Ambient temperatures of just 17°C and sporadic rain meant that the vast majority of the MotoGP™ grid did not head out on track for the first practice session of the Gran Premio bwin de España in Jerez. CRT rider Iván Silva was one of the only riders to lap consistently as he undertook the first shakedown of his new BQR-Inmotec bike.

In a near carbon copy of last year´s race, the Jerez track was once again affected by the elements, as a mix of rain, drizzle and cold track temperatures saw more than half the riders remain in their garage.

Avintia Blusens CRT rider Silva, who is testing a new part-carbon Inmotec chassis this weekend was the only rider to set a time of 1.48´674 early on in the session, before the majority of rain fell. Power Electronics Aspar´s Randy de Puniet, San Carlo Honda Gresini´s CRT rider Michele Pirro and Cardion AB´s Karel Abraham all did a sighting lap to assess conditions, but returned straight to the pits.

It was only in the final seven minutes of the session, when consistent rain was falling, that a few riders took to the track to test their wet set-up. One such rider was Pirro´s team mate, Spaniard Álvaro Bautista, as well as LCR Honda MotoGP´s German rookie Stefan Bradl.

NGM Mobile Forward Racing rider Colin Edwards completed a lap at the end on his Suter-BMW, whilst Silva´s team mate Yonny Hernandez took a sighting lap on his still aluminium framed BQR-FTR.

None of the factory riders, including last year´s wet-race winner on his Yamaha Factory Racing machine, Jorge Lorenzo, or reigning world champion Casey Stoner of the Repsol Honda Team took to the track.

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