Lorenzo beats Pedrosa in session two
Jorge Lorenzo stayed on top in the second free practice session at Catalunya, but his compatriot Dani Pedrosa reduced the points leader's advantage to 0.050 seconds
After a slow start to the morning, Yamaha rider Lorenzo knocked Casey Stoner (Ducati) off the top spot with a 1m42.748s lap halfway through the hour.
That was sufficient to keep him in front for the rest of the session, with Stoner closing to within 0.088s but unable to depose Lorenzo. Then with his final lap, Pedrosa produced a 1m42.798s to move up from fourth to second.
Randy de Puniet was a frontrunner all morning as his excellent recent form continued. He managed to keep his LCR Honda upright after outbraking himself and running through the gravel at the end of the backstraight - a move later emulated by Hector Barbera (Aspar Ducati) and Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) - and took fourth, just over 0.1s down on Lorenzo.
Aleix Espargaro also continued to impress for Pramac Ducati, setting the fifth-fastest time during a sequence of laps chasing Stoner, during which he almost clipped the works Ducati at Turn 1 when caught out by Stoner backing off.
Dovizioso completed the top six ahead of Marco Simoncelli's Gresini Honda, whole Suzuki had an encouraging session, with both riders in the top ten for much of the hour. In the end Loris Capirossi was eighth - only half a second behind Lorenzo - and Alvaro Bautista 11th, split by Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha) and an off-the-pace Nicky Hayden (Ducati). Ben Spies also had a disappointing result in 14th on Tech 3's second bike.
Marco Melandri put another 26 laps on his injured shoulder and sternum and was 15th for Gresini Honda, with just 1.3s covering everyone from Lorenzo to Melandri.
Yamaha test rider Wataru Yoshikawa remained slowest on Valentino Rossi's bike, but edged a little closer to the pace, cutting the gap to the front down to 3.9s.
Pos Rider Team Time Gap 1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m42.748s 2. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m42.798s + 0.050s 3. Casey Stoner Ducati 1m42.836s + 0.088s 4. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda 1m42.913s + 0.165s 5. Aleix Espargaro Pramac Ducati 1m42.978s + 0.230s 6. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m43.031s + 0.283s 7. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda 1m43.238s + 0.490s 8. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1m43.261s + 0.513s 9. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m43.376s + 0.628s 10. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m43.565s + 0.817s 11. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki 1m43.623s + 0.875s 12. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 1m43.900s + 1.152s 13. Mika Kallio Pramac Ducati 1m43.923s + 1.175s 14. Ben Spies Tech 3 Yamaha 1m43.946s + 1.198s 15. Marco Melandri Gresini Honda 1m44.115s + 1.367s 16. Kousuke Akiyoshi Interwetten Honda 1m45.442s + 2.694s 17. Wataru Yoshikawa Yamaha 1m46.653s + 3.905s
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