MotoGP – Sepang Test Day 2 – Stoner ahead of Capirossi and Rossi

Casey Stoner was the fastest on the second day of MotoGP testing at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia. The Australian Ducati rider managed to set a best time of 2:01.483, almost a tenth of a second faster than the pole achieved by Dani Pedrosa in 2008. Yesterday the Ducati Australian achieved the second best time despite the pain in his hand operated on 3 months ago. Today he completed 9 laps with his Desmosedici GP29, placing Loris Capirossi on Suzuki just 72 thousandths behind him, who once again demonstrated the full potential of the new GSV-R 800cc. The rider from Borgo Rivola in turn preceded the multiple world champion Valentino Rossi by 71 thousandths; in the space of 143 thousandths we therefore find the top 3 classified with the Spaniard Dani Pedrosa fourth at 377 thousandths from Stoner.

As evidence of the goodness of the new Suzuli we find Chris Vermeulen with the 5th best time ahead of the excellent Toni Elias on the Honda of Team Gresini, Colin Edwards on the Yamaha of Team Tech3 and Andrea Dovizioso from Forlì on the Honda of Team Repsol HRC. Nicky Hayden improves compared to yesterday, the new Ducati rider is in fact ninth ahead of the Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo on Yamaha, the returning Sete Gibernau (Ducati – Onde 2000) and the San Marino Alex De Angelis.

Thirteenth time for the category debutant Mika Kallio, the Ducati Finn achieved a time of 2:03.774 ahead of the other rookie Niccolò Canepa (also on a Ducati), the Yamaha tester Fujiwara, the Japanese Honda rider Yuki Takahashi, the Frenchman Randy De Puniet, the other Yamaha tester Yoshikawa and the British James Toseland still recovering from yesterday's crash.

MotoGP Test Sepang Day 2 – Friday 06 February – The times

1 Casey STONER AUS 2:01.483 – – 29
2 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA 2:01.555 +0.072 +0.072 45
3 Valentino ROSSI ITA 2:01.626 +0.071 +0.143 40
4 Dani PEDROSA SPA 2:01.860 +0.234 +0.377 51
5 Chris VERMEULEN AUS 2:02.086 +0.226 +0.603 52
6 Toni ELIAS SPA 2:02.232 +0.146 +0.749 51
7 Colin EDWARDS USA 2:02.241 +0.009 +0.758 37
8 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA 2:02.434 +0.193 +0.951 44
9 Nicky HAYDEN USA 2:03.034 +0.600 +1.551 58
10 Jorge LORENZO SPA 2:03.056 +0.022 +1.573 51
11 Sete GIBERNAU SPA 2:03.308 +0.252 +1.825 40
12 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM 2:03.518 +0.210 +2.035 40
13 Mika KALLIO FIN 2:03.774 +0.256 +2.291 55
14 Niccolo CANEPA ITA 2:04.021 +0.247 +2.538 45
15 Fujiwara JPN 2:04.312 +0.291 +2.829 36
16 Yuki TAKAHASHI JPN 2:04.332 +0.020 +2.849 65
17 Randy DE PUNIET FRA 2:04.507 +0.175 +3.024 48
18 Yoshikawa JPN 2:04.536 +0.029 +3.053 50
19 James TOSELAND GBR 2:04.597 +0.061 +3.114 36