Stoner tops wet warm-up

Reigning world champion Casey Stoner topped the times in the warm-up on a sodden track at Shanghai

Stoner topped the times halfway through the session, twice lowering his best time over the next ten minutes of the session. But with one minute remaining, Dani Pedrosa put his Repsol Honda on top of the times with a time of 2:14.267, John Hopkins having almost taken top spot a few seconds earlier.

However, Stoner and Valentino Rossi, as well as Pedrosa, still had time for one more lap. Stoner was the first to set a time, and with a time of 2:13.055, gave his rivals something to chase.

Rossi improved to go to second but was nearly a second slower than Stoner, while Pedrosa failed to improve his time.

Hopkins' late effort was good enough for him to finish fourth-fastest, ahead of Andrea Dovizioso, Alex de Angelis and Chris Vermeulen, with pole man Colin Edwards next fastest in eighth.

After strong performances in qualifying for James Toseland, Loris Capirossi and Jorge Lorenzo, today's wet warm-up proved not to be to their liking, ending the session in 14th, 16th and 17th respectively.

Pos  Rider             Bike           Time
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  2:13.055
 2.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)  2:13.971  + 0.916
 3.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     (M)  2:14.267  + 1.212
 4.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki  (B)  2:14.414  + 1.359
 5.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)  2:14.560  + 1.505
 6.  Alex de Angelis   Honda     (B)  2:14.749  + 1.694
 7.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  2:15.158  + 2.103
 8.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  2:15.491  + 2.436
 9.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)  2:15.666  + 2.611
10.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  2:15.692  + 2.637
11.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)  2:15.909  + 2.854
12.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)  2:15.976  + 2.921
13.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  2:15.976  + 2.921
14.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)  2:16.574  + 3.519
15.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)  2:16.970  + 3.915
16.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)  2:17.047  + 3.992
17.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    (M)  2:20.284  + 7.229
18.  Toni Elías        Ducati    (B)  2:21.986  + 8.931