Rossi tops Barcelona warm-up

The Fiat Yamaha rider shot to the top of the times when the 25 minutes of the session had already expired. His time of 1:43.182 pushed Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin Edwards, who dominated the last ten minutes of the session, down to second, 0.066 behind.

Overnight rain left the Montmelo track wet, but by the time the warm-up session took place the sun was shining and the circuit was dry, except on the shaded front straight where it was still damp.

Reigning champion Casey Stoner, who will start the race from pole position, set the third fastest time with his Ducati Marlboro, just over a tenth slower than Rossi.

Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden, who qualified third yesterday, was fourth fastest, ahead of the customer Hondas of Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Gresini) and Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot).

Chris Vermeulen was the fastest Suzuki in seventh, ahead of LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet, who led the first 15 minutes of the session.

Kawasaki's John Hopkins was ninth fastest, and Rizla Suzuki's Loris Capirossi tenth.

Despite starting from the second slot on the grid today, Dani Pedrosa could do no better than 13th fastest with his factory Honda, almost one second slower than Rossi.

Pos  Rider             Bike           Time
 1.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)  1:43.182
 2.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  1:43.248 + 0.066
 3.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  1:43.290 + 0.108
 4.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  1:43.482 + 0.300
 5.  Alex de Angelis   Honda     (B)  1:43.552 + 0.370
 6.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)  1:43.577 + 0.395
 7.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  1:43.760 + 0.578
 8.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)  1:43.802 + 0.620
 9.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki  (B)  1:43.831 + 0.649
10.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)  1:43.840 + 0.658
11.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)  1:43.912 + 0.730
12.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)  1:44.030 + 0.848
13.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda     (M)  1:44.117 + 0.935
14.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)  1:44.686 + 1.504
15.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)  1:45.088 + 1.906
16.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  1:45.927 + 2.745
17.  Toni Elias        Ducati    (B)  1:46.444 + 3.262