Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa has upped the pace in the second MotoGP free practice sessin at Motegi, diving under team-mate Casey Stoner's lap record by four tenth of a second to lead an HRC whitewash of the top four places.
Pedrosa went round in a 1'46.790 with this morning's fastest man Stoner only 0.054s behind on a 1'46.844 while Andrea Dovizioso completed the Repsol hat-trick in third and was only a further tenth of a second in arrears.
San Carlo Honda's Marco Simoncelli is sitting in fourth with a lap he set right at the start of the session as factory Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo is the first non-Honda on the timesheet in fifth but the Spanish reigning champion is more than half a second slower than countryman Pedrosa.
Nicky Hayden is the leading Ducati in sixth and just ahead of Hiro Aoyama's San Carlo Honda. Hayden's team-mate Valentino Rossi placed eighth after a big slide into turn three saw him run into the gravel. The Doctor is a little over a second off the pace.
Hector Barbera is in ninth on the Mapfre Ducati with Monster Yamaha's Colin Edwards in tenth. Ben Spies garaged his bike early and went to the medical centre for a check-up as he has been ill for the last couple of days. Britain's Cal Crutchlow was 13th, one place ahead of the Texan.
