After being the fastest rider in yesterday’s afternoon practice, this morning in the final free practice at Motegi, Dani Pedrosa continued to be the quickest rider and seems to be a man on a mission determined to have another ‘perfect day’.
The Repsol Honda rider stopped the clock in 1’45″792 and was the only one to dip under the 1.
47 barrier, which was enough to keep title rival Jorge Lorenzo at bay by 0.
265s, but the session was tight with eight riders separated by less than nine tenths of second.
After using only a hard tire yesterday, Ben Spies moved up to third with with the softer compound ahead of Yamaha Tech3 duo Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow with Alvaro Bautista sandwiched between the Brit and Italian.
Returning Casey Stoner was again seventh but he shaved off two tenths from his yesterday’s best lap, but this morning the Australian did only very brief runs saving himself for what will be a very battled qualifying session later today.
Valentino Rossi dropped back to eighth as lap times dropped and he had a very big moment in the final minutes of the session but was able to save it.
Stefan Bradl also dropped back on the charts to take 9th ahead of recovering Nicky Hayden.
Top CRT rider was Aleix Espargaro in 11th and 1″8 from Pedrosa, with the Spaniard leaving behind him three prototype riders: wildcard Katsuyuki Nakasuga (13th) on the Yamaha M1 and Hector Barbera (12th) and Karel Abraham (14th) on the satellite Ducatis.
MotoGP Motegi FP301- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’45.
792 02- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
265 03- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
346 04- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
428 05- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 0.
562 06- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
644 07- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.
688 08- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.
849 09- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 1.
236 10- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.
448 11- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 1.
893 12- Hector Barbera – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.
934 13- Katsuyuki Nakasuga – Yamaha YSP Racing Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.
945 14- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.
999 15- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 2.
566 16- James Ellison – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP12 – + 2.
836 17- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda Suter BMW – + 3.
451 18- Michele Pirro – San Carlo Honda Gresini – FTR Honda MGP12 – + 3.
557 19- Roberto Rolfo – Speed Master Team – ART GP12 – + 3.
561 20- Yonny Hernandez – Avintia Blusens – BQR FTR – + 3.
710 21- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – Suter BMW – + 4.
182 22- Ivan Silva – Avintia Blusens – BQR FTR – + 4.
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