The two MotoGP rookies led the timesheets again on Saturday morning. Casey Stoner quickest , ahead of Dani Pedrosa, who lead yesterday's practice sessions. Times are extremely fast, in the low 1:28 seconds bracket, but what is more impressive is that Pedrosa's 1:28.478 was set in the middle of an 11 lap run, which included 7 sub 1:29 second laps. The odds are good that the Donington lap record will fall tomorrow, possibly by a large margin.
Skipping yesterday's afternoon session seems to have done Loris Capirossi some good, as he ended up third. Surprisingly, the medical cases took places 3, 4 and 5, with Valentino Rossi fourth fastest, followed by Marco Melandri. There are still question marks over their endurance, but they should all be able to play at least some part in the race on Sunday. Kenny Roberts Jr improved on yesterday in 6th, followed by Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden.
John Hopkins is down in 9th, failing to improve his time from yesterday. Randy de Puniet follows, ahead of Shinya Nakano and Makoto Tamada. Carlos Checa is consolidating on the improvements the Dunlops have made, in 13th, ahead of Chris Vermeulen and Alex Hofmann on the Bridgestones, with Tech 3 Yamaha team mate James Ellison in 16th ahead of Elias' replacement Michel Fabrizio. The Pramac d'Antin Ducati's trail the field, with Ivan Silva, filling in for Alex Hofmann, doing well to go faster than his team mate Jose Luis Cardoso.
| 1 | 27 | STONER | AUS | HONDA | 1'28.252 | ||
| 2 | 26 | PEDROSA | SPA | HONDA | 1'28.478 | 0.226 | 0.226 |
| 3 | 65 | CAPIROSSI | ITA | DUCATI | 1'28.538 | 0.286 | 0.060 |
| 4 | 46 | ROSSI | ITA | YAMAHA | 1'28.779 | 0.527 | 0.241 |
| 5 | 33 | MELANDRI | ITA | HONDA | 1'29.048 | 0.796 | 0.269 |
| 6 | 10 | ROBERTS JR | USA | KR211V | 1'29.075 | 0.823 | 0.027 |
| 7 | 5 | EDWARDS | USA | YAMAHA | 1'29.076 | 0.824 | 0.001 |
| 8 | 69 | HAYDEN | USA | HONDA | 1'29.134 | 0.882 | 0.058 |
| 9 | 21 | HOPKINS | USA | Suzuki | 1'29.170 | 0.918 | 0.036 |
| 10 | 17 | DE PUNIET | FRA | Kawasaki | 1'29.397 | 1.145 | 0.227 |
| 11 | 56 | NAKANO | JPN | KAWASAKI | 1'29.418 | 1.166 | 0.021 |
| 12 | 6 | TAMADA | JPN | HONDA | 1'29.552 | 1.300 | 0.134 |
| 13 | 7 | CHECA | SPA | YAMAHA | 1'29.906 | 1.654 | 0.354 |
| 14 | 71 | VERMEULEN | AUS | SUZUKI | 1'29.954 | 1.702 | 0.048 |
| 15 | 66 | HOFMANN | GER | DUCATI | 1'30.544 | 2.292 | 0.590 |
| 16 | 77 | ELLISON | GBR | YAMAHA | 1'31.050 | 2.798 | 0.506 |
| 17 | 84 | FABRIZIO | ITA | HONDA | 1'31.883 | 3.631 | 0.833 |
| 18 | 22 | SILVA | SPA | DUCATI | 1'32.310 | 4.058 | 0.427 |
| 19 | 30 | CARDOSO | SPA | DUCATI | 1'32.442 | 4.190 | 0.132 |
