Valencia, Spain: Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi laid down a marker to Yahama teammate and championship rival Jorge Lorenzo by going quicker than the Spaniard in Saturday's third practice session for the Valencia Grand Prix.
Rossi is looking to seal his 10th world title, and a joint record eighth in the premier category, on Sunday.
However, the Italian must start from the back of the grid after being adjudged to have kicked defending champion Marc Marquez off his bike at the Malaysian Grand Prix two weeks ago.
Lorenzo had been quickest in Friday's practice sessions, but failed to improve on his best time from yesterday as Rossi went over a tenth of a second quicker to record the second fastest lap of the weekend so far.
It was Rossi's compatriot Andrea Iannone who recorded the fastest time of the morning, though, in 1min 30.925sec.
Marquez also edged ahead of Lorenzo as third fastest.
There will be one final practice session on Saturday before qualifying begins for one of the most anticipated races in MotoGP history.
Valencia MotoGP practice times
1. Andrea Iannone (ITA/Ducati) 1min 30.925sec,
2. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) at 0.063,
3. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 0.109,
4. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Yamaha) 0.186,
5. Bradley Smith (GBR/Yamaha) 0.209,
6. Dani Pedrosa (ESP/Honda) 0.238,
7. Pol Espargaro (ESP/Yamaha) 0.239,
8. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati) 0.422,
9. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/Honda) 0.442,
10. Danilo Petrucci (ITA/Ducati) 0.598
AFP
