Casey Stoner comes out top in Valencia practice

Added on Friday, November 5th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments

Casey Stoner is off to a flying start in Valencia, as he topped the practice lap times and finished half a second ahead of the newly crowned MotoGP Champion Jorge Lorenzo.

The Ducati rider posted a best effort of 1’32.897 during the 45 minute practice session, and was 0.558s ahead of Lorenzo who came in at 1’33.455 on his Fiat Yamaha. In third place was Andre Dovizioso and the Respol Honda rider finished just under five-hundredths after Lorenzo.

Picking up the pace of his race last weekend, where he narrowly missed out on a podium finish, was Marco Simoncelli. The rookie rider for Honda Gresini clocked a best time of 1m 33.631s, putting him fourth in the practice standings, and ahead of his fellow Italian rider Valentino Rossi who is in fifth place.

Ben Spies was back on the track, despite dislocating his ankle last weekend at Estoril and the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider still managed to finish within the top ten.

The full list of practice times is as follows:

1. Casey Stoner (27) – Ducati Team – 1.32.897

2. Jorge Lorenzo (99) – Fiat Yamaha Team – 1.33.455

3. Andrea Dovizioso (4) – Repsol Honda Team – 1.33.500

4. Marco Simoncelli (58) – San Carlo Honda Gresini – 1.33.631

5. Valentino Rossi (46) – Fiat Yamaha Team – 1.33.714

6. Nicky Hayden (69) – Ducati Team – 1.33.757

7. Hector Barbera (40) – Paginas Amarillas Aspar – 1.33.857

8. Randy De Puniet (14) – LCR Honda MotoGP – 1.33.899

9. Ben Spies (11) – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – 1.33.929

10. Aleix Espargaro (41) – Pramac Racing Team – 1.34.029

11. Colin Edwards (5) – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – 1.34.053