Casey Stoner vs Jorge Lorenzo, only they were riding their new 1000cc bikes and Stoner ended up the fastest rider of the day at the official MotoGP test at Brno which is the last of the season for the 800s.
This was the third time that the Australian tested the new RC213V after the two days spent at Jerez last May, while for Lorenzo it was his first contact with the debuting 2012 Yamaha M1 as it was for Ben Spies.
Both Yamaha riders took to the larger capacity machine almost immediately as the reigning World Champion finished the test a mere 0.
085s adrift from Stoner and the Texan was just 0.
138s short.
For Dani Pedrosa who missed the first test a Jerez due to injury, it was his first contact with the RC213V, but it didn’t seem as gratifying, as he was sixth fastest – and the slowest 1000 rider after his 37 laps, ending up little more than one second from his team mate, but he tested two 2012 machines with different set-ups.
The Yamaha factory duo also spent time on their 800s, because Yamaha brought in some upgrades including an improved engine.
Lorenzo ended up the fastest rider of the field with the his current bike with a best lap of 1.
56.
7727 which was almost 9 tenths of second faster than his best race lap, but the time could be only indicative as the Spaniard made the tatical error of using a softer front tire that left him only fourth at the end of the race, while team mate Spies was just half a second slower than Lorenzo.
The factory Ducati team tested exclusively their current GP bikes with Nicky Hayden using for the second time the GP11.
1, after his brief stint during Friday’s practice at Laguna Seca.
He improved over 0.
731s from his Sunday’s race time and with all probability will be using the GP11.
1 at Indianapolis.
Ducati decided that Valentino Rossi would be test mule today.
The Italian put in 74 laps and finishing with a best lap of 1’58.
266 which left him down in 10th as he concentrated primarily on weight distribution and set-ups.
The satellite riders who were present all improved their race times, especially Toni Elias who was a full one second faster than on Sunday but he crashed near the end of the test.
Also on track was Mika Kallio with the Marc VDS Suter/BMW CRT machine.
Kallio’s best time was which was 3.
976s slower than Stoner with the Honda 1000, which was a definite improvement from when they tested at Mugello in June.
Final test times:1 Stoner C.
Repsol Honda Team 1:56.
1682 Lorenzo J.
Yamaha Factory Racing +0.
0853 Spies B.
Yamaha Factory Racing +0.
1384 Lorenzo J.
Yamaha Factory Racing +0.
5595 Spies B.
Yamaha Factory Racing +1.
0166 Pedrosa D.
Repsol Honda Team +1.
0967 Hayden N.
Ducati Team +1.
3658 Crutchlow C.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +1.
4239 Elias T.
LCR Honda MotoGP +1.
73510 Rossi V.
Ducati Team +2.
09811 Capirossi L.
Pramac Racing Team +2.
21912 Edwards C.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +2.
32413 Kallio M.
Marc Vds Racing Team +3.
976