Stoner flies in second Le Mans practice

The Australian Honda rider, who in the morning session had already broken the Le Mans circuit record, shattered the benchmark time once again by becoming the first man to lap in the 1m33s.

Stoner's lap of 1m33.782 was nearly four tenths quicker than his morning's best and over 0.400 seconds faster than Marco Simoncelli, second fastest.

The Gresini rider, using the same equipment as the works Honda men, continued to show promising form by outpacing Spanish Grand Prix winner and Stoner's team-mate Dani Pedrosa, the Spaniard having to settle for third position.

Pedrosa was the only frontrunner who did not improve on his morning time.

Nicky Hayden made significant progress compared to the opening session of the weekend, the American finishing as fourth quickest and also the top Ducati rider.

Jorge Lorenzo finished again in fifth position, although the Yamaha rider managed to reduce the gap to Stoner to eight tenths.

Hayden's team-mate Valentino Rossi had another low-key session, the Italian still over a second off the pace down in ninth position.

Pos  Rider              Team                       Time              Laps
 1.  Casey Stoner       Repsol Honda Team          1m33.782            20
 2.  Marco Simoncelli   San Carlo Honda Gresini    1m34.186  + 0.404   21
 3.  Dani Pedrosa       Repsol Honda Team          1m34.478  + 0.696   23
 4.  Nicky Hayden       Ducati Team                1m34.652  + 0.870   21
 5.  Jorge Lorenzo      Yamaha Factory Racing      1m34.659  + 0.877   21
 6.  Andrea Dovizioso   Repsol Honda Team          1m34.705  + 0.923   21
 7.  Colin Edwards      Monster Yamaha Tech 3      1m34.939  + 1.157   21
 8.  Hiroshi Aoyama     San Carlo Honda Gresini    1m34.959  + 1.177   21
 9.  Valentino Rossi    Ducati Team                1m34.966  + 1.184   21
10.  Ben Spies          Yamaha Factory Racing      1m34.976  + 1.194   25
11.  Randy De Puniet    Pramac Racing Team         1m34.998  + 1.216   21
12.  Cal Crutchlow      Monster Yamaha Tech 3      1m35.158  + 1.376   20
13.  Loris Capirossi    Pramac Racing Team         1m35.383  + 1.601   23
14.  Hector Barbera     Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP   1m35.902  + 2.120   19
15.  Alvaro Bautista    Rizla Suzuki MotoGP        1m35.992  + 2.210   21
16.  Toni Elias         LCR Honda MotoGP           1m36.304  + 2.522   21
17.  Karel Abraham      Cardion AB Motoracing      1m36.327  + 2.545   20