Former MotoGP champion Casey Stoner was quickest in Friday’s practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It impressed him little more than the track itself.
Of the lap, he said “nobody is up to speed yet.” Of the track, he said “it’s not a world-class circuit.”
Too many bumps, he said. Only one even above-average passing zone. No challenge.
The 2007 series champion went so far as to compare the circuit’s final corner, No. 16, to driving through “someone’s garage.”
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“Turns one, two, three are (fine), but after that it just falls to pieces,” he said. “It’s not a circuit you can really push the limit on. You have to manage it.”
Stoner said he wasn’t surprised Ducati teammate Nicky Hayden crashed in turn 13 during the one-hour practice. He said there are places where the front wheel “chatters” on the bumps.
When told series and track officials confirmed a return of the event next year, Stoner suggested “a 70 percent resurfacing.”
“It’s as simple as that,” he said.
The 24-year-old Australian hasn’t raced at Indy since 2008. Since then, he has dealt with sickness, injuries and the headache of a contract negotiation. He missed last year’s Red Bull Indianapolis GP after an illness left him too tired to complete races. Indianapolis Star
His lap of 1:40.331 mins. was more than half a second faster than the 1:40.884 he’d run in Friday practice, but only .058 secs. faster than the best of Pedrosa, who finished second.
Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda teammate Andrea Dovizioso finished third fastest. The Italian had gone to the top with just over six minutes to go before his time came under attack at the very end.
Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo was just over two-tenths slower than Dovi and about the same gap up on Ducati Marlboro’s Nicky Hayden. Hayden was languishing in the bottom half of the order before a very late session surge while chasing Pedrosa moved him up to fifth.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Ben Spies was sixth in front of San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Marco Simoncelli.
The final American, Spies’ teammate Colin Edwards, was a very close eighth and just.040 secs. in front of Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi. Cycle News
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