Fiat Yamaha rider Rossi, chasing his first
Bridgestone victory, topped the time sheets for the majority of the morning session. Track temperatures then increased during the afternoon, when Stoner upped his pace and edged ahead, but the Italian's morning time remained 0.257secs clear of the Ducati rider.
"I'm quite happy with the start we've made," declared Rossi. "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," warned Rossi, who was 5.6km/h slower than Stoner this afternoon.
The high temperatures look set to continue on Saturday, but there is a strong chance of rain on Sunday and therefore a repeat of the soaking 2005 conditions, in which Rossi won the inaugural Chijese
MotoGP ahead of Kawasaki's Olivier Jacque.
"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," he said.
Rossi's team-mate and title leader
Jorge Lorenzo had a huge accident this morning and injured both ankles; the 20-year-old will now wait for tomorrow before making a decision about riding.
"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," commented Rossi, who was visibly shocked when he saw a replay of Lorenzo's highside.
