Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa stuck in a soft rear Bridgestone before going out on his final run of laps to bag the fastest time in this morning's final MotoGP free practice session at Catalunya but is only three-tenths faster than team-mate Casey Stoner who ominously remained on the hard tyre all session and held top spot until three minutes from the end.
Pedrosa put in a 1'41.646 on his last lap with Stoner on a 1'41.966. Stoner also did another lap slightly slower than that before he was shuffled into second place. Monster Yamaha's Andrea Dovizioso took third on a soft tyre and is only 0.027 slower than his old team-mate while Hector 'Caravan' Barbera was fourth, also on a soft.
Ducati's Nicky Hayden stayed on the hard option for the session and ended in fifth place while Jorge Lorenzo, who was masterful on the softer tyre yesterday, ended down in sixth, just ahead of Stefan Bradl. Cal Crutchlow lapped in 1'42.906 to take eighth place, one ahead of Valentino Rosso who championed the hard tyre all morning and is 1.5 off Pedrosa's pace.
Alvaro Bautista rounds out the top ten with Ben Spies struggling again in 11th. Aleix Espargaro outlapped his team-mate Randy De Puniet for CRT top spot. Colin Edwards was 16th with James Ellison in 18th place.
