Official MotoGP Test Valencia Result

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Official MotoGP Test Valencia Result
Session 1 as of 17:04 - 08/11/11

source: MotoGP Official

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Pedrosa sets FP1 pace in Malaysia

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The Repsol Honda team were the three fastest in the first MotoGP outing at the Sepang International Circuit, with Pedrosa leading followed by newly crowned World Champion Stoner second and Dovizioso third.

The MotoGP class began the Shell Advance Malaysian Grand Prix weekend with Dani Pedrosa jumping to the top of the timings shortly after the bikes hit the track, taking over the top spot from team mate Andrea Dovizioso. The Spaniard’s lap of 2’01.916 set on just his seventh lap out dominated the session, with second ranking Casey Stoner only approaching it by 0.641s and Dovizioso by a margin of 0.674.

In fourth with a lap of 2’03.311 was a fourth Honda, the San Carlo Honda Gresini machine of Marco Simoncelli, with Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista two tenths behind the Italian to claim fifth. Sixth place went to Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing), who is recovering after a big high last week in Australia that saw the Texan withdraw from the race. His lap of 2’03.586 was a little over a tenth quicker than the first Ducati in the line up of Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing).

Colin Edwards was eighth followed by Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team). Rossi’s team mate Nicky Hayden ranked 12th behind Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing).

Wildcard John Hopkins (Rizla Suzuki) rode the GSV-R to 14th in the timings, while Yamaha YZR-M1 test rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga, who is stepping in to replace injured Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo, ranked 17th. The Japanese rider saw as high as 11th until the a minor lowside slowed his progression.

Héctor Barberá completed just four full laps before heading to the medical center. The Mapfre Aspar rider is cautiously evaluating his fitness ahead of the race following surgery on the fractured collarbone he suffered in Japan just over two weeks ago.

source: motogp official

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Stoner secures MotoGP title with fifth home win

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Casey Stoner wins the Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island and is crowned 2011 world champion.

Casey Stoner won the 2011 MotoGP World Championship in fairytale style, by taking his fifth consecutive home win - on his 26th birthday - at Philip Island in Australia on Sunday. 

Stoner needed to score ten points more than reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo to clinch the crown and had labelled his home title chances as "almost none" coming into the event. 

Lorenzo looked more than capable of a podium finish, but that all changed when Yamaha's 2010 world champion was ruled out of the race due to a finger injury on his left hand in morning warm-up. 

That left Stoner needing only a top six finish, a task made even easier when Ben Spies was also ruled out of action a few hours after his team-mate. Spies had struggled for concentration following a knock to the head in a fast Saturday qualifying crash. 

As he had threatened to do all weekend, Stoner simply flattened the opposition in the race, making his RC212V dance around the fast seaside circuit. 

The only threat to Stoner's victory was the quick-changing Phillip Island weather, with odd spots of rain prompting white flags (meaning bike swaps were now possible) after 10 of the 27 laps. 

The spots didn't develop into anything more until just four laps to go - when a heavy downpour arrived at the final turn. 

The rest of the track remained dry and most chose to stay on slicks, but it was tense stuff as Stoner rode through the rain to claim his ninth victory of the season by 2.210sec, having surrendered large chunks of his previous lead to battling Italians Marco Simoncelli and Andrea Dovizioso. 

Simoncelli and Dovizioso were already battling before the rain shower, which Dovizioso capitalised upon to retake second. However a last lap lunge by Simoncelli gave the Gresini rider his best ever MotoGP finish by just 0.244sec over Dovizioso. Sunday marked the second time Simoncelli has stood on a premier-class podium. 

Dovizioso's team-mate Dani Pedrosa had also been a podium contender in the dry, but lost almost ten seconds when the rain arrived, although he was able to comfortably keep fourth. 

Nicky Hayden ran second to Stoner in the early stages, before being shuffled back to sixth by lap ten. The Ducati rider was still in that position when the rain arrived, when he made an ill-fate gamble to pit for his wet weather bike, which cost him a position to fellow American Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3). 

Hayden would have lost two places - Pramac Ducati's Randy de Puniet also moved ahead when he pitted - had Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista not crashed. 

The withdraw of Lorenzo put Bautista - already due to make a MotoGP best start of fourth on the grid - into a front row place. The Spaniard held fifth on lap one, was demoted by Pedrosa, then regained fifth by passing a fading Hayden on lap 10. 

Hayden's factory Ducati team-mate Valentino Rossi then became a bigger threat, but the Italian crashed out when he attempted an inside pass on Bautista into the off-camber MG hairpin on lap 14. 

Bautista thus looked set for a safe fifth until he was caught out by the rain. Hiroshi Aoyama (Gresini) and Cal Crutchlow (Tech 3) - who had been eighth and ninth - fell on the same lap. 

