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Motegi MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa sets new benchmark in final practice

Dani Pedrosa became the first rider to dip below the 1m46s mark to set the pace in the final MotoGP practice session at Motegi

As had been the case in both Friday sessions top spot was effectively the exclusive domain of Pedrosa and his title rival Jorge Lorenzo, with the latter leading early on.

With 20 minutes to run however Pedrosa shaved more than three tenths of a second off his own best to drop down to a 1m45.792s.

Lorenzo's response never materialised, the Yamaha man finishing just over two tenths of a second down.

His works team-mate Ben Spies was third, less than a tenth of a second down the road.

Andrea Dovizioso made it three Yamahas in the top four, although Gresini's Alvaro Bautista was able to split the Italian and his Tech 3 stable-mate Cal Crutchlow.

Casey Stoner, hampered by his injuries yesterday, came home seventh, within seven tenths of team-mate Pedrosa.

Valentino Rossi meanwhile was the last man to finish within one second of the ultimate pace.

Ducati team-mate Nicky Hayden was 10th, behind LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl.

An impressive late rally carried CRT rider Aleix Espargaro (Aspar) up to 11th, ahead of Pramac Ducati satellite rider Hector Barbera and Yamaha wildcard entrant Katsuyuki Nakasuga.

Pos  Rider               Team/Bike             Time       Gap
 1.  Dani Pedrosa        Honda                 1m45.792s
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo       Yamaha                1m46.057s  + 0.265s
 3.  Ben Spies           Yamaha                1m46.138s  + 0.346s
 4.  Andrea Dovizioso    Tech 3 Yamaha         1m46.220s  + 0.428s
 5.  Alvaro Bautista     Gresini Honda         1m46.354s  + 0.562s
 6.  Cal Crutchlow       Tech 3 Yamaha         1m46.436s  + 0.644s
 7.  Casey Stoner        Honda                 1m46.480s  + 0.688s
 8.  Valentino Rossi     Ducati                1m46.641s  + 0.849s
 9.  Stefan Bradl        LCR Honda             1m47.028s  + 1.236s
10.  Nicky Hayden        Ducati                1m47.240s  + 1.448s
11.  Aleix Espargaro     Aspar Aprilia         1m47.685s  + 1.893s
12.  Hector Barbera      Pramac Ducati         1m47.726s  + 1.934s
13.  Katsuyuki Nakasuga  Yamaha                1m47.737s  + 1.945s
14.  Karel Abraham       Cardion Ducati        1m47.791s  + 1.999s
15.  Randy de Puniet     Aspar Aprilia         1m48.358s  + 2.566s
16.  James Ellison       Paul Bird Aprilia     1m48.628s  + 2.836s
17.  Danilo Petrucci     Ioda Suter-BMW        1m49.243s  + 3.451s
18.  Michele Pirro       Gresini FTR-Honda     1m49.349s  + 3.557s
19.  Roberto Rolfo       Speed Master Aprilia  1m49.353s  + 3.561s
20.  Yonny Hernandez     Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m49.502s  + 3.710s
21.  Colin Edwards       Forward Suter-BMW     1m49.974s  + 4.182s
22.  Ivan Silva          Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m50.117s  + 4.325s

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