Stoner goes fastest in final MotoGP practice at Silverstone, as Crutchlow crashes heavily

The Honda rider knocked Jorge Lorenzo off the top spot with 11 minutes remaining with a 2m04.140s lap, and then improved his own pace as the chequered flag came out to end the session on 2m03.941s.

Lorenzo was 0.416s slower than the world champion, with his Yamaha team-mate Ben Spies snatching third spot on his final lap. Andrea Dovizioso, Alvaro Bautista and Dani Pedrosa completed the top six for the Tech-3 Yamaha, Gresini Honda and factory Honda teams respectively.

The Ducatis of Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi were seventh and ninth - split by the Pramac-run GP12 of Hector Barbera.

Rossi, the early pace-setter in dry conditions, had a brief off into the gravel at Club, but was able to negotiate his way into the pitlane without falling off.

Randy de Puniet was the best of the CRT riders in 10th on his Aspar Aprilia while Britain's James Ellison was 13th on his similar, Paul Bird Motorsport-run machine.

The biggest incident of the session came when British hero Cal Crutchlow crashed after losing the front of his Tech-3 Yamaha at Chapel. After being flung to the ground, he was taken to the medical centre with a suspected broken ankle.

LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl was also taken to the medical centre after a crash, while Yonny Hernandez also crashed but walked away and was able to resume the session on his spare bike.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike                 Time       Gap
 1.  Casey Stoner      Honda                     2m03.941s
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                    2m04.357s  + 0.416s
 3.  Ben Spies         Yamaha                    2m04.427s  + 0.486s
 4.  Andrea Dovizioso  Tech 3 Yamaha             2m04.566s  + 0.625s
 5.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda             2m04.886s  + 0.945s
 6.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda                     2m05.021s  + 1.080s
 7.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                    2m05.114s  + 1.173s
 8.  Hector Barbera    Pramac Ducati             2m06.377s  + 2.436s
 9.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati                    2m06.548s  + 2.607s
10.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia             2m07.190s  + 3.249s
11.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia             2m07.359s  + 3.418s
12.  Michele Pirro     Gresini FTR-Honda         2m07.846s  + 3.905s
13.  James Ellison     Paul Bird Aprilia         2m08.564s  + 4.623s
14.  Mattia Pasini     Speed Master Aprilia      2m08.695s  + 4.754s
15.  Yonni Hernandez   Avintia FTR-Kawasaki      2m09.275s  + 5.334s
16.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Aprilia              2m09.643s  + 5.702s
17.  Ivan Silva        Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki  2m10.048s  + 6.107s
18.  Colin Edwards     Forward Suter-BMW         2m11.935s  + 7.994s