Edwards tops Le Mans final practice

Colin Edwards topped the times in the third and final MotoGP practice session at Le Mans ahead of this afternoon's qualifying for the French Grand Prix

The Tech 3 Yamaha rider set his fastest lap of 1:33.765 with nine minutes left in the one-hour session, after shooting to the top of the timesheets some seven minutes earlier.

Up to that point the times were led by Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa, who was fastest in yesterday's two sessions. Today the Spaniard had to be content with third best, after he was beaten by 0.115 seconds by Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi, who set a time 3.5 tenths slower than Edwards.

Casey Stoner, who led at the beginning of the session and again briefly around the halfway mark, was fourth with his Ducati Marlboro, ahead of the JiR Team Scot Honda of Andra Dovizioso and the Rizla Suzuki of Chris Vermeulen.

LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet was seventh fastest, followed by Kawasaki's John Hopkins in eighth, Tech 3 Yamaha's James Toseland in ninth, and Suzuki's Loris Capirossi in tenth.

Jorge Lorenzo, who is still recovering from his injury in China, was 13th fastest with his Fiat Yamaha.

Pos  Rider             Bike           Time
 1.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  1:33.765
 2.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)  1:34.114 + 0.349
 3.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda     (M)  1:34.229 + 0.464
 4.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  1:34.353 + 0.588
 5.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)  1:34.438 + 0.673
 6.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  1:34.746 + 0.981
 7.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)  1:34.767 + 1.002
 8.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki  (B)  1:34.828 + 1.063
 9.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)  1:35.107 + 1.342
10.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)  1:35.128 + 1.363
11.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)  1:35.190 + 1.425
12.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  1:35.321 + 1.556
13.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    (M)  1:35.345 + 1.580
14.  Toni Elias        Ducati    (B)  1:35.642 + 1.877
15.  Alex de Angelis   Honda     (B)  1:35.700 + 1.935
16.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)  1:35.891 + 2.126
17.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)  1:36.044 + 2.279
18.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  1:36.228 + 2.463