All of which meant that LCR's Toni Elias, Pramac's Loris Capirossi, returning to action after another shoulder dislocation, and Karel Abraham (Cardion AB) were the final finishers in eighth, ninth and tenth. Elias and Capirossi were one lap down, with Abraham - who fell - two laps behind. 

Only 14 riders began the race, with Australian Damian Cudlin, due to make his second MotoGP appearance in as many events - this time for Aspar Ducati - joining the Yamahas riders on the sidelines due to injuries from a huge Saturday morning highside. 

source: crash

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Stoner sweeps practice, takes pole

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Casey Stoner's quest for a fifth consecutive home Australian MotoGP victory continued as the Repsol Honda man took pole position after leading all three practice sessions at Phillip Island. The Australian will be joined by Lorenzo and Simoncelli on the front row.

The 2007 World Champion appears set to repeat his performance of last year that saw the Australian lead all sessions, take pole and ride to the win by leading the field by a margin of 0.473s over second place pace setter, Yamaha Factory’s Jorge Lorenzo, with an incredibly fast lap of 1’29.975. If the soon to be 26 year old (he celebrates his 26th on Sunday), scores ten points over title defender Lorenzo, he can wrap up the 2011 title in front of his home crowd.

San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli landed on the front row for the first time since the Mugello round, with a best effort of 1’30.599, while Álvaro Bautista had his and Rizla Suzuki’s best qualifying of the season with fourth, following the Italian by 0.115s.

Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) joins Bautista on row two after posting a time of 1’30.780, as does Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team), who had an early run off in the first 15 minutes, then regrouped enough to see himself as high as third on the leaderboard, finally settling in fifth with a time just 0.012s off Dovizioso’s.

Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) had an off track excursion followed by shortly by a heavy crash in turn 3. The Texan returned to the box, then quickly got back on track to jump immediately to seventh in a speedy recovery, a position he maintained with a time of 1’30.835.

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) followed the Texan by 0.036s to place eighth on the grid, the Spaniard was the last rider to lap within a second of Stoner’s leading time. Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) posted ninth quickest, with Loris Capirossi completing the top ten on his Pramac Racing machine, while his team mate Randy De Puniet just missed out on the top ten by 0.052s.

Damian Cudlin did not run within the 107% qualifying time, the Australian replacement for Héctor Barberá on the Mapfre Aspar team was still sore from a morning crash.

source: motogp official

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Stoner holds lead on home soil

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Casey Stoner lapped over half a second quicker than the MotoGP field for the third practice session at the Iveco Australian Grand Prix, with Lorenzo and Pedrosa the only two within one second of the leader.

The Repsol Honda rider led the third practice session of the weekend at Phillip Island, just as he did the previous two on Friday, lapping 0.640s ahead to his closest challenger, Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing), with a best lap of 1’30.550.

Cooler temperatures and an increase in wind marked the Saturday morning outing, with only Repsol man Dani Pedrosa able to improve on his lap times from the day before, setting a 1’31.465 to rank the Spaniard third for the morning.

Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) crashed in turn ten for the third time this weekend, and again was able to quickly return to the track, posting the fourth quickest time ahead of Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) by a margin of 0.066s.

Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) was again sixth in the field, his time of 1’31.791 was two tenths behind his best time of Friday, while Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) followed in seventh with a 1’32.162.

Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki), Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) and Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) completed the top ten, with Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) circulating down in 12th.

Replacement rider for Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar), Aussie Damien Cudlin had a crash in turn two early in the session and was taken to the medical center to treat a superficial wound to his hip.

source: motogp official

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Uphill start for the Ducati Team at Phillip Island

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The Ducati Team started its setup work for the Phillip Island circuit today, ending with Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi ninth and thirteenth, respectively.

After a strong start in the morning session, the American wasn’t able to improve in the afternoon, while the Italian lowered his time by just one tenth. Tomorrow, both riders will try to find a solution to improve grip with the Desmosedici, and Rossi, who is also having trouble with persistent pain in his left hand, will work with his team to improve braking and corner entry, searching for the good feeling he had at Motegi.

Nicky Hayden: 

“As far as weather is concerned, this is probably the nicest day I can remember at Phillip Island in a long time, but we always hope for better results here than what we had today. The track’s definitely got a bit bumpier, which is obviously the same for everybody, so it’s not an excuse. The bike is harsh over the bumps, so in places I have to use a slower line in order to miss them. We tried to do some laps on hard tyres this afternoon, but we need to find more grip, both in order to be faster and to get better tyre life. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’ll do our best tomorrow.”

