Casey Stoner has a fellow World Champion ally in criticism of the potential safety hazard caused by the sluggish pace in testing of the new Claiming Rule Teams bikes - Jorge Lorenzo.
Lorenzo criticized the production-based CRT machinery after riding alongside the new bikes that lapped anywhere from five to 10 seconds per lap off the pace of prototypes during preseason testing Jan. 31-Feb. 2 at Sepang.
"I am really surprised because I thought the gap would be much less," Lorenzo told British media. "This could be dangerous. I was with Colin (Edwards), who is the fastest of the CRT here, and it seemed like he was in another category compared to MotoGP."
Edwards' best time on the Forward Racing Suter-BMW was 2:04.722, 5.1 seconds slower than leader Casey Stoner and 4.5 seconds slower than Lorenzo.
Dorna officials either need to clamp a bigger muzzle on MotoGP factory riders or hope Aprilia can save the day with a more competitive CRT machine. Otherwise, the grand CRT experiment is heading toward an on-track and PR disaster, at least for 2012.
Teething pain is expected. But CRT looks like a toothless guppy compared to the Jaws-like appetites for performance of the prototypes.
source: superbikeplanet
