Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner has once again stamped his authority on the MotoGP field, leading the second free practice session at Losail by nearly half a second from team-mate Dani Pedrosa while Britain’s Cal Crutchlow broke into the top ten, getting eighth fastest.
Stoner set a 1’55.457 with only his third lap as Pedrosa could only muster a 1’55.854 in response.
It looked like a works Honda clean sweep until Yamaha’s Ben Spies muscled his way into third with 12 minutes to go as Crutchlow followed Pedrosa round to climb into 11th on a 1’57.210 before using a soft tyre to bag eighth and be only a second off the pace. BSN
Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso was fourth ahead of Lorenzo, with Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards putting in his best placing of the young season in sixth.
Then came San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Marco Simoncelli on the fourth and final factory Honda RC212V. Simoncelli, like Spies, has been in impressive in testing during his sophomore season.
Also impressive in his first season was eighth fastest Cal Crutchlow. The Monster Energy Yamaha Tech 3-riding Brit was under the added duress of a badly damaged left pinkie finger, which he posted a photo of on his Twitter feed.
“Out in 1 hour and half! Nerves are open on finger but should be able to do something for pain! 1 more for you,” he tweeted. Crutchlow lost the end of his little finger in a “stupid crash” during Monday testing, he earlier tweeted. Cycle News
Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) wasn’t happy with rookie Karel Abraham (Cardion ab Motoracing) after the Czech rider tried to gain the slipstream from the Ducati Team rider and he ended up ninth fastest overall. His fellow Ducati team-mate Nicky Hayden finished just behind him in tenth.
1.169 seconds covered the top ten riders in FP2 for the premier class. The MotoGP riders will back on track later this evening for FP3. Motogp.com
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