Casey Stoner the one to catch in Qatar
Casey Stoner has been hot in Qatar
Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner has set the fastest time in the final MotoGP practice session for the Commericalbank Grand Prix of Qatar.
The Australian again dominated practice at the Losail International Circuit with a best time for the entire meeting so far of 1:55:035.
It was a Repsol Honda one- two-three, with Dani Pedrosa (Spain) second and Italian Andrea Dovizioso third. The Spaniard was only 0.158 off Stoner’s quickest lap, whilst Dovizioso was a further 0.705 behind.
There was a marked improvement for the current World Champion, Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) as he got the edge over his team-mate Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) for the first time this weekend. He claimed the fourth quickest time and was very close to the lap time set by third placed Honda,
The top Ducati rider was Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar Team) who again produced a very strong performance in practice, finishing sixth. Ducati Team rider Valentino Rossi was eighth quickest whilst his team-mate Nicky Hayden was down in 14th.
Final Free Practice
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time | Gap |
| 1 | 27 | Casey Stoner | AUS | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 320.4 | 1:55.457 | – |
| 2 | 26 | Dani Pedrosa | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 321.8 | 1:55.854 | 0.397 |
| 3 | 11 | Ben Spies | USA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 316.3 | 1:56.116 | 0.659 |
| 4 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | ITA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 323.3 | 1:56.172 | 0.715 |
| 5 | 1 | Jorge Lorenzo | SPA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 317.8 | 1:56.220 | 0.763 |
| 6 | 5 | Colin Edwards | USA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 316.4 | 1:56.259 | 0.802 |
| 7 | 58 | Marco Simoncelli | ITA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 318.7 | 1:56.378 | 0.921 |
| 8 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 319.2 | 1:56.518 | 1.061 |
| 9 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 320.1 | 1:56.532 | 1.075 |
| 10 | 69 | Nicky Hayden | USA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 320.0 | 1:56.626 | 1.169 |
| 11 | 14 | Randy de Puniet | FRA | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 316.3 | 1:56.668 | 1.211 |
| 12 | 8 | Hector Barbera | SPA | Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP | Ducati | 327.7 | 1:56.735 | 1.278 |
| 13 | 7 | Hiroshi Aoyama | JPN | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 319.7 | 1:56.790 | 1.333 |
| 14 | 19 | Alvaro Bautista | SPA | Rizla Suzuki MotoGP | Suzuki | 316.3 | 1:56.833 | 1.376 |
| 15 | 65 | Lois Capirossi | ITA | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 317.6 | 1:57.304 | 1.847 |
| 16 | 17 | Karel Abraham | CZE | Cardion AB Motoracing | Ducati | 322.5 | 1:57.683 | 2.226 |
| 17 | 24 | Toni Elias | SPA | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda | 316.5 | 1:58.801 | 3.344 |