Jorge Lorenzo edges Marc Marquez to top opening practice at the Australian MotoGP

JORGE Lorenzo isn't ready to give up this year's MotoGP title to rookie Marc Marquez, pacing opening practice at Phillip Island.

Jorge Lorenzo

JORGE Lorenzo is not ready to give up this year's MotoGP championship to current leader Marc Marquez.

Lorenzo outpaced his fellow Spaniard in the opening practice session for this weekend's Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island on Friday, posting a flying lap of one minute, 29.167 seconds.

He narrowly edged out Marquez' 1:29.255, in his first ever ride aboard a premier class bike at the Victorian coastal track.

The series' top two riders took advantage of the newly-resurfaced track and clear but cool conditions to close in on the lap record of 1:28.665 set by retired Australian world champion Casey Stoner in 2008.

Alvaro Bautista, Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi rounded out the top five fastest.

Australian MotoGP rider Bryan Staring finished 19th fastest, while compatriot Damian Cudlin was the morning's slowest in 24th. Marquez holds a commanding 43 point lead over Lorenzo on the season's standings.

He will only need to outscore his compatriot by seven points in Sunday's race to become the youngest ever MotoGP world champion and first rookie in 35 years to clinch the crown in his debut season.

But Lorenzo's showing in practice could make it a hard task for the 20-year-old.

Stefan Bradl battled through plenty of pain to complete 11 laps, just days after breaking his right ankle during final practice for the Malaysian GP at Sepang last week.

No word on who will replace Bradl if the German declares himself unfit to ride.

Meanwhile Australian young gun Jack Miller showed some pace during Moto3 practice clocking the eighth fastest time of the morning.

Countryman Arthur Sissis and local wildcard Callum Barker failed to get any decent laps under their belt, with both sliding off the track in separate incidents.

TIMES - Tissot Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, Free Practice 1 (60 minutes)

Pos	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha	1m29.167s
2	Marc Marquez	Honda	+0.088s
3	Alvaro Bautista	Honda	+0.664s
4	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	+0.841s
5	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	+0.886s
6	Cal Crutchlow	Yamaha	+0.963s
7	Bradley Smith	Yamaha	+1.194s
8	Nicky Hayden	Ducati	+1.499s
9	Randy de Puniet	ART	+2.113s
10	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	+2.128s
11	Andrea Iannone	Ducati	+2.128s
12	Aleix Espargaro	ART	+2.291s
13	Colin Edwards	FTR Kawasaki	+2.390s
14	Hiroshi Aoyama	FTR	+2.470s
15	Hector Barbera	FTR	+2.599s
16	Danilo Petrucci	Ioda-Suter	+2.636s
17	Claudio Corti	FTR Kawasaki	+3.133s
18	Yonny Hernandez	Ducati	+3.174s
19	Bryan Staring	FTR-Honda	+3.574s
20	Stefan Bradl	Honda	+3.998s
21	Luca Scassa	ART	+4.067s
22	Lukas Pesek	Ioda-Suter	+4.630s
23	Michael Laverty	ART	+4.708s
24	Damian Cudlin	PBM	+6.379s