2011 Le Mans MotoGP: FP3 Results

2011 France GP

The Honda RC212V continued its domination during the third and final free practice session for the 2011 Le Mans MotoGP race this weekend.

And leading the pack once again was the Australian Casey Stoner on the Repsol Honda, although his Saturday morning FP3 time slowed a tenth of a second from Friday to 1:33.815. Through all three Free Practice sessions, Stoner continually broke the 2008 circuit record set by Valentino Rossi in 2008.

Second was San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Marco Simoncelli, who stalked Stoner 0.260 of a second behind. Taking the third and fourth quickest times were Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa, respectively.

Honda MotoGP machines have been fast at Le Mans since the start of the 800cc era, taking podium positions every year since 2007: former MotoGP rider Marco Melandri took second in 2007, Pedrosa third in 2009, and Dovizioso third in 2010.

Taking the fifth fastest time was the American Nicky Hayden on the Ducati Team MotoGP machine, followed by the reigning MotoGP Champion, Jorge Lorenzo. The Yamaha Facotry Racing rider Lorenzo has won at Le Mans for the past two seasons.

Valentino Rossi bettered his ninth-fastest overall time on Friday to sixth fastest; the Ducati Team rider Rossi has been on the podium seven times at Le Mans, including three wins.

Next up is qualifying for France MotoGP.

2011 Le Mans MotoGP: Free Practice 3 Results:

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time	Gap 1st/Prev.
1.	27	Casey STONER	AUS	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	287.8	1’33.815
2.	58	Marco SIMONCELLI	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	277.3	1’34.075	0.260 / 0.260
3.	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	285.6	1’34.244	0.429 / 0.169
4.	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	273.8	1’34.545	0.730 / 0.301
5.	69	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	Ducati	277.8	1’34.954	1.139 / 0.409
6.	1	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	279.3	1’35.051	1.236 / 0.097
7.	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	286.1	1’35.280	1.465 / 0.229
8.	5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	274.5	1’35.281	1.466 / 0.001
9.	11	Ben SPIES	USA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	284.0	1’35.302	1.487 / 0.021
10.	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	288.8	1’35.442	1.627 / 0.140
11.	7	Hiroshi AOYAMA	JPN	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	286.9	1’35.645	1.830 / 0.203
12.	17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Cardion AB Motoracing	Ducati	285.0	1’35.799	1.984 / 0.154
13.	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	276.1	1’35.979	2.164 / 0.180
14.	14	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	278.3	1’36.091	2.276 / 0.112
15.	8	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP	Ducati	275.8	1’36.268	2.453 / 0.177
16.	65	Loris CAPIROSSI	ITA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	273.1	1’36.370	2.555 / 0.102
17.	24	Toni ELIAS	SPA	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	277.7	1’36.467	2.652 / 0.097