Jorge Lorenzo will hope his dominance in the first two practice sessions at Jerez on Friday will be a platform to kickstart his 2015 MotoGP campaign.
The Yamaha rider finished fourth in the opening two races of the season and fifth last time out in Argentina, but, spurred on by a home crowd in Spain, the two-time former world champion topped the timesheets in both FP1 and FP2.
Lorenzo set a hot lap of one minute and 39.174 seconds early in FP1 ahead of fellow countryman Aleix Espargaro (Suzuki) and Cal Crutchlow (Honda).
And while Lorenzo could not improve on that time later in the day – going around in 1'39.300 – he was still clear of his rivals, with defending world champion Marc Marquez (Honda) and Andrea Iannone (Ducati) second and third quickest respectively.
Marquez's Honda has been specially adapted with a custom handbar after he was required to have a titanium plate inserted into the little finger on his left hand following a dirt-track accident.
The Spaniard was 0.740secs off the pace in FP1, but looked more at ease in FP2 as he gets used to the changes to his bike.
Championship leader Valentino Rossi was sixth and 13th in the two sessions.