Stoner dominates qualifying test

The Ducati rider won a new BMW road car for his performance in this traditional curtain-raiser to the new season.

The session was marred by a massive accident for James Toseland, who landed heavily after a high-side at Turn 4. The red flag came out for five minutes while he received medical assistance, but initial reports from the circuit suggest he has escaped serious injury.

Just as he had in this morning's practice session, Stoner threw in a blistering early time - lapping in 1m39.176s with his first attempt

That put him a second in front, before Rossi started narrowing the gap, getting down to 0.6s behind by the middle of the session.

The action was then paused after Toseland crashed with 16 minutes to go. The Tech 3 Yamaha rider had just been getting back up to speed this weekend after recovering from his enormous Sepang testing accident. He lost control through the fast Turn 4 and landed heavily before tumbling through the gravel trap.

The clouds moved in during the pause, and when the green flag flew there was an immediate rush to set quick times.

Rossi improved to a 1m39.3s, only for Stoner to raise the bar even further with a staggering 1m38.646s lap.

With the rain arriving a few minutes later, Stoner was confirmed as the winner of the BMW Award.

Loris Capirossi continued Suzuki's excellent form by beating Saturday pace-setter Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) to third, while his team-mate Chris Vermeulen took a strong fifth place.

The star of the session was rookie Mika Kallio, who was as high as fourth on his Pramac Ducati and managed to hang on to sixth by the end of the session, despite a high-speed trip through the gravel.

Andrea Dovizioso was only seventh as the factory Honda team's troubles continued, while returnee Sete Gibernau took an encouraging eighth for the new Francisco Hernando Ducati team.

Gresini Honda's Toni Elias and Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin Edwards completed the top ten, with Nicky Hayden only 11th on the factory Ducati after a trip off the road.

Testing now continues for a further two hours and 45 minutes - the final chance to get mileage prior to the Qatar season-opener.

Pos  Rider                 Bike      Time
 1.  Casey Stoner          Ducati    1:38.646
 2.  Valentino Rossi       Yamaha    1:39.365  + 0.719
 3.  Loris Capirossi       Suzuki    1:39.757  + 1.111
 4.  Jorge Lorenzo         Yamaha    1:39.829  + 1.183
 5.  Chris Vermeulen       Suzuki    1:39.848  + 1.202
 6.  Mika Kallio           Ducati    1:40.149  + 1.503
 7.  Andrea Dovizioso      Honda     1:40.168  + 1.522
 8.  Sete Gibernau         Ducati    1:40.228  + 1.582
 9.  Toni Elias            Honda     1:40.266  + 1.620
10.  Colin Edwards         Yamaha    1:40.305  + 1.659
11.  Nicky Hayden          Ducati    1:40.401  + 1.755
12.  Marco Melandri        Kawasaki  1:40.405  + 1.759
13.  Randy de Puniet       Honda     1:40.646  + 2.000
14.  Yuki Takahashi        Honda     1:40.814  + 2.168
15.  Alex de Angelis       Honda     1:40.869  + 2.223
16.  James Toseland        Yamaha    1:41.425  + 2.779
17.  Vittoriano Guareschi  Ducati    1:41.485  + 2.839
18.  Niccolo Canepa        Ducati    1:41.551  + 2.905
19.  Kosuke Akiyoshi       Honda     1:42.206  + 3.560