Stoner leads Ducati 1-2 in practice

Losail winner Stoner led the way for the majority of the session, holding a 1.1 second margin over the competition for much of the hour.

Capirossi jumped up from the midfield to join the Australian in the final minutes, but remained 0.7 seconds slower.

Ducati's rivals had feared that they would be hard to beat at Istanbul Park ever since Stoner's Qatar victory, when he had demonstrated a clear straightline speed advantage.

Suzuki's John Hopkins was the only rider to get within a second of the Ducatis this afternoon, lapping a tenth slower than Capirossi to take third place.

Valentino Rossi was fourth, ahead of Toni Elias, who made contact with Stoner in the final complex as the two riders completed their last laps of the session. Both stayed upright in the incident.

Olivier Jacque maintained his strong morning form to set the sixth fastest time for Kawasaki, ahead of Chris Vermeulen, Alex Hofmann, Dani Pedrosa and Marco Melandri.

Alex Barros dropped out of the top ten after having to park his Pramac D'Antin Ducati at the side of the track late in the hour.

Shinya Nakano caused a brief red flag after a fall at the final corner. He was unharmed, but his Konica Minolta Honda was left blocking the pit lane entrance. He ended the session 18th.

Free practice two times:

Pos  Rider             Bike      Time
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    1:54.200
 2.  Loris Capirossi   Ducati    1:54.979 + 0.779
 3.  John Hopkins      Suzuki    1:55.062 + 0.862
 4.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    1:55.120 + 0.920
 5.  Toni Elias        Honda     1:55.158 + 0.958
 6.  Olivier Jacque    Kawasaki  1:55.651 + 1.451
 7.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    1:55.707 + 1.507
 8.  Alex Hofmann      Ducati    1:55.736 + 1.536
 9.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda     1:55.865 + 1.665
10.  Marco Melandri    Honda     1:55.910 + 1.710
11.  K.Roberts Jr.     KR        1:56.071 + 1.871
12.  Randy de Puniet   Kawasaki  1:56.225 + 2.025
13.  Alex Barros       Ducati    1:56.233 + 2.033
14.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     1:56.312 + 2.112
15.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    1:56.320 + 2.120
16.  Carlos Checa      Honda     1:56.555 + 2.355
17.  Makoto Tamada     Yamaha    1:56.923 + 2.723
18.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     1:56.936 + 2.736
19.  Sylvain Guintoli  Yamaha    1:57.245 + 3.045