Melandri fastest in the warm-up

The session, lasting longer than usual to allow riders to do standing start practice, showed again how close performance is among the participants, with the top 13 riders separated by less than a second.

Just seven thousandths of a second behind the Honda Gresini of Melandri was John Hopkins on his Rizla Suzuki. He was followed by the two Fiat Yamahas of Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi respectively.

Carlos Checa confirmed his good form by posting the fifth fastest time, with world champion Nicky Hayden showing signs of improvement for the race in sixth place after qualifying 11th.

Alex Barros was the fastest Ducati rider with his Pramac d'Antin customer entry in seventh place, followed by Chris Vermeulen in the other works Suzuki.

Qatar GP winner Casey Stoner was ninth, with the top Kawasaki in the hands of Randy de Puniet rounding up the top ten.

Pole sitter Dani Pedrosa could only set the 17th fastest time.

Shinya Nakano, after setting the 14th fastest time, fell in the gravel in the first of the two right-handers at the exit of the stadium section.

Pos  Rider             Make      Time
 1.  Marco Melandri    Honda     1:41.288
 2.  John Hopkins      Suzuki    1:41.295 + 0.007
 3.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    1:41.323 + 0.035
 4.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    1:41.413 + 0.125
 5.  Carlos Checa      Honda     1:41.643 + 0.355
 6.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     1:41.659 + 0.371
 7.  Alex Barros       Ducati    1:41.671 + 0.383
 8.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    1:41.685 + 0.397
 9.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    1:41.797 + 0.509
10.  Randy de Puniet   Kawasaki  1:41.914 + 0.626
11.  Toni Elías        Honda     1:41.964 + 0.676
12.  Loris Capirossi   Ducati    1:41.973 + 0.685
13.  Alex Hofmann      Ducati    1:42.233 + 0.945
14.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     1:42.389 + 1.101
15.  Sylvain Guintoli  Yamaha    1:42.641 + 1.353
16.  Makoto Tamada     Yamaha    1:42.728 + 1.440
17.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda     1:42.792 + 1.504
18.  Kousuke Akiyoshi  Suzuki    1:42.927 + 1.639
19.  K.Roberts Jr.     KR        1:44.262 + 2.974
20.  Olivier Jacque    Kawasaki  1:44.882 + 3.594