If Casey Stoner is hopeful of becoming the first rider since Valentino Rossi in 2003 to win three successive MotoGPs then it’s likely that he’ll face all sorts of English weather in accomplishing that feat. So far, so good – on both counts.Stoner mastered the iffy track conditions the best today as practice got underway for Sunday’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the Aussie ending up quickest in both sessions – the first dry the second mostly wet. When all was said and done, the Repsol Honda rider lapped at a best of 2:03.748 in the opening session and 2:15.666 in the second to best San Carlo Honda’s Marco Simoncelli, the Italian second fastest both times out.In the dry, Stoner was .659 of a second faster than Simoncelli; in the dry that margin grew to .797 of a second. Either way, Stoner was masterful on opening day at Silverstone.
“I’m pretty happy with how the day has gone after mixed conditions, we’ve seen a dry track, a wet track and then a 50/50 track so it’s been interesting to have these variants throughout the day, but in general the bike has worked well,” Stoner said in a team release. “We used both bikes today and in the wet one set up seems to work pretty well, but with wet weather forecast for the rest of the weekend we still have some things we want to improve to make the bike work better giving us some more edge grip and traction. The track seems pretty good but some of the older sections are retaining a lot more water, which is causing difficulties as in some areas you could be out on slicks but other parts are drenched. Looking at the way the wet tires are working at the moment we shouldn’t have too much of a problem though, the track seems to be kind on the Bridgestone tires and not destroying them and even after this afternoon’s session we didn’t have a too big a problem with them.”
Jorge Lorenzo ended up third in the dry session with his 2:04.756 just a tick over a second off Stoner’s best. In the wet, Lorenzo dropped to fifth – passed over by both Nicky Hayden and Cal Crutchlow. Hayden had a good day, the Marlboro Ducati rider fourth in the dry and third in the wet. Crutchlow, meanwhile, was sixth on the dry racetrack in his home Grand Prix.Respsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso was fifth fastest in the morning session and sixth in afternoon.Yamaha’s Ben Spies was seventh fastest in both conditions.Marlboro Ducati’s Valentino Rossi made his Silverstone debut today, the Italian having missed last year’s race with the broken leg he suffered at his home race in Mugello. Rossi was 12th fastest in the dry (3.3 seconds adrift of Stoner) and ninth best in the wet (3.7 seconds behind Stoner).A brave Colin Edwards took to the track in both sessions, the Texan fresh off surgery to repair his broken collarbone. Edwards was 16th in both sessions, completing 13 laps in the dry and 12 in the wet.Stoner, who is seven points behind Lorenzo in the World Championship heading into Sunday’s race, will make his 150th GP start at Silverstone.
Friday Combined Times
1. Casey Stoner (Honda) 2:03.748/2:15.666
2. Marco Simoncelli (Honda) 2:04.407/2:16.463
3. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 2:04.756/2:18.683
4. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 2:04.778/2:17.070
5. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 2:004.910/2:18.783
6. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) 2:05.007/2:18.109
7. Ben Spies (Yamaha) 2:05.130/2:18.820
8. Hector Barbera (Ducati) 2:06.158/2:20.337
9. Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki) 2:006.274/2:20.337
10. Randy de Puniet (Ducati) 2:06.774/2:20.982
11. Karel Abraham (Ducati) 2:06.774/2:19.009
12. Valentino Rossi (Ducati) 2:07.075/2:19.435
13. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda) 2:07.459/2:21.026
14. Toni Elias (Honda) 2:07.616/2:19.612
15. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2:08.225/2:20.607
16. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 2:09.310/2:24.724
