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Stoner disappears on final day |
MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner lapped faster than any other rider in history at Phillip Island on Friday, when the Ducati Marlboro star headlined a flawless three-day test at his home circuit with a stunning qualifying-tyre time of 1min 28.777secs - almost one-second better than his nearest rival.
Although Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa weren't present, they would have been hard pressed to challenge the Australian who - having been fastest on race tyres during the first two days - delivered a stunning race simulation on day three, in which only his flying lap was outside the 1min 30secs mark.
"We did the race simulation with one of Bridgestone's new tyres and it went really well, even though we had to come in three laps early. The track temperature today was actually higher than it was for the race here and you could tell. Even so we managed to lap consistently in low 1min 30secs and that shows how well they're working in Japan," confirmed Casey.
"I'm also really happy with the qualifying tyre, which is the same as last year," revealed Stoner, whose best lap was 0.424secs under Pedrosa's pole time at last October's grand prix. "It is a good thing that bike is not completely different to 2007 because it has allowed is to find an excellent base to start the season from already.
"The new version of the engine has a better delivery, especially at the bottom end, and that has allowed me to set fast times more consistently, as well as increasing tyre life. It has been a good test session but now I'm happy to have a couple of weeks to rest and train in the gym. The shoulder feels okay, it is just a little bit weak and sore because I haven't been able to work on it as much as I would have wanted but now we can do that," he concluded.
Holding a distant runner-up position to Stoner was 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden, who finished the test much higher than he'd been on the first two days. However, Nicky has frequently proven that he and the RCV are a force to be reckoned with on Michelin qualifying tyres; it is race pace and engine performance that is the main concern.
Turning heads just 0.020secs behind Hayden was MotoGP rookie James Toseland, who - riding at a track he knows well for the first time since stepping onto an M1 last November - crowned three very encouraging days with an impressive qualifying-tyre time good enough for third on the grid at the 2007 race weekend.
It was an exciting test for all the three rookies present (Jorge Lorenzo didn't attend) and JiR Scot Team's former 250cc ace Andrea Dovizioso was a mere 0.026secs slower than the double World Superbike champion - after his own MotoGP debut at the undulating seaside circuit - while Toseland's experienced team-mate Colin Edwards completed an amazingly close second-to-fifth covered by just 0.061secs.
A four-tenth gap then separated Edwards from the top Rizla Suzuki of Chris Vermeulen, the Australian finishing what was always going to be a challenging test for the GSV-R by lapping 1.4secs from Stoner. Team-mate Loris Capirossi was only 13th fastest out of the 14 riders, following John Hopkins' Thursday injury, but the Italian seemed to stick to race tyres.