Valentino Rossi: 

“Today wasn’t easy, especially since we had hoped to be better immediately, like at Motegi two weeks ago, as this track is normally good for the Ducati. We started with the same setup, with just a small adjustment to the fork spring, but the feeling wasn’t the same. I wasn’t able to ride well today, in part due to the pain in my left pinky finger, which bothered me more than I expected, but especially because of the feeling with the bike. I’m not able to brake well or enter corners well. Tomorrow we’ll try stronger painkillers for my hand, and from a technical point of view, we’ll look for a different solution to improve the front and to do better than thirteenth place. We won’t change the setup completely. We’ll probably move the position of the front wheel, but we’re just talking about small changes.”

Ducati Team press release

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Stoner leads the pack in Phillip Island

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On the first day of free practice at the Iveco Australian Grand Prix, local boy Casey Stoner ended the top of the timing sheets with Respol Honda team mates Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa sixth and seventh.

Weather conditions at Phillip Island were perfect with an afternoon air temperature of 21 degrees and a track temperature of 44 degrees, however all three riders reported a very bumpy track compared to last year.

Stoner had a fall in FP1 but soon put it behind him and concentrated on finding the best set up for his RC212V to attack the bumpy Phillip Island track. In FP2 he found some more rear grip but lost some front end feeling, he remained fastest of the day with a 1'30.475 lap. Dovizioso also complained about the track surface and spent the sessions working on the feeling in the front of the bike, alternating between the hard and soft compound tyres to see which worked best. Pedrosa struggled with rear grip and only improved his lap time slightly from the morning session, he and his team will work hard in FP3 tomorrow morning to find the best set up for Qualifying.

Casey Stoner:

"I don't feel totally comfortable with the bike today and I'm sure we can improve the bike a lot. The track is certainly a lot more bumpy than last year and I think it will be very difficult to get the bike feeling 100% as the circuit is making things worse. In general we've found the Honda is better in certain aspects than what we had last year but with these bumps it's difficult to compare in other areas. We need to get the bike riding the bumps in the front a lot better, and also find some more rear grip. There is still a lot of work before we find the right race set up and we know we can go a lot faster".

Andrea Dovizioso: 

"It's been a difficult first day of practice. The track has many more bumps than last year and it's difficult to see them, maybe because the surface is very dark I don't know, but I've been struggling to get a good feeling with the front. I decided to keep the hard tyre in front because it suits my riding style more, but with these bumps it's impossible to control the bike and when I switched to the soft front tyre I couldn't improve my time either. If the temperature drops tomorrow it will be even more complicated, but we will try our best to improve and have a good qualifying session".

Dani Pedrosa:

"In the morning I began calm just to get the feeling with the track and we did a decent time, but in the afternoon I struggled a lot with the rear grip, the bike was spinning a lot and we couldn't fix it during the session. The fact that my lap times are practically the same in the morning and in the afternoon is a sign that something is not right. It's a pity because maybe tomorrow the weather is not as nice as today, possibly colder, but I trust my team and I hope we can improve. The track is also very bumpy, much more than last year, which makes things even more difficult, there are many places where the wheels are off the ground. Anyway, we will try to make some changes on the bike and I will do my best to improve my riding and let's see what we can do tomorrow".

Repsol Honda press release.

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Simoncelli makes fine start in spite of spills, Aoyama also on form

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The weekend at Phillip Island could not have started out much better for Team San Carlo Honda Gresini, with Marco Simoncelli lapping third fastest this morning and then second fastest this afternoon behind home hero Casey Stoner.

Despite suffering two crashes in turn ten, Simoncelli showed just why this circuit is one of his favourites, finding confidence with the front and grip on the rear but with plenty of room sti ll to improve tomorrow. Hiroshi Aoyama also showed his best form today, lapping sixth fastest in the afternoon session to at least partly banish his disappointment from his home round at Motegi two weeks ago.

Marco Simoncelli: 

“I had two crashes in turn ten today, but luckily there was no damage to me or the bike. The track is wonderful, most definitely my favourite, but it is quite bumpy and it is easy to make a mistake and crash. It only takes a moment to find yourself on the floor so you have to stay focused at all times. Overall I am happy though because I was on the pace immediately this morning and improved in the afternoon. Now we need to make some small changes and try to find more grip on the rear and a bit more feeling for the front, even though it is already good. The two crashes were different - this morning I lost the front and in the afternoon I lost the rear - but each time I knew why it had happened and I was able to get straight back on the pace. I am happy and calm, hopefully tomorrow we can close the gap to Stoner.”

