Repsol Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa set the pace in the final pre-qualifying practice session at the Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya ahead of teammate Casey Stoner.

Pedrosa led the Repsol one-two with a time of 1.41’830, set on the soft-compound rear tyre, with Stoner coming in just over a tenth off the pace. Stoner, however, set his time on the hard option rear tyre, as one of the only riders in the pack to set a fast lap time with them. Third spot is occupied by ex-teammate Andrea Dovizioso on board his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine, just fractionally behind the Australian.

Pramac Racing Team’s Héctor Barberá obviously enjoys riding in front of his home crowd, as he once again took the honours of top Ducati rider in fourth. It was however Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden that stole the headlines, as he set the fifth fastest time of the field also using the hard compound rear. Sixth place is occupied by Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo, who could not quite match his pace of yesterday.

In seventh, LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl looks to be adapting to the Catalan circuit on a MotoGP bike, as he relegated Dovizioso’s teammate Cal Crutchlow into eighth. Ducati’s Valentino Rossi showed a slight improvement over his disappointing outing yesterday by finishing in ninth, having reverted back to a carbon fibre swingarm, after running with a new aluminium one the day before. San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista looked slightly more subdued than yesterday, as he rounded out the top ten. Top CRT spot went to Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaró in 12th.

There were no crashes during the session, however numerous riders, including Espargaró, Barberá and Bautista’s teammate Michele Pirro all ran into the gravel once as they were pushing hard.


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