Capirossi leads damp final session

Loris Capirossi set a surprise fastest time in a damp final practice session at Estoril

Although little rain fell during the 45 minutes, track conditions only improved marginally in the session and the circuit was never fully dry.

Pramac Ducati rider Capirossi had been among the quickest in the damp early running, and returned to the top when many riders tried slicks late on.

His best time of 1m44.515s was seven seconds off Friday's dry pace, and half a second ahead of nearest rival Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha).

The works Ducatis of Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi were next up, followed by Honda trio Casey Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa.

Friday's pacesetter Marco Simoncelli was down in ninth for Gresini Honda, behind LCR Honda's Toni Elias - the Moto2 champion faring much better in the damp than he has in the dry this season.

The only rider who chose not to run at all in the session was Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista, the Spaniard preferring not to take any risks as he continues to recover from the broken leg he sustained in Qatar.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike       Time       Gap
 1.  Loris Capirossi   Pramac Ducati   1m44.515s
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha          1m45.079s  + 0.564s
 3.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati          1m45.955s  + 1.440s
 4.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati          1m46.481s  + 1.966s
 5.  Casey Stoner      Honda           1m47.676s  + 3.161s
 6.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda           1m47.849s  + 3.334s
 7.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda           1m48.102s  + 3.587s
 8.  Toni Elias        LCR Honda       1m48.140s  + 3.625s
 9.  Marco Simoncelli  Gresini Honda   1m49.117s  + 4.602s
10.  Randy de Puniet   Pramac Ducati   1m50.896s  + 6.381s
11.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati  1m51.497s  + 6.982s
12.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha   1m51.611s  + 7.096s
13.  Ben Spies         Yamaha          1m52.111s  + 7.596s
14.  Hector Barbera    Aspar Ducati    1m52.704s  + 8.189s
15.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Gresini Honda   1m53.670s  + 9.155s
16.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha   1m53.872s  + 9.357s
17.  Alvaro Bautista   Suzuki