Lorenzo Leads FP2 at Laguna MotoGP

2011 MotoGP

The reigning champ returned to his winning ways during Free Practice 2 at Laguna Seca Friday for Round 10 of the 2011 MotoGP Champion.

Jorge Lorenzo, last year’s Red Bull USGP winner, piloted his Yamaha YZR-M1 clad in special white and red livery to a 1:22.056, which was 0.044 of Casey Stoner’s top time in FP1 earlier in the day.

Running second fastest was last week’s Sachsenring MotoGP winner, Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa. The Spaniard beat out his fellow countryman by 0.141 of a second. But Stoner wasn’t too far behind, placing his Repsol Honda RC212V 0.175 of a second behind Lorenzo.

These three riders also seperated themselves from the 18-rider grid at FP1, but with Stoner topping the sheets, followed by Pedrosa and Lorenzo.

The next quickest rider was 0.481 of a second slower than Lorenzo, the third and final Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso. He was stalked by the American Ben Spies by 0.078 of a second on the Yamaha Factory Racing YZR-M1.

The final two to post within a second of Lorenzo were San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Marco Simoncelli and Rizla Suzuki’s Alvaro Bautista; Simoncelli was 0.747 of a second behind Lorenzo, with Bautista exactly a second behind.

Rounding out the top 10 were Pramac Racing Ducati’s Randy de Puniet, Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Colin Edwards and Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden.

Valentino Rossi struggled once again in FP2 at Laguna Seca, posting the 11th quickest time aboard the Ducati GP11; the Italian was 1.313 of a second behind Lorenzo.

As for LCR Honda Wildcard Ben Bostrom, who’s making his debut on a MotoGP at machine at 37 years old, he was last (18th), but bettered his timing by nine-tenths of a second; he finished 4.103 of a second behind Lorenzo.

The 2011 MotoGP grid will return to Laguna Seca at 10:10 a.m. (PDT) for the third and final Free Practice session before qualifying at 1:55 p.m. (PDT).

2011 Laguna Seca MotoGP: Free Practice 2 Results