Lorenzo continues to set Brno pace

Just as in the opening session on Friday, Lorenzo moved ahead of his FIAT Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi after 15 minutes of the hour-long practice, and set about working up another sequence of very fast laps.

But behind him, countryman Dani Pedrosa put together a bundle of quick laps of his own on the steadily improving HRC Honda. So while Lorenzo lowered the mark to 1m56.458, Pedrosa stalked him with his own 1m56.577s.

The pair continued like this through much of the session until 15 minutes from the end when Lorenzo produced an astonishing 1m56.331s, which put the matter out of the question.

Rossi ran his own session in third, some three tenths off the leading pair, but at the same time producing ominously consistent lap times.

In the end the world champion ended the session with a 1m56.787s, as if to remind the pair in front that it is, after all, still only practice.

Colin Edwards continued his strong weekend in fourth place for Tech 3 Yamaha as the Texan traded times with Loris Capirossi's revitalised Suzuki.

Toni Elias was sixth quickest for Gresini Honda while Andrea Dovizioso left it late in the session to move up to seventh on the second of the HRC Repsol Hondas.

Mike Kallio worked his up to eighth as he continues to ingratiate his way in to the factory Ducati squad while Alex de Angelis was ninth.

Nicky Hayden will likely be disappointed with tenth, mainly because the American had spent much of the session in the top six courtesy of a strong lap early in the session. But tweaks through the hour failed to make his Ducati any faster and he dropped down the order.

Pos  Rider          Bike             Time
 1.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha           1m56.331s
 2.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda            1m56.462s  + 0.131s
 3.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha           1m56.787s  + 0.456s
 4.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha    1m57.058s  + 0.727s
 5.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki           1m57.384s  + 1.053s
 6.  Toni Elías        Gresini Honda    1m57.495s  + 1.164s
 7.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda            1m58.008s  + 1.677s
 8.  Mika Kallio       Ducati           1m58.060s  + 1.729s
 9.  Alex de Angelis   Gresini Honda    1m58.111s  + 1.780s
10.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati           1m58.252s  + 1.921s
11.  Marco Melandri    Hayate Kawasaki  1m58.368s  + 2.037s
12.  James Toseland    Tech 3 Yamaha    1m58.413s  + 2.082s
13.  Niccolò Canepa    Pramac Ducati    1m58.518s  + 2.187s
14.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki           1m58.551s  + 2.220s
15.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda        1m58.567s  + 2.236s
16.  Michel Fabrizio   Pramac Ducati    1m59.457s  + 3.126s
17.  Gábor Talmacsi    Scot Honda       1m59.645s  + 3.314s