Just as it looked like normal service would not be resumed and Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo would keep Casey Stoner off the top of the MotoGP test timesheet at the end of the last day, the reigning world champion made his last exit from pitlane and beat the Spaniard by a little under two-tenths of a second to resume aforementioned service.

Lorenzo had been sitting pretty in the number one spot with a 1'38.953 with Dani Pedrosa in second place a further two-tenths back but Stoner, as is his want, stuck another tyre in and lapped at 1'38.790 which is almost exactly the pole lap he set at Jerez last year.

But finally there was some good news to come out of the works Ducati garage as, even though Stoner upped the pace at the end, auld enemy Valentino Rossi got to within a second of his nemesis and is only six-tenths off a podium spot with a lap of 1'39.733 - justifying his team's confidence at the GP12 unveiling last week.

The Doctor got the better of team-mate Nicky Hayden with a lap of 1'39.733 as the clocked ticked down to an hour left to go. It remains to be seen what, if anything, Jerry Burgess has done to the 2012 Desmosedici or whether it is down to a soft tyre and Rossi throwing caution to the wind.

Lorenzo's team-mate Ben Spies occupied fourth place and was the last of the factory bikes in the top five as Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow continued his run of awesome test form, bagging fifth place on a 1'39.585 - only eight-tenths off Stoner and two-tenths faster than team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, who was shaded by Rossi.

Hayden is 1.1s off the pace but ahead of Alvaro Bautista on the San Carlo Honda and rookie Stefan Bradl who is growing in maturity and pace every time he gets on board the LCR RC213V. Ducati privateers Hector Barbera and Karel Abraham got the better of CRT top man Randy De Puniet but the former is only three-tenths quicker than the Frenchman, himself only 1.8s off the pace.

De Puniet's Aspar team-mate Aleix Espargaro is second on the CRT leaderboard with two-time World Superbike Champion Colin Edwards in third but some 3.2s slower than Stoner. Britain's James Ellison, who is only at the end of his third day of dry testing on the PBM Aprila, was 20th but only four-tenths off Edwards.

Jerez MotoGP test day three - conditions dry

1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1:38.780 - - 61

2 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1:38.953 +0.173 +0.173 84

3 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1:39.157 +0.204 +0.377 73

4 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1:39.495 +0.338 +0.715 61

5 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:39.585 +0.090 +0.805 83

6 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1:39.733 +0.148 +0.953 90

7 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:39.860 +0.127 +1.080 72

8 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1:39.919 +0.059 +1.139 91

9 Alvaro BAUTISTA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:40.017 +0.098 +1.237 86

10 Stefan BRADL LCR Honda 1:40.098 +0.081 +1.318 85

11 Hector BARBERA Pramac Racing Team 1:40.287 +0.189 +1.507 91

12 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1:40.579 +0.292 +1.799 88

13 Randy DE PUNIET Power Electronics Aspar 1:40.601 +0.022 +1.821 71

14 Aleix ESPARGARO Power Electronics Aspar 1:41.645 +1.044 +2.865 69

15 Danilo PETRUCCI Came Iodaracing Project 1:41.926 +0.281 +3.146 87

16 Franco BATTAINI Ducati Team 1:42.057 +0.131 +3.277 85

17 Colin EDWARDS NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1:42.073 +0.016 +3.293 58

18 Mattia PASINI Speed Master 1:42.184 +0.111 +3.404 59

19 Michele PIRRO San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:42.212 +0.028 +3.432 52

20 James ELLISON Paul Bird Motorsport 1:42.437 +0.225 +3.657 83

21 Ivan SILVA Avintia Racing MotoGP 1:42.446 +0.009 +3.666 84

22 Yonny HERNANDEZ Avintia Racing MotoGP 1:42.906 +0.460 +4.126 59