Dovizioso tops wet warm-up

The Italian, whose only grand prix win in the top class came in torrential weather conditions at Donington Park last year, set a best time of 1m31.638s on a track that, while it never dried, steadily improved through the session.

Ducati's Casey Stoner was second quickest for Ducati and had been top until he was deposed by Dovizioso late on.

Lorenzo could only manage third fastest on the Yamaha, some four tenths away from the fastest time of the morning.

Dovizioso's team-mate Dani Pedrosa might have been higher than fourth, but got his rear-wheel on the kerbing on the run up the hill to the last corner and was lucky to catch the resulting wobble. Thought that didn't stop him punching his leg in frustration of his mistake.

Nicky Hayden will have been buoyed by moving up to fifth position after a difficult weekend so far, while Marco Melandri proved he could be an interloper should the conditions remain unsettled with sixth.

Randy de Puniet, still limping significantly from yesterday's shunt and clearly in pain, was seventh fastest for LCR ahead of the impressive Hector Barbera and a circumspect Valentino Rossi. Mika Kallio meanwhile, completed the top ten.

Pos  Rider             Team               Time       Gap
 1.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda              1m31.638s  +
 2.  Casey Stoner      Ducati             1m31.888s  + 0.250s
 3.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha             1m32.041s  + 0.403s
 4.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda              1m32.403s  + 0.765s
 5.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati             1m32.561s  + 0.923s
 6.  Marco Melandri    Gresini Honda      1m32.631s  + 0.993s
 7.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda          1m32.986s  + 1.348s
 8.  Hector Barbera    Aspar Ducati       1m33.129s  + 1.491s
 9.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha             1m33.441s  + 1.803s
10.  Mika Kallio       Pramac Ducati      1m33.496s  + 1.858s
11.  Marco Simoncelli  Gresini Honda      1m33.563s  + 1.925s
12.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki             1m33.633s  + 1.995s
13.  Alvaro Bautista   Suzuki             1m33.668s  + 2.030s
14.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha      1m34.004s  + 2.366s
15.  Alex de Angelis   Interwetten Honda  1m34.098s  + 2.460s
16.  Aleix Espargaro   Pramac Ducati      1m34.906s  + 3.268s
17.  Ben Spies         Tech 3 Yamaha      1m37.791s  + 6.153s