Qatar MotoGP: Cal Crutchlow second, Lorenzo fastest in practice

Cal Crutchlow came tantalisingly close to finishing practice for the opening round of the 1000cc MotoGP world championship in Qatar with the fastest time at the floodlit Losail International Circuit tonight.

The British rider headed the timesheets in the final moments with a brilliant lap of 1.55.456. But factory Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo seized top spot with a 1.55.302 to deny former World Supersport champion Crutchlow by just 0.154s.

Lorenzo and Crutchlow ended Casey Stoner’s domination of practice, with the Australian slipping to third in the rankings after he was fastest in the first two sessions.

The reigning world champion ended with a best time of 1.55.674 to finish 0.218s behind Crutchlow’s Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine.

Crutchlow’s team-mate Andrea Dovizioso was fourth quickest with a best time of 1.55.905 with Dani Pedrosa bounced back from his crash earlier in the evening to finish fifth. Pramac Ducati rider Hector Barbera completed the top six.

Nicky Hayden was seventh with a best time of 1.56.402 while factory Ducati team-mate Valentino Rossi moved up from 10th after the first two practice sessions into eighth.

The Italian clocked a best time of 1.56.535. Although that was 1.4s quicker than last night, he was still 1.2s behind Lorenzo’s pace.

Texan Ben Spies didn’t have a session to remember. He had already run off at Turn 1 after missing his braking marker when he crashed out a few minutes later. He walked away unhurt and bounced back to finish in ninth position.

A late crash, which left him limping heavily on his left foot, didn’t stop Randy de Puniet from finishing top CRT rider. A lap of 1.58.261 just edged out the Suter-BMW ridden by experienced American Colin Edwards.

James Ellison continues to make impressive and rapid progress on the Paul Bird Motosport Aprilia ART machine, despite finishing in 21st place.

The 31-year-old was almost three seconds faster tonight than the first evening but he remains over 2.5s away from the best CRT pace.

1 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 329.7 1’55.302 
2 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 329.6 1’55.456 0.154 / 0.154
3 1 Casey STONER AUS Repsol Honda Team Honda 336.3 1’55.674 0.372 / 0.218
4 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 333.4 1’55.905 0.603 / 0.231
5 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 334.9 1’56.114 0.812 / 0.209
6 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 338.3 1’56.163 0.861 / 0.049
7 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 338.8 1’56.402 1.100 / 0.239
8 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Ducati Team Ducati 337.4 1’56.535 1.233 / 0.133
9 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 335.1 1’56.751 1.449 / 0.216
10 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 334.0 1’56.771 1.469 / 0.020
11 11 Ben SPIES USA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 327.0 1’57.030 1.728 / 0.259
12 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 335.8 1’57.223 1.921 / 0.193
13 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Power Electronics Aspar ART 312.3 1’58.261 2.959 / 1.038
14 5 Colin EDWARDS USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing Suter 316.8 1’58.310 3.008 / 0.049
15 51 Michele PIRRO ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini FTR 313.5 1’58.800 3.498 / 0.490
16 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Avintia Blusens BQR-FTR 306.6 1’59.087 3.785 / 0.287
17 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART 313.1 1’59.169 3.867 / 0.082
18 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Came IodaRacing Project Ioda 292.2 1’59.517 4.215 / 0.348
19 22 Ivan SILVA SPA Avintia Blusens BQR-FTR 311.4 2’00.035 4.733 / 0.518
20 54 Mattia PASINI ITA Speed Master ART 314.5 2’00.226 4.924 / 0.191
21 77 James ELLISON GBR Paul Bird Motorsport ART 312.2 2’00.563 5.261 / 0.337