Submitted by David Emmett on
With conditions improving rapidly for the MotoGP class, times are starting to drop, though the damp patch in the final corner is still making life complicated for the big bikes. Whatever the conditions, the Hondas are still fast, and Dani Pedrosa was the fastest of the lot. The Repsol Honda man ended the final session of free practice just over a hundredth of a second ahead of his teammate Casey Stoner to end FP3 on top of the timesheet.
The gap to the riders behind was large. Jorge Lorenzo was the 3rd fastest man on track, with over a third of a second's deficit to Pedrosa. The Factory Yamaha man led Monster Tech 3 rider Cal Crutchlow by a similar amount, Crutchlow ending the session in 4th, but ahead of his teammate Andrea Dovizioso, which will have pleased the Englishman. Dovzioso was the last man inside a second of Pedrosa, with 6th place man Alvaro Bautista just a whisker over a second behind the Spaniard.
Valentino Rossi moved back to being the fastest Ducati, something he hasn't managed very often this season. Rossi ended a tenth ahead of the second factory Yamaha of Ben Spies, while Rossi's Ducati teammate Nicky Hayden was fractionally slower than the Texan. Stefan Bradl rounded out the top ten on the LCR Honda.
Results:
Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Diff Previous |
1 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | HONDA | 1'37.326 | ||
2 | 1 | Casey STONER | HONDA | 1'37.338 | 0.012 | 0.012 |
3 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | YAMAHA | 1'37.680 | 0.354 | 0.342 |
4 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | YAMAHA | 1'38.086 | 0.760 | 0.406 |
5 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | YAMAHA | 1'38.273 | 0.947 | 0.187 |
6 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | HONDA | 1'38.332 | 1.006 | 0.059 |
7 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | DUCATI | 1'38.443 | 1.117 | 0.111 |
8 | 11 | Ben SPIES | YAMAHA | 1'38.558 | 1.232 | 0.115 |
9 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | DUCATI | 1'38.602 | 1.276 | 0.044 |
10 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | HONDA | 1'38.714 | 1.388 | 0.112 |
11 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | DUCATI | 1'38.856 | 1.530 | 0.142 |
12 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | ART | 1'39.361 | 2.035 | 0.505 |
13 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | ART | 1'40.225 | 2.899 | 0.864 |
14 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | DUCATI | 1'40.374 | 3.048 | 0.149 |
15 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | BQR | 1'40.561 | 3.235 | 0.187 |
16 | 54 | Mattia PASINI | ART | 1'40.875 | 3.549 | 0.314 |
17 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | FTR | 1'41.379 | 4.053 | 0.504 |
18 | 22 | Ivan SILVA | BQR | 1'41.772 | 4.446 | 0.393 |
19 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | IODA | 1'42.002 | 4.676 | 0.230 |
20 | 77 | James ELLISON | ART | 1'42.103 | 4.777 | 0.101 |
21 | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | SUTER | 1'42.145 | 4.819 | 0.042 |