Pedrosa fastest in Le Mans practice

Pedrosa had been consistently quick throughout the session, but only his final effort of 1:35.699 after the chequered flag was enough to move Valentino Rossi from the top of the timesheets

Rossi had briefly moved to the top of the order during a late flurry of laps, which also saw world champion Nicky Hayden secure a confidence-boosting third fastest time. That effort perhaps hints at a turnaround in fortunes for the American, who has struggled with the handling of his Repsol Honda so far this year.

Carlos Checa was a surprise fourth fastest on the Honda LCR, while Stoner appeared comfortable with his Ducati Marlboro bike to set the fifth quickest time - close enough to the front to worry his main opposition.

Toni Elias was sixth quickest on the Honda Gresini, while Colin Edwards ended up seventh having been top of the times during the middle part of the hour-long session.

John Hopkins, fresh from his maiden podium finish in the Chinese Grand Prix, was eighth quickest, ahead of Gresini's Marco Melandri, who had been quickest overall with 10 minutes remaining before other riders put in their quick times.

Alex Barros rounded off the top 10, while Kawasaki new boy Fonsi Nieto, standing in for Olivier Jacque, was slowest overall - just 1.5 seconds off the pace of the next slowest rider.

The session took place on a damp track, and the tricky conditions saw Rossi, Melandri and Nieto have minor excursions off the track.

Pos  Rider             Team                   Time              Laps
 1.  Dani Pedrosa      Repsol Honda Team      1:35.699           30
 2.  Valentino Rossi   Fiat Yamaha Team       1:35.770  + 0.071  28
 3.  Nicky Hayden      Repsol Honda Team      1:35.908  + 0.209  31
 4.  Carlos Checa      Honda LCR              1:35.937  + 0.238  26
 5.  Casey Stoner      Ducati Marlboro Team   1:35.951  + 0.252  21
 6.  Toni Elias        Honda Gresini          1:36.009  + 0.310  26
 7.  Colin Edwards     Fiat Yamaha Team       1:36.038  + 0.339  29
 8.  John Hopkins      Rizla Suzuki MotoGP    1:36.059  + 0.360  27
 9.  Marco Melandri    Honda Gresini          1:36.137  + 0.438  26
10.  Alex Barros       Pramac d'Antin         1:36.476  + 0.777  24
11.  Randy De Puniet   Kawasaki Racing Team   1:36.830  + 1.131  26
12.  Loris Capirossi   Ducati Marlboro Team   1:36.962  + 1.263  26
13.  Sylvain Guintoli  Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3   1:37.090  + 1.391  23
14.  Makoto Tamada     Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3   1:37.142  + 1.443  29
15.  Chris Vermeulen   Rizla Suzuki MotoGP    1:37.246  + 1.547  24
16.  Shinya Nakano     Konica Minolta Honda   1:37.357  + 1.658  27
17.  Alex Hofmann      Pramac d'Antin         1:37.668  + 1.969  23
18.  Kenny Roberts Jr  Team Roberts           1:37.990  + 2.291  26
19.  Fonsi Nieto       Kawasaki Racing Team   1:39.463  + 3.764  25