The infamous English weather (not that last week in Spain was that better) took a turn for the worse at Silverstone during the 125cc practice and leaving the track fully wet and standing water in certain sections for this afternoon’s MotoGP second free practice.
Despite the difficult conditions, which Casey Stoner did not feel at all, because he once again dominated the session and with his final lap right at the waving chequered flag shaved off, just in the last sector a massive 9 tenths of second, leaving Marco Simoncelli gasping in second and 0.
797s adrift.
The Italian was the only rider to get within a second from Stoner’s 2.
15.
666 lap time and if the Australian continues to ride in this spectacular fashion we’ll see the others fighting only for the bread crumbs come Sunday afternoon.
Nicky Hayden flew through the damp practice taking the third spot, albeit he was 1.
4 slower than his former Ducati team mate, but he was still the best Ducati on the grid, because Valentino Rossi struggled throughout the entire session only managing a ninth spot in the last minutes of practice, after floundering down in 15th and over 8 seconds off the top of the chart, even rookie Karel Abraham on his Cardion AB satellite Ducati finished ahead of him in 8th.
If Hayden was third, rookie Cal Crutchlow was fourth and more than a second from the Ducatista, while Jorge Lorenzo who dominated last year’s race was fifth and 3 seconds adrift from Stoner.
From Lorenzo’s 4th to Abraham’s 8th spot, lap times tightened up somewhat and separated by less than 3 tenths with Andrea Dovizioso in 6th and Ben Spies in 7th.
Closing out the top ten was Toni Elias who evidently finds it easier to use Bridgestone’s wet tires instead of the slicks.
MotoGP Silverstone FP2 results:01- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – 2’15.
66602- Marco Simoncelli – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 0.
79703- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.
40404- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 2.
44305- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 3.
01706- Andrea Dovizioso – Repsol Honda Team – Honda Desmosedici GP11 – + 3.
11707- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 3.
15408- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 3.
34309- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 3.
76910- Toni Elias – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 3.
94611- Alvaro Bautista – Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – Suzuki GSV-R – + 4.
67112- Loris Capirossi – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 4.
94113- Hector Barbera – Mapfre Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 4.
97314- Randy De Puniet – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 5.
31615- Hiroshi Aoyama – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 5.
36016- Colin Edwards – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 9.
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