Stoner tops final practice in Turkey
Casey Stoner confirmed his form, and his Ducati GP7's, by setting the fastest time in this morning's third free practice session for the Turkish Grand Prix
The Australian rider stayed at the top of the timesheets for almost the entire session at Istanbul Park, with the quickest time ending up being a 1:54.085, 25 hundredths of a second faster than second-placed Valentino Rossi.
The Fiat Yamaha rider set his best lap in the dying minutes of the session, demoting Honda Gresini's Toni Elias to third.
Fourth place was taken by the works Repsol Honda of Dani Pedrosa, just three thousandths of a second ahead of Rossi's teammate Colin Edwards in fifth.
Chris Vermeulen was the top Suzuki rider in sixth, edging ahead of his teammate John Hopkins, who briefly held the top spot towards the beginning of the session.
Loris Capirossi set the eighth fastest time in the other works Ducati Desmosedici, with the two Kawasakis rounding up the top ten in the hands of Oliver Jacque and Randy de Puniet respectively.
World champion Nicky Hayden had to settle for the 17th spot, his works Honda ending up one and a half seconds behind Stoner.
Free practice three times:
Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Casey Stoner Ducati 1:54.085 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1:54.334 + 0.249 3. Toni Elias Honda 1:54.496 + 0.411 4. Daniel Pedrosa Honda 1:54.558 + 0.473 5. Colin Edwards Yamaha 1:54.561 + 0.476 6. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1:54.576 + 0.491 7. John Hopkins Suzuki 1:54.644 + 0.559 8. Loris Capirossi Ducati 1:54.850 + 0.765 9. Olivier Jacque Kawasaki 1:54.876 + 0.791 10. Randy de Puniet Kawasaki 1:54.921 + 0.836 11. Alex Barros Ducati 1:55.034 + 0.949 12. Makoto Tamada Yamaha 1:55.081 + 0.996 13. Alex Hofmann Ducati 1:55.177 + 1.092 14. Marco Melandri Honda 1:55.241 + 1.156 15. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha 1:55.482 + 1.397 16. Carlos Checa Honda 1:55.570 + 1.485 17. Nicky Hayden Honda 1:55.587 + 1.502 18. Shinya Nakano Honda 1:55.711 + 1.626 19. Kenny Roberts Jr. KR 1:56.207 + 2.122
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