Casey Stoner broke the lap record at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit to end the final MotoGP pre-season test on a high.
The Repsol Honda rider set a new record of one minute 59.665 and team-mate Dani Pedrosa also went under two minutes.
But defending champion Jorge Lorenzo could only finish in seventh, while Britain’s Cal Crutchlow was 14th.
Stoner said: “I’m feeling more and more comfortable on the bike and I can’t wait to get to Qatar for the first race.” BBC Sport
“The test here has been very productive for us, we did a long run here today (Thursday) - almost race distance - and gathered some key information.’
Marco Simoncelli was third, with the third Repsol rider Andrea Dovizioso in fourth and Fiat Yamaha rider Ben Spies in fifth.
Defending champion and Spies’ team-mate Jorge Lorenzo was down in seventh, while Valentino Rossi was again off the pace as he prepares for his first race on the Ducati. The Press Association
Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards also finished up early on day three but not before registering a best time of 2’00.966, placing him just ahead of World Champion Jorge Lorenzo. The Factory Yamaha Racing rider is still adamant that the M1 requires more power to be able to match its rivals, and his 48 laps on Thursday produced a best time of 2’01.003 that was just over 1.3s off Stoner’s benchmark.
Álvaro Bautista occupied eighth spot as he topped a trio of riders preparing for their second season in the premier class. The Rizla Suzuki rider finished ahead of Hiroshi Aoyama, who escaped a crash at Turn 9 without problems, and Héctor Barberá who was the highest placing Ducati on the final day on his Mapfre Aspar machine which had a new fairing.
Returning to action after his enforced absence through illness the day before, Valentino Rossi put in 59 laps on his factory Ducati as he sought the maximum out of the final day. The Italian ended 11th on the timesheet with a time of 2’01.469, an effort matched by his team-mate Nicky Hayden and which left the pair 1.804s from the top. The American appeared to have resolved the bulk of the problem he had with chatter on his GP11, but still has a remaining issue in turning. Motogp.com
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