The final day of pre-season testing in Qatar finished more or less as everyone expected, with Honda on top again, only this time it was Casey Stoner who took the top spot pipping his team mate Dani Pedrosa by just 0.
064s and both riders were clear from the rest of the field by more than a sixth of second and the only two to go under the 1.
56 mark.
Honda has built RC212V homing missile this year and even Yamaha can’t seem to make up the gap at least at the floodlit Losail track.
Ben Spies finished in third at 0.
613s from Stoner, while his team mate and reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo was even further down the chart, in seventh and more than a second off pace.
Gresini Honda’s Marco Simoncelli barreled up the timesheets tonight to take fourth, while the third Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso was fifth.
Randy de Puniet was the first Ducati rider in the top ten with his sixth place, while Yamaha Tech3’s Colin Edwards took eighth just in front of fellow American, Nicky Hayden on the Ducati, who was one of the numerous riders who crashed on the sand swept track.
Hiroshi Aoyama dropped from his yesterday’s impressive third to just tenth in this last test session, while Valentino Rossi won’t be joking about his latest crash this time.
The Italian finished down in a lowly 13th spot bettering his lap time from day 1 by just one tenth of second and you can be sure that his shoulder will be an issue.
Having finished the two day test, the MotoGP riders will have two days off before returning to the circuit on Thursday for the the first official practice session ahead of Sunday’s opening race.
MotoGP Qatar Test – Day 2 Results:01- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – 1’55.
68102- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 0.
06403- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
61304- Marco Simoncelli – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 0.
75205- Andrea Dovizioso – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 0.
75806- Randy De Puniet – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 0.
76407- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.
02608- Colin Edwards – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.
03509- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.
04510- Hiroshi Aoyama – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 1.
05911- Hector Barbera – Mapfre Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.
11712- Alvaro Bautista – Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – Suzuki GSV-R – + 1.
25013- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.
30714- Loris Capirossi – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.
66415- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 2.
04916- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 2.
16517- Toni Elias – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 2.
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