Casey Stoner quickest again in Qatar MotoGP practice two
A late surge from Casey Stoner took the MotoGP world champion back to first place at the end of the second free practice session for the Qatar Grand Prix
Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo had been the man to beat for most of the 45 minutes, holding a comfortable advantage over his rivals.
But then Stoner (Honda) jumped from sixth to first with a 1m55.960s, beating Lorenzo by 0.214 seconds.
It was still a very encouraging session for Yamaha, as Tech 3's Andrea Dovizioso and works rider Ben Spies completed the top four.
Stoner's team-mate Dani Pedrosa crashed at Turn 8 halfway through the session, but was unhurt and rejoined to take sixth.
Ducati's lead runner was Pramac rider Hector Barbera, who grabbed fifth place - two positions ahead of top works rider Nicky Hayden, with Valentino Rossi down in 10th.
Cal Crutchlow again appeared near the head of the timesheets for a while before others' late improvements pushed the Tech 3 man back, this time to eighth.
Colin Edwards led the CRT pack on Forward's Suter-BMW, lapping a tenth quicker than Aspar Aprilia man Randy de Puniet.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Casey Stoner Honda 1m55.960s 2. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m56.174s + 0.214s 3. Andrea Dovizioso Tech 3 Yamaha 1m56.648s + 0.688s 4. Ben Spies Yamaha 1m56.671s + 0.711s 5. Hector Barbera Pramac Ducati 1m56.678s + 0.718s 6. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m56.697s + 0.737s 7. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m56.782s + 0.822s 8. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m56.814s + 0.854s 9. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1m57.197s + 1.237s 10. Valentino Rossi Ducati 1m57.274s + 1.314s 11. Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati 1m57.523s + 1.563s 12. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 1m57.668s + 1.708s 13. Colin Edwards Forward Suter-BMW 1m58.801s + 2.841s 14. Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia 1m58.945s + 2.985s 15. Yonny Hernandez Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m59.698s + 3.738s 16. Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia 1m59.997s + 4.037s 17. Michele Pirro Gresini FTR-Honda 2m00.231s + 4.271s 18. Mattia Pasini Speed Master Aprilia 2m00.373s + 4.413s 19. Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Aprilia 2m00.404s + 4.444s 20. Ivan Silva Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 2m00.787s + 4.827s 21. James Ellison Paul Bird Aprilia 2m02.112s + 6.152s
Share Or Save This Story
Nicky Hayden: Remembering motorsport's much-loved "one-off" five years on
Morbidelli/Rossi relationship won’t change as MotoGP team-mates
Why Alex Marquez doesn't care about 'shutting up' MotoGP critics
MotoGP points leader Bezzecchi banned from Czech GP for hitting marshal in sprint
DTM Lausitzring 1: Mapelli takes fortunate maiden win for Lamborghini Temerario GT3
The flaw Cadillac must fix to reach F1's midfield
MotoGP Czech GP: Bagnaia wins sprint as Bezzecchi crashes out
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments