrated in the afternoon looking for the best choice of tyres while also adapting to the big difference in temperature. After finding a good setting on the bike with the electronic engine management system, the work went well until the end of the day. Tomorrow will be vitally important to ensure optimum settings of the Honda RC212V and grid position for Sunday's race.

Cirano Mularoni - Team Manager, JiR Team Scot
"The first day today here at Shanghai we did a good job and the team worked well and fast and we found some correct technical solutions allowing Andrea to dedicate himself to other aspects of performance. Andrea is consistent and this shows that he has got used to the track with the bike and that he's on the right level to improve. I'm pretty much confident that we can obtain a good result tomorrow and on Sunday. I must give big thanks to all our technical partners who have helped so much today."

Andrea Dovizioso - Rider, JiR Team Scot MotoGP
HONDA RC212V
Best time: 9th - 2' 01.027"
"Obviously I'm not so happy that I wasn't as fast in the afternoon when it was hotter. This is the way, but because my pace is consistent I know we have room to make things even better and go faster still. The main problem of the afternoon session was the big difference of temperature and this made the racetrack much slower. I'm pretty much satisfied on the balance of the bike: we have no problems at all with suspension and also during hard braking I am now entering corners without any chatter. We wanted to try many tyres solution today and we did this to have the big picture of all the possible differences we need thanks to the temperature difference. Tomorrow we will concentrate on the fine-tuning of the package in race configuration."

Gianni Berti - Technical Co-ordinator, JiR Team Scot
"The first part of day it was important to see where we stood from a technical and mechanical point of view so pretty much the whole afternoon we concentrated by doing lots of work with our Michelin tyres. We soon realised that the big difference in temperature was affecting the whole day's work and that the increased temperature we experienced later on in the day wasn't making track conditions any better or faster for us."

From Bridgestone

Strong start for Bridgestone riders in Shanghai

All six teams using Bridgestone tyres performed strongly in today's opening two practice rounds at the Shanghai International Circuit, in preparation for Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix.

Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi was the quickest rider over the entire day, and was the only man to lap under the 2-minute mark, setting a best lap time of 1m59.906s in this morning's session.

Fastest this afternoon was last year's Chinese race winner Casey Stoner, whose best time of 2m00.163 placed him strongly in second position in the combined practice classification after a competitive day for the reigning champion.

The strength in depth of Bridgestone's teams was highlighted by the performance of San Carlo Honda Gresini duo Shinya Nakano and Alex de Angelis, who excelled in fourth and seventh positions respectively.

Kawasaki's John Hopkins continued where he left off in Estoril with a strong fifth place, Loris Capirossi made the top eight for Suzuki, while the ever-improving Alice Team were unlucky to miss out on the top ten with Toni Elias in a nevertheless encouraging 11th place.

Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata - Bridgestone Motorsport - Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development

Are you satisfied with the outcome of today's practice sessions?

"I think it has been a very satisfactory first day for us, and we have seen all six of our teams able to compete for top ten positions throughout both practice sessions. Such performances would indicate that our tyres have competitive pace here in the conditions we have seen today, so I am quite pleased so far. Naturally, this is only the first day and there is not much separating the top riders so we have more important evaluation work to carry out tomorrow morning to make sure we are in the best shape for Sunday's race."

What range of tyres has been evaluated today?
"Some of our riders used this afternoon's session to run with our latest specification rear tyres, but we have also looked at our existing generation of rear and front tyres. In the hotter conditions this afternoon we tested our hardest available compound with some riders and even this showed a good performance level. Generally, across our range of tyres, the grip levels have been good and there is a lot of potential. However, we need to look more closely at the tyre performance over longer runs to assess the durability in race trim, something that we hope to accomplish during tomorrow."

Via Marlboro Ducati

POSITIVE DAY FOR DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM IN CHINA

The Grand Prix of China kicked off today with Casey Stoner back on the pace, the World Champion lapping second fastest in the morning session and quickest in the afternoon to end the day on top of the timesheets. Marco Melandri suffered some technical problems during the morning session but recovered to improve his feeling with the machine in the afternoon.

The setback meant the Italian was unable to complete the entire programme that was planned for him today but he hopes to make continued progress tomorrow. Stoner, meanwhile, is relieved to have recovered his feeling with the front end but says there is still work to do tomorrow.

CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 2nd fastest (2'00.215)

"It's more comfortable for us here. The last two races didn't go well in practice but I believe they could have still been two decent results and for a variety of reasons they turned into not so good ones. We couldn't seem to get things right, no matter what we did or what we tried, but this weekend we seem to be back in control again. Front feel is a lot better here, I'm slowly getting my confidence back and I think we can continue to do that over the rest of the weekend. We're getting better and better with rear grip but we're still nowhere near perfect. We struggled last year turning the bike in the fast corners at some tracks and we're still working on it now. We're going to make a couple of big changes to one of the bikes tomorrow and hopefully that can improve the lap time."

MARCO MELANDRI - (Ducati Marlboro Team) 14th fastest (2'01.913)

"Unfortunately we lost a lot of time today because of two important setbacks and that stopped me from getting through all the work we had planned. This morning it was a problem with the engine, which wasn't performing to its maximum potential in certain areas of the track, and we only worked out what the problem was at the end. In the afternoon we were working on weight distribution when the bike stopped. It was a silly little thing with the electronics but it broke my rhythm and I didn't have time to test tyres. But even though we only did a few, unproductive laps, we knows what works here and I'm confident that we have the information to improve the bike and the results compared to the last few races."

