Guintoli tops practice 3 at Valencia

The Frenchman set his fastest lap right at the end of the one-hour session, and with a time of 1:32.670 he was almost half a second faster than Casey Stoner.

Ducati's new world champion was second with a time of 1:33.132, just over a tenth of a second faster than Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa.

Just three thousandths of a second further back was Alex Barros with his Pramac d'Antin Ducati, with fifth fastest Marco Melandri with his Honda Gresini only a single thousandth slower than the Brazilian.

Loris Capirossi was sixth with the other works Ducati, with Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet seventh and Suzuki's John Hopkins eighth.

Hopkins's teammate Chris Vermeulen in tenth separated the two Fiat Yamahas of Colin Edwards in ninth and Valentino Rossi in 11th, over nine tenths behind Guintoli.

Pos  Rider              Make           Time
 1.  Sylvain Guintoli   Yamaha    (D)  1:32.670
 2.  Casey Stoner       Ducati    (B)  1:33.132 + 0.462
 3.  Daniel Pedrosa     Honda     (M)  1:33.236 + 0.566
 4.  Alex Barros        Ducati    (B)  1:33.239 + 0.569
 5.  Marco Melandri     Honda     (B)  1:33.240 + 0.570
 6.  Loris Capirossi    Ducati    (B)  1:33.407 + 0.737
 7.  Randy de Puniet    Kawasaki  (B)  1:33.487 + 0.817
 8.  John Hopkins       Suzuki    (B)  1:33.505 + 0.835
 9.  Colin Edwards      Yamaha    (M)  1:33.518 + 0.848
10.  Chris Vermeulen    Suzuki    (B)  1:33.569 + 0.899
11.  Valentino Rossi    Yamaha    (M)  1:33.580 + 0.910
12.  Toni Elias         Honda     (B)  1:33.757 + 1.087
13.  Makoto Tamada      Yamaha    (D)  1:33.988 + 1.318
14.  Nicky Hayden       Honda     (M)  1:34.006 + 1.336
15.  Shinya Nakano      Honda     (M)  1:34.258 + 1.588
16.  Anthony West       Kawasaki  (B)  1:34.327 + 1.657
17.  Kurtis Roberts     KR        (M)  1:34.487 + 1.817
18.  Chaz Davies        Ducati    (B)  1:34.960 + 2.290