Casey Stoner reported his team would be experimenting with new forks Friday, and the improvements made the Ducati Team GP10 fastest at FP1 for the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix, Round 11 of the MotoGP Championship.
The Australian posted a 1:40.884, beating out Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo by 0.225 of second. Stoner, who has finished on the podium in the five previous rounds, was the only one in the hour-long session to break the 1:41 mark.
Stoner, who sits in third in the championship with 119 points, has reported struggling with handling all year. Ducati experimented with forks and suspension settings at the Brno practice session, and with the testing came positive results.
Lorenzo was quickest until the last 15 minutes, when Stoner found his rhythm and became trumped the Spaniard’s times. Third quickest was Stoner’s teammate, the American Nicky Hayden. Ultimate Motorcycling
Fellow American Ben Spies also crashed late in the session. He also was unhurt and ended the day in eighth position.
Pedrosa, a Spaniard, was fourth-fastest in practice on his Repsol Honda. Italian Valentino Rossi, who won the inaugural Indianapolis race in 2008, was fifth and American Colin Edwards was sixth. Indianapolis Star
Pos. Num. Rider Team Time 1 27 Casey STONER Ducati Team 1'40.884 2 99 Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha Team 1'41.109 3 69 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1'41.405 4 26 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1'41.421 5 46 Valentino ROSSI Fiat Yamaha Team 1'41.623 6 5 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'41.664 7 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1'41.683 8 11 Ben SPIES Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'41.722 9 41 Aleix ESPARGARO Pramac Racing Team 1'41.992 10 33 Marco MELANDRI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'42.147 11 58 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'42.268 12 40 Hector BARBERA Paginas Amarillas Aspar 1'42.368 13 36 Mika KALLIO Pramac Racing Team 1'42.600 14 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'42.696 15 65 Loris CAPIROSSI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'42.790 16 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA Interwetten Honda MotoGP 1'42.874 17 14 Randy DE PUNIET LCR Honda MotoGP 1'42.987
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