The Italian World Champion finished up two days of testing a quarter-second ahead of Casey Stoner, with Nicky Hayden a further 0.2 sec behind.

As Stoner had predicted, the Ducati machines are quick and will be hard to beat.

The Honda factory riders ended up a full second slower than Rossi, but may have kept a lithe in hand for the actual races.

Jorge Lorenzo, absent due to injury, remains a bit of a mystery – big heart and quick pace, but fragile.

The racing will be good, with everyone after Rossi’s crown!

Pos	Rider	Team	Fastest lap	Lead Gap	Laps
1	Valentine Rossi	Fiat Yamaha	2:00.271	-	39
2	Casey Stoner	Ducati Marlboro	2:00.512	+0.241	33
3	Nicky Hayden	Ducati Marlboro	2:00.703	+0.432	42
4	Colin Edwards	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	2:00.988	+0.717	35
5	Ben Spies	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	2:01.014	+0.743	44
6	Loris Capirossi	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	2:01.320	+1.049	50
7	Andrea Dovizioso	Repsol Honda	2:01.439	+1.168	46
8	Dani Pedrosa	Repsol Honda	2:01.692	+1.207	57
9	Hiroshi Aoyama	Interwetten-Honda MotoGP	2:01.732	+1.421	50
10	Alvaro Bautista	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	2:01.980	+1.461	25
11	Randy De Puniet	LCR Honda MotoGP	2:02.078	+1.709	58
12	Marco Melandri	San Carlo Honda Gresini	2:02.080	+1.807	60
13	Hector Barbera	Aspar	2:02.082	+1.809	52
14	Mika Kallio	Pramac Racing	2:02.287	+1.811	66
15	Yamaha T		2:02.367	+2.016	18
16	Aleix Espargaro	Pramac Racing	2:03.689	+2.096	49
17	Marco Simoncelli	San Carlo Honda Gresini	2:04.500	+3.418	2
18	Yamaha O			+4.229	43