The Repsol Honda rider led the third practice session of the weekend at Phillip Island, just as he did the previous two on Friday, lapping 0.640s ahead to his closest challenger, Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing), with a best lap of 1’30.550.

Cooler temperatures and an increase in wind marked the Saturday morning outing, with only Repsol man Dani Pedrosa able to improve on his lap times from the day before, setting a 1’31.465 to rank the Spaniard third for the morning.

Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) crashed in turn ten for the third time this weekend, and again was able to quickly return to the track, posting the fourth quickest time ahead of Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) by a margin of 0.066s.

Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) was again sixth in the field, his time of 1’31.791 was two tenths behind his best time of Friday, while Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) followed in seventh with a 1’32.162.

Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki), Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) and Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) completed the top ten, with Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) circulating down in 12th.

Replacement rider for Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar), Aussie Damien Cudlin had a crash in turn two early in the session and was taken to the medical center to treat a superficial wound to his hip.