Stoner ends Qatar test on top

From motogp.com

Casey Stoner struck the final psychological blow prior to the start of the 2011 MotoGP World Championship by setting the fastest time of the Qatar Test on Monday, as the last pre-season meeting concluded with the Australian top of the timesheet.

An effort of 1:55.681 from the Repsol Honda rider placed him 0.064 secs. ahead of team-mate Dani Pedrosa, who was the only other rider under 1:56 during the session.

The pair, who spent the five-hour second session finalising their set-ups for the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar, which takes place at the circuit from Thursday to Sunday, were well clear of the rest of the field, with Yamaha Factory Racing's Ben Spies third at a distant 0.549 secs. further down on Pedrosa as the American sought improved grip on his M1.

The session got underway in difficult conditions with strong winds having dusted the track with a coating of sand, but after a slow start the riders began to adapt and competitive lap times were soon being laid down.

"I'm really happy," Stoner said. "I didn't think we would get any laps in tonight judging from the weather earlier in the day; it was a little tough but the wind seemed to settle and the track conditions improved a lot and we got some good test time in tonight.

"By the look of the lap times everyone seems to have taken a big step forward, but we're happy with what we've achieved again here and we can enter the race weekend with confidence but at the same time everyone else will be improving their set-up so we can't relax.

"We found a good rider position which I'm really happy with, having moved my position more towards the rear in Sepang - to try and find more grip, here we can run a more neutral set-up and everything seems to be working well. We did some more work on electronics tonight and also on the tires, but generally worked in preparation for the weekend.”

"The conditions seemed very difficult when we arrived at the circuit today as it was so windy and on the way here the road was full of sand, but we managed to finally complete a good test," Pedrosa said. "It was very windy out on track and quite difficult to ride at maximum, but the grip was not so bad. It was cooler than yesterday and we improved our lap times, which is positive.

"Today we tried the new front fork, we have continued to work with electronics and have tried both the hard and the softer tires.”

Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) closed the session with a best effort of 1:56.433, while Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) at just six-thousandths of a second behind made it four RC212Vs inside the top five on the timesheet as the latter Italian made headway with electronics settings.

Randy de Puniet of the Pramac Racing team was the final rider to get within a second of Stoner's time thanks to a late lap of 1:56.445, making him the highest-placing Ducati of the final day.

World Champion Jorge Lorenzo spent Monday in search of better acceleration in the lower gears, focusing on electronics and the swingarm on his M1. However, the defending World Champion ended up 1.026 secs. down on Stoner and in seventh position.

Close on his heels and also on an M1 was Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), with Ducati Team rider Nicky Hayden and San Carlo Honda Gresini's Hiroshi Aoyama completing the top 10 and all within four-hundredths of a second of Lorenzo.

Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) and Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) were next on the timesheet, both experiencing falls during the day, with Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) in 13th. The Italian also had a crash, at Turn 7, and closed the day 1.307 secs. off top spot as his pre-season on the GP11 ended in a frustrating manner. His team-mate Hayden was one of a group of riders who fell inside the final hour.

Loris Capirossi on the Pramac Desmosedici suffered a similar fate and was eventually just under 1.7 secs. off Stoner, with rookie Cal Crutchlow sustaining a finger injury on his left hand when his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine went down at Turn 10. The Brit was only able to complete 28 laps, finishing up 2.049 secs. off top spot.

Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) and Toni Elías (LCR Honda) completed the timesheet. The pair both had crashes inside the final hour of the session.

Day 2 Test Times
1. Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda Team) 1:55.681
2. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) 1:55.745
3. Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) 1:56.294
4. Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) 1:56.433
5. Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda Team) 1:56.439
6. Randy De Puniet (Pramac Racing Team Ducati) 1:56.445
7. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) 1:56.707
8. Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) 1:56.716
9. Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1:56.726
10. Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) 1:56.740
11. Hector Barbera (Mapfre Aspar Team Ducati) 1:56.798
12. Alvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) 1:56.931
13. Valentino Rossi (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1:56.988
14. Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing Team Ducati) 1:57.345
15. Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) 1:57.730
16. Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati) 1:57.846
17. Toni Elias (LCR Honda MotoGP) 1:58.536