Stoner fastest in qualifying practice

The Australian set his fastest lap of one minute 49.263 seconds early on in the damp 40-minute session, when track conditions were not at their best, and then sat in the pits to watch his rivals try and close down his advantage.

Although Stoner returned to the circuit late on, just in case he needed to respond to any of his rivals' efforts, he eventually aborted his run as nearest challenger Valentino Rossi could only get within 1.317 seconds with a late lap.

Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden ended up third quickest, having been Stoner's nearest challenger for much of the session, with Anthony West taking fourth for Kawasaki Racing.

Behind Andrea Dovizioso and Shinja Nakano, Loris Capirossi on the Rizla Suzuki was one of just a few riders who ran off the track in the tricky conditions - although no one fell off their bike.

Briton James Toseland had a brief run through the gravel trap at the first corner after completing his final lap, having set the 12th best time.

Injured riders Dani Pedrosa and John Hopkins both elected to sit out the session as a result of the continued pain their were suffering from their testing injuries.

Pedrosa appears to have decided to abandon testing for this weekend completely, though, with the swelling from his injured hand having not subsided as much as he would have liked.

MotoGP's medical chief Dr. Costa told television station Italia1: "Pedrosa was phenomenal yesterday in trying to test. Today he didn't manage to because of the swelling and the pain, so he'll get ready for Qatar."

Pos  Rider             Bike           Time              Laps
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  1:49.263            9
 2.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)  1:50.580  + 1.317  17
 3.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  1:50.785  + 1.522  16
 4.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  1:50.799  + 1.536  15
 5.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)  1:51.312  + 2.049  15
 6.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)  1:51.594  + 2.331  16
 7.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)  1:51.894  + 2.631  15
 8.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)  1:51.979  + 2.716  10
 9.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)  1:52.058  + 2.795  14
10.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)  1:52.238  + 2.975  15
11.  Alex De Angelis   Honda     (B)  1:52.463  + 3.200  13
12.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)  1:52.755  + 3.492  11
13.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  1:52.779  + 3.516  13
14.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  1:52.826  + 3.563  10
15.  Olivier Jacque    Kawasaki  (B)  1:53.283  + 4.020   9
16.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    (M)  1:53.292  + 4.029  11
17.  V. Guareschi      Ducati    (B)  1:54.694  + 5.431  11
18.  Niccolo Canepa    Ducati    (B)  1:57.453  + 8.190  13
19.  Toni Elias        Ducati    (B)  1:57.698  + 8.435   7