Hiroshi Aoyama: 

“It has been a positive start for us because this afternoon I was able to improve my lap time from the morning, which is important for us after the disappointment of my home Grand Prix at Motegi. The conditions today were good, but it wasn't easy out there and we had to give our best. There are a few areas for us to improve in but we are on the right track. I hope the weather tomorrow is similar and that we can challenge for a good position on the grid.”

San Carlo Honda Gresini press release.

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Determined start down under for Lorenzo and Spies

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Yamaha Factory Racing rider Jorge Lorenzo was quick to find a good pace in the morning session on the first day of the Iveco Grand Prix of Australia, the only rider able to get close to Championship leader Casey Stoner.

Lorenzo wrapped up the morning at the Phillip Island circuit in second, just 0.269 seconds from first. The afternoon saw times suffer a little as track conditions changed, the Mallorcan’s pace dropping slightly as he hunted extra rear grip, finishing in third, 0.576 seconds from provisional pole.

Ben Spies made big improvements between the two sessions today. The Texan struggled in the morning session, unable to find a good pace with no positive set up. Some hard work by his crew delivered a much more competitive set up for the afternoon enabling him to climb from eighth in session one to fourth in session two, finding over half a second of extra speed.

Jorge Lorenzo: 

“Today I felt great in the morning but in the afternoon not as good. It was impossible to replicate the lap time from the morning. We were up to five tenths slower and I’m not sure why, maybe the track conditions were different, anyway we’ll see what happens tomorrow. We know that Casey is very fast here but today he wasn’t so quick. We must try to win and if not possible fight for the podium on Sunday.”

Ben Spies: 

“I’m feeling good today; we started this morning with both bikes not working so well so we knew we had to come up with something this afternoon. The second session we were working really well but still struggling in a few areas we need to make better tomorrow. I think we definitely can and if we do I can see us dropping up to half a second pretty easily. It’s up to the boys; we know what the problem is we just need to work out how to fix it. As always I’m going to try the best I can to make it interesting for the fans and get up there.”

Yamaha Factory Racing press release

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Strong start for Bautista

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Rizla Suzuki's Álvaro Bautista finished the second free practice session for the Australian Grand Prix in eighth place this afternoon.

Bautista (P11 overall, 1'31.777, 42 laps) made a consistent progression up the leader board throughout the afternoon session before breaking into the top-10 in the latter stages. He finished only 0.256 seconds from fourth place and Bautista's fastest time was almost two seconds quicker than his qualifying lap at Phillip Island 12 months ago. He is positive of further improvements tomorrow and convinced the GSV-R will be able to challenge for a good finish on Sunday.

Álvaro Bautista: 

“Up until this year this has not been one of the best tracks for the GSV-R and it was quite difficult here for me last year. In the first session this morning I didn't feel a lot of rear grip, but we changed some things for this afternoon and it made a big difference to the feeling. We also worked on the electronics and altered the mapping for some of the corners to help with rear grip. At the end of the second session with some new tyres there was a big difference than with the used ones. This track has very fast corners and you can feel a difference between new and used tyres here quite a lot. I have done my best-ever lap at Phillip Island today and a 1'31 is not a bad time, but I still feel that we can improve the feeling in the bike and be quite a bit quicker. On the new tyres I can ride normal and with a good rhythm for a few laps, but it soon becomes difficult to exit from the corners and get the grip I need. We have improved a lot from last year and I feel more relaxed on the bike. I am happy with the first day, but will be a lot happier if I can get a good feeling tomorrow like I have had in the last few races, then I'm sure we'll be in a good position for the race.”

Rizla Suzuki press release.

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Fantastic fourth for Edwards in Phillip Island practice

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Colin Edwards made a flying start to practice for the Australian MotoGP round at the spectacular Phillip Island circuit today, the American powering his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team machine to a fantastic fourth place on the timesheets.

Edwards was immediately on the pace in this morning's opening practice, the experienced 37-year-old quickly finding a comfortable set-up with his YZR-M1 machine to post a best lap of 1.31.480 that placed him in an outstanding fourth place. Only Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo and Marco Simoncelli were faster and Edwards started this afternoon's second session in optimistic mood that he could once again challenge for the top five.

But changes to the settings on his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team machine for the second session didn't deliver the expected improvements and he lapped at a best pace of 1.31.805 to finish in ninth. His impressive pace this morning though secured him the fourth best time on the combined leaderboard and he will work closely with his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew tonight to gain more turning performance ahead of tomorrow's final practice and qualifying sessions.

British team-mate Cal Crutchlow made a solid start to the weekend and finished 12th in the combined times with a best lap of 1.31.969. The 25-year-old set a time of 1.32.583 this morning and he needed only four laps of the second session to better that pace. He eventually lapped well over half-a-second faster and he completed the day just over 0.4s behind Edwards.

