Stoner sends an ominous warning

Casey Stoner has made a sensational – and ominous – start to his MotoGP career with new employer Honda, setting the second fastest time in the opening day of a test session at Valencia.

Just two days after finishing second in the season-ending MotoGP round at Valencia for Ducati, Stoner hit the ground running on his new hardware, with only 2010 world champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) faster than the Aussie.

Italian Valentino Rossi was the other big-name rider on show at Valencia aboard new and unfamiliar equipment, and he was 10th fastest on the factory Ducati vacated by Stoner.

Stoner was delighted with his first outing on the kangaroo-liveried Honda.

“I had a very good day. I was disappointed that we couldn’t get a full session in this morning because of the weather, but it dried out and gave us some hours of good track time this afternoon,” said the 25 year-old, who rode on an RC211V in his debut premier class season in 2006.

“It’s been a great experience to get back on a Honda, the way it feels is fantastic.”

Stoner tested the 2011 chassis against the frame ridden by new team-mate Dani Pedrosa in the 2010 campaign, and gained a positive feeling from the bike as he clocked up 44 laps in total throughout the day.

“We’ve been working on a few different things but mainly just trying to get a bit of a better feel, and things like my seating position and brake levers. The day has been great. Tomorrow we have a few more things to work on and try,” Stoner continued.

“We’re trying to understand the electronics system and what sort of direction we want to go in, and at the same time trying to get comfortable with the bike.

"There’s no point giving a lot of data at the moment but at the same time we have to try and push on because there’s not a lot of test time before the start of the season. We need to get as much information as possible before the winter break.”

Stoner set a best lap of 1:32.775, ahead of American Ben Spies (1:32.878) on a factory Yamaha for the first time, Pedrosa (1:32.912) and Marco Simoncelli (Honda, 1:32.919).

Lorenzo led the way with a 1:32.012, while Rossi’s best was 1:33.882. Stoner holds the current lap record with a 1:32.582.

Of the other riders on new bikes at Valencia, team-mates Randy de Puniet and Loris Capirossi were 11th and 15th respectively on their Ducatis; Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) was 14th after making the jump from world superbikes; inaugural Moto2 world champion Toni Elias was 16th on his Honda; and rookie Karel Abraham was 17th on his Ducati.

Day one times
1.    Jorge Lorenzo  1:32.012
2.    Casey Stoner  1:32.775
3.    Ben Spies  1:32.878
4.    Dani Pedrosa 1:32.912
5.    Marco Simoncelli 1:32.919
6.    Andrea Dovizioso 1:33.190
7.    Colin Edwards 1:33.513
8.    Alvaro Bautista 1:33.558
9.    Nicky Hayden 1:33.716
10.    Valentino Rossi 1:33.882
11.    Randy De Puniet 1:33.914
12.    Hiroshi Aoyama 1:33.953
13.    Hector Barbera 1:34.110
14.    Cal Crutchlow 1:34.314
15.    Loris Capirossi 1:34.631
16.    Toni Elias 1:35.058
17.    Karel Abraham 1:35.076