Stoner deposes Rossi in Losail test

Rossi had previously been quickest on all five test days held in 2010 so far, but this evening at Losail his Ducati rival set a best time of 1m55.353s. That beat the Yamaha rider by half a second today, and was just under a tenth of a second quicker than Rossi had managed when leading the way on Thursday. Stoner had a crash during the session, but escaped unhurt.

Honda took a step forward with Andrea Dovizioso in third place, although his team-mate Dani Pedrosa was back in 13th. Dovizioso was just ahead of Stoner's Ducati team-mate Nicky Hayden - another man to have a minor crash tonight, along with both Tech 3 Yamaha riders and the Gresini Honda duo.

Loris Capirossi brought Suzuki back into contention in fifth, while Jorge Lorenzo continued to follow a conservative programme while recovering from his recent hand injury. The Yamaha rider completed the top six.

Ben Spies was only 10th this evening for Tech 3, but was still the top MotoGP newcomer in the session - and the time that had given him third on Thursday stood as the fourth fastest of the week.

The teams now have a three week break before the 2010 season commences in Qatar.

Pos  Rider             Bike               Time       Gap       Laps
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati             1m55.353s            51
 2.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha             1m55.860s  + 0.507s  57
 3.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda              1m55.879s  + 0.526s  66
 4.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati             1m56.115s  + 0.762s  51
 5.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki             1m56.195s  + 0.842s  58
 6.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha             1m56.504s  + 1.151s  44
 7.  Randy De Puniet   LCR Honda          1m56.504s  + 1.151s  66
 8.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha      1m56.722s  + 1.369s  48
 9.  Mika Kallio       Pramac Ducati      1m56.767s  + 1.414s  74
10.  Ben Spies         Tech 3 Yamaha      1m56.779s  + 1.426s  44
11.  Aleix Espargaro   Pramac Ducati      1m56.897s  + 1.544s  64
12.  Alvaro Bautista   Suzuki             1m56.898s  + 1.545s  71
13.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda              1m56.935s  + 1.582s  56
14.  Marco Melandri    Gresini Honda      1m57.222s  + 1.869s  64
15.  Hector Barbera    Aspar Ducati       1m57.223s  + 1.870s  74
16.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Interwetten Honda  1m57.251s  + 1.898s  81
17.  Marco Simoncelli  Gresini Honda      1m57.379s  + 2.026s  56