Colin Edwards:

“This morning went brilliantly and I came out of the gate really fast and flying. I felt good on the bike but this afternoon I just couldn't get close to the pace I had this morning. I had really good grip from the front tyre this morning but when the temperature started to come up a little bit the track started to feel a bit greasy. So for this afternoon we switched to the hard compound front tyre to see what the difference was and there is a really fine line between what does and doesn't work around this track. We made one little change to the bike but the bike became really hard to ride. The track is pretty bumpy and I was having a lot of vibration and I just didn't feel anywhere near as comfortable in the second session as I did this morning. We need to go back to what we know worked this morning and make a couple of tweaks to see if we can make that set-up better. The main thing is to get the front working better over the bumps.”

Cal Crutchlow:

“Today's result doesn't look too bad on the timesheets because although I am down in 12th, I am less than half-a-second away from Colin and he is fourth. But it was a very difficult day to be honest because I had a lot of grip issues and the bike was hard to turn as well. And if I run over any rough tarmac or any bumps I nearly crash, so I've got to sit down with my guys tonight and come up with a plan to try and make the bike better fo r tomorrow. We made an improvement to the bike after this morning and that was reflected in the times because I was quite a bit quicker this afternoon, but we've still got a long way to go to make feel more comfortable and confident. I think we need to be looking at making some pretty drastic changes to the bike for tomorrow, but I'm confident we'll find something and I'll be battling for a place in the top 10 on the grid.”

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team press release

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Stoner dominates Down Under

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Casey Stoner kept the rest of the field at bay once again for the second free practice session at Phillip Island, leading the times from start to finish ahead of Marco Simoncelli who was second quickest despite an early fall.

The first day of the Iveco Grand Prix of Australia saw Casey Stoner lead both the morning and afternoon sessions to put his #27 Repsol Honda three tenths clear of Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) in the combined times. Stoner’s morning time of 1’30.475, just under a tenth faster than his FP2 pace, stood as the fastest lap of the day as the Australian joined the other one third of the field who did not improve upon their earlier times.

Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) stepped up his pace by four hundredths to slot himself ahead of Lorenzo in the afternoon despite a repeat of the morning’s misfortune of an early crash. The Italian was followed by Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) with a time of 1’31.495, an improvement of four tenths, though it wasn’t enough to knock Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) out of fourth, leaving Spies to rank fifth behind his compatriot in the combined times.

Sixth for the day was Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) thanks to his time he set in the morning, while team mate Dani Pedrosa ranked seventh with a lap of 1’31.543 set in the afternoon. Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) ranked eighth for the day, with Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) following the Japanese rider by 0.080s with his time set in the morning to rank ninth.

Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) took the tenth spot ahead of Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki), while Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) lingered in 13th, a second and a half behind leading man Stoner.

Home rider Damien Cudlin, who is replacing an injured Héctor Barberá for the Mapfre Aspar team, paced one second behind Toni Elías on the LCR Honda in 16th.

source: motogp official

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Cortese stars in Phillip Island opener

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Sandro Cortese reigned supreme as the World Championship returned to Phillip Island today with the Intact Racing Team Germany rider on top form in the first free practice at the Australian circuit, ahead of Terol and Faubel.

The 125cc World Championship track action began on Friday under bright sunshine with practice sessions set one hour later than usual as the German rider set the pace with a 1’38.805, a margin of 0.135s over current standings leader Nicolas Terol (Bankia Aspar). Héctor Faubel followed his team mate with a 1’39.132 lap time with Johann Zarco (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) following by 0.217s to assume fourth.

Maverick Viñales (Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing) grabbed the fifth spot in the timings for his first outing at the southern Australian circuit, with a substantial 6 tenths margin over the next group of close ranking riders led a third Bankia Aspar rider, Adrián Martín.

Alberto Moncayo (Team Andalucía Banca Cívica) follwed Martín by 0.054s, with Danny Kent (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) and Jonas Folger (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) both 0.012s behind the Spaniard to take the eighth and ninth spots.Efrén Vázquez (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) was two tenths off Folger and 1.5s off the leader Cortese in tenth.

Luis Salom crashed early, and while the rider was up and OK, his bike was carried out of the gravel by track marshals. He finished the session in 31st, just behind the highest ranking wildcard of the session, Joshua Hook (HookRacing.com).

source: motogp official

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Fast start for Stoner in Australia

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The Australian took control at his home track while title defender Lorenzo lapped in second place and Simoncelli ranked third fastest in the field.

Despite the weather forecast calling for rain showers, the first day of track action at the Iveco Grand Prix of Australia began under a cloudless sky as Casey Stoner continued his domination this season at a track where he won last year, setting the fastest lap of the session with a time of 1’30.475 despite an early crash.

