Repsol Honda's Casey Stoner continues to set the MotoGP pace at Le Mans, going fastest in this afternoon's second free practice session and, like this morning, team-mate Dani Pedrosa is giving chase.
Stoner was the only man under the 1'34s barrier with a 1'33.740 but Spaniard Pedrosa was only a quarter of a second in arrears on a 1'35.005 while Jorge Lorenzo restored the usual order in third on a 1'34.136.
Alvaro Bautista, however, is trying to un-restore it and was sitting pretty in third until Lorenzo's lap shuffled him down to fourth place ahead of Ben Spies, on the second works YZR-M1, who has found some pace to end the session in fifth and only seven-tenths slower than Stoner.
Monster Yamaha occupy the two next spaces with Andrea Dovizioso in sixth and Cal Crutchlow in seventh and both are under a second slower than the pacesetter while Hector Barbera, who got a massive tow from Stoner this morning, finished as leading Ducati in eighth.
Valentino Rossi is 1.3s off the pace with his ninth-placed finish while team-mate Nicky Hayden closed the gap to 0.20s on The Doctor with his last circulation. The 2006 world champion rounds out the top ten. Randy De Puniet is the leading CRT rider in 13th and 2.6 off the pace.
James Ellison has slipped down to 20th while Chris Vermeulen is at the foot of the table on Colin Edwards' NGM Forward machine. Mattia Pasini and Aleix Espargaro both walked away from crashes.
