Casey Stoner made an early statement by setting the fastest time in the opening practice session of the MotoGP season in Qatar.
Repsol Honda new boy dominates first practice session
Casey Stoner made an early statement by setting the fastest time in the opening practice session of the MotoGP season in Qatar.
The 2007 world champion, who has switched from Ducati to Repsol Honda, continued his dominance from pre-season testing as he posted a quickest lap of 1 minute 55.752 seconds.
Team-mate Dani Pedrosa finished over half a second adrift in second position and, like the rest of the field, faces the prospect of playing catch-up ahead of the race on Sunday.
Hector Barbera slotted into third position ahead of Marco Simoncelli, while Valentino Rossi was fifth quickest on his competitive debut for Ducati.
Defending champion Jorge Lorenzo finished down in seventh on his Fiat Yamaha while British rookie Cal Crutchlow was in 14th position.
Stoner has won three out of the last four years in Qatar and will be favourite to grab another victory at the Losail circuit at the weekend.
Set-up
"We started off where we left at the end of testing on Monday and used more or less the same set-up - the wind is a little stronger than we had in the test but the track condition feels pretty good," he said.
"I'd say we're about 80 per cent complete on the bike package, we have a few main areas we can improve, but this is always the case - you can always improve something, and if we do in these areas it will make us a lot more confident."
Tech3 Yamaha rider Crutchlow lost the tip of his little finger after a testing crash last weekend and had to fight through the pain barrier during the session.
"That was not easy at all and being honest, the pain from the finger is really bad and it was tough to ride," Crutchlow said.
"The crash was only three days ago and when I took the bandage off, I learned there's some nerve damage where the fingernail was.
"The pain when the bandage came off was something I can't describe, so considering how uncomfortable it is, I'm pretty pleased to be where I am and doing some decent times."
