MotoGP testing begins, Stoner fastest

The MotoGP season is almost upon us, and as Sepang testing started this week all eyes are on the lap times, with Australian rider Casey Stoner putting in a strong performance and going fastest on day one of the three-day test session.

Honda launched the new 2011 RC212V race bike in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, showing off the new Repsol Honda team livery and a trio of riders - Dani Pedrosa, Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso.

Stoner set the fastest time of the day with a 2’01.574, and was clearly very pleased with his performance. See below for all riders' results.

"It’s been a very positive day," said Stoner. "We didn't change the set-up too much compared to the one we had in Valencia and I am pleased to see that even if the circuit is different, it still works pretty well here in Sepang.

"We did some work later on with the engine braking to decrease some chattering and looks like we found a good solution. In the next two days we will start testing something new but for me, it was a very good way to come back on track after the winter break," said Stoner.

It was surprise that 2010 MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo was second fastest on the Yamaha, about four tenths of a second behind Stoner. "It's been a good start today," Lorenzo said. "We tried a few things and it seemed for everything we tried it was a little bit better, not big improvements. But as I said in Valencia at the test last year, the 2011 bike seems to have less wheelie so we can open the throttle earlier in the corners and in some corners I have better corner speed as well."

Pedrosa was third fastest on the Honda while Ducati rider Valentino Rossi settled for 12th fastest, but was stoked with that result (and was faster than team mate Nicky Hayden).

"Rarely have I been this happy with a twelfth place, because after the test at Misano, we were pretty pessimistic considering how bad I felt there. It went better here though, especially in the morning, and we were able to do 20, 25 laps at a decent speed," said Valentino.

"We still have a lot of work to do, but we did a lot today: we worked on the riding position, and we’re starting to understand, among the many details that we can adjust on this bike, what the best solutions are. The Ducati’s DNA doesn't need to be changed; we have to take advantage of the positive aspects and improve the others. Unfortunately, it became more difficult when I lost a lot of strength in the afternoon, but in the end I was able to do about 15 more laps.

"Let’s say that at the moment, I have quite a bit of pain and not much strength, whereas the opposite would be preferable! The hardest parts are the straights and on hard braking into right corners, like Turn 1 and Turn 4; there alone I lose about a second, whereas the rest of the lap is okay because compared to Valencia, I’m able to ride much better," candidly explained the Italian.

2011 Sepang MotoGP test results (day one)

1. Casey Stoner (Honda) 2:01.574
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 2:01.977
3. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 2:02.024
4. Marco Simoncelli (Honda) 2:02.295
5. Ben Spies (Yamaha) 2:02.332
6. Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki) 2:02.422
7. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda) 2:02.483
8. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 2:02.507
9. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 2:02.514
10. Randy De Puniet (Ducati) 2:03.152
11. Kousuke Akiyoshi (Honda) 2:03.224
12. Valentino Rossi (Ducati) 2:03.365
13. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 2:03.508
14. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2:03.695
15. Hector Barbera (Ducati) 2:03.767
16. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) 2:04.009
17. Toni Elias (Honda) 2:04.238
18. Karel Abraham (Ducati) 2:04.470

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