Dani Pedrosa was quickest again in final practice for the MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix, ahead of Honda teammate Casey Stoner.
The Spaniard did not come out of the pits during the first quarter of an hour, but swiftly got up to speed when he did, setting a 1m38.864s on his third flying lap. That beat previous pacesetter Marco Simoncelli (Gresini Honda) by half a second and stood as the fastest lap of the session.
Stoner, who had led the way initially, eventually pushed Simoncelli back to third, as the Australian lapped with 0.307s of his teammate.
Jorge Lorenzo put Yamaha on top for a spell in the opening minutes, but did not improve on his early 1m39.682s and ended up fourth behind another Honda 1-2-3. Top Ducati was Pramac's Randy de Puniet in a superb fifth place, just ahead of Valentino Rossi's factory bike.
Cal Crutchlow impressed again by taking seventh place, beating his Tech 3 Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards and the works bike of Ben Spies. Andrea Dovizioso continued to lag behind his Honda teammates and completed the top 10.
Suzuki's substitute returnee John Hopkins moved up to 14th place this morning as he settled in, lapping within two seconds of Pedrosa's pace.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap
1. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m38.864s
2. Casey Stoner Honda 1m39.171s + 0.307s
3. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda 1m39.355s + 0.491s
4. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m39.682s + 0.818s
5. Randy de Puniet Pramac Ducati 1m39.695s + 0.831s
6. Valentino Rossi Ducati 1m39.822s + 0.958s
7. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m40.163s + 1.299s
8. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m40.188s + 1.324s
9. Ben Spies Yamaha 1m40.202s + 1.338s
10. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m40.210s + 1.346s
11. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m40.335s + 1.471s
12. Hiroshi Aoyama Gresini Honda 1m40.477s + 1.613s
13. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 1m40.511s + 1.647s
14. John Hopkins Suzuki 1m40.903s + 2.039s
15. Loris Capirossi Pramac Ducati 1m41.052s + 2.188s
16. Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati 1m41.056s + 2.192s
17. Toni Elias LCR Honda 1m41.063s + 2.199s