Melandri finished second behind 2008 Ducati team-mate Casey Stoner last time out at Sepang, and repeated the feat on Friday morning. Melandri then halved his 0.679secs deficit to the Australian during the afternoon session, but was still demoted to fourth as Sylvain Guintoli and Dani Pedrosa squeezed in-between.

"I have to say I'm happy with today because we've started out on the right foot," declared Marco. "The bike is really manageable and has adapted well to this track. Today we tried a few different tyre combinations and tried to work out which was the most suitable. It's a difficult decision because the track temperature varies a lot, around 12 degrees, from the morning to the afternoon. I'm confident because we've found a good base to start from. Now we have to work on the suspension and refine the setting to try and find a little more pace."

"Marco has worked really well with the team and tested a variety of settings and tyre combinations. We're happy to be running with the top three on race tyres because Guintoli's lap was on a qualifier," added team principal Fausto Gresini.

It was a more difficult start for team-mate and local hero Toni Elias. The #24, who will also leave Honda Gresini on Sunday, was only 15th after the two one-hour track sessions.

"I'm not happy with this result but it's only the first day so I'm still confident," insisted Toni. "We have to keep working on the setting of the bike and the tyre choice. It is a strange circuit and it's not easy to find the right setting but we're in Spain, at my home race, and I want to end the season with a good result."