“I’m still going to put in every bit of effort that we can.
We still want to win races and have some great races said Casey Stoner during yesterday’s press conference at Le Mans after his announcement that shook the MotoGP world that he would be retiring at the end of the season and the Australian proved it during this morning’s FP1.
The Repsol Honda rider went to the top of the charts as he usually does at the start of session leaving the rest of the field playing catch-up which Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo almost did, until Stoner came back out of his garage and blasted out another of super fast laps that finally stopped the clock at 1.
34.
321, leaving team mate Pedrosa in second and 0587s adrift, but he was the only other rider to break the 1.
35 barrier.
In the finale Yamaha Tech3’s Andrea Dovizioso took the third spot finishing ahead of Yamaha factory rider Ben Spies and Pramac’s Hector Barbera who got up to third before being pushed back to fifth.
Jorge Lorenzo was a visibily unhappy sixth and +0.
918 from his rival – he may be slightly unconcentrated thinking about the new scenarios for the 2013 silly season, while Cal Crutchlow was seventh in his last flying lap and the last rider to be within a secon from Stoner.
Alvaro Bautista was 8th followed by Nicky Hayden, while Valentino Rossi accused his usual 1.
5s gap and was 10th and 0.
426 from his own team mate.
Ducati will be testing new parts and a new engine at Mugello next week.
Randy De Puniet was the best CRT rider of the session in 13th ahead of his team mate Aleix Espargaro who suffered a crash early in the practice as did Michele Pirro.
Chris Vermeulen who is subbing for injured Colin Edwards in NGM Forwardwas last and more than 7 seconds from the top of timesheets but the Australian has been off a racing bike for almost a year following all the injuries he suffered in World Superbikes.
MotoGP Le Mans FP1 results:01- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’34.
32102- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.
58703- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
74404- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
88105- Hector Barbera – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.
89206- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
91807- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
99708- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 1.
01509- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.
08210- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.
50811- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.
97012- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 2.
17913- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 2.
61414- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 3.
59515- Mattia Pasini – Speed Master Team – ART GP12 – + 3.
81916- Yonny Hernandez – Avintia Blusens – FTR Kawasaki – + 3.
88817- Michele Pirro – San Carlo Honda Gresini – FTR Honda – + 3.
93418- James Ellison – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP12 – + 4.
62219- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda TR003 – + 4.
78920- Ivan Silva – Avintia Blusens – Inmotec MotoGP – + 5.
40821- Chris Vermeulen – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – Suter BMW – + 7.
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