Dani Pedrosa led a works Honda 1-2-3 in second practice at Motegi, as the Japanese marque boosted its hopes of a first home MotoGP win since Makoto Tamada triumphed in 2004.

The Spaniard seized the initiative with 20 minutes to go, becoming the first driver to break the 1m47s barrier before immediately bettering his own mark to set a 1m46.790s, which stood for the remainder of the session. For a time that put Pedrosa well clear of the field and indeed the previous lap record, a 1m47.091s set by Casey Stoner in 2008.

It was Stoner who came closest to deposing Pedrosa, moving to within 0.054sec of his teammate with four minutes to go. That late improvement knocked last year's polesitter Andrea Dovizioso into third, with the Italian also under lap record pace.

Gresini Honda's Marco Simoncelli ended the session in fourth, his best effort coming in the very early stages of the session. Jorge Lorenzo was the top Yamaha rider in fifth, the reigning champion finishing 0.52sec down.

Lorenzo's teammate Ben Spies struggled with illness, leaving his bike to visit the medical center with 15 minutes to go and finishing down in 14th.

Sixth was claimed by Nicky Hayden, who was again the top Ducati, more than half a second clear of Valentino Rossi in eighth. The pair were split by the second Gresini Honda of Hiroshi Aoyama, who was the last rider to finish within 1sec of Pedrosa.

Hector Barbera (Aspar Ducati) and Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha) rounded out the top 10 ahead Alvaro Bautista on the lone Rizla Suzuki.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike       Time       Gap
 1.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda           1m46.790s 
 2.  Casey Stoner      Honda           1m46.844s  + 0.054s
 3.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda           1m46.952s  + 0.162s
 4.  Marco Simoncelli  Gresini Honda   1m47.188s  + 0.398s
 5.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha          1m47.310s  + 0.520s
 6.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati          1m47.381s  + 0.591s
 7.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Gresini Honda   1m47.765s  + 0.995s
 8.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati          1m47.975s  + 1.185s
 9.  Hector Barbera    Aspar Ducati    1m48.055s  + 1.265s
10.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha   1m48.076s  + 1.286s
11.  Alvaro Bautista   Suzuki          1m48.097s  + 1.307s
12.  Randy de Puniet   Pramac Ducati   1m48.374s  + 1.584s
13.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha   1m48.379s  + 1.589s
14.  Ben Spies         Yamaha          1m48.567s  + 1.777s
15.  Toni Elias        LCR Honda       1m48.743s  + 1.953s
16.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati  1m49.305s  + 2.515s
17.  Kousuke Akiyoshi  LCR Honda       1m49.464s  + 2.674s
18.  Shinichi Itoh     Honda           1m49.673s  + 2.883s
19.  Damian Cudlin     Pramac Ducati   1m51.349s  + 4.559s