Casey Stoner topped the time sheets for the first time during the final half hour of MotoGP testing of Day 1 at Jerez de la Frontera.
The reigning World Champion had lagged – which is just a euphenism for being in third and fourth for most of the first day – until he blasted out 1.
39.
146 lap on a cooling track that stunned the field and broke Dani Pedrosa’s 2010 record race lap by more than six tenths of second and he was just 0.
4s from his own 2011 pole position on the twisty Spanish circuit.
They don’t call Jorge Lorenzo ‘Martillo y Mantequilla’ (hammer and butter) for nothing.
The Yamaha rider stayed on top of the timesheets for almost the entire first day, hammering out lap after lap and ruefully missed out on the top spot by 0.
273s only thanks to Repsol Honda rider, who supposedly has a big beef with the new front Bridgestone tires.
Dani Pedrosa finished out Day 1 in third, but he was much more consistent than his Australian team mate having divided the second spot with Ben Spies for almost the entire session.
The American Yamaha rider was the first to break the 1.
40 barrier, but he ended up in fourth and 0.
838s off pace, but he too was much more constant than Stoner in his lap times.
Yamaha Tech3s Cal Crutchlow was the last rider to within a second from Casey Stoner and was followed by Nicky Hayden who was the best Ducati rider on the grid with his 6th spot.
Hayden stayed squarely in front of his team mate Valentino Rossi for the entire day, while the Italian complained of corner entry issues that left him in a very lowly 9th spot – they’ll be burning the midnight oil on Rossi’s side of the garage tonight trying to solve how to load the front end.
Tightly tailing Hayden was Alvaro Bautista on the Gresini Honda.
Andrea Dovizioso who turned 26 today (Happy Birthday Dovi) was nursing a bit of cold and finished in 8th while working on electronics.
MotoGP rookie Stefan Bradl closed out the top ten, with Randy de Puniet on the CRT bike giving an impressive performance.
The Frenchman on his ART bike was just 0.
032s from Bradl and little more than one tenth of a second behind Rossi.
The Aspar Aprilia rider also finished ahead of Ducati GP12 satellite riders Hector Barbera and Karel Abraham, with Barbera complaining of the gusty wind that hit the Jerez circuit for most of the afternoon.
Aspar’s Aleix Espargaro finished in front Ducati’s test rider Franco Battaini, who was faster than Colin Edwards on NGM Forward’s BMW-Suter.
Michele Pirro who is riding Gresini’s CRT FTR-Honda for the second time and had a very brief shakedown test at Imola (less than a day and half) was less than two tenths from the much more evoluted BMW-Suter.
Danilo Petrucci who had technical issues with his Ioda Racing bike – he only rode 39 laps total – finished ahead of Mattia Pasini on the Speed Master ART, Yonny Hernandez on Avintia Racing’s FTR-Kawasaki, James Ellison on the PBM ART and bringing up the rear and 4.
879 seconds from Stoner was Ivan Silva on the other FTR-Kawasaki.
Jerez Day 1 – Final lap times:1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1:39.
146 – – 542 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1:39.
419 +0.
273 +0.
273 763 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1:39.
579 +0.
160 +0.
433 604 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1:39.
984 +0.
405 +0.
838 715 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:40.
130 +0.
146 +0.
984 746 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1:40.
512 +0.
382 +1.
366 777 Alvaro BAUTISTA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:40.
545 +0.
033 +1.
399 568 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:40.
665 +0.
120 +1.
519 469 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1:40.
920 +0.
255 +1.
774 6410 Stefan BRADL LCR Honda 1:40.
983 +0.
063 +1.
837 6411 Randy DE PUNIET Power Electronics Aspar 1:41.
015 +0.
032 +1.
869 3912 Hector BARBERA Pramac Racing Team 1:41.
388 +0.
373 +2.
242 7213 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1:41.
603 +0.
215 +2.
457 7114 Aleix ESPARGARO Power Electronics Aspar 1:42.
293 +0.
690 +3.
147 5915 Franco BATTAINI Ducati Team 1:42.
403 +0.
110 +3.
257 7216 Colin EDWARDS NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1:42.
462 +0.
059 +3.
316 5617 Michele PIRRO San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:42.
655 +0.
193 +3.
509 4918 Danilo PETRUCCI Came Iodaracing Project 1:42.
750 +0.
095 +3.
604 3919 Mattia PASINI Speed Master 1:43.
006 +0.
256 +3.
860 5920 Yonny HERNANDEZ Avintia Racing MotoGP 1:43.
437 +0.
431 +4.
291 4921 James ELLISON Paul Bird Motorsport 1:43.
477 +0.
040 +4.
331 6122 Ivan SILVA Avintia Racing MotoGP 1:44.
025 +0.
548 +4.
879 60