Casey Stoner on a 2011 Repsol Honda

Former World Champion Casey Stoner topped Qatar practice at the Losail MotoGP Circuit highlighting the dominant pace that the factory backed Repsol Honda has been having throughout the pre-season testing. Stoner went fastest with the best lap time of 1:55.752 while team mate and fellow Honda rider, Spaniard Dani Pedrosa was 0.610 seconds behind Stoner. With this timing, Stoner was the only man who was in the 1m:55s while every other rider in the top 8 could manage times only in the 1m:56s.

Valentino Rossi on a 2011 Marlboro Ducati

Italian ace and seven time World Champion Valentino Rossi, who previously struggled all winter to come to terms with the brash and bucking Ducati and his still-healing shoulder injury made dramatic improvement by finishing fifth fastest, and seven tenths of a second behind Stoner. This obviously is a massive boost for the Marlboro Ducati team which has been off color compared to Honda in pre-season testing. Here is what Rossi had to say about his improved practice lap times.

We modified the set-up a little compared to the test, and we immediately found it to be better, to the point that within just a few laps, I improved on my time from Monday. The last run was particularly positive and my final lap time, done with a hard tire that had 19 laps on it, was my best, a bit more than a tenth off second place. The shoulder is holding up well. It was only at the end that it started to lose a little strength, and tomorrow we’ll see how it reacts with two practice sessions. In any case, we’re happy today.

Via AutoEvolution

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