MotoGP News
Casey Stoner was once again on top of the time sheets, posting the quickest time in Free Practice 3 on Saturday at Motorland Aragon, Round 13 of the 2010 MotoGP Championship.
The Ducati Team rider posted a 1:50.115 on his Desmosedici GP10, which beat out Dani Pedrosa’s leading Friday practice time by 0.279 of a second. Stoner now holds the fastest time on Aragon going into this afternoon’s qualifying session.
But at Saturday’s final practice, the Repsol Honda rider Pedrosa was only 0.337 of a second behind Stoner. The Spaniard ran his RC212V aggressively, looking to please a home crowd and go for three consecutive wins. In third was another impressive run by a Ducati, this one posted by Nicky Hayden, who posted a 1:50.675.
The other Repsol Honda rider, Andrea Dovizioso, edged out Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo for fourth. But even fifth fastest, Lorenzo was still on 0.669 of a second off Stoner’s time.
The next two quickest riders, Monster Tech 3 Yamaha rider Ben Spies and LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet, were the last to post under the 1:51 mark.
Rounding out the top ten were Spies’ teammate, Colin Edwards, and the other rookie, San Carlo Gresini Honda rider Marco Simoncelli.
For the inaugural Aragon Grand Prix, MotoGP returned to a three-round practice format, something that was abolished at the end of the 2008 season. The format is being tested at Aragon, and may possibly be reinstated for the 2011 season.
Qualifying is set for 2:05 p.m. local time.