Marlboro Ducati’s Casey Stoner got an excellent start to his weekend at Indianapolis by posting the quickest time in Friday’s practice session during Round 11 of the 2010 MotoGP Championship. The Aussie ran 0.225 seconds ahead of Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo, who was leading up until the halfway point when Stoner demolished his best lap by more than half a second.
 
"I rode really well today and improved a lot during the practice," Lorenzo said. "The rear was sliding a lot, maybe because the temperature is so high; it's a lot hotter than last year! I think the level between the top riders here is more or less the same and everyone is looking very strong. Everyone will improve further tomorrow and we must make sure we do so as well. It will be a good battle! Finally I want to say congratulations to Ben Spies, next year he will join the Factory Team and I think it's great news for him and for Yamaha."

Stoner’s Ducati teammate, Nicky Hayden, took third in the books despite crashing and landing on his injured wrist.

Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa was running nearly a second off Stoner’s pace, but managed fourth on the timesheets after posting a time of 1'41.421 with just minutes remaining. Behind the Spaniard by 0.16 of a second was Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi, who rounded out the top-five times with his quickest lap of 1'41.623.

"My physical condition is much better here," said Rossi. "I still have some pain but it's not too bad so I am not worried. I am feeling confident on the bike but we have to improve our setting in order to improve our pace because we are lacking some grip here. It's not an easy track because there are a lot of bumps. We did quite a lot of work today but it wasn't enough and the gap to the top is too much. Our target for tomorrow morning is to close this gap so that we're in better shape to push for a good position on the grid." 
 
Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards had the sixth-best lap, with Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso in seventh and more than seven-tenths of a second adrift of Stoner’s time. In addition to Hayden’s crash Ben Spies also suffered a low-slide at Turn 6, which resulted in no injuries. The American took eighth in the hour-long practice session, and was followed by Ducati’s Aleix Espargaro who was more than one second off Stoner’s pace. The San Carlo Honda duo of Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli earned 10th and 11th respectively on the timesheets.
 
Both riding with injuries, Interwetten Honda’s Hiroshi Aoyama and LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet took 16th and 17th respectively and were nearly two seconds adrift of the leader’s pace. 
 
2010 MotoGP Indianapolis Practice Results:
1. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 1’40.884
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1’41.109
3. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 1’41.405
4. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1’41.421
5. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1'41.623
6. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 1'41.664
7. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 1'41.683
8. Ben Spies (Yamaha) 1'41.722
9. Aleix Espargaro (Ducati) 1'41.992
10. Marco Melandri (Honda) 1'42.147
11. Marco Simoncelli (Honda) 1'42.268
12. Hector Barbera (Ducati) 1'42.368
13. Mika Kallio (Ducati) 1'42.600
14. Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki) 1'42.696
15. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) 1'42.790
16. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda) 1'42.874
17. Randy de Puniet (Honda) 1'42.987

Moto 2
Seventeen-year-old Scott Redding of Marc VDS Racing Team was the fastest Moto 2 rider on Friday, outpacing championship leader Toni Elias and Fimmco Speed Up’s Andrea Iannone despite being the youngest competitor on the track. Redding took a best time of 1’46.728 ahead of JIR Moto 2’s Simon Corsi with just minutes left in the session. His time was also enough to fend-off Elias, who came within 15-hundredths of a second during his final lap.

In fourth-place on the timesheets was Corsi, followed by Mapfre Aspar’s Julian Simon with a time of 1’47.055. American Honda’s Roger Hayden had a difficult start to his weekend when he encountered mechanical issues with his bike and had to push it back to the pits. Also experiencing a disappointing first showing was Japanese rider Shoya Tomizawa, who suffered an early crash in the session.
 
Viessmann Kiefer Racing’s Stefan Bradl secured sixth-place on the charts with his time of 1'47.230. Bradl was followed by Tenerife 40 Pons’ Sergio Gadea, who took seventh with a time that was more than half a second adrift of Redding’s pace. Tech 3 Racing’s Raffaele de Rossa secured the eighth-best lap, with Fimmco Speed Up’s Gabor Talmacsi and GP Tech’s Jason di Salvo taking ninth and tenth respectively in the timesheets.
 
Moto2 Indianapolis Practice Results:
1. Scott Redding (Suter) 1’46.728
2. Toni Elias (Moriwaki) 1’46.743
3. Andrea Iannone (Speed Up) 1’46.868
4. Simon Corsi (Motobi) 1’46.885
5. Julian Simon (Suter) 1’47.055
6. Stefan Bradl (Suter) 1’47.230
7. Sergio Gadea (Pons Kalex) 1’47.317
8. Raffaele de Rossa (Tech 3) 1’47.382
9. Gabor Talmacsi (Speed Up) 1’47.394
10. Jason di Salvo (FTR) 1’47.435
11. Anthony West (MZ-RE Honda) 1’47.489
12. Ratthapark Wilairot (Bimota) 1’47.523
13. Mike di Meglio (Suter) 1’47.544
14. Lukas Pesek (Moriwaki) 1’47.549
15. Thomas Luthi (Moriwaki) 1’47.582