Hold on a second VFR..
For a bloke who couldn't ride the Ducati, did you know that on his DEBUT at Qatar Rossi was faster than Stoner?
2010, Casey started his campaign off with a crash, one of five that was to see him voted Monitor In Charge Of Gravel Inspection that year, but if we look at the year before we can see just how fast Rossi was in 2011 on virtually the same Carbon Fibre Desmosedici.
2009, Casey won the race by 7.771 secs in a time of 42'53.984 with a fastest lap of 1'55.844.
2011, Rossi came 7th with a total race time of 42'55.000 with a fast lap of 1'56.053.
Don't forget, this is Val's debut and Casey was into his third year on the bike by 2009.
So..Stoner was 1.016 sec faster over race distance and his best lap - there was only one in the 55's - was 0.209 quicker.
Not bad for a washed up old fker on his debut next to an experienced Ducati legend eh?
Thing is, this only tells half the story..
Stoner qualified on pole, had a great start and was never headed. His first lap was completely unhindered off the start and he did a 2''01.825.
Rossi however qualified 9th and was caught up in the first lap melee posting a 2'05.437, which means he lost 3.612sec in the traffic compared to Stoner.
From the start of lap 2 until the end of the race, Rossi was faster than Stoner by 2.596 seconds and he still had to overtake one or two before the end. Stoner had a straight run to the line.
On average, Val was over a tenth of a second a lap faster than Stoner leaving out the first lap.
Pretty exceptional for a doddering old mid-packer, don't you think?