The Repsol Honda rider went down in turn 4 inside of the first ten minutes of the session after decimating the field, lapping over a second ahead of the rest of the pack, which was led by Marco Simoncelli until he too went down early in turn 10. The Italian quickly recovered after sliding out at the bottom of the hill to rank third with a time of 1’30.744, two tenths behind Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) in second.

Colin Edwards had a positive session at his favorite track, placing fourth in the field with a fast lap of 1’31.480, while Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) lapped just one hundredth of a second behind the Texan in fifth.

Fresh from his third victory of the season at Motegi, Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) ranked sixth at a track he could not race at last year due to injury, 0.091s in front of the fastest Ducati in the session, the GP11.1 of Nicky Hayden.

Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) and Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) landed eighth and ninth quickest in the session, while Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing) enjoyed a positive session on his return to racing with a ranking of tenth.

Damien Cudlin, who replaced an injured Capirossi at the Motegi round, is appearing again at his home track as a replacement for Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) who is also out due to injury. The Australian paced 4 tenths behind Toni Elías (LCR Honda) in 16th.

source: motogp official

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Stoner stuns with tenth pole position

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Casey Stoner set a new record for the MotoGP era with his tenth pole of the season ahead of the Gran Prix of Japan. Joining the Australian on the front row will be Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso.

The top spot on the MotoGP grid will be occupied for the tenth time this season by Casey Stoner for tomorrow’s race at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit. The Repsol Honda rider set a time of 1’45.267, two tenths quicker than pole position challenger Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing), who returns to the front row for the 11th time this season. The Spaniard won the MotoGP race here in 2009, though last year just missed out on a podium finish with a fourth place.

Last year’s pole starter and second place finisher, Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) qualified in third after setting a lap of 1’45.791, edging out team mate Dani Pedrosa who himself had occupied the top spot before losing it to Lorenzo and finally Stoner.

A tenth of a second separated Pedrosa and Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies, who had bounced back after suffered a bout of stomach illness that had him retiring from the second practice session after just 5 laps on Friday. The Texan was followed by Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team), who despite going down in turn 5 at the halfway point of the outing, starts from the second row after posting his best lap upon his return to the track on his second bike.

Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) posted a time just over one second off the pole position time to start from the head of the third row. Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) followed the Italian with a 1’46.585 with Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) a tenth behind his compatriot to take the last spot on row three.

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) was final rider in the top ten, with Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) qualifying 11th at his home race, while Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), who finished 5th here last year, ran off into the gravel and had a tumble with the first 15 minutes, but was able to rejoin the session to qualify 14th.

source: motogp official website

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Stoner blitzes Aragón qualifying

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With the afternoon warming up at the Motorland circuit, the MotoGP field set out into the one hour qualifying with Repsol Honda taking the first two spots on the grid.

Casey Stoner broke the 1’49 barrier and set a new lap record with 13 minutes to go to before running off into the gravel and tipping over - a minor get off, but causing enough problems to warrant the Australian using his second bike for the remaining minutes of the qualifying. With 5 minutes remaining, the Championship leader took two more tenths out of his provisional pole lap to seal the front row spot with a 1’48.451.

A late push from Pedrosa to challenge for the pole position ended with him running off the track and unable to better his time of 1'48.747, though that time set on his penultimate lap was quick enough to grant him a front row start next to his team mate.

Yamaha Factory’s Ben Spies was unfazed by a crash he had in the morning session and posted a lap four tenths off that of Pedrosa to take the last spot on the front row, while defending World Champion Jorge Lorenzo followed just a tenth off his team mate to head up the second row.

The third Repsol Honda man, Andrea Dovizioso, ranked fifth in the outing and was the last rider within a second of leading man Stoner, with Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) again following his fellow countryman and rival in times, this outing by a margin of 0.156 seconds.

Nicky Hayden, who was on the podium here last year with Ducati, landed seventh on the grid, ahead of rookie Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) and San Carlo Honda Gresini man Hiroshi Aoyama completing the third row.

Randy De Puniet, who had jumped to the third spot in the timings just before running off into the gravel, finished the session in tenth position, while Valentino Rossi crashed 15 minutes into the session, returning to the outing with 30 minutes to go and setting a best time of 1'49.960 to start 13th on the grid.

source: MotoGP official website

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Pedrosa tops first Aragón outing

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Pedrosa continued his recent great form upon returning from injury, topping the opening free practice session at the Motorland circuit with a best lap of 1’50.281. Yamaha Factory’s Lorenzo had topped the session with a 1’50.730 with five minutes to go until the Repsol Honda rider took over the lead in the final minutes.

