Reigning MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner returned to the top of the Sepang testing timesheets today after an enforced rest period, lapping two-tenths faster than team-mate Dani Pedrosa and nearly half a second faster than Jorge Lorenzo while Valentino Rossi took advantage of a whole dry day to close the gap to one second on his old rival.

The first two days in Malaysia were blighted with rain from lunchtime onwards but the final session remained water free with Stoner's fastest of 34 laps being a 2'00.473, which is still just under a second slower than the sub two-minute lap he put in a month ago at the same track. Lorenzo put the factory Yamaha round in 2'00.877 to record his fastest time of the three days while Pedrosa's last run saw a 2'00.648 as the Spaniard fought to reduce chatter and improve braking stability.

"Again we've been unable to profit from the full three days of the test here in Sepang, the first day we only manages about 16 laps before the rain came and then yesterday we weren't able to get out at all. So today it's been good to have some nice weather, get out on track and find some different solutions on the bike, we've been trying a few different things with electronics to have the engine character the same way we like it," said Stoner.

"We've also tried shortening the wheelbase, aiming to reduce the chattering and we've been successful in decreasing it slightly but at the moment we're unable to eliminate it completely, so we still have quite a lot of work to do. The chassis balance feels good as does the traction on the bike, it's turning well but we really need to get rid of the chatter, in general we are happy with the bike."

Nine-time champion Rossi has found some settings he likes and the new traction control system is working well He reduced the gap to Stoner to only one second and is only half a second away from the top three so The Doctor is confident podiums could be a possibility this season.

Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow took advantage of the cool afternoon conditions to lever his way into third place on a 2'00.986, making him the last rider under the 2'01 barrier until team-mate Andrea Dovizioso put in a late charge to go one place better and then Pedrosa came out for his fast last run.

Also liking the slightly cooler track temperature were Hector Barbera and Alvaro Bautista who took sixth and seventh places early on. Barbera, who is on a satellite Ducati GP12, is three-tenths faster than Rossi while San Carlo Honda's Bautista is only fractionally slower than his bietter 250GP rival even after crashing unhurt.

Ben Spies lobbed it this morning and was unable to improve on his 2'01.432, slipping down to the order to eighth. Rookie Stefan Bradl continues to make progress, setting the ninth fastest time ahead of Rossi.  Nicky Hayden, also on the fitness trail after his January dirt-track crash, was just behind his team-mate on the timesheet but walked away from a crash during his final lap of the day.

Forward NGM's Colin Edwards has made some serious progress in the CRT class today, cutting the gap on Stoner to 3.2s and increasing it over his rivals to three seconds. The CRT battle between Edwards, De Puniet, Espargaro and Ellison is going to be interesting at Jerez…

Sepang MotoGP test day three - conditions dry

1 Casey Stoner Repsol Honda Team 2:00.473 - - 34

2 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 2:00.648 +0.175 +0.175 40

3 Andrea Dovizioso Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:00.802 +0.154 +0.329 54

4 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Factory Racing 2:00.877 +0.075 +0.404 51

5 Cal Crutchlow Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:00.986 +0.109 +0.513 54

6 Hector Barbera Pramac Racing Team 2:01.231 +0.245 +0.758 66

7 Alvaro Bautista San Carlo Honda Gresini 2:01.275 +0.044 +0.802 51

8 Ben Spies Yamaha Factory Racing 2:01.432 +0.157 +0.959 28

9 Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 2:01.492 +0.060 +1.019 54

10 Valentino Rossi Ducati Team 2:01.550 +0.058 +1.077 57

11 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 2:01.609 +0.059 +1.136 44

12 Franco Battaini Cardion AB Motoracing 2:03.490 +1.881 +3.017 39

13 Colin Edwards NGM Mobile Forward Racing 2:03.681 +0.191 +3.208 43

14 Yonny Hern?ndez Avintia Racing 2:06.632 +2.951 +6.159 48

15 Ivan Silva Avintia Racing 2:06.785 +0.153 +6.312 53