Stoner and Pedrosa finish 1-2 as Sepang test comes to a close
Casey Stoner returned to the top of the timesheets on the third and final day of MotoGP pre-season testing at Sepang
The Australian and his Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa were forced to miss the second day of testing after the latter was hit by engine issues on day one.
The delay did little to interrupt Honda's momentum at the Malaysian circuit however, with Stoner and Pedrosa locking out the front two spots as the Sepang test came to a close.
Stoner's benchmark of 2m00.473s put him just under two tenths clear of Pedrosa, and three tenths clear of the rest of the field.
Tech 3 Yamaha's Andrea Dovizioso came closest to breaking the Honda stranglehold, his 2m00.802 putting him within 0.329s of the Australian.
Lorenzo was next up on the factory Yamaha, with the Spaniard less than 0.1s down the road from Dovizioso. Cal Crutchlow, on the second Tech 3 Yamaha, was fifth.
Ducati fared less well, with Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden finishing 10th and 11th fastest respectively. Rossi's best was just over one second slower than Stoner's.
Sixth went to Hector Barbera (Pramac), with Gresini's Alvaro Bautista 0.044s down the road in seventh.
Ben Spies crashed in the morning and was unable to improve his time from yesterday, the Texan winding up eighth fastest ahead of Stefan Bradl on the LCR Honda.
After a private test for CRT machinery at Aragon, the final pre-season test takes place at Jerez on 23-25 March.
Today's times:
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Casey Stoner Honda 2m00.473s 2. Dani Pedrosa Honda 2m00.648s + 0.175s 3. Andrea Dovizioso Tech 3 Yamaha 2m00.802s + 0.329s 4. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 2m00.877s + 0.404s 5. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 2m00.986s + 0.513s 6. Hector Barbera Pramac Ducati 2m01.231s + 0.758s 7. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 2m01.275s + 0.802s 8. Ben Spies Yamaha 2m01.432s + 0.959s 9. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 2m01.492s + 1.019s 10. Valentino Rossi Ducati 2m01.550s + 1.077s 11. Nicky Hayden Ducati 2m01.609s + 1.136s 12. Franco Battaini Cardion Ducati 2m03.490s + 3.017s 13. Colin Edwards Forward Suter-BMW 2m03.681s + 3.208s 14. Yonny Hernandez Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 2m06.632s + 6.159s 15. Ivan Silva Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 2m06.785s + 6.312s
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