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2011 MotoGP FP1/FP2 Results
Weather conditions were not stable Friday for the opening practice sessions for Catalunya MotoGP.
The pilots were on the Spanish circuit on both rain and wet tires, but this didn’t slow Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner. The Australian continued his nearly flawless form that he had in Le Mans MotoGP, and dominated the first and second practice sessions on Friday. Stoner’s quickest lap time overall Friday was a 1:42.940.
But it wasn’t only Stoner’s Honda RC212V that was running quick; second fastest Marco Simoncelli. The San Carlo Gresini Honda rider was 0.528 of a second behind Stoner, with Stoner’s teammate Andrea Dovizioso in third fastest.
Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda MotoGP) says: "We’re quite happy with the day, unfortunately we didn’t get a lot of good wet or dry track time so a lot of time was wasted in changeable conditions and not achieving much. However, in general we got a pretty good feeling with the bike and everything seems to be working well.
"We would like to improve rear grip and turning on the exit, also some more stability on the brakes, but in general the bike feels good and we’re confident we can go faster tomorrow, hopefully in dry conditions and we’ll see what we can do.
"Physically I feel better than I have done in the past weeks, I’ve got blocked sinuses which doesn’t help when I’m trying to concentrate and my ears are popping but I’m trying to put this to one side and concentrate on the job at hand."
Taking the fourth and fifth fastest times were the Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP pair of Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies. They were followed by two other Yamaha YZR-M1 prototypes: Colin Edwards and Cal Crutchlow.
Although Edwards was running in the top 10, the Texan had a crash near the end of FP2. Edwards broke his shoulder. Edwards was taken to the Dexeus Institute Hospital in Barcelona where he will undergo surgery performed by Dr Xavier Mir, who has previously treated Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and Lorenzo.
Taking the eighth- and ninth-fastest times were the Ducati duo of Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi, perspectively.
Rounding out the top 10 was Simoncelli’s teammate, Hiroshi Aoyama.
As for Pedrosa, he continues to recover after breaking his right collarbone in Le Mans during the controversial crash involving Simoncelli. With Pedrosa and Edwards absent, Sunday’s race will shrink to 15 riders.
2011 Catalunya MotoGP: Combined Friday Free Practice Times
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Repsol Honda Team 1’42.940
2. Marco Simoncelli (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’43.468
3. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda Team 1’43.603
4. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Yamaha Factory Racing 1’43.810
5. Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha Factory Racing 1’44.646
6. Colin Edwards (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’44.768
7. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’44.797
8. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Team 1’44.799
9. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Ducati Team 1’44.844
10. Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’45.332
11. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’45.751
12. Toni Elias (SPA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1’45.760
13. Randy De Puniet (FRA) Pramac Racing Team 1’45.821
14. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Pramac Racing Team 1’46.136
15. Karel Abraham (CZE) Cardion AB Motoracing 1’46.280
16. Hector Barbera (SPA) Aspar Team 1’46.501