From Kawasaki

PROMISING START FOR KAWASAKI IN CHINA

The Grand Prix of China began today with the first two practice sessions of the weekend. In perfect warm, dry conditions, the premier class field headed out onto the 5.281km circuit at Shanghai with Kawasaki riders, John Hopkins and Anthony West, aboard their Bridgestone-shod Ninja ZX-RRs.

The 24-year-old Hopkins who, on starting Sunday's race, will become the youngest ever rider to achieve the landmark of partaking in 100 MotoGP rounds, came fifth fastest in both sessions, improving his times in the afternoon with a best lap of 2'00.591. Just over half a second off the leader, the Anglo-American is looking strong at the track, which boasts a fast, sweeping layout, well suited to the Kawasaki machine.

Meanwhile, West put his best lap in during the morning practice, with a time of 2'01.984 and a staggering top speed of 320.0kmh. The 27-year-old Australian was one of a number of riders, including pack-leader Valentino Rossi, whose early times were their strongest of the day and, as the Kawasaki squad experimented with settings on the ZX-RR, West's position on combined times was 15th in the group.

Practice continues tomorrow morning, followed by the qualifying session in the afternoon, at 13.55 hours, local time, prior to Sunday's 22-lap race.

John Hopkins #21: 5th - 28 Laps - 2'00.591

"Today we worked on setting up the machine to suit my preferences around this circuit. I really like this track and I've always gone quite well here. In the afternoon session we tried a few different Bridgestone tyre combinations to find a choice that will last the distance on Sunday. We also evaluated various parts and we've finished practice very positively. I'm feeling confident and tomorrow we need to qualify well to put us in the best possible stead for the race."

Anthony West #13: 15th - 39 Laps - 2'01.984

"Although the times are not brilliant, we are making some progress and our fastest laps have been in the closing stages of each session. Hopefully, this means there is more to come, and we can continue going faster. Our biggest problem is with the power delivery and corner exit, where I feel we are losing a lot of time due to a lack of traction. Tonight we will review the data and try to find a solution to continue moving forwards."

Naoya Kaneko Kawasaki Technical Manager

"In practice today we've been working on our Shanghai race set-up. We haven't needed to make many changes for John from the last round at Estoril, so we've just been optimising the base setting we already have. We are not that far from the front but we need to improve the machine performance a little to be with the leaders. Anthony is slowly regaining his confidence and although his lap times are not quite where he needs to be, he is moving forwards. We will look at the data overnight and see which areas he needs to improve on tomorrow."

From Tech 3 Yamaha

Edwards and Toseland upbeat as Shanghai showdown begins

Tech 3 Yamaha duo Colin Edwards and James Toseland are confident they can make big improvements after finishing 10th and 13th respectively on a hot and humid day of opening free practice in China.

A best lap of 2.01.064 secured 10th place for American Edwards, who made big steps in improving front and rear grip on his Tech 3 Yamaha YZR-M1. Edwards though is still looking to improve feeling with a new front tyre construction, which Michelin is using to cope with the specific demands of the Shanghai circuit, particularly intense heat build-up in the hard braking zones.

British rider James Toseland clocked a best time of 2.01.798 after he knocked 0.8s off his best time set in this morning's opening free practice. The Shanghai clash is another steep learning experience for Toseland, who has never raced on the 5.281km circuit, which features the longest straight on the world championship calendar. Showing once again what a fast learner he is, the 27-year-old was only 0.7s behind Edwards

Colin Edwards 10th 2.01.064 - 38 laps
"We've spent most of the day changing the bike to try and find grip and we haven't had to do that all year. We are kind of in territory we haven't been in, but we know what we need to make it better. But I'm having a bit of an issue with feeling from the front. Because we run so much temperature and there are so many hard braking points at this track, Michelin has to bring a different front tyre to what we normally run and I'm struggling with that. I can't run the lines I want because I have to deal with the harder construction that's been built to dissipate the heat. I feel like a lot of my problems are coming from the front and that is having a knock on affect for the rear. Grip could be better in the rear but when you are not carrying corner speed because of a lack of feel with the front, you hammer the throttle to make up for it on the exit and that just wears the rear tyre quicker. We changed the wheelbase and made it better and we'll have a look at the computer tonight and have a chat with Michelin to see where we are. I have got five different spec rear tyres in my allocation and I only used three today so I've still got something in the bag and I'm sure it will be better for tomorrow. My guys at Tech 3 have been working as hard as ever and I'm sure we can find a solution."

James Toseland 13th 2.01.798 - 40 laps

"This track is not too bad to learn but there are two or three places where you really need track knowledge. But I'm 0.7s off Colin on a track I've only done 40 laps on and its more than a two minute lap, so I'm pretty pleased and confident I can move much further forward tomorrow. The main issue is learning about the bumps and getting the bike to handle them. There are a few bumps in a few tricky places and they are big enough to really upset the bike. You have to be right on a good line always to get a good lap time. Getting the bike to manage the bumps is quite tough. The set-up I had from Portugal was quite a way off for here. I was hoping the base setting I've got would really gel quickly on new tracks and if it doesn't it is quite difficult to develop the set-up, but my team are doing a great job with the time we have got. Because it is such a long lap I can't do many laps and I'm not coming back to the bits that I'm struggling on quickly enough to learn more about what I need to improve. One of the toughest places to master is the first corner. Because you are on full lean you can't brake that hard so if you are slightly too quick mid-corner for when it tightens up you have to pick the bike up and it ruins your corner speed."