Stoner fastest in first MotoGP session

From motogp.com

Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) delivered the goods in the first practice session for the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar at the Losail International Circuit on Thursday.

The Australian brought forward his superb form from the pre-season tests, to the start of the Qatar race weekend and produced the quickest lap time of 1:55.752. This was over 0.610 secs. quicker than his nearest rival.

"We started of where we left on Monday and used more or less the same set-up," Stoner said. "The wind is a little stronger than we had in the test but the track condition feels pretty good.

"We need to improve rear edge grip. This is an area we've struggled with a little, so we need to improve that, which will give us better turn in and exit from the corner. I'd say we're about 80 percent complete on the bike package. We have a few main areas we can improve, but this is always the case. I did the whole session with the same rear hard tire and I was happy with it from the beginning to the end. This is good for the race."

Honda dominated the session with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) second fastest, but the surprise of the session was Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP), setting the third quickest lap of the 45-minute session.

"I had a problem with the rear tire that we need to understand," Pedrosa said. "It's the first issue we've had this winter with the tires, so I hope it's an exception to the rule. We started the practice very well, we were fast in the first exit and then we stayed with the same tire, the softer compound, for the whole session.

"Even if I used the same compound during the winter test without any problem for several laps, today already in the second round I felt it dropped down a lot, and in the third and last one it was even worse. With only 45 minutes practice, the rounds are very short and you don't have much time to make changes. Maybe the tire had a problem, maybe it dropped down a lot because with 125cc and Moto2 bikes on track the conditions were very different comparing with the test of few days ago. We don't know exactly.”

All eyes were on the debut of Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) riding on his Desmosedici GP11 for the first time in a competitive session. After some disappointing performances in pre-season testing he finished fifth, just being edged out by fellow Italian Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team).

Current World Champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) was 0.834 secs. off the fastest time set by Stoner and was one place behind fellow Yamaha Factory Racing team-mate Ben Spies.

The gap between second and eighth was just 0.230 secs., showing how close the competition is throughout the field in MotoGP.

The third Repsol Honda was Andrea Dovizioso, who was eighth quickest and next, the Frenchman Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) in ninth position, who was making his debut for the team.

The final place in the top 10 went to American Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3).

MotoGP rookie Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) finished in 14th after a difficult pre-season test where had suffered a nasty injury to his finger.

Japanese rider Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing) set the fastest time of the second Moto2 session. Takahashi grabbed the quickest time of the session in the dying moments of FP2, beating Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing) by just 0.053 secs. Redding looked set to claim top spot in the session, however a fall on his last lap cost him the chance of attempting to improve his time.

Takahashi’s lap of 2:01.695 was faster than the best time of FP1 set by Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing). Bradl was still consistently quick though, recording the third fastest time of FP2.

The second practice session of the day for 125cc saw Nicolas Terol yet again top the timesheets at the Losail International Circuit. The Bankia Aspar rider’s fastest lap was 1.7 secs. quicker than the quickest time set in FP1 earlier in the evening.

Sandro Cortese (Intact Racing Team Germany) produced another good lap to progress from third quickest in FP1 to second in FP2. Jumping up from seventh in FP1, Héctor Faubel (Bankia Aspar) was third quickest in the second session.

MotoGP Practice Results
1. Casey STONER (AUS) Repsol Honda 1:55.752
2. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda 1:56.362
3. Hector BARBERA (SPA) Mapfre Aspar Ducati 1:56.421
4. Marco SIMONCELLI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda 1:56.441
5. Valentino ROSSI (ITA) Ducati Team Ducati 1:56.479
6. Ben SPIES (USA) Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 1:56.493
7. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 1:56.586
8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda 1:56.592
9. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) Pramac Ducati 1:56.790
10. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha 1:56.879
11. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati Team Ducati 1:56.910
12. Hiroshi AOYAMA (JPN) San Carlo Gresini Honda 1:56.987
13. Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Pramac Ducati 1:57.366
14. Cal CRUTCHLOW (GBR) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha 1:57.429
15. Karel ABRAHAM (CZE) Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 1:57.821
16. Alvaro BAUTISTA (SPA) Rizla Suzuki 1:58.528
17. Toni ELIAS (SPA) LCR Honda 1:59.087