Just nine points behind championship leader Casey Stoner, Rossi pushed his Yamaha to a quickest lap of 1:43.313, just edging American John Hopkins who recorded a fastest lap of 1:43.389 ahead of the final practice session on Saturday.

Dani Pedrosa is still fastest overall after the first two practice sessions, despite taking a tumble in the second race. Pedrosa went around in a time of 1:43.391, third fastest lap for the session.

Stoner was solid, finishing fifth quickest on his Ducati in a time of 1:43.683, while Spanish rider Tony Elias rounds out the top five with a time of 1:43.592.

Aussie Chris Vermeulen was impressive finishing sixth fastest with a time of 1:43.713, just ahead of Honda's Marco Melandri who recorded a time of 1:43.811.

Alex Barros (1:43.857), Colin Edwards (1:43.865) and Shinya Nakano (1:44.003) make up the top-ten place getters.

Rossi will be hoping he can maintain his form at the Spanish circuit, the seven-time world champion winning the 2006 Catalan MotoGP after a crash forced a restart, while Stoner is looking for a lift.

"It's a similar situation to what we were in at Mugello - we are fast enough but we've not got that little bit extra at the moment," Stoner said. "This morning we weren't too bad but this afternoon we seemed to have gone in the wrong direction."

"We tested a lot of things - different front tyres, different rear tyres, different chassis set-ups, links and so on - and basically I think we made it a little too confusing, so we need to go back to what we had and then go off in a different direction."

"Same as every weekend we're looking for more traction and more turning in the long corners. We still need to improve the bike but the tyres aren't so bad and we've not been through the whole range yet, we've still got a couple more rears to try tomorrow (Saturday)."

Results from the second free practice session of the Catalan MotoGP:
1. V Rossi 1:43.313
2. J Hopkins 1:43.389
3. D Pedrosa 1:43.391
4. T Elias 1:43.592
5. C Stoner 1:43.683
6. C Vermeulen 1:43.713
7. M Melandri 1:43.811
8. A Barros 1:43.857
9. C Edwards 1:43.865
10. S Nakano 1:44.003

Sportal