Stoner quickest in final practice

The Ducati rider exchanged positions at the top of the timesheets a few times with Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo in the first third of the one-hour session, then stayed in front of everyone else for the remainder of the running.

Stoner broke the 1m33s mark with only a handful of seconds remaining, with his lap time of 1m32.819s good enough to fend off a very late challenge from Honda's Dani Pedrosa, who ended up second, 0.168s behind the Australian.

That effort by the Spaniard, however, put him ahead of compatriot Lorenzo, who had been second for most of the session and was unable to match Pedrosa's time in his own final effort.

Lorenzo thus had to settle for third fastest, followed by his newly re-crowned team-mate Valentino Rossi in fourth, almost three tenths further behind.

Nicky Hayden was fifth in the second works Ducati, eight tenths behind Stoner. The American made a fine save by avoiding the barriers and rejoining the track after running off in the gravel with five minutes remaining.

Honda's Andrea Dovizioso was sixth, followed by Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha), Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda), Alex de Angelis (Gresini Honda) and Mika Kallio (Pramac Ducati).

World Superbike champion Ben Spies, entered by Yamaha as a wildcard, improved on yesterday's 15th time by being 12th quickest today.

Pos  Rider             Team             Time               Laps
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati           1m32.819s           24
 2.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda            1m32.987s + 0.168s  28
 3.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha           1m33.065s + 0.246s  29
 4.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha           1m33.354s + 0.535s  26
 5.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati           1m33.664s + 0.845s  29
 6.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda            1m33.717s + 0.898s  29
 7.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha    1m33.784s + 0.965s  27
 8.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda        1m33.857s + 1.038s  29
 9.  Alex de Angelis   Gresini Honda    1m34.004s + 1.185s  27
10.  Mika Kallio       Pramac Ducati    1m34.089s + 1.270s  28
11.  Toni Elias        Gresini Honda    1m34.111s + 1.292s  26
12.  Ben Spies         Yamaha           1m34.196s + 1.377s  27
13.  Marco Melandri    Hayate Kawasaki  1m34.210s + 1.391s  28
14.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki           1m34.407s + 1.588s  25
15.  Aleix Espargaro   Pramac Ducati    1m34.626s + 1.807s  29
16.  James Toseland    Tech 3 Yamaha    1m34.673s + 1.854s  26
17.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki           1m34.693s + 1.874s  25
18.  Gabor Talmacsi    Scot Honda       1m34.871s + 2.052s  25