Stoner tops damp Estoril warm-up

Casey Stoner has shown that his Ducati Marlboro may have the race pace after all after topping the times in a cold and damp warm-up ahead of the Portuguese MotoGP

The reigning champion, who could qualify no better than ninth in the dry at Estoril yesterday, set a fastest lap of 1:48.932, in a session dominated by Bridgestone-shod bikes occupying the top five positions.

Second best was Alex de Angelis on Honda Gresini, 0.379 behind the Australian, followed by Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi a further three tenths behind.

Next up were the Rizla Suzuki of Chris Vermeulen and the Alice Ducati of Sylvain Guintoli.

The top Michelin runner was Randy de Puniet with his LCR Honda in sixth, with John Hopkins's Kawasaki in seventh, Nicky Hayden's Repsol Honda in eighth, and Loris Capirossi's Suzuki in ninth.

Pole position man Jorge Lorenzo had to be content with tenth best with his Michelin-shod Fiat Yamaha, almost two and a half seconds behind Stoner.

Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa, also on Michelin rubber, could do no better than fifteen fastest after qualifying second yesterday.

Pos  Rider             Bike           Time
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  1:48.932
 2.  Alex de Angelis   Honda     (B)  1:49.311 + 0.379
 3.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)  1:49.612 + 0.680
 4.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  1:49.767 + 0.835
 5.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)  1:49.775 + 0.843
 6.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)  1:49.947 + 1.015
 7.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki  (B)  1:50.147 + 1.215
 8.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  1:50.572 + 1.640
 9.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)  1:51.320 + 2.388
10.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    (M)  1:51.391 + 2.459
11.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)  1:51.660 + 2.728
12.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  1:51.843 + 2.911
13.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)  1:51.867 + 2.935
14.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  1:51.924 + 2.992
15.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda     (M)  1:52.850 + 3.918
16.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)  1:54.141 + 5.209
17.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)  1:55.795 + 6.863
18.  Toni Elias        Ducati    (B)  1:56.847 + 7.915