MotoGP – Losail FP3 – Stoner precedes Edwards

Casey Stoner continues to amaze; yesterday morning (in the first free practice of the Qatar GP which takes place on the Losail track) his best time almost seemed to "come out of the hat" and instead already in FP2 (yesterday afternoon) the Australian had demonstrated that he was going very fast, conquering the 2nd time behind Kenny Roberts Jr. Further confirmation of the performances of Lucio Cecchinello's driver comes from this morning's FP3 which sees him once again in the lead with a time of 1'56"329.

The Australian (who had missed almost all the winter tests due to a shoulder operation) preceded the Yamahas of Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi by more than half a second who seem to have overcome the problems that had slowed them down in Jerez de la Frontera. Rossi will however find himself battling with younger and very aggressive opponents such as the Spaniard Toni Elias (fourth in the race in Jerez) who set the 4th fastest time with a gap from Stoner of 680 thousandths.

Dani Pedrosa, the protagonist of Jerez (who finished 2nd in the race) is also fifth with a gap of 721 thousandths; the Spaniard precedes the real surprise of the first day Kenny Roberts Jr. Seventh time for Gibernau's Ducati, the Spaniard precedes Melandri, Hayden and teammate Loris Capirossi.