Rossi started the weekend strong in France with the best lap time during free practice on Friday.
activities in France began with the first hour-long free practice session being dominated by Fiat
Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi. Setting the best time of 1’34.402 aboard his Yamaha YZR-M1 on the final lap of the session, Rossi was able to take the top time in the books ahead of
Ducati’s Casey Stoner and teammate Jorge Lorenzo. Unlike past seasons, the weather during Friday’s practice at Le Mans was unusually sunny and dry with ideal track conditions.
Rossi’s initial success at Le Mans stands as excellent proof that recent bike alterations made during the Jerez test are paying off. Feeling comfortable and fast right from the start, Rossi and was able to consistently maintain a time in the top three before busting out the best lap at the end of the session.
Coming in second with a time less than three tenths off the circuit record, Casey Stoner initially had to take a few warm-up laps while his team made adjustments to a new set of handlebars. After Stoner and his team had made all the changes, the Australian was able to lay down some fast laps just off the reigning World Champion’s pace.
After making adjustments to a new set of handlebars Casey Stoner put in the second-fastest time on the Le Mans circuit.
Lorenzo, who dominated in wet conditions last year, looked equally confident in his performance during Friday’s free practice where he had the third-fastest time. Despite a small electronics issue at the beginning of the practice session Lorenzo was able to quickly overcome it and set down a time that was just 0.140 seconds off teammate Rossi’s pace.
Putting in the fourth overall fastest time In
Honda’s corner was Andrea Dovizioso who set his best pace of 1’34.625 during his fourth lap. His teammate Dani Pedrosa rounded out the top-five and was the last rider with a time under 1’35”.
Colin Edwards rode the sixth-fastest time lap of practice, and his Monster Yamaha Tech3 team-mate Ben Spies had a promising display on his first ride of the Le Mans circuit by coming within a second of Rossi’s time for eighth-place in the time sheets.
American Nicky Hayden who usually struggles at circuits which are his least favorite was able to put in some decent laps for the seventh-best time of the day. His best time was achieved after numerous changes in his base set-up that served him well in Qatar and Jerez.
Aleix Espargaro took ninth in the books for Friday’s practice, showing strong skills on his Ducati of Pracmac Racing bike. Marco Melandri of Honda Gresini Team finished out the top-10 by putting in one quick time on the final lap.
Riding with severe pain and discomfort was Rizla
Suzuki’s Alvaro Bautista, who underwent surgery last week to repair
With a time just 0.140 seconds off his team-mate's pace, Jorge Lorenzo was able to get over an electronics issue for the third best time during Friday's practice.
a broken collarbone. With the aid of painkillers the Spaniard was able to secure a time just three seconds off Rossi’s pace.
MotoGP Friday Practice Results
1. Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha Team) 1'34.402
2. Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1'34.508
3. Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team) 1'34.542
4. Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda Team) 1'34.625
5. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) 1'34.989
6. Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) 1'35.089
7. Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1'35.223
8. Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) 1'35.291
9. Aleix Espargaro (Pramac Racing Team) 1'35.450
10. Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini) 1'35.643
11. Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) 1'35.685
12. Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini)1'35.959
13. Hector Barbera (Paginas Amarillas Aspar) 1'36.009
14. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda MotoGP) 1'36.086
15. Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing Team) 1'36.292
16. Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP) 1'36.798
17. Alvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) 1'37.525
Moto2
Frenchman Jules Cluzel started the weekend well for his country by being the pace setter in the Moto2 class. The Forward Racing rider’s lap of 1’39.827 was very impressive, finishing just a tenth ahead of Alex de Angelis from RSM Team Scot. Cluzel is seeking his first GP win of his entire career and with his performance on Friday at his home track he’s off to a great start.
Lagging just a tenth off Cluzel's pace was Alex de Angelis who came in with the second-quickest time of the day. Spaniard Toni Elias had the third-fastest time and was off Cluzel’s pace by just 0.278 seconds. Elias won the last round in Jerez and is seeking a follow-up to this victory at the famed Le Mans circuit.
Sergio Gadea of Tenerife 40 Pons and Fonsi Nieto of G22 Holiday Gym took the fourth and fifth fastest times respectively and were separated by a gap of less than 0.029 seconds. Rounding out the top-five was Tech3 Moto2 rider Yuki Takahashi.
After testing his Swiss-made frame for only the second time, Spanish rider Julian Simon was able to quickly adapt for a seventh-place in the time sheets with Ratthapark Wilairot from Thai Honda taking eighth and being the final rider to get within a second of Cluzel’s pace.
Moto2 Friday Practice Results
1 Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing) 1'39.827
2 Alex DE Angelis (RSM Team Scot Force) 1'39.916
3 Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2) Moriwaki 1'40.105
4 Sergio Gadea (Tenerife 40 Pons) 1'40.399
5 Fonsi Nieto (Holiday Gym G22) 1'40.428
6 Yuki Takahashi (Tech 3 Racing) 1'40.554
7 Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team) 1'40.808
8 Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT Singha SAG) 1'40.815
9 Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2) 1'40.867
10 Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up) 1'40.898
Rider Quotes
Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha):
"I'm really happy about this practice and especially about my last lap, which was very quick. During the test after Jerez we got a better understanding of the problems we had and managed to improve our setting a lot, and that's where we've started from today. It's good to be this fast already. Unfortunately I still have some pain in my shoulder in the two or three hard braking areas, but I hope with the adrenaline tomorrow and Sunday it will be better and won't cause a problem. Our bike is historically very good here and it feels great in the twisty parts especially, so we're hopeful for a good weekend."
Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro Team):
"To be honest we had a fairly good session. It didn’t start off so well because we’re trying some new handlebars - we’ve made them a lot stronger so that if we ever have a small ‘off’ in a race we’ve got a better chance of picking the bike up and continuing. This has been a problem for us a couple of times in the past and even though the track conditions were perfect today you never know what can happen with the weather at Le Mans! We didn’t have the position quite right at the start so we had to spend a little time fixing that but from there on we made gradual progress. The initial feeling with the bike wasn’t great but it felt better once we stiffened things up both front and rear.”
Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha):
"At the start of the session we had a small problem on one bike with the electronics but we swapped to the other bike and things were okay from there. Little by little I found a good pace and at the end I was able to do a lot of laps in the '34s. My bike feels good here - as everyone says it is always a good track for Yamaha - and although we are still struggling a bit in the acceleration I am feeling good."
