MotoGP FP2 - Le Mans

Stoner heads eventful FP2

Saturday, 22 May 2010

The Ducati Marlboro rider topped the timesheet in the second practice on Saturday morning ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, in a session in which Ben Spies, Álvaro Bautista and Mika Kallio all crashed inside the opening five minutes.

Casey Stoner took the momentum from Valentino Rossi in the second practice session at Le Mans by setting the fastest time on Saturday morning, setting a time of 1’34.209 towards the end of the hour. The Australian shaved just under two-tenths of a second off Rossi’s time from Friday, in a session that had an extremely chaotic opening period.

Álvaro Bautista, Ben Spies and Mika Kallio all crashed inside the opening five minutes, with none returning to the track for the remainder of the practice. Bautista had a slow speed high side that does not bode well for his recovering shoulder and casts doubt over his further participation. Spies fell victim to the same type of crash immediately after as the lower 26ºC track temperature caused a few problems, as it had done for some of the 125cc riders earlier.

Monster Yamaha Tech3 rider Spies was stretchered off trackside and taken to the Clinica Mobile for an examination, where bruising to his left foot was confirmed. Kallio’s left shoulder was given the same diagnosis.

After the initial drama Stoner went on to head the timesheet, with Fiat Yamaha rider and current Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo 15 thousandths of a second off his pace to set the second best time of both the session and the combined practices. World Champion Rossi set the third quickest lap of FP2 with a time of 1’34.451.

Repsol Honda duo Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso were both inside the top five times, with Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro) and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) sixth and seventh respectively. Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech3), Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) and Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing) completed the top ten.

There was a minor fall with no consequence for Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) towards the end, the Italian setting the 12th fastest time.

MONSTER ENERGY GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE
MotoGP Free Practice Nr. 2 Classification

Le Mans, Saturday, May 22, 2010

Pos. Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Km/h Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 282.0 1'34.209
2 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 280.2 1'34.224 0.015 / 0.015
3 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 288.7 1'34.451 0.242 / 0.227
4 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 271.8 1'34.497 0.288 / 0.046
5 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 280.8 1'34.538 0.329 / 0.041
6 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 278.8 1'34.970 0.761 / 0.432
7 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 280.3 1'34.985 0.776 / 0.015
8 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 277.4 1'35.015 0.806 / 0.030
9 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 274.2 1'35.083 0.874 / 0.068
10 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 281.8 1'35.351 1.142 / 0.268
11 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 286.2 1'35.511 1.302 / 0.160
12 58 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 276.3 1'36.010 1.801 / 0.499
13 40 Hector BARBERA SPA Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati 279.1 1'36.048 1.839 / 0.038
14 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Interwetten Honda MotoGP Honda 282.6 1'36.175 1.966 / 0.127
36 Mika KALLIO FIN Pramac Racing Team Ducati 268.3 1'42.708 8.499 / 6.533
11 Ben SPIES USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 279.9 1'42.712 8.503 / 0.004
19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 247.9 1'44.784 10.575 / 2.072