All Stoner could do was minimize the time loss, as he consistently put in improved lap times in the closing stages of the practice session. In the end, he ended the day only 0.135 seconds behind Rossi, but more than 3 tenths of a second ahead of Honda's Dani Pedrosa.
“I'm not that happy with today's session to be honest. The track conditions weren't good at all and we struggled for traction, which is usually a strong point of our bike,” said Stoner after the practice session.
Title contender and Rossi's teammate Jorge Lorenzo had a day to forget on Friday, as he lost control of his bike in the Honda hairpin 4 minutes from time and eventually slipped to 6th overall in the time classification. What's even worrying about it is that the Spaniard didn't feel good all day, probably from something he ate the night before.
“I just couldn't go fast today. I wasn't feeling too good - I think that I ate something last night which didn't agree with me and I felt very weak, which made it very hard to ride the bike. Luckily I didn't hurt myself at all and now I will just try to get a good night's sleep and then hopefully I will be much better tomorrow,” added Lorenzo.
Alex De Angelis had a successful outing on Friday and clinched 4th place at the finish line, while Yamaha Tech 3's Colin Edwards continued his great form this season with a decent 5th place. Completing the Top 10 were Edwards's teammate James Toseland (7th place), Honda's Andrea Dovizioso, Pramac's Mika Kallio and Suzuki's Loris Capirossi.
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