Casey Stoner did it again.
The Australian once again lead the field during free practice 3 at the Losail circuit, even if this time he took a little longer that his usual three laps to do it, but he still set a blistering pace with hot lap of 1’55″035, which was a little more that one tenth faster than the race record lap of 1’55″153 he set back in 2008.
If Stoner is beaming because of his superiority, so is Honda Repsol this Friday evening.
Not only do they have the first position on the lap chart once again, they also have Dani Pedrosa in second and Andrea Dovizioso in third, even if the Italian was slower by a little more than 7 tenths of second, but reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo was just 0.
074s behind Dovizioso in fourth and able to crack that 1.
56 barrier three times.
This time Ben Spies finished in fifth, followed by Hector Barbera who was 1.
231s off the top spot, but he was also the first Ducati rider, because Valentino Rossi could only manage an 8th and again with no significant improvement.
Rossi was tagged by satellite Pramac Ducati rider Randy de Puniet and team mate Loris Capirossi who closed out the top ten.
Nicky Hayden who tried a soft tire at the end of session was down in lowly 14th, next to Marco Simoncelli who took a big step backwards to finish in 15th.
Alvaro had a big one off at turn 15 during the last 9 minutes of the session and ended up being stretchered off the track.
MotoGP Qatar FP3 Results:01- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – 1’55.
03502- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 0.
15803- Andrea Dovizioso – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 0.
70504- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
77905- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
96806- Hector Barbera – Mapfre Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.
23107- Colin Edwards – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.
26708- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.
27109- Randy De Puniet – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.
32710- Loris Capirossi – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.
39911- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.
40212- Hiroshi Aoyama – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 1.
48213- Marco Simoncelli – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 1.
50514- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.
55115- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 2.
24016- Alvaro Bautista – Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – Suzuki GSV-R – + 2.
56617- Toni Elias – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 3.
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