MotoGP’s return to Europe began in promising fashion for the Fiat Yamaha Team and Valentino Rossi today, as the Italian finished the day second fastest with Yamaha riders filling the first three spots on the time sheets.

Rossi, who won this race for Yamaha in 2005 and 2007, got straight down to business this morning, working on a variety of improvements to bike and tyres following his tricky season-opening race in Qatar and finishing the first session third. It was immediately clear that things were improving for him and this afternoon he continued in the same vein, lapping consistently fast and finishing the day with a best time of 1’40.364. His team-mate Jorge Lorenzo finished the day just 0.043 seconds in front of him and third place was filled by Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards, with the Yamaha trio the only riders to dip under the existing lap record pace.

Valentino Rossi: