Factory Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo pinched top spot in the final MotoGP free practice session at the Sachsenring this morning with his last lap but the top three at covered by only 0.047s while the gap from first to 15th is only 1.5s.
Lorenzo's final circulation was 1'22.112 which toppled compariot Dani Pedrosa who had only just set the fastest time himself of 1'22.153. The Repsol Honda man went ahead of Marco Simoncelli who set the pace on a 1'22.159.
Gresini Honda's Simoncelli crashed at the now notorious turn 11 late on in the session, losing the front in a carbon copy of Stoner and Rossi's spills on cold tyres yesterday morning. Karel Abraham also crashed, but that is to be expected.
Stoner, meanwhile, could only muster fourth fastest with his last flyer but is only a quarter of a second off the pace. He deposed team-mate Andrea Dovizioso while early leader Nicky Hayden's 1'22.500 was good enough to be first Ducati in sixth place.
Alvaro Bautista parked his Rizla Suzuki in seventh, the tight nature of the circuit obviously suiting the GSV-R800, while full-of-cold Ben Spies finshed in eighth with Randy De Puniet ninth. Colin Edwards picked himself off the floor to round out the top ten.
Valentino Rossi is 1.2s off the pace in 12th, behind Abraham's satellite Desmosedici, while Cal Crutchlow is 13th.
