Lorenzo fastest in practice two

With title rival Dani Pedrosa already back in Spain for surgery on the injuries he received yesterday, Yamaha rider Lorenzo could virtually secure the championship this weekend - though he will be unable to celebrate until it is clear when Pedrosa will return.

Lorenzo set the pace this morning with a lap of 1m47.413s, which took him ahad of his team-mate Rossi halfway through the session. Dovizioso - now Honda's only hope for victory at its home race - then pushed Rossi back to third a few moments later.

Aragon winner Casey Stoner had led the way initially on his Ducati, but did not improve on his early 1m48.059s and ended up fourth.

The under-pressure Suzuki team looks set for a morale boosting weekend. Loris Capirossi and Alvaro Bautista filled the final top six places for much of the hour, although Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin Edwards split them late on.

Marco Simoncelli was eighth for Gresini Honda, followed by Ben Spies on the second Tech 3 bike and Nick Hayden on the second works Ducati.

Home rider Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda) could not repeat his excellent Friday form and was only 13th.

The session took place in dry and sunny conditions, and saw little incident, with Randy de Puniet's trek through the hairpin gravel on his LCR Honda the only error of note.

Pos  Rider             Team               Time       Gap
 1.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha             1m47.413s
 2.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda              1m47.836s  + 0.423s
 3.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha             1m47.905s  + 0.492s
 4.  Casey Stoner      Ducati             1m48.059s  + 0.646s
 5.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki             1m48.349s  + 0.936s
 6.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha      1m48.409s  + 0.996s
 7.  Alvaro Bautista   Suzuki             1m48.508s  + 1.095s
 8.  Marco Simoncelli  Gresini Honda      1m48.629s  + 1.216s
 9.  Ben Spies         Tech 3 Yamaha      1m48.643s  + 1.230s
10.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati             1m48.669s  + 1.256s
11.  Aleix Espargaro   Pramac Ducati      1m48.921s  + 1.508s
12.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda          1m48.958s  + 1.545s
13.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Interwetten Honda  1m48.973s  + 1.560s
14.  Marco Melandri    Gresini Honda      1m48.978s  + 1.565s
15.  Hector Barbera    Aspar Ducati       1m49.441s  + 2.028s
16.  Mika Kallio       Pramac Ducati      1m49.826s  + 2.413s