Dovizioso tops Japan warm up

Andrea Dovizioso's strength on the Motegi track was underlined on Sunday when the Italian set the fastest lap of the 20-minute warm up ahead of the Grand Prix of Japan, which he will start from pole position. The Repsol Honda rider's time of 1'47.775 was set in good condition with a track temperature of 28ºC.

Hot on his tail was Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha), who timed in at just a thousandth of a second behind and was the only other rider under 1'48", with Casey Stoner (Ducati Team) just over two-tenths further back. Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) completed the top five in the session.

Rookie Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini), Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) set top-eight times as well.

The MotoGP race is scheduled to start at 3pm local time.