While Repsol Honda's Casey Stoner was the man to beat during Friday morning's first free practice session, it was Yamaha Factory Racing's Jorge Lorenzo who set the fastest lap of the day with a 1:22.056 at Mazda Laguna Seca raceway today. Not pleased with his set-up, changes are expected in the Repsol Honda camp as Stoner intends to return to the top of the leaderboard on Saturday. With a time of 1:22.231 Stoner is close, but with the top 6 riders all within less than one second of one another this afternoon, Stoner will have his work cut out for him.
Lorenzo was fastest on Friday afternoon
The story of the day was Ducati team riders Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden, who were testing the new Ducati GP11.1 during the free practice sessions. Rossi chose to ride the GP11.1 all day, while Hayden took his initial run on the GP11 before doing a comparison between the two versions and choosing the GP11.1 in the afternoon. Hayden and Rossi completed Friday afternoon's free practice session in 10th and 11th position respectively.
According to Hayden, "We're just trying to evaluate it (the GP11.1) and it definitely has some pluses. The gearbox is really nice, so Ducati has done a great job with that." The team is trying to decide which bike will give them the better opportunity on Sunday.
Nicky Hayden was testing the new GP11.1
Meanwhile, Valentino Rossi felt the team started the weekend off a little better than past races and Rossi used only the GP11.1 today. "We started with one bike that had the Sachsenring setup which has a significant change to the weight distribution, while the second bike had a standard setup." explained Rossi, who prefers the bike with the setup from Germany. While rear grip remains an issue, Rossi said he is pleased that Brigestone brought some soft tires, which he claimed worked well in the cool temperatures this morning. He went on to say that he still prefers the harder compound in warmer conditions, "I felt better with the hard when the conditions were warmer in the afternoon. If race conditions are like this, that's what I'll use".
Ben Bostrom was enjoying a dream come true on his MotoGP debut aboard the LCR Honda. While Bostrom took the first free practice to familiarize himself with the motorcycle, he was closing the gap by the afternoon posting laptimes of 4.1 seconds from leader Jorge Lorenzo. Bostrom, who is doing double duty this weekend in MotoGP and AMA Pro Superbike, posted a best time of 1:26.159 on the MotoGP bike and a 127.073 on his Jordan Motorsports Suzuki in the AMA Pro Superbike practice which immediately followed the MotoGP Free Practice 2.
Ben Bostrom living the American dream with his MotoGP debut
Bostrom gives a quick debrief before heading out for AMA Superbike practice.
MotoGP and AMA racing action continues tomorrow as Qualifying takes place for both classes Saturday afternoon at Mazda Laguna Seca raceway.
