Australian Casey Stoner topped the time sheets in testing at Valencia on Monday afternoon, less than 24 hours following the final MotoGP World Championship race of the season as a host of fast rookies debuted for their new 2010 teams.
Australian Casey Stoner topped the time sheets in testing at Valencia on Monday afternoon, less than 24 hours following the final MotoGP World Championship race of the season.
The Ducati Marlboro Team rider, working with new team manager Vito Guareschi for the first time, overcame the disappointment of his warm-up lap crash during Sunday’s race to set the best lap of 1:32.660 while trying a new engine configuration on his Desmosedici to smoothen out the powerband.
Stoner was followed closely by usual Fiat Yamaha suspects Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, the YZR-M1 riders featuring within the top three while testing a new evolution 2010 prototype bike alongside their 2009 versions.
Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa made his debut with a new-look crew in the HRC pit box to set the fourth quickest time while using development parts for 2010, narrowly edging out Stoner’s teammate Nicky Hayden.
An impressive sixth quickest was Ben Spies, the Texan making his debut for the Monster Energy Tech 3 Yamaha team with a time that was faster than his qualifying time from the race weekend. Spies rode a different bike to what he raced on Sunday, albeit with the same settings to use as a base.
Notable test times on the first of the three-day test was Marco Melandri back with San Carlo Gresini Honda in 10th position, while Aleix Espargaro was a solid 11th in his fulltime debut with Pramac Racing.
Italian Marco Simoncelli made his MotoGP debut on the second of the Gresini Hondas to place 14th after day one, followed up by fellow debutants Alvaro Bautista, Hector Barbera and Hiroshi Aoyama, the new 250cc Grand Prix World Champion.
The test marked the debut of Barbera’s Aspar Racing team in the premier class using Ducati’s Desmosedici after many successful years in the 125GP and 250GP categories.
Visit the Team Event Releases section for detailed reports including quotes from the riders and teams.
1 Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 1:32.660
2 Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1:32.685
3 Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1:32.826
4 Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda 1:33.088
5 Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team 1:33.358
6 Ben Spies (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:33.496
7 Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda 1:33.675
8 Mika Kallio (FIN) Pramac Racing 1:33.726
9 Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1:33.775
10 Marco Melandri (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:33.839
11 Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Pramac Racing 1:33.878
12 Colin Edwards (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:33.929
13 Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1:34.144
14 Marco Simoncelli (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:35.229
15 Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1:35.772
16 Hector Barbera (SPA) Aspar Team 1:36.204
17 Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) Scot Racing Team 1:37.9