Stoner fastest in the warm-up

The Marlboro Ducati ended at the top of the timesheets in every session so far this week, a feat he already managed at last Sunday's Sachsenring race, which he ultimately didn't win, however.

In hot temperatures, Stoner set a stunning time of 1:21.975, a full three tenths faster than yesterday's pole position time, and 0.425 seconds ahead of second-fastest Chris Vermeulen.

The Rizla Suzuki rider beat his American teammate John Hopkins by 46 thousandths of a second.

Valentino Rossi ended the session in fourth, with his Fiat Yamaha being the top Michelin runner with the top three being on Bridgestones. The Italian, however, was almost eight tenths slower than Stoner.

Daniel Pedrosa was fifth fastest with his Repsol Honda, ahead of Loris Capirossi on the second works Ducati.

Rossi's teammate Colin Edwards was seventh fastest, ahead of an impressive Roger Lee Hayden in eighth with his wild card Kawasaki bike.

Alex Barros with the Pramac d'Antin Ducati and Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet are the two riders completing the top ten.

Reigning world champion Nicky Hayden, who was the fastest man on the track for the first ten minutes of running, had to settle for the 11th fastest time with his Repsol Honda after falling off at the last corner.

After yesterday's crash in qualifying, Marco Melandri left the pits for a single lap in the session with his Honda Gresini, thus failing to set a lap time.

Pos  Rider             Team                  Time
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati Team           1:21.975
 2.  Chris Vermeulen   Rizla Suzuki MotoGP   1:22.400 + 0.425
 3.  John Hopkins      Rizla Suzuki MotoGP   1:22.446 + 0.471
 4.  Valentino Rossi   Fiat Yamaha Team      1:22.757 + 0.782
 5.  Dani Pedrosa      Repsol Honda Team     1:22.857 + 0.882
 6.  Loris Capirossi   Ducati Team           1:22.977 + 1.002
 7.  Colin Edwards     Fiat Yamaha Team      1:23.126 + 1.151
 8.  Roger Lee Hayden  Kawasaki Racing Team  1:23.345 + 1.370
 9.  Alex Barros       Pramac d'Antin        1:23.424 + 1.449
10.  Randy de Puniet   Kawasaki Racing Team  1:23.545 + 1.570
11.  Nicky Hayden      Repsol Honda Team     1:23.738 + 1.763
12.  Anthony West      Kawasaki Racing Team  1:23.898 + 1.923
13.  Chaz Davies       Pramac d'Antin        1:23.952 + 1.977
14.  Sylvain Guintoli  Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3  1:23.993 + 2.018
15.  Carlos Checa      Honda LCR             1:24.132 + 2.157
16.  Kurtis Roberts    Team Roberts          1:24.291 + 2.316
17.  Makoto Tamada     Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3  1:24.469 + 2.494
18.  Shinya Nakano     Konica Minolta Honda  1:24.562 + 2.587
19.  Miguel Duhamel    Honda Gresini         1:25.822 + 3.847