On a day that saw all three MotoGP™ classes having to cope with some very mixed weather conditions, it was Repsol Honda Team’s Casey Stoner who set the fastest time of the day in the premier-class of the Hertz British Grand Prix at Silverstone ahead of Ben Spies and Álvaro Bautista.

Set in dry conditions towards the end of the afternoon session, a lap in the high 2.04’s was enough to oust Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies into second place, who recovered well from a crash in the wet during the first practice. Another victim of the bad weather this morning was San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista, who put in a much improved showing this afternoon to finish third on his satellite Honda.

Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden finished fourth fastest, having seemingly recovered from his hand problem last time out in Spain, while fifth place was occupied by LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl, who left it late to put in his impressive lap, finishing just sixth tenths down on Stoner. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso ended the day in sixth, yet will be looking for more pace if he is to replicate his podium from Catalunya.

Seventh spot went to Spies’ championship-leading teammate Jorge Lorenzo, who had a somewhat subdued afternoon session, ahead of Tech 3’s British home favourite Cal Crutchlow in eighth. Stoner’s teammate Dani Pedrosa and Pramac Racing Team’s Héctor Barberá complete the top ten. Ducati’s Valentino Rossi, who was fastest in the wet this morning, had a disappointing session finishing as last prototype in 11th, sighting set-up issues as the main problem.

Power Electronics Aspar’s Randy de Puniet finished as the top CRT rider in 12th, just ahead of Bautista’s teammate Michele Pirro. Cardion AB Racing’s Karel Abraham was declared unfit to race this weekend due to a fracture of the 5th and 3rd metacarpal of the left hand, sustained in a crash in testing in Aragón on Wednesday last week.

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