Stoner inches to the top at Valencia

The second and final day of the official MotoGP test at Valencia has ended with Casey Stoner top of the timesheet courtesy of a 1:32.066 towards the end of the session.

The new HRC addition, who reported a highly satisfying first ride on the RC212V the day before, was just 0.054 seconds off Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo’s day one effort, which remained the fastest of both days.

Stoner, whose main focus of the test was settling in on the Honda machine, did so in style as he improved by 0.709 seconds on his previous day’s time.

“We tried a few different things today with the electronics and the chassis, trying to get it feeling a little better and we managed to,” said Stoner. “There were a couple of new parts we tried for 2011 and everything has been very positive. We tried some tyres for Bridgestone and we got a lot done so we’re very happy.”

Factory Yamaha rider Lorenzo, whose M1 was adorned with No. 1 in celebration of his 2010 title, set a best lap of 1:32.179 as he wrapped up his day just after 1.00pm local time having completed 30 turns of the Ricardo Tormo track.

He rode both the new M1 and an updated version of his 2010 machine while new team-mate Ben Spies concentrated on chassis settings on his new 2011 bike. The American, who also ended his day early having ridden 49 laps, was just 0.143 seconds behind his colleague as he completed the top three.

Lorenzo said: “When you see the official Yamaha team bikes both going fast it’s good because it confirms the new bike is that little bit better, but we still have a lot of work to do before 2011 gets underway.”

A brace of Honda riders followed in the order of lap times with Marco Simoncelli and Dani Pedrosa completing the top five. The Italian – who had a fall during the early part of the day which resulted in nothing more than an interruption – ended with a total of 63 laps and a best time just under 0.4 seconds off Stoner’s. Pedrosa, who was working on the new evolution of the RC212V having ridden his 2010 machine for comparison purposes, was 0.431 seconds off Stoner.

Nicky Hayden was the fastest Ducati rider on track with a time of 1:32.583 as the Bologna factory contrasted the screamer and big bang engines, between which they will choose for development for the Desmosedici GP11. The American’s 91 laps was the highest total of the day.

Meanwhile Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista was seventh as he rode a GSV-R with a number of redesigned aspects, with Randy de Puniet (Ducati) and Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) the last two riders to get within a second of Stoner.

Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda) was another rider operating with a new team as he set the 10th best time of the day, Héctor Barberá (Ducati) improved significantly on his time ending in 11th, and Yamaha Colin Edwards continued evaluating an updated M1 engine. His rookie team-mate Cal Crutchlow’s MotoGP experience developed further with another valuable day on track and 74 more laps.

A trio of Ducatis followed on the timesheet with Loris Capirossi, Valentino Rossi and Karel Abraham. Factory man Rossi, ending in 15th position, concluded his second day on the Desmosedici having ridden a sizeable 87 laps as he combined the same engine agenda as team-mate Hayden with a continuation of his adjustment to the bike.

He was 1.69 seconds off Stoner’s leading time by the close of play. Moto2 world champion Toni Elías also completed his first test with a new team, LCR Honda.

RESULTS
1 CASEY STONER (HONDA) 1'32.066
2 JORGE LORENZO (YAMAHA) 1'32.179
3 BEN SPIES (YAMAHA) 1'32.322
4 MARCO SIMONCELLI (HONDA) 1'32.450
5 DANI PEDROSA (HONDA) 1'32.497
6 NICKY HAYDEN (DUCATI) 1'32.583
7 ALVARO BAUTISTA (SUZUKI 1'32.738
8 RANDY DE PUNIET (DUCATI) 1'32.836
9 ANDREA DOVIZIOSO (HONDA) 1'32.942
10 HIROSHI AOYAMA (HONDA) 1'33.105
11 HECTOR BARBERA (DUCATI) 1'33.168
12 COLIN EDWARDS (YAMAHA) 1'33.325
13 CAL CRUTCHLOW (YAMAHA) 1'33.483
14 LORIS CAPIROSSI (DUCATI) 1'33.740
15 VALENTINO ROSSI (DUCATI) 1'33.761
16 KAREL ABRAHAM (DUCATI) 1'33.793
17 TONI ELIAS (HONDA) 1'34.800