Last year’s race winner Stoner set the pace early on under bright sun and climbing temperatures to end the session in third behind the Spaniards, with San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli following the Championship leader by a margin of 0.087s and ahead of follow Italian and rival Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) in fifth.

Pramac Racing’s Randy de Puniet was the fastest Ducati in the session, laying down a lap of 1'51.376 to take the sixth spot in the timings, while Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) rode his factory Desmosedici into seventh just 0.042s behind the Frenchman.

Valentino Rossi debuted a new aluminum chassis replacing the current carbon fiber one and after running off the track twice upon his first outing with it, the Ducati Team rider elected to continue with the new frame for the remainder of the session to post the eighth fastest time behind his team mate.

Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was ninth in the timings ahead of steadily recovering and improving Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) in tenth.

source: motogp official website

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Eleventh double podium of the season for Repsol Honda

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The three Repsol Honda riders battled hard during the 28 lap race in incredibly hot and humid conditions. Jorge Lorenzo took an early lead from the front row with Stoner and Pedrosa following closely behind. The Australian rider maintained the gap to Lorenzo at under three tenths of a second for the first ten laps, but then fatigue kicked in and he was unable to match Lorenzo's pace, who gradually pulled away. Stoner tried to keep a distance to third place Pedrosa, but was unable to fend of his Spanish team mate who passed him on lap 22.

Andrea Dovizioso was involved in a close battle for fourth with Simoncelli and Spies. The Italian jumped from sixth to fourth in the first corner off a great start, but was passed by Simoncelli on lap seven. He kept Spies behind him for the entire race and on lap 25 managed to pass Simoncelli to take fourth. But on the final lap, Simoncelli regained fourth place and Dovizioso had to settle for fifth.

The riders will now enjoy a week of rest before heading to Aragon for Round 14 of the MotoGP World Championship on Sunday 18 September.

Dani Pedrosa:

"I'm a little disappointed with the race because the bike didn't feel as good as in practice. We wanted to make a change to the suspension to improve it but we had the opposite effect, sometimes it happens. From the first lap, I realised I couldn't keep up with Jorge and Casey, at the beginning the bike was closing the front and then it was sliding in the rear. The second part of the race was good, Jorge had a perfect race today, but I was able improve my times lap by lap and catch Casey. I overtook him and had another second place in two weeks, which is not so bad. We've been lucky today as it was cooler than yesterday the rain didn't come. It's been two demanding races in a row and this one in particular was the toughest of the season so far - the circuit is challenging with so many hard braking areas and it's been very hot again, also after Indy it's been difficult to recover from the jet lag. Let's hope we can get some rest and be stronger for Aragon."

Casey Stoner:

"At the beginning of the race I was cautious as there were a few spots of rain, once this cleared up I was pretty comfortable behind Jorge, I didn't feel the need to push and then tiredness suddenly hit me. It was hard to find the braking points and change direction on the bike, there was nothing wrong with the tyres, nothing wrong with the bike, the team did a great job and gave me a fantastic package, I'm just worn out. I had to put in a lot more effort into Laguna and Brno, riding a lot harder than I normally would. This together with the neck injury from Assen has finally caught up with me. For the second half of the race I was just too tired, simple as that, I'm very grateful to have finished on the podium. All credit to Jorge, he had a fantastic race, hopefully by Aragon I'll be fully fit and recovered."

Andrea Dovizioso: 

“It was a tough race, I had to push hard and ride aggressively and we had to cut the power a lot due to fuel consumption issues. We suffered from this during the whole race weekend, but after the warm up I received the bad news that we had to cut even more power. This hasn't been such a big issue this year and in fact it's never been the case that I can't match Simoncelli in acceleration. This is due to riding style and set up of the electronics, especially engine braking. I knew that with this cut in power it would have been impossible to fight for the podium, so this affected my motivation. We had a good battle with Marco and Spies; for the first time this season Marco beat me so congratulations to him. Our target was to gain some points on Lorenzo and we didn’t manage it. We are still third in the Championship; we are confident and will continue working.”

Repsol Honda press release.

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Second row for fifth fastest Simoncelli

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After making some set-up changes following yesterday's free practice, the Italian is satisfied that he can make further adjustments in tomorrow's warm-up and have a good race. Hiroshi Aoyama also enjoyed a positive session and could have been on the third row, missing out on ninth place by a fraction of a second.

Marco Simoncelli: 

“I am quite strong here, but we need to be stronger because the front three are extremely fast. However, I am confident because I think I can be fighting with Spies and Dovizioso. We will make some more slight changes to the setting in the morning and try to improve it under braking. I'm sure with a harder front compound I would have had fewer problems, but this is the situation and we have to adapt. As for fuel consumption, which was our biggest worry yesterday, we have improved today and should be able to finish the race.”

