Stoner underlines his strength in FP2

Stoner underlines his strength in FP2

Saturday, 10 April 2010
The Ducati Marlboro rider is again the fastest in the second MotoGP practice session in Qatar, ahead of Valentino Rossi and Randy de Puniet.

Casey Stoner was the quickest rider of the MotoGP field as he led the timesheet once more in the second practice session of the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar on Saturday. The Australian’s time of 1’55.501 was only one-thousandth of a second slower than his best lap in the previous practice, as he displayed a consistency that will have placed him in a quietly confident position heading into qualifying.

The Ducati Marlboro rider led for the majority of the hour-long session, and was over three-tenths of a second faster than World Champion Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha). The Italian posted a time of 1’55.841 as he improved on his time from Friday, and was the only other rider to join Stoner under the 1’56” mark.

Randy de Puniet was the highest placing Honda rider on board his RC212V of the LCR Honda team, as the Frenchman shaved almost 0.7s off his best time from the previous evening with a 1’56.350, whilst Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) was again fourth as he kept track of De Puniet at just two-tenths behind.

Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) was inside the top five at just over a full second off Stoner’s pace, with Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) another rider to make a notable improvement as he took his Ducati round in the sixth best time of the session.

Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech3) and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) were seventh and eighth respectively, with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) making a much-desired if only marginal improvement as well to place ninth. Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech3) completed the top ten.

Rookie Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) had a slow-speed fall with just under ten minutes of the session remaining, and returned swiftly to the track to complete his practice ahead of this evening’s qualifying session, which is due to start at 10.55pm local time.

COMMERCIALBANK GRAND PRIX OF QATAR

MotoGP Free Practice Nr. 2 Classification

Doha, Saturday, April 10, 2010
Pos. Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Km/h Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 324.9 1'55.501
2 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 319.9 1'55.841 0.340 / 0.340
3 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 320.9 1'56.350 0.849 / 0.509
4 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 327.9 1'56.569 1.068 / 0.219
5 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 320.7 1'56.646 1.145 / 0.077
6 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Pramac Racing Team Ducati 325.5 1'56.664 1.163 / 0.018
7 11 Ben SPIES USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 316.6 1'56.678 1.177 / 0.014
8 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 321.3 1'56.713 1.212 / 0.035
9 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 326.9 1'56.736 1.235 / 0.023
10 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 318.0 1'56.776 1.275 / 0.040
11 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 321.0 1'56.786 1.285 / 0.010
12 58 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 319.6 1'56.796 1.295 / 0.010
13 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 320.2 1'56.972 1.471 / 0.176
14 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 319.8 1'57.024 1.523 / 0.052
15 40 Hector BARBERA SPA Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati 325.7 1'57.272 1.771 / 0.248
16 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Interwetten Honda MotoGP Honda 322.7 1'57.371 1.870 / 0.099
17 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 322.0 1'57.513 2.012 / 0.142
Weather Conditions:
| Track Condition: Dry| Air: 30º| Humidity: 20%| Ground: 32º
Records:
Fastest Lap: Lap: 18 Casey STONER 1'55.501 167.7 Km/h
Circuit Record Lap: 2008 Casey STONER 1'55.153 168.2 Km/h
Best Lap: 2008 Jorge LORENZO 1'53.927 170.0 Km/h