Jorge Lorenzo tops final day at Aragon, Dani Pedrosa fastest overall

He was however unable to improve on title rival Dani Pedrosa's record pace on the opening day of the test.

Lorenzo, testing a new M1 engine as well as Yamaha's 2013 prototype chassis, focussed on race simulations in the afternoon.

"Today was a very long day, we made a race simulation at the end of the session so I feel very tired but it was necessary to see the performance of the rear tyre," he said.

"In general we leave here with happiness and confidence as we've been one second faster than last time. We need to try and improve consistency over race distance here."

Pedrosa, who finished just over one tenth of a second down the road from Lorenzo, said he and Honda had made improvements which would help him in the coming races.

He is bidding to overhaul Lorenzo's 13-point lead in the championship, having already trimmed the advantage by 10 points over the past two grands prix.

"Today I tested a new exhaust, just to see if we can get a better drivability from the engine and we found some positives that can help us in the next races," he said.

"We also tried a different rear shock to get more grip. In general it's been a positive test."

Honda meanwhile confirmed that, as expected, Jonathan Rea will fill in for Casey Stoner at the forthcoming Misano Grand Prix.

Rea was all but guaranteed to race, given Casey Stoner is expected to be out for the next two races as he recovers from surgery on his ankle.

Rea finished the day fifth, just over 1.5s down on Lorenzo. He improved his best by around six tenths relative to the opening day of the test.

"I'm happy with the test we did here in Aragon," Rea said.

Stefan Bradl, riding the satellite LCR Honda, meanwhile beat the second works Yamaha of Ben Spies to third.