Hiroshi Aoyama: 

”I am satisfied that we have made notable progress – my only disappointment that I couldn't put the perfect lap together to break onto the third row. I have my confidence back with the bike and my physical condition is much better. Starting from tenth place makes me think I can have a good race because my pace is quite good.”

San Carlo Honda Gresini press release.

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The reigning World Champion had continued to benefit from the hard work of his crew in the final morning free practice, holding second for most of the session to finally finish third just 0.323 from first. Lorenzo dominated the afternoon’s qualifying session, starting as the fastest rider from the outset before dropping to second with a gap of 0.578 to pole with 11 minutes to go. An extra burst of speed saw him drop the gap to a mere 0.120 seconds behind Casey Stoner on pole. Ben Spies had a more challenging qualifying than his team mate today, spending the final free practice and subsequent qualifying working to improve rear grip levels on his YZR-M1. A last minute effort saw him deliver a fourth place grid start just off the front row, 0.809 from pole. The team will now work overnight to find an improvement for warm up to provide the best possible set up for the race. Jorge Lorenzo: "Today has been a good day for us. We wanted pole position but the first row is a good start for tomorrow. We have tried some things today and in QP we could almost always be in front. The bike is very good after all the great work of my crew and we have a fast pace. I think we can be competitive tomorrow and try to finish in front of Casey so that's our aim. The weather conditions are being very tough this weekend, it might even rain tomorrow. The race will be very difficult in all aspects." Ben Spies: “It was honestly a lot tougher than expected this afternoon. I wasn’t really happy with it We’re trying a lot of stuff with the bike and I don’t feel all that bad riding wise, we just don’t have the right setting yet and we’re not comfortable at a few spots on the track. Some are really good, some are really bad. We had to ride way over the limit to be where we were today. I’m glad we got it done and got on the second row but I’m not happy about how many risks I had to take to get there. The bike’s there, we can see it, Jorge’s going fast and I feel good, we just have to get my setting comfortable. We’ve got all night to work on it and see what we can do for tomorrow. “ Yamaha Factory Racing press release

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It was a very hot qualifying session with air temperatures reaching 29 degrees and a track temperature of 39 degrees. Stoner spent the early part of the session working on set up for the hard tyre, when he switched to the soft tyre he was able to record the fastest lap seen at Misano with a 1'33.138 on lap 18.

Dani Pedrosa also spent most of the session working on tyre set up, the Spaniard will be hoping for a strong start and will try to match the race pace of Casey and Jorge ahead of him. Andrea Dovizioso, who made some steps forward in qualifying is happy to start from the second row and will be aiming for another podium finish in front of his home crowd.

All three Repsol Honda riders compared the performance of the soft and hard compound Bridgestone tyres. As was the case in Indianapolis, this will be a key point for completing the 28 lap race.

Casey Stoner:

"It's been a pretty good weekend for us here, steadily improving the bike each session. We struggled a little with the hard tyre this afternoon, trying to find the correct balance but then we made an improvement and got the bike feeling better. Then when we put the soft tyres on, we got a great lap in but the bike wasn't working too well in the front, which is something we need to improve for tomorrow. It will be a tough race, Dani and Jorge are both running very well so I'll try to get a good start but there are a few more overtaking opportunities here at Misano, it's not a track with only one line. The weekend on a whole is going well, tomorrow we'll have to decide on tyres depending on what the weather is doing, hopefully it will cool down a little which would be nice!"

Dani Pedrosa:

"I'm happy with the qualifying session, I spent most of the time working on the tyres, swapping from the soft to the medium compound, trying to find the right one for tomorrow; normally before the qualifying session you have almost decided, but here it's been more difficult because of the weather and track conditions. We were working on that a lot this afternoon and in the last couple of laps I was pushing to be on the front row. We've made it, which is very important here because the first corners are very tight, and the times between the three of us are very close, so that's positive. For race pace, Casey and Jorge are still slightly faster than me, but we will look for something more on the settings tonight and try to be with them tomorrow for whole race."

Andrea Dovizioso: 

“This morning we worked on the set up, reducing the issue of the pitching we had yesterday. This afternoon we improved the rhythm with the hard tyre in preparation for the race. Our target was to start from the first two rows, so the final result is not too bad. Tomorrow it will crucial to make a good start and try to stay with the front riders. Casey and Lorenzo are really strong and Dani is very fast off the start so it will be important to stay with them if we want to gain some points on Lorenzo and control Dani. We will continue working but the good point is that we are more competitive in the race pace than in using the soft compound for the qualifying. With these high temperatures and humidity the race will be really tough tomorrow. I hope that the Italian spectators will give me an extra boost.”

Repsol Honda press release.

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