De Angelis surprises home fans in MotoGP warmup

Italian dominance at Mugello continued in the MotoGP morning warmup, although this time it came not from poleman Valentino Rossi but home rookie Alex de Angelis. The San Carlo Honda Gresini rider stunned with a 1´49.633 lap of a completely dry track, giving him a morale boost ahead of the 2pm race.

Front row starter Dani Pedrosa once again played second fiddle, just under two-tenths of a second slower than the MotoGP newcomer´s fastest lap. The Repsol Honda rider takes off from the front row of the grid, starting alongside Fiat Yamaha´s World Championship leader Rossi –himself third quickest.

World Champion Casey Stoner´s preparations also went relatively smoothly as he put the finishing touches to his race setup, fourth on the timesheet ahead of Rizla Suzuki´s Loris Capirossi, second Honda satellite rider Shinya Nakano, 2006 titlist Nicky Hayden and Le Mans podium finisher Colin Edwards in the morning run.