Brno MotoGP: Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo frustrated

Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo were both left frustrated in Brno today after the 2011 MotoGP world title contenders were blown away by Dani Pedrosa in the first two practice sessions.

Repsol Honda rider Pedrosa topped the timesheets with a best lap of 1.56.328 in cloudy conditions this morning.

And although the Spaniard was the only rider in the 18-strong field not to better his pace in the afternoon session, Stoner was still 0.503s adrift in second place.

The Aussie, who holds a healthy 20-point lead over Lorenzo going into Sunday’s 22-lap race, blamed a lack of front-end feel and rear grip for his failure to better a time of 1.56.831.

Stoner, who claimed a fifth win in 10 races at Laguna Seca last month, said: “I wasn’t happy today really and I’m struggling a little bit, similar to what we had in Laguna. I haven’t got such a positive feeling with the front and couldn’t get any understanding or feeling for where the limit was on the front. So when I did try and push I wasn’t too sure where the limit was.

“Also a long with that I didn’t have any rear grip and both of those together I couldn’t get the bike turning through the corners and as soon as I tried to pick the bike up and exit I still didn’t have grip. It was a bit frustrating.  We need some big changes for tomorrow to get the bike where I’m happy with it. The bike feels very rough and not neat and tidy and it is difficult to ride.”

Stoner was full of praise for factory Honda team-mate Pedrosa’s performance but he said he was confident he could reduce the deficit tomorrow with overnight changes to the set-up of his RC212V machine.

The 2007 world champion added: “Dani was riding extremely well today. He’s been blisteringly fast but we know can catch him and we know we can chase him down. He got to that point quickly this morning and he didn’t seem to improve and we’ve improved quite a lot and we know we can improve more. That’s one good point for us but at the same time Dani is reeling off those times lap after lap.”

Reigning world champion Lorenzo was also disappointed with his display today in the Czech Republic. He was fourth fastest in both sessions and a best lap of 1.57.174 left him a massive 0.846s behind Pedrosa.

The factory Yamaha rider said: “I expected much more from today and less problems and better performance. I had some problems and on braking I didn’t feel the front tyre so much, so I’m a little slow at this point and very far from Dani especially.”