[kropotkin thinks...] - 2011 Phillip Island MotoGP FP1 Result: Stoner Leads Lorenzo

[Ninjette Newsbot]

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Casey Stoner surprised exactly no one during the first session of free practice, setting the fastest time of the session on just his 3rd flying lap. A sign of how hard he was pushing was the fact that he crashed on the following lap, a harmless slide at Honda corner, the slowest turn at the circuit. Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo was 2nd fastest during the session, a quarter of a second behind Stoner but two tenths ahead of 3rd place man Marco Simoncelli. Simoncelli, like Stoner, also crashed in the morning, but like Stoner, the San Carlo Gresini rider walked away unhurt.

Monster Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin Edwards put in a surprisingly strong showing in Australia, setting the 4th fastest time just over a second behind Stoner, but his margin over the people behind was slim. Five hundredths behind Edwards was Repsol Honda's Andrea Dovizioso, another four hundredths slower was his teammate Dani Pedrosa. The optimism of the Marlboro Ducati riders expressed ahead of the weekend was only partially justified: Nicky Hayden posted the 7th fastest time, but was less than a tenth slower than Pedrosa, while Valentino Rossi was nearly half a second slower than Hayden, and ended the session in 12th.

Results:

Race Details 2011


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