Lorenzo stays on top in the warm-up

The reigning 250cc champion set the fastest time of the session (1:55.849) with just a couple of minutes remaining, and showed that he has the pace by setting two more laps under the one minute 56 seconds barrier.

The only other rider able to do that feat was Ducati Marlboro's Casey Stoner, who ended the session 12 thousandths of a second behind the Spaniard.

Valentino Rossi, on the other Fiat Yamaha, had to settle for the third fastest time of 1:56.000. Both Stoner and Rossi are fitted with Bridgestone tyres, while Lorenzo is on Michelins.

John Hopkins set the fourth fastest time with his Kawasaki, ahead of the Rizla Suzukis of Chris Vermeulen and Capirossi, the two separated by only 0.003 seconds, over half a second behind Lorenzo.

Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin Edwards, who will start the race from the third spot, set the seventh fastest time, ahead of Alex de Angelis's Honda Gresini, Dani Pedrosa's works Repsol Honda, and Randy de Puniet's LCR Honda rounding up the top ten.

The other works Honda, that of former champion Nicky Hayden, was down in 14th place, ahead of the Tech 3 Yamaha of James Toseland, who qualified second for the race.

Ducati Marlboro's Marco Melandri continued with his dismal weekend by setting the slowest time of the warm-up, 2.3 seconds behind Lorenzo.

Pos  Rider             Bike          Time
 1.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha   (M)  1:55.849
 2.  Casey Stoner      Ducati   (B)  1:55.861 + 0.012
 3.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha   (B)  1:56.000 + 0.151
 4.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki (B)  1:56.161 + 0.312
 5.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki   (B)  1:56.418 + 0.569
 6.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki   (B)  1:56.421 + 0.572
 7.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha   (M)  1:56.456 + 0.607
 8.  Alex de Angelis   Honda    (B)  1:56.482 + 0.633
 9.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda    (M)  1:56.536 + 0.687
10.  Randy de Puniet   Honda    (M)  1:56.547 + 0.698
11.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda    (M)  1:56.829 + 0.980
12.  Shinya Nakano     Honda    (B)  1:56.834 + 0.985
13.  Toni Elias        Ducati   (B)  1:57.101 + 1.252
14.  Nicky Hayden      Honda    (M)  1:57.191 + 1.342
15.  James Toseland    Yamaha   (M)  1:57.191 + 1.342
16.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati   (B)  1:57.669 + 1.820
17.  Anthony West      Kawasaki (B)  1:57.914 + 2.065
18.  Marco Melandri    Ducati   (B)  1:58.212 + 2.363