Stoner Pimps the Beemer at Jerez
- From: TRS Media | Published: March 29th, 2009 - 8:49 am
Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner was the winner of a special edition BMW 135i in Sunday’s showdown session at the MotoGP Official Test. The 2007 World Champion Casey Stoner was untouchable in Sunday afternoon’s BMW M Award at the southern Spanish circuit of Jerez, dominating the session onboard his formidable Desmosedici GP9 machine.
Stoner registered a superb 1’38.646s lap in the final ten minutes of the session even finding time to give a wave to his Ducati Marlboro team in their pit-box as he flew down the main straight at the end of the lap. Shortly after, the session was brought to a premature close by rainfall, with just over three minutes remaining on the clock.
The winner of last year’s BMW M Award in the rain at Jerez, Stoner’s repeat trick earned him another car to add to his collection, picking up a 135i ‘BMW Sauber F1 Team Edition’, of which only 135 have been made.
The reigning World Champion and winner of the 2007 BMW M Award Valentino Rossi got closest to Stoner with a 1’39.365s time, which put him second on the timesheet, 0.719s behind the Australian. Like Stoner, the Fiat Yamaha man is enjoying a good preseason and the pair look like they will push each other hard for the title in 2009.
Behind the front two it was Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen who sandwiched fourth placed Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo in the top five.
Causing a surprise in sixth place was Mika Kallio who impressed his Pramac Racing crew with his pace, despite running off track at one point.
In the continued absence of injured team-mate Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso was the fastest HRC representative. A good performance from returning Ducati rider Sete Gibernau, meanwhile, saw him lap eighth quickest on his Grupo Francisco Hernando satellite bike.
The top ten was rounded off by San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Toni Elias and the winner of the 2006 BMW M Award, Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards.
With around 15 minutes remaining Edwards’ team-mate James Toseland suffered a nasty highside crash and was stretchered away, as his problematic preseason continued. The session was briefly red flagged as the English rider was given medical attention at the side of the track, with early reports from Clinica Mobile later indicating that he was heavily bruised but not seriously injured.
The 2009 MotoGP preseason concludes on Sunday afternoon after a final 3.15pm – 6.00pm free practice session, with the riders reconvening at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar for the first race of the year on the 10th-12th April weekend.
On Day one Ducati MotoGP Team riders Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden made the most of changeable weather in the south of Spain today to complete some important set-up work on their Desmosedici GP9 machines. With less than two weeks remaining before the opening practice session of the 2009 MotoGP World Championship in Qatar there was anxiety amidst a soaking wet paddock this morning, with torrential rain having drenched the track.
Thankfully the strong Spanish sun emerged before lunchtime to produce acceptable conditions for a worthwhile test in the afternoon, when Stoner consistently featured at the top of the timesheets despite struggling to get maximum potential out of the GP9 at what has proven to be a demanding track for Ducati in recent seasons. Hayden continues to make progress in his adaptation to the bike and Bridgestone tires but will be looking to make the most of his final day of preseason testing, which takes place here tomorrow.
The climax to the test comes at 2pm tomorrow afternoon, when Stoner will look to repeat his feat from last year by setting the fastest time in a 45-minute televised ?qualifying? session and take home a brand new car as his prize.
CASEY STONER (Ducati MotoGP Team) 3rd fastest – 1?39.906
?Jerez has been our weak point for the last couple of seasons and for some reason our bike just doesn?t like it here. There used to be a lot of bumps that unsettled it but to be fair a lot of them were ironed out when they re-laid the surface and now it?s hard to put my finger on the problem. I think every Ducati rider is in the same boat ? Jerez is like our kryptonite! So basically we?re not working on general set-up because we know the data we get here will be useless everywhere else – the target is to work on finding something that will help us get around this circuit and limit the damage when the race comes around. As far as my wrist is concerned, the hard-braking left-handers are tricky but other than that it is okay and I have no concerns about going race distance.?
NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati MotoGP Team) 9th fastest – 1?40.987
?We were lucky today because it looked like the weather was going to be a disaster. This morning we decided to go out and do some laps anyway just to check the performance of the wet tires on a damp track because we won?t have any intermediates this year. When it dried out in the afternoon we found that the bike had improved in some areas but there are other things we really need to work on. We?ll speak to Filippo Preziosi this evening, analyse the data and try to do much better tomorrow because it would be nice to be pushing near the front before we go to Qatar.?
