Pedrosa quickest again at Barcelona

But the local rider also fell at Turn Five, almost immediately after taking the top spot with a 1:43.017, with 10 minutes of the session left to go.

Pedrosa, whose best lap was just 0.006 seconds faster than Suzuki's Loris Capirossi, was uninjured in the fall which occurred when his front wheel appeared to lose grip. He immediately picked himself up from the gravel.

The same can not be said of poor Jorge Lorenzo, who took yet another heavy bang to his right leg, and his head, in a fall at Turn 13 just 10 minutes in to the session.

Kawasaki's John Hopkins joined Lorenzo in the medical centre when the Californian crashed his Kawasaki spectacularly moments later. But reports suggested that he was uninjured, other than cuts and bruises to his back.

Amidst the chaos, Capirossi emerged as a genuine threat on the Bridgestone-shod Suzuki, ahead of Valentino Rossi's Yamaha in third place.

The world championship leader, bedecked in leathers that feature a full Italian football strip that even includes pink arms and legs, only jumped up to the front row with his final lap of the session.

Rossi's lap bumped Casey Stoner down to fourth on the Ducati, but the Australian was still in the mix. In fact, the top four all set a time within a tenth of one another.

Alex de Angelis continued to impress and carried his strong form from Mugello to Barcelona with the fifth fastest time, ahead of the second Suzuki of Chris Vermuelen.

Shinya Nakano made it two Gresini Hondas in the top seven, while James Toseland was eighth for Tech 3 Yamaha. Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards completed the top 10.

The only other significant incident of the session came when Randy de Puniet fell for the second time today. The Frenchman was uninjured and finished the session with the 12th fastest time.

Pos Rider                Bike          Time         Gap
 1. Dani Pedrosa         Honda         1:43.017
 2. Loris Capirossi      Suzuki        1:43.023  +0.006
 3. Valentino Rossi      Yamaha        1:43.090  +0.073
 4. Casey Stoner         Ducati        1:43.099  +0.082
 5. Alex de Angelis      Honda         1:43.233  +0.216
 6. Chris Vermeulen      Suzuki        1:43.368  +0.351
 7. Shinya Nakano        Honda         1:43.442  +0.425
 8. James Toseland       Yamaha        1:43.479  +0.462
 9. Nicky Hayden         Honda         1:43.614  +0.597
10. Colin Edwards        Yamaha        1:43.668  +0.651
11. Andrea Dovizioso     Honda         1:43.707  +0.690
12. Randy de Puniet      Honda         1:43.742  +0.725
13. Jorge Lorenzo        Yamaha        1:44.001  +0.984
14. John Hopkins         Kawasaki      1:44.043  +1.026
15. Toni Elias           Ducati        1:44.610  +1.593
16. Sylvain Guintoli     Ducati        1:44.678  +1.661
17. Marco Melandri       Ducati        1:44.706  +1.689
18. Anthony West         Kawasaki      1:44.865  +1.848