Dani Pedrosa led the way in the MotoGP warm-up ahead of this afternoon's German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring.
The Honda rider, in perfectly sunny conditions after yesterday's soaking qualifying session, jumped ahead of Ducati rival Casey Stoner with five minutes left in the 20-minute session and improved on his own time in the final seconds with a 1m22.391s lap time.
Stoner thus had to settle for second best, 0.273sec behind the Spaniard, and 0.129sec in front of the latter's teammate, Andrea Dovizioso, who like Pedrosa seems to be in much better shape today after the two Honda riders qualified respectively in eighth and 11th places.
Marco Melandri is another improver by ending up fifth with his Hayate Kawasaki today after qualifying 13th. The Italian is squeezed between the Yamahas of Jorge Lorenzo in fourth and pole position man Valentino Rossi in a disappointing sixth place.
Pramac Ducati's Mika Kallio carries on battling against his injury by setting the seventh-fastest time, ahead of Nicky Hayden, who crashed this morning with one minute to go and had to abandon his factory Ducati in the gravel trap.
The Gresini Honda pair of Alex de Angelis and Toni Elias complete the top 10.
TIMES:Pos Rider Bike Time Laps
1. Daniel Pedrosa Honda 1m22.391s 14
2. Casey Stoner Ducati 1m22.664s + 0.273s 12
3. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m22.793s + 0.402s 14
4. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m22.814s + 0.423s 14
5. Marco Melandri Kawasaki 1m22.869s + 0.478s 14
6. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m23.078s + 0.687s 14
7. Mika Kallio Ducati 1m23.157s + 0.766s 13
8. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m23.164s + 0.773s 11
9. Alex de Angelis Honda 1m23.232s + 0.841s 12
10. Toni Elias Honda 1m23.269s + 0.878s 13
11. Colin Edwards Yamaha 1m23.275s + 0.884s 12
12. Randy de Puniet Honda 1m23.413s + 1.022s 14
13. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1m23.570s + 1.179s 13
14. James Toseland Yamaha 1m23.631s + 1.240s 14
15. Gabor Talmacsi Honda 1m24.054s + 1.663s 12
16. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1m24.105s + 1.714s 13
17. Niccolo Canepa Ducati 1m24.319s + 1.928s 13