Dovizioso fastest in wet final test

The weather that had brought the lunchtime qualifying session to an early halt dissuaded many riders from going out at all in the last session of the weekend. No one set a lap time in the first hour, and only 10 of the 19 riders took to the track at all.

Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen showed characteristic good wet weather form to top much of the afternoon before Dovizioso edged ahead by two tenths of a second.

Marco Melandri had flown in inclement conditions on the Hayate Kawasaki in Qatar and did the same here, taking third place followed by a trio of Ducatis - test rider Vittoriano Guareschi and race rider Nicky Hayden's factory examples, and BMW Award session star Mika Kallio's satellite Pramac version.

Casey Stoner, who had won the new BMW road car on offer for the fastest time in the midday qualifying simulation, was one of those who chose not to participate in the afternoon practice, along with works Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.

The season begins in a fortnight with the floodlit Qatar Grand Prix at Losail.

Pos  Rider                 Bike      Time
 1.  Andrea Dovizioso      Honda     1:51.488
 2.  Chris Vermeulen       Suzuki    1:51.688  + 0.200
 3.  Marco Melandri        Kawasaki  1:52.105  + 0.617
 4.  Vittoriano Guareschi  Ducati    1:52.228  + 0.740
 5.  Nicky Hayden          Ducati    1:52.243  + 0.755
 6.  Mika Kallio           Ducati    1:52.343  + 0.855
 7.  Yuki Takahashi        Honda     1:53.678  + 2.190
 8.  Loris Capirossi       Suzuki    1:55.147  + 3.659
 9.  Niccolo Canepa        Ducati    1:55.219  + 3.731
10.  Randy de Puniet       Honda     1:55.465  + 3.977
11.  Alex de Angelis       Honda     no time
12.  Toni Elias            Honda     no time
13.  Casey Stoner          Ducati    no time
14.  Valentino Rossi       Yamaha    no time
15.  Colin Edwards         Yamaha    no time
16.  James Toseland        Yamaha    no time
17.  Sete Gibernau         Ducati    no time
18.  Kosuke Akiyoshi       Honda     no time
19.  Jorge Lorenzo         Yamaha    no time