Silverstone MotoGP: Stoner Tops Friday FP

2012 MotoGP Friday Practice Results

As expected, the 20-rider grid (minus a rider) woke up to rain Friday at Silverstone for the first free practice of the British Grand Prix.

And the man who always impresses during wet conditions, Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi, led the first practice with a best lap of 2:19.328. The nine-time World Champion was followed 0.077 of a second back by teammate Nicky Hayden.

But following FP1, the 3.666-mile Silverstone circuit began to dry, just ahead of the second and final practice of Friday – FP2. And once the riders got onto the track, it was a very familiar name up front – Casey Stoner.

The Repsol Honda rider, who finished seventh quickest in FP1, would post a 2:04.791 towards the end of the second free practice when the track was drying out.

But not far behind the reigning MotoGP Champion was a man who struggled up to this weekend’s sixth round at Silverstone – Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies. The Texan, who crashed during the wet FP1, trailed Stoner by only 0.037 of a second.

Another rider who crashed during the wet morning session was San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista. But like Spies, the Spaniard recovered well, and was able to post the third-quickest time of 2:04.995 aboard the satellite Honda RC213V, the time 0.204 of a second slower than Stoner.

Hayden would finish fourth, followed by LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl, who was 0.6 of a second behind Stoner. Taking the fifth-seventh spots were three Yamaha YZR-M1 prototypes – Monster Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso, who finished third at Catalunya two weeks ago, Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo, who won at Catalunya, and home-favorite Cal Crutchlow, respectively.

Crutchlow was 0.783 of a second behind Stoner, and was the last rider to post within a second of the leader.

Stoner’s teammate Dani Pedrosa finished ninth fastest, 1.095 seconds behind. Pramac Racing Ducati’s Hector Barbera took the 10th fastest time, and Rossi the 11th; Rossi was the last prototype to finish due to the absence of Cardion AB Racing Ducati’s Karel Abraham, who was declared unfit to race this weekend due to hand injuries sustained while testing.

Taking the top CRT time was Power Electronics Aspar’s Randy de Puniet; the Frenchman posted a 2:07.893, 3.102 of a second behind Stoner.

The riders will return to the Silverstone circuit Saturday morning for the third and final free practice session ahead of qualifying for Sunday’s British Grand Prix.

2012 Silverstone MotoGP: Free Practice One Results:

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time	Gap 1st/Prev.
1.	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	300.1	2’19.328
2.	69	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	Ducati	299.9	2’19.405	0.077 / 0.077
3.	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	304.2	2’20.127	0.799 / 0.722
4.	1	Casey STONER	AUS	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	303.6	2’20.321	0.993 / 0.194
5.	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	298.4	2’21.263	1.935 / 0.942
6.	6	Stefan BRADL	GER	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	291.7	2’21.917	2.589 / 0.654
7.	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	298.1	2’22.713	3.385 / 0.796
8.	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	293.9	2’23.174	3.846 / 0.461
9.	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	299.3	2’23.326	3.998 / 0.152
10.	8	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	296.5	2’24.150	4.822 / 0.824
11.	11	Ben SPIES	USA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	297.4	2’24.214	4.886 / 0.064
12.	14	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	Power Electronics Aspar	ART	278.9	2’24.360	5.032 / 0.146
13.	54	Mattia PASINI	ITA	Speed Master	ART	281.8	2’24.390	5.062 / 0.030
14.	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Came IodaRacing Project	Ioda	273.8	2’25.012	5.684 / 0.622
15.	51	Michele PIRRO	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	FTR	280.7	2’25.051	5.723 / 0.039
16.	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Power Electronics Aspar	ART	281.2	2’25.065	5.737 / 0.014
17.	77	James ELLISON	GBR	Paul Bird Motorsport	ART	267.7	2’25.150	5.822 / 0.085
18.	68	Yonny HERNANDEZ	COL	Avintia Blusens	BQR	282.3	2’25.298	5.970 / 0.148
19.	22	Ivan SILVA	SPA	Avintia Blusens	BQR	269.4	2’28.615	9.287 / 3.317
	5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	NGM Mobile Forward Racing	Suter	266.5	2’31.468	12.140 / 2.853
	17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Cardion AB Motoracing	Ducati

2012 Silverstone MotoGP: Free Practice Two Results:

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time	Gap 1st/Prev.
1.	1	Casey STONER	AUS	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	309.8	2’04.791
2.	11	Ben SPIES	USA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	308.8	2’04.825	0.034 / 0.034
3.	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	308.9	2’04.995	0.204 / 0.170
4.	69	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	Ducati	305.4	2’05.353	0.562 / 0.358
5.	6	Stefan BRADL	GER	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	312.4	2’05.391	0.600 / 0.038
6.	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	311.8	2’05.448	0.657 / 0.057
7.	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	307.7	2’05.488	0.697 / 0.040
8.	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	308.2	2’05.574	0.783 / 0.086
9.	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	309.1	2’05.886	1.095 / 0.312
10.	8	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	311.8	2’06.084	1.293 / 0.198
11.	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	310.5	2’07.125	2.334 / 1.041
12.	14	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	Power Electronics Aspar	ART	290.7	2’07.893	3.102 / 0.768
13.	51	Michele PIRRO	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	FTR	287.9	2’08.535	3.744 / 0.642
14.	54	Mattia PASINI	ITA	Speed Master	ART	286.6	2’08.975	4.184 / 0.440
15.	68	Yonny HERNANDEZ	COL	Avintia Blusens	BQR	288.2	2’09.078	4.287 / 0.103
16.	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Power Electronics Aspar	ART	287.6	2’09.379	4.588 / 0.301
17.	77	James ELLISON	GBR	Paul Bird Motorsport	ART	289.5	2’09.944	5.153 / 0.565
18.	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Came IodaRacing Project	Ioda	274.5	2’11.325	6.534 / 1.381
19.	5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	NGM Mobile Forward Racing	Suter	284.4	2’11.600	6.809 / 0.275
20.	22	Ivan SILVA	SPA	Avintia Blusens	BQR	285.6	2’12.737	7.946 / 1.137
	17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Cardion AB Motoracing	Ducati