Pedrosa fends off Italian challenge

Dani Pedrosa clocked the fastest time in this morning’s third free practice session in Mugello to hold off the increasing threat posed by Italy’s big-name trio.

The Spaniard’s best of 1.50.108 gave him the fastest time by 0.383s from home favourite Valentino Rossi, who is bidding for an incredible sixth straight win at his local track.

Loris Capirossi made a welcome return to form as he claimed fourth ahead of Gresini Honda rider Marco Melandri as a partisan home crowd saw the Italian trio hit ominous form for tomorrow’s 23-lap race.

Pedrosa though took the spoils, just as he did in yesterday morning’s dry free practice session. This morning’s session was also run on a dry track, but with weather forecasts predicting more rain later, this afternoon’s decisive qualifying session could be run in wet conditions.

Weather forecasts for tomorrow’s rain are also bleak, with more rain predicted.

Repsol Honda rider Pedrosa had gone top of the timesheets with 1.50.845 on only his fourth lap to move 0.029s clear of Brazilian Alex Barros.

It was a position he barely relinquished as he then logged a 1.50.783 after 23 minutes to increase his advantage over the D’Antin Ducati rider to 0.90s.

World championship leader Casey Stoner, who was fastest in yesterday afternoon’s rain-lashed second practice session, briefly topped the timesheets after 24 minutes when he posted a 1.50.742 lap to move 0.042s clear of Pedrosa.

But a minute later Pedrosa reclaimed top spot with a best of 1.50.108 that moved him a massive 0.634s ahead of Stoner’s factory Ducati GP7.

This morning’s time was good enough to give Pedrosa the fastest time over the three free practice sessions, as he was 0.6s faster than his best lap clocked yesterday morning.

Stoner eventually ended the session third fastest having not managed to beat his time of 1.50.742. He was just 0.031s faster than team-mate Loris Capirossi, who got the chance to put in some serious mileage on a new Ducati GP7 designed specifically for his riding style.

The veteran Italian has struggled to match the speed of Stoner in the opening five races, but his V4 features new throttle maps, new cams and a revised fly-by-wire system to try and make the power delivery smoother.

He only managed 10 minutes on the new spec bike yesterday but clocked a best of 1.50.773 to knock a second off his best time in the dry this morning.

Rossi showed no signs that a crash in the rain yesterday, when he lost the front of his factory Yamaha YZR-M1, had hindered him too severely. He was second quickest with a best of 1.50.491.

Free practice three results:

1 Dani PEDROSA SPA HONDA 1’50.108
2 Valentino ROSSI ITA YAMAHA 1’50.491
3 Casey STONER AUS DUCATI 1’50.742
4 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA DUCATI 1’50.773
5 Marco MELANDRI ITA HONDA 1’50.871
6 Alex BARROS BRA DUCATI 1’50.874
7 John HOPKINS USA SUZUKI 1’50.905
8 Makoto TAMADA JPN YAMAHA 1’51.036
9 Alex HOFMANN GER DUCATI 1’51.082
10 Chris VERMEULEN AUS SUZUKI 1’51.112
11 Nicky HAYDEN USA HONDA 1’51.132
12 Colin EDWARDS USA YAMAHA 1’51.153
13 Randy DE PUNIET FRA KAWASAKI 1’51.293
14 Toni ELIAS SPA HONDA 1’51.337
15 Carlos CHECA SPA HONDA 1’51.351
16 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA YAMAHA 1’51.369
17 Shinya NAKANO JPN HONDA 1’51.390
18 Olivier JACQUE FRA KAWASAKI 1’52.074
19 Kenny ROBERTS JR USA KR212V 1’54.314
20 Kurtis ROBERTS USA KR212V 1’55.575