Jorge Lorenzo showed that his Friday confidence was well-founded as he beat Marco Simoncelli to the fastest time in final practice with the fastest ever MotoGP lap of Mugello.
Although Lorenzo was only fourth quickest in Friday's only dry session, he was optimistic that his Yamaha could be a match for the Hondas on pure pace in Italy.
He proved that in a session-long battle with Gresini Honda's Marco Simoncelli this morning. Going into the final two minutes, Lorenzo had put himself back on top, but was beaten by Simoncelli's 1m48.411s.
Lorenzo then responded with a remarkable 1m48.080s - quicker even than the best qualifying laps of the tyre war days - to take first place back by 0.331 seconds. He followed it up with a 1m48.2s to emphasise the Yamaha's pace.
Honda's Casey Stoner intruded on Lorenzo and Simoncelli's fight to lead the session for a while before ending up third - the points leader 0.7s down on Lorenzo.
Assen winner Ben Spies was fourth on the second works Yamaha, ahead of Tech 3 Yamaha man Colin Edwards, Honda's Andrea Dovizioso and Ducati team-mates Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi. Randy de Puniet took an encouraging ninth on the sole Pramac Ducati in action this weekend.
Dani Pedrosa was back in 12th as he continued to play himself back in following his injury absence.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap
1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m48.080s
2. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda 1m48.411s + 0.331s
3. Casey Stoner Honda 1m48.734s + 0.654s
4. Ben Spies Yamaha 1m49.072s + 0.992s
5. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m49.078s + 0.998s
6. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m49.132s + 1.052s
7. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m49.756s + 1.676s
8. Valentino Rossi Ducati 1m49.889s + 1.809s
9. Randy de Puniet Pramac Ducati 1m49.985s + 1.905s
10. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki 1m49.994s + 1.914s
11. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m50.002s + 1.922s
12. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m50.296s + 2.216s
13. Hiroshi Aoyama Gresini Honda 1m50.440s + 2.360s
14. Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati 1m50.859s + 2.779s
15. Toni Elias LCR Honda 1m51.043s + 2.963s
16. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 1m51.145s + 3.065s