The last on-track MotoGP action of 2010 concluded on Wednesday with Casey Stoner the quickest rider. Factory Yamaha riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies completed the top three, with the 2010 World Champion remaining fastest across both days.

The second and final day of the Official MotoGP Test at Valencia on Wednesday ended with Casey Stoner top of the timesheet courtesy of a lap of 1’32.066 towards the end of the session. The new HRC addition, who reported a highly satisfying first ride on the RC212V the day before, was just 0.054s off Jorge Lorenzo’s day one effort, which remained the fastest of both days.

Stoner, whose main focus of the Test was settling in on the Honda machine, did so in style as he improved by 0.709s on his previous day’s time and completed 62 laps throughout the second day as the majority of the riders tried to make up for the lost morning the day before due to wet conditions.
Factory Yamaha rider Lorenzo, whose M1 was adorned with the number 1 in celebration of his 2010 title, set a best lap of 1’32.179 as he wrapped up his day just after 1pm local time having completed 30 turns of the Ricardo Tormo track. He rode both the new M1 and an updated version of his 2010 machine whilst new team-mate Ben Spies concentrated on chassis settings on his new 2011 bike. The American, who also ended his day early having ridden 49 laps, was just 0.143s behind his colleague as he completed the top three.
Lorenzo said: “When you see the official Yamaha team bikes both going fast it’s good because it confirms the new bike is that little bit better, but we still have a lot of work to do before 2011 gets underway.”
A brace of Honda riders followed in the order of lap times with San Carlo Gresini’s Marco Simoncelli and Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa completing the top five. The Italian – who had a fall during the early part of the day which resulted in nothing more than an interruption – ended with a total of 63 laps and a best time just under four-tenths of a second off Stoner’s. Pedrosa, who was working on the new evolution of the RC212V having ridden his 2010 machine for comparison purposes, was 0.431s off Stoner.
Nicky Hayden was the fastest Ducati rider on track with a time of 1’32.583 as the Bologna factory contrasted the screamer and big bang engines, between which they will choose for development for the Desmosedici GP11. The American’s 91 laps was the highest total of the day. Meanwhile Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista was seventh as he rode a GSV-R with a number of redesigned aspects, with Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) and Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) the last two riders to get within a second of Stoner.
Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) was another rider operating with a new team as he set the tenth best time of the day, Héctor Barberá (Paginas Amarillas Aspar) improved significantly on his time ending in 11th, and Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards continued evaluating an updated M1 engine. His rookie team-mate Cal Crutchlow’s MotoGP experience developed further with another valuable day on track and 74 more laps.
A trio of Ducatis followed on the timesheet with Loris Capirossi, Valentino Rossi and Karel Abraham. Factory man Rossi, ending in 15th position, concluded his second day on the Desmosedici having ridden a sizeable 87 laps as he combined the same engine agenda as team-mate Hayden with a continuation of his adjustment to the bike. He was 1.695s off Stoner’s leading time by the close of play at 5pm local time.

Moto2 World Champion Toni Elías also completed his first Test with a new team, LCR Honda.

 

Casey's natural riding talent is unquestionable. But the guys at Eurosport posed a good question as to whether HRC will allow him to continue with his qualifying ritual of only running a handful of laps. The last raced showed the downside to his strategy when his tires called it quits at the end while lorenzo who rides race distance went off into the sunset.