This morning’s first MotoGP free practice at dry and sunny Catalunya saw Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa dominate the session from the start.
Pedrosa lead the timesheets for the better part of the practice and the first to go under the 1.
43 barrier until his team mate posted a 1’42″775, well under his last year’s lap record (1’43″084) and left the Spaniard one tenth adrift.
Jorge Lorenzo took the third spot and he was 0.
233s adrift.
From the fourth spot to the twelfth lap times were tight with eight riders in a little more than three tenths of a second.
Yamaha satellite rider Cal Crutchlow took the fourth position, and he now has the same carbon brakes as his team mate Andrea Dovizioso, thanks to a fund raiser by his fans on Twitter.
Ben Spies was just 0.
009s from Crutchlow followed by Stefan Bradl who ran off track and had to lay down his Honda down at the start of the practice.
Nicky Hayden was the best Ducati rider in 7th (he is using new electronics, but not the new swingarm as it causes chatter for him) ahead of a surprising Karel Abraham who was less than one tenth from the factory rider with his GP12 Sat 0.
Andrea Dovizioso and Alvaro Bautista closed out the top ten.
Valentino Rossi was just 11th and 0.
762s adrift from Stoner and he is using the new aluminium swingarm and electronics that the team tested at Mugello last week.
Rossi posted his best time on hard race tires while the rest of field was on the softer compound.
In the CRT field Randy De Puniet was 13th ahead of his team mate Aleix Espargaro followed by Michele Pirro and Mattia Pasini.
Colin Edwards who is returning to action after his shoulder surgery and missing Le Mans was 17th.
MotoGP Catalunya FP1 results:01- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’42.
77502- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.
10003- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
23304- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
40705- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
41606- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 0.
47007- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.
47108- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.
54009- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
59610- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 0.
71811- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.
76212- Hector Barbera – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.
84913- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 2.
14014- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 2.
50615- Michele Pirro – San Carlo Honda Gresini – FTR Honda – + 3.
16416- Mattia Pasini – Speed Master Team – ART GP12 – + 3.
45917- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – Suter BMW – + 3.
97318- Ivan Silva – Avintia Blusens – Inmotec MotoGP – + 4.
07319- James Ellison – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP12 – + 4.
13320- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda TR003 – + 4.
37421- Yonny Hernandez – Avintia Blusens – FTR Kawasaki – + 4.
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