Rossi tops time sheets in Sepang practice

Added on Friday, October 8th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor

Valentino Rossi was the fastest man on track in Sepang this morning as Casey Stoner crashed out in Sepang.

The defending champion posted a time of 2:02.724 in Friday’s practice session, more than a tenth of a second faster than Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso in second place. Title leader Jorge Lorenzo, who needs just a ninth place finish to claim the championship this weekend, posted the third fastest time of the session at 2:02.898.

Casey Stoner, chasing a third successive victory for Ducati this weekend, was quickest initially but then lost the front end going into Turn 4 just 12 minutes into the session. Unharmed, he rejoined the session but could not improve on his early time until the closing minutes, putting him fourth fastest.

Suzuki’s Alvaro Bautista was the surprise performer, posting the fifth fastest time of the session with a late surge putting him ahead of Colin Edwards in sixth, while Marco Melandri posted the seventh fastest time on the Gresini Honda.

Aleix Espargaro, Ben Spies and Randy de Puniet completed the top ten.

Pos	Rider	Nat	Team	Time
1	Valentino Rossi	ITA	Fiat Yamaha	2:02.724
2	Andrea Dovizioso	ITA	Repsol Honda	+ 0.109
3	Jorge Lorenzo	SPA	Fiat Yamaha	+ 0.174
4	Casey Stoner	AUS	Ducati Marlboro	+ 0.436
5	Alvaro Bautista	SPA	Rizla Suzuki	+ 0.614
6	Colin Edwards	USA	Monster Tech 3 Yamaha	+ 0.669
7	Marco Melandri	ITA	San Carlo Gresini Honda	+ 0.714
8	Aleix Espargaro	SPA	Pramac Ducati	+ 0.747
9	Ben Spies	USA	Monster Tech 3 Yamaha	+ 0.753
10	Randy de Puniet	GBR	LCR Honda	+ 0.815
11	Marco Simoncelli	ITA	San Carlo Gresini Honda	+ 0.956
12	Loris Capirossi	ITA	Rizla Suzuki	+ 0.993
13	Hector Barbera	SPA	Aspar Ducati	+ 1.036
14	Hiroshi Aoyama	JAP	Interwetten Honda	+ 1.045
15	Nicky Hayden	USA	Ducati Marlboro	+ 1.223
16	Mika Kallio	FIN	Pramac Ducati	+ 1.299