Hayden tops Aragon warm-up

The American produced a late flourish to top the timesheet in the final seconds of the 20-minute session. His 1m50.339s best proved enough to pip Spanish home hero Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) to the top spot by 0.023 seconds.

Yamaha team-mates Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were third and fourth quickest. Lorenzo feels his bike will struggle against the potent power and acceleration of the leading Ducatis and Hondas in this afternoon's race, while Rossi is carrying the effects of a shoulder injury and has struggled with the set-up of his bike so far this weekend.

Big-haired Italian Marco Simoncelli went fifth quickest on his Gresini Honda, less than a tenth clear of poleman Casey Stoner. The Australian Ducati rider had an early fall and only completed one quick lap, which proved enough to put him top of the timesheet at the mid-way point of the session. He completed only half the number of laps of the other leading runners and was bumped down to sixth as they continued to improve.

Pedrosa's Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso went seventh fastest, just ahead of Pramac Ducati pair Aleix Espargaro and Mika Kallio, while the Suzuki of Alvaro Bautista completed the top 10.

American Tech 3 Yamaha duo Ben Spies and Colin Edwards were 13th and 16th quickest respectively in the 16-bike field. LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet crashed and was 15th.

Pos Driver             Team               Time       Gap   Laps
 1. Nicky Hayden       Ducati             1m50.339s          11
 2. Dani Pedrosa       Honda              1m50.362s  +0.023  10
 3. Jorge Lorenzo      Yamaha             1m50.464s  +0.125  10
 4. Valentino Rossi    Yamaha             1m50.687s  +0.348  11
 5. Marco Simoncelli   Gresini Honda      1m50.760s  +0.421  10
 6. Casey Stoner       Ducati             1m50.806s  +0.467   6
 7. Andrea Dovizioso   Honda              1m50.896s  +0.557  11
 8. Aleix Espargaro    Pramac Ducati      1m51.090s  +0.751  11
 9. Mika Kallio        Pramac Ducati      1m51.272s  +0.933  11
10. Alvaro Bautista    Suzuki             1m51.273s  +0.934  11
11. Marco Melandri     Gresini Honda      1m51.342s  +1.003  11
12. Hector Barbera     Aspar Ducati       1m51.415s  +1.076   9
13. Ben Spies          Tech 3 Yamaha      1m51.437s  +1.098  10
14. Hiroshi Aoyama     Interwetten Honda  1m51.660s  +1.321  11
15. Randy de Puniet    LCR Honda          1m52.308s  +1.969   8
16. Colin Edwards      Tech 3 Yamaha      1m52.498s  +2.159  10