Stoner quickest on day one in Valencia

Added on Monday, November 9th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor

Casey Stoner went some way to atoning for his Valencia Grand Prix debacle by posting the quickest time of the session in the first day of 2010 testing.

Stoner crashed out on the warm-up lap of yesterday’s final Grand Prix of 2009, bringing a premature end to his season but the Aussie lay down the first market for 2010 by posting a quickest time of 1:32.660 from 32 laps in the first day of three in Valencia.

The time, 0.404 seconds slower than his pole-setting time on Saturday, was 0.118 seconds faster than the fastest lap set 24 hours earlier by Dani Pedrosa.

Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo was second fastest. 0.025 seconds behind Stoner whilst World Champion Valentino Rossi was third quickest.

The test provided ample opportunity for riders to get accustomed to new teams and bikes, with a number of riders experiencing their 2010 rides for the first time.

Ben Spies was an impressive 6^th fastest on the Tech 3 Yamaha with a best time of 1:33.496 from 50 laps. Marco Melandri, back on the Gresini Honda, was 10^th fastest after moving from the defunct Hayate Kawasaki team.

250cc graduates Marco Simoncelli, Alvaro Bautista, Hector Barbera and Hiroshi Aoyama also took part with their new teams, with Simoncelli coming out on top on his Gresini Honda.

Pos	Rider	Team	Time	Laps
1	Casey Stoner	Ducati Marlboro	1:32.660	32
2	Jorge Lorenzo	Fiat Yamaha	+ 0.025	45
3	Valentino Rossi	Fiat Yamaha	+ 0.166	37
4	Dani Pedrosa	Repsol Honda	+ 0.428	31
5	Nicky Hayden	Ducati Marlboro	+ 0.698	58
6	Ben Spies	Monster Tech 3 Yamaha	+ 0.836	50
7	Andrea Dovizioso	Repsol Honda	+ 1.015	51
8	Mika Kallio	Pramac Ducati	+ 1.066	52
9	Randy de Puniet	LCR Honda	+ 1.115	61
10	Marco Melandri	San Carlo Honda Gresini	+ 1.179	59
11	Aleix Espargaro	Pramac Ducati	+ 1.218	63
12	Colin Edwards	Monster Tech 3 Yamaha	+ 1.269	35
13	Loris Capirossi	Rizla Suzuki	+ 1.484	55
14	Marco Simoncelli	San Carlo Honda Gresini	+ 2.569	51
15	Alvaro Bautista	Rizla Suzuki	+ 3.112	52
16	Hector Barbera	Aspar Ducati	+ 3.544	63
17	Hiroshi Aoyama	Scot Racing Honda	+ 5.304	40
18	Kenny Noyes	Promoracing	+ 5.994	28
19	Ratthapark Wilairot	Stop and Go	+ 7.155	17
20	Joan Olive	Promoracing	+ 9.329	18