World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo continued on his torrid run with the fastest time in Friday qualifying for Sunday’s Catalunya Grand Prix north of Barcelona.
On a day when temperatures reached nearly 90 degrees, and track temperatures soared, the Fiat Yamaha-riding Majorcan was at his best. He went to the top of the order in the fifth and ninth minutes, before settling in with a fast lap on the 14th. About five minutes later, Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner was almost suddenly on top.
Just past the halfway mark in the 60-minute session, Lorenzo went to the top with a lap of 1:43.405. He lowered it on each of his next two laps, finishing with a best of 1:43.259 with over 24 minutes remaining.
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MotoGP: Catalunya Grand Prix - First Practice Results
Stoner upped his pace with about 13 minutes to run, turning a pair of fast laps, the second of which came within .153 of a second of Lorenzo, but no closer. Cycle News
Completing the top three was Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa at almost four-tenths off Lorenzo as he attempts to fight his fellow Spaniard for victory this weekend. Seeking a consistency in results on his RC212V Pedrosa started his quest in promising fashion on a track he has won races in three different classes.
Team-mate Andrea Dovizioso was 0.094s further back in fourth and will challenge Pedrosa for second spot in the Championship standings in round seven. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Ben Spies meanwhile put in a hot penultimate lap to shoot up from 15th to fifth inside the final minutes of the session, as he set about learning another new track.
Aleix Espargaró’s improvements continued on board the Ducati of the Pramac Racing team as he set the sixth fastest lap of the session, just under nine-tenths off Lorenzo, whilst Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) will also aim for another consistent result at Catalunya – the Frenchman was seventh, just 0.06s behind Espargaró.
Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) made a step up towards the end of the session to move into eighth spot, with Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech3) and Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) also taking top-ten times. MotoGP
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