Qatar MotoGP: Casey Stoner tops opening practice

Casey Stoner made the perfect start to the defence of his MotoGP crown in Qatar tonight when the Repsol Honda rider held off a Yamaha onslaught to top the opening practice timesheets.

Jorge Lorenzo, Ben Spies and Cal Crutchlow had all took it in turns to lead the way for Yamaha in the 45-minute session, but it was Stoner that prevailed with a best lap of 1.56.474.

That put the former Ducati rider 0.174s clear of Spaniard Lorenzo, who clocked a best time of 1.56.648 on his factory Yamaha YZR-M1 machine.

American Nicky Hayden clinched an encouraging third place for Ducati when he posted a 1.56.924 to finish 0.276s behind Lorenzo.

Compatriot Spies had to settle for fourth place and he was the last rider to dive under the 1.57 bracket with a quickest lap of 1.56.982.

Dani Pedrosa put his off-track troubles behind him by setting the fifth best time but the Spaniard’s best of 1.57.130 was still a massive 0.656s behind Stoner.

British rider Crutchlow carried his brilliant winter testing form into the new 1000cc era and he was sixth fastest. His best time of 1.57.395 put him top non-factory rider and almost 0.2s clear of Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team-mate Andrea Dovizioso.

Valentino Rossi’s 2012 started in somewhat unspectacular fashion. The Italian was a lowly 10th and only third fastest Ducati rider. The nine-times world champion could only set a best lap of 1.57.914 to finish 1.440s adrift of Stoner.

He was also close to a second behind Hayden and only Karel Abraham on a Ducati was slower, though the Czech Republic rider was only 0.025s back of the 33-year-old.

Randy de Puniet was the leading CRT rider, the Frenchman ending up 13th on the Aspar ART machine, which is based heavily on Aprilia’s RSV4 superbike.

He was only just top CRT rider though with Colin Edwards delivering one of the standout performances of the opening night. The experienced Texan clocked a best time of 2.00.044 on the Suter-BMW to finish just 0.059s behind de Puniet.

1 1 Casey STONER AUS Repsol Honda Team Honda 334.5 1’56.474 
2 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 329.9 1’56.648 0.174 / 0.174
3 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 334.2 1’56.924 0.450 / 0.276
4 11 Ben SPIES USA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 326.7 1’56.982 0.508 / 0.058
5 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 332.9 1’57.130 0.656 / 0.148
6 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 329.2 1’57.395 0.921 / 0.265
7 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 336.8 1’57.512 1.038 / 0.117
8 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 330.0 1’57.547 1.073 / 0.035
9 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 337.2 1’57.912 1.438 / 0.365
10 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Ducati Team Ducati 334.3 1’57.914 1.440 / 0.002
11 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 336.1 1’57.939 1.465 / 0.025
12 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 330.9 1’58.934 2.460 / 0.995
13 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Power Electronics Aspar ART 314.0 1’59.985 3.511 / 1.051
14 5 Colin EDWARDS USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing Suter 315.1 2’00.044 3.570 / 0.059
15 51 Michele PIRRO ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini FTR 309.5 2’00.322 3.848 / 0.278
16 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART 311.8 2’00.720 4.246 / 0.398
17 22 Ivan SILVA SPA Avintia Blusens BQR-FTR 304.7 2’01.138 4.664 / 0.418
18 54 Mattia PASINI ITA Speed Master ART 307.6 2’01.261 4.787 / 0.123
19 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Avintia Blusens BQR-FTR 303.7 2’01.276 4.802 / 0.015
20 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Came IodaRacing Project Ioda 288.5 2’01.352 4.878 / 0.076
21 77 James ELLISON GBR Paul Bird Motorsport ART 302.4 2’03.421 6.947 / 2.069