Rain and oil hamper Assen practice

Friday’s final MotoGP practice session for the Dutch TT has been doubled to 90 minutes following the forced cancellation of Practice 2 on Thursday.

While Marco Simoncelli topped a rain-soaked Practice 1, the second session was abandoned due to an oil spill in an intervening Moto2 session.

The earlier 45 minutes of running had seen Simoncelli emerge 0.3s ahead of Valentino Rossi, who will race a 2012 Ducati chassis for the first time this weekend.

Having sat atop the order for much of the session, championship leader Casey Stoner was third at the chequered flag, ahead of team-mate Andrea Dovisioso and Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo.

Seventeen bikes to to the track on Thursday, with Hiroshi Aoyama having his first competitive outing in place of the injured Dani Pedrosa for Repsol Honda. Aoyama ended the session 12th, while his replacement at Gresini Honda, Kousuke Akiyoshi, was 16th.

Having broken his collarbone in qualifying for the recent British Grand Prix, Cal Crutchlow returned to action in impressive style – ending the day sixth fastest.

The Moto2 and 125cc classes will also have extended final practice sessions on Friday, having also had their Practice 2s cancelled.

See below for the full Practice 1 result