Mugello MotoGP: CRT speed too slow, says Casey Stoner

Reigning world champion Casey Stoner has expressed concerns about the speed of the CRT machinery on fast tracks like Mugello after he tangled with Italian rookie Danilo Petrucci in practice earlier today.

Several riders have been critical of the speed differential between the factory prototypes and the CRT machines, which use highly tuned production-based engines like Honda’s CBR1000RR and BMW’s S1000RR.

Today it was Stoner’s turn to vent his frustration after the superior speed of Stoner’s Repsol Honda prototype RC213V saw him catch Petrucci’s Came IodaRacing Project bike, which runs a moderately tuned Aprilia RSV4 motor in this afternoon’s practice.

TV pictures showed the latter stages of the incident where Stoner appeared to swerve towards Petrucci on the fast run to the final corner.

But the incident had started three corners earlier when Stoner accused Petrucci of cutting in front of him after the Australian had already made an overtake.

Stoner told MCN: “I went up the inside of him and completely passed him and then he went back round the outside of me and destroyed my lap. He went straight back on the outside and nearly cut my front off.

“I wasn’t too happy. In a race it is fair enough but not in practice. It is practice and not a race so it is unnecessary.

“I was disappointed because I have been impressed with his results and his effort this year and then he goes and destroys a lap of mine when I’d already overtaken him.

“I was a little bit p****d off to be honest. When he comes out of one corner he stays in one gear and hits the limiter and then I nearly hit the back of him again.”

Stoner has been critical of some aggressive riding in 2012 and during the recent Assen Moto3 race in Holland he tweeted about Sandro Cortese’s uncompromising approach when fighting with Red Bull KTM team-mate Danny Kent and Spaniard Maverick Vinales for the victory.

But Stoner defended himself today and said: “I didn’t push him off the track. I just didn’t give him a lot of room and needed him to back off and give me my space. He didn’t do that three corners before.”

Stoner then said the problem in MotoGP is the CRT bikes are dangerously slower than the factory prototypes.

Stoner’s RC213V 1000cc prototype was clocked at 207.65mph through the Mugello speed trap today, while Petrucci’s bike was easily the slowest at just 188.02mph. Hector Barbera’s Ducati GP12 was the fastest at 215.42mph.

The 26-year-old said: “The dangerous thing is the CRT bikes. You come up on them faster than a Moto2 bike and it is ridiculous. At least in Moto2 they have a bit of corner speed when they are coming out of the corners.

“You come up on them that quick and there shouldn’t be both types of bike out on track. It would be like F1 racing with touring cars, you come up on them quite fast and it is not the greatest feeling.

“There is much too big of a gap between the prototypes and CRT and it is not fair on the guys in CRT. And it is not right there are two different championships and this is not the correct way to go.”