MOTOGP: Pedrosa rules final practice

A dry final practice session for the Portuguese MotoGP at Estoril saw the fastest laps of the weekend so far and Dani Pedrosa on top of the timesheets. Having been forced to park his Repsol Honda midway through the 45-minute session, Pedrosa returned to topple team-mate Casey Stoner by just 0.012s in the closing minutes. Pedrosa, the defending Estoril winner, knocked one-second from the best Friday time, set by world champion Stoner. 2012 points leader Jorge Lorenzo was 0.354s from his fellow Spaniard in third for the Factory Yamaha team, with Tech 3 Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow (+0.760s) edging out team-mate Andrea Dovizioso for fourth. San Carlo Honda Gresini's Alvaro Bautista continued his Friday afternoon form by claiming sixth place, at the expense of Ducati's Valentino Rossi (+1.117s). Friday's top Yamaha rider, Ben Spies, suffered a set-back as he dropped to eighth this morning. Nicky Hayden (Ducati), Stefan Bradl (Honda) completing a top ten covered by 1.388s. Aspar Aprilia team-mates Randy de Puniet and Aleix Espargaro followed, the CRT riders beating Cardion AB Ducati's Karel Abraham. Avintia's Yonny Hernandez claimed what would be the final point scoring place on Sunday, in 15th. Qualifying takes place this afternoon.