Lorenzo pips Rossi in Assen warm-up

Lorenzo had been unable to match Rossi's pace in qualifying yesterday and complained of struggles with his Yamaha in a couple of the Dutch circuit's turns.

But, in preparation for this afternoon's race, the Spaniard hooked up a lap to eclipse the benchmark that his team-mate had laid down just seconds earlier.

Ducati's Casey Stoner held the top spot going into the last minute of the warm-up, but Rossi lowered the bar by three tenths of a second on his last lap, taking the time down to a 1m37.0s. But Lorenzo, who was half a lap behind on the road, found an extra tenth to dip into the 1m36.9s.

Stoner wound up third, just a tenth ahead of second-place starter for this afternoon's race, Dani Pedrosa. Andrea Dovizioso was fifth fastest on the second works Honda, while James Toseland headed Colin Edwards on the two Tech 3 Yamahas in sixth and seventh - despite a fall towards the end of the session.

Nicky Hayden continued his improved form on the second factory Ducati in eighth, while Randy de Puniet and Loris Capirossi completed the top 10.

Pos Driver                Team                Time          Gap
 1. Jorge Lorenzo         Yamaha              1m36.928s
 2. Valentino Rossi       Yamaha              1m37.035s  +0.107
 3. Casey Stoner          Ducati              1m37.324s  +0.396
 4. Dani Pedrosa          Honda               1m37.380s  +0.452
 5. Andrea Dovizioso      Honda               1m37.827s  +0.899
 6. James Toseland        Tech 3 Yamaha       1m37.963s  +1.035
 7. Colin Edwards         Tech 3 Yamaha       1m38.001s  +1.073
 8. Nicky Hayden          Ducati              1m38.100s  +1.172
 9. Randy de Puniet       LCR Honda           1m38.108s  +1.180
10. Loris Capirossi       Suzuki              1m38.189s  +1.261
11. Alex de Angelis       Gresini Honda       1m38.368s  +1.440
12. Toni Elias            Gresini Honda       1m38.537s  +1.609
13. Chris Vermeulen       Suzuki              1m38.711s  +1.783
14. Mika Kallio           Pramac Ducati       1m38.801s  +1.873
15. Marco Melandri        Hayate Kawasaki     1m38.871s  +1.943
16. Sete Gibernau         Hernando Ducati     1m38.938s  +2.010
17. Yuki Takahashi        Scot Honda          1m39.362s  +2.434
18. Niccolo Canepa        Pramac Ducati       1m39.651s  +2.723
19. Gabor Talmacsi        Scot Honda          1m40.593s  +3.665