Valentino Rossi´s morning lap of 1´59.906 was enough to take the early advantage in the MotoGP combined free practice standings, with not even the Italian himself able to beat his hot lap in the second session.
The Fiat Yamaha rider finished second in the afternoon runout, behind 2007 Shanghai racewinner and reigning World Champion Casey Stoner. However, Stoner´s 2´00.186 lap was not sufficient to better Rossi´s marker, falling just over two tenths of a second short.
Both riders had grip problems on their final outing of the day, avoiding highsides on the sun-heated asphalt but losing time making corrections. Rossi ran off track, a fate that also befell Alice Team´s Toni Elias and Rizla Suzuki´s Loris Capirossi.
The top three in the combined standings involved all three previous winners of the Chinese round of the World Championship, with Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa pursuing the leading duo at the scene of his 2006 maiden MotoGP victory.
Claiming a newfound level of comfort with his San Carlo Gresini Honda RC212V in Thursday´s press conference, Shinya Nakano gave weight to his statement by recording the day´s fourth fastest time. He was quicker than the likes of 2007 podium finisher John Hopkins and 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden, riding the factory version of the Honda machine.
Fully recovered from his Estoril tonsillitis, Alex de Angelis was seventh on the timesheet on the second satellite Honda, ahead of Capirossi, JiR Team Scot´s Andrea Dovizioso and Tech 3 Yamaha veteran Colin Edwards.
MotoGP World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo did not come out for the afternoon session, having been taken to hospital for examination. The Spaniard suffered a highside in his first premier class Shanghai session, picking up a chipped bone in his left ankle and some damage to that of his right hand side. It is not yet known if the Fiat Yamaha rider will return to action on Saturday as he looks to maintain his 100% pole position record.
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