Dorna Day One Report

Newly crowned MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner showed no signs of dropping his guard in his first on-track appearance since taking the title. Making his triumphant return to Australian soil, the Ducati factory rider was the only rider to clock a faster time in the morning session than in the afternoon, with a 1’31.132 lap of the Phillip Island circuit. Stoner suffered a crash in the closing stages of the second free practice session, one which was almost identical to that experienced just a few minutes earlier by Pramac d’Antin stand-in Chaz Davies.

The second fastest rider of the day, which ran the full gamut of weather conditions making things difficult for the participants, was last year’s race winner Marco Melandri. The Italian was just over four tenths of a second off Stoner’s time, and is one of the few riders keen for the rain to fall on race day.

Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi were third and fourth respectively, the highest placing Michelin riders. The duo are battling for second in the championship in the last three races of the year.

The top six was completed by Randy de Puniet and Alex Barros, who undertook few laps in the second session and finished his run out with a light crash onboard his satellite Ducati. Carlos Checa and Loris Capirossi added to a strong representation for the veterans of MotoGP, ahead of pole record holder Nicky Hayden and local rider Anthony West.

Chris Vermeulen had a difficult start to preparations for his home race, languishing in 14th at the scene of his maiden podium last year. Although he has struggled in qualifying at the last few races, Phillip Island could prove to be a case of ‘better the devil you know’ as he looks to start from a strong position and leapfrog team-mate John Hopkins in the standings.

Vermeulen was running his Barry Sheene tribute livery, which will be used all weekend, for the first time today. Another new design was modelled by Fiat Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards, who are running a white and red Abarth racing scheme for their second one-off livery of the year.

A number of MotoGP riders also took part in an autograph session today, and the final slots in the event were occupied by former riders Mick Doohan and Kevin Magee, who had previously taken laps of the Phillip Island track.

With a second 250cc world title in his sights, Jorge Lorenzo blasted out of the blocks in the first qualifying session at Phillip Island to take the provisional pole position. The Spaniard was the only rider to go round in under 1’34, within four tenths of a second off Sebastian Porto’s long standing circuit record lap.

Lorenzo’s long-time adversary Hector Barbera put in the second quickest time, albeit seven tenths of a second off the reigning World Champion’s time on the opening day. The only two riders capable of snatching the title from Lorenzo’s grasp, Alex de Angelis and Andrea Dovizioso, complete the provisional front row.

Marco Simoncelli and Alvaro Bautista round off the top six, ahead of Hiroshi Aoyama and Julian Simon. Bautista has fond memories of the Phillip Island circuit, having won the 125cc title at the track last season.

Current 125cc World Championship leader Gabor Talmacsi put himself in the early driving seat at Phillip Island by taking provisional pole on day one. The Hungarian rider had put in a 1’39.134 lap of the Australian track to top the timesheets, although he didn’t have things entirely his way as he experienced a late crash after his hot lap.

Team-mate and title rival Hector Faubel was close behind, with a time of 1’39.178 keeping him right up with Talmacsi. Tomoyoshi Koyama and Motegi race winner Mattia Pasini, getting to grips with the circuit after a pair of off-track excursions this morning, completed the provisional front row.

The fastest rider in the morning session, Sergio Gadea headed the second row, accompanied by Lukas Pesek, Raffaele de Rosa and Lorenzo Zanetti in a surprise showing for the latter. Times were three seconds off the circuit record, owing to the unpredictable weather which left the riders taking tentative steps forward on their first encounters with the track.  

Quiz - Test your GP knowledge!

Day One Team Reports - Dorna - Ducati - HRC - Kawasaki - Suzuki - Yamaha - Bridgestone