Qatar MotoGP: James Toseland crashes unhurt in first practice

James Toseland has walked away from a crash in his first MotoGP practice session in Qatar tonight.

The 27-year-old had just jumped to fourth on the timesheets with a lap of 1:56.950 when he lost the front end of his Tech 3 Yamaha YZR-M1 on his 14th lap.

James Toseland immediately got to his feet, but his bike was too badly damaged to ride out of the gravel trap in the spill with 22 minutes of the opening floodlit session remaining.

The double World Superbike champion did make it back out on track but eventually finished eighth fastest as he failed to improve his best time on his spare bike.

He ended up 1.080secs off Casey Stoner’s best time.

Alex de Angelis was the first MotoGP rider to crash during the competitive season after just 23 minutes.

He walked away unhurt and just eight minutes remained when impressive rookie Andrea Dovizioso lost the front of his Honda RC212V at turn one.

The former world 125 champion was third quickest with a best time of 1:56.221.

That left him top Honda rider, with Dani Pedrosa next best in fifth as the Repsol-backed factory team reverted back to the 2007 RC212V.

Nicky Hayden was ninth quickest.