Lorenzo sets a rapid pace in Brno

MotoGP championship leader fastest in practice while Rossi to announce who he will ride for in 2011 tomorrow, with Ducati the likely new team.

Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo leads the MotoGP championship standings from Honda's Dani Pedrosa by 72 points.

Jorge Lorenzo began his quest to extend his sizeable lead in the MotoGP championship standings in perfect fashion yesterday as he set the fastest time in practice for tomorrow's Czech Republic Grand Prix. The Spanish rider set a time of 1min 57.15secs around the Brno track as he worked on setting up his Yamaha bike for today's qualifying session, which will decide the grid places for the race.

A content Lorenzo said of his display: "Once I found my rhythm this was a good session and I felt happy on my bike, with a good setting to start from. We tried both rear tyres and we need more time to choose, because unfortunately it rained a bit at the end and we had to stop early. "We'll have to wait and see how the track is tomorrow, but we hope for it to be dry so we can continue with what we started on today."

Lorenzo has dominated this season's championship and is the strong favourite to win tomorrow, a victory which would be his seventh of the campaign. He has already won in Spain, France, Britain, Holland, Cataluyna and the United States to build up a huge 72-point advantage over compatriot Dani Pedrosa in the drivers' standings. He was more than half-a-second quicker than Pedrosa's Honda bike yesterday, which was second quickest, with Valentino Rossi, Lorenzo's teammate and world champion, completing the top three.

The 23-year-old had swapped quickest times with Pedrosa twice during the session, before he set his quickest time with less than 20 minutes to go of the one-hour period. A rain shower then soaked the track and denied Pedrosa the chance to respond, but the large gap in practice between Lorenzo and the rest of the field is unlikely to be replicated in today's qualifying session. Andrea Dovizioso was fourth quickest on the second Honda bike, ahead of Nicky Hayden's Ducati and Colin Edwards on his tech 3 Yamaha.

It was a disappointing day though for Casey Stoner, the 2007 champion. The Australian struggled on his Ducati, and was only seventh quickest, more than a second adrift of Lorenzo's pace. Meanwhile, Rossi has confirmed he will reveal who he will ride for next season after the conclusion of tomorrow's race. The nine-time world champion is widely expected to leave Yamaha and become a Ducati rider for 2011.

And Rossi has pledged to put an end to speculation at Brno. "Sunday, after the race you will know what I will do in 2011," he told reporters before joking "if I was Yamaha, I would give me a trial, we'll see. "In any case it will be important to see what will happen in the race at Brno." Rossi made a remarkable return to the MotoGP World Championship at the German Grand Prix last month. The 31-year-old Italian finished an incredible fourth at the twisty Sachsenring circuit just six weeks after suffering an horrific compound fracture of his right shin during practice for the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello.

Rossi then finished third a week later at Laguna Seca, but his championship chances this season are all but gone as a result of having to miss four races due to the injury. He has been with Yamaha since 2004 and won four of his titles with the Japanese team. He had previously ridden with the Honda team. * Agencies