Hopkins shadows Stoner.

The outgoing Rizla Suzuki rider was effectively MotoGP World Championship leader Casey Stoner's nearest rival in both sessions - since Sylvain Guintoli used a qualifying tyre to go fastest in the afternoon hour.

"Today went really well and it was great to get back on the bike after the break," began Hopkins, who will go 'green' in 2008. "I've been looking forward to getting back to a race weekend since before the race was even over at Laguna last month! It felt good out there today and I really enjoy Brno. This is the track that I have been riding a grand prix bike on the longest as I tested here when I was 16 - so I know it pretty well. We've worked hard today, and my Crew Chief Stuart Shenton gave me a really good set-up right from the start so all I had to do was ride the thing! We've worked with Bridgestone to get the best tyres for Sunday and the only other thing has just been little changes here and there to get the bike right. We've got a few ideas for tomorrow and I'm sure they will make a difference, but for now we are happy where we are and looking forward to the race."

"John found his rhythm very quickly and this afternoon did a 1min 58.8secs on his 20th lap, which is really encouraging for a good result on Sunday," confirmed team manager Paul Denning.

The recently re-signed Chris Vermeulen managed only tenth on day one, but believes there's much more to come.

"Brno is a track that I don't have a lot of experience at, but I really enjoyed it last year and I felt comfortable out there straight from the start today," he claimed. "My confidence is still really high from Laguna and the guys gave me a good bike from the start. We've only had to make a few small changes and I can do the lap-times consistently. We still need to get an extra half-a-second or more to be right up there, but I am sure we will be able to find that tomorrow and in Sunday's race."

"Brno has never been Chris's favourite track, but he has approached it today with a lot of aggression and a lot of effort and the gap to the podium runners is not big at all," added Denning. "There are some specific changes that his team know can be made to improve the bike, and some areas of the track that Chris knows he can pick up time himself."