Edwards reassumes Le Mans mantle in final practice

Colin Edwards opened the MotoGP morning action at the head of the field in France, leading the way on a rapidly drying track.

The Tech 3 Yamaha rider recorded a quickest time of 1´33.765, improving on his afternoon time from Friday by more than half a second and coming in nearly four-tenths of a second ahead of his nearest rival, Fiat Yamaha´s Valentino Rossi.

Two-time Le Mans premier class winner Rossi was in turn just over a tenth of a second faster than yesterday´s most mercurial man, Repsol Honda´s World Championship leading Dani Pedrosa. With reigning World Champion Casey Stoner also in close behind, no factory or tyre manufacturer appears to have a clear advantage going into what is sure to be a closely-contested qualifying session.

Andrea Dovizioso continued his excellent form in fifth place, onboard the JiR Team Scot Honda, whilst last year´s race winner Chris Vermeulen was once again running at the business end of the timesheets.

Randy de Puniet, John Hopkins, James Toseland and Loris Capirossi completed the top ten, whilst Jorge Lorenzo suffered another light crash in Le Mans, and was taken to the medical centre for further examination. No further damage to the already-injured Spaniard is expected.