2011 Qatar MotoGP FP2 Result: Stoner Still Fastest, Pedrosa Closing

By David Emmett | Fri, 18/03/2011 - 16:06

Casey Stoner continues to dominate in Qatar, setting the fastest time of the weekend on just his second lap out of the pits. The Australian's Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa is second again, the Spaniard closing the gap by a couple of tenths from yesterday, now under four tenths behind Stoner. Yamaha's Ben Spies breaks up the Repsol party in 3rd, a quarter of a second off Pedrosa, while Andrea Dovizioso put the third orange and black into 4th spot.

Reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo set the 5th quickest time, but is just over a tenth off his teammate Ben Spies in 3rd, while Monster Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin Edwards is 6th, a tenth ahead of Marco Simoncelli in 7th. Edwards' teammate Cal Crutchlow's missing fingernail is clearly causing him less pain, the young Briton putting in a promising 8th fastest time, and finishing ahead of the factory Marlboro Ducatis of Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden.

results:

Pos No. Rider Bike Time Diff Diff Previous
1 27 Casey STONER HONDA 1'55.457    
2 26 Dani PEDROSA HONDA 1'55.854 0.397 0.397
3 11 Ben SPIES YAMAHA 1'56.116 0.659 0.262
4 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO HONDA 1'56.172 0.715 0.056
5 1 Jorge LORENZO YAMAHA 1'56.220 0.763 0.048
6 5 Colin EDWARDS YAMAHA 1'56.259 0.802 0.039
7 58 Marco SIMONCELLI HONDA 1'56.378 0.921 0.119
8 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW YAMAHA 1'56.518 1.061 0.140
9 46 Valentino ROSSI DUCATI 1'56.532 1.075 0.014
10 69 Nicky HAYDEN DUCATI 1'56.626 1.169 0.094
11 14 Randy DE PUNIET DUCATI 1'56.668 1.211 0.042
12 8 Hector BARBERA DUCATI 1'56.735 1.278 0.067
13 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA HONDA 1'56.790 1.333 0.055
14 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SUZUKI 1'56.833 1.376 0.043
15 65 Loris CAPIROSSI DUCATI 1'57.304 1.847 0.471
16 17 Karel ABRAHAM DUCATI 1'57.683 2.226 0.379
17 24 Toni ELIAS HONDA 1'58.801 3.344 1.118
2011
MotoGP
Losail, Qatar
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Comments

Prelude to the race situation is FP3. Conditions much closer to race conditions.
Surely Karel Abraham would be well advised to take a hacksaw to those idiotic wings.Good going by Cal and Colin.
Casey,well,he seems hell bent on preserving the most reliable engine on the block. Thoroughly enjoying this.

Over a second over the next man... you have to feel for him. But as mentioned before: the tires will not change, he has to radically change his riding style. Keep your ass in the seat, dude! Heat up those tires!

It appears that the only way Casey can loose on Sunday is if he falls off and his bike pins him down for at least 45 seconds before he gets started again.

He has surely shown himself as heads above everyone else so far this year. I hope Yamaha and Ducati can come up with an answer fairly soon to make things interesting.

Mr Stoner, you are the man (so far). Everyone else is going to have to hustle to catch up. Good on ya mate!

Go Spies!

Stoner is unbelievable. And still fun to watch all by himself. The way he drifts two wheels and carries momentum like no one else is inspiring to watch. But what is up with all the satellite Ducati's getting all up in Rossi's mix? It is like they are working against him.

Spies.......quietly speeding up. I keep hearing every excuse in the world why Pedrosa is not closer to Stoner. Personally, I think Pedrosa may be the one to crash his brains out before Stoner, and I think there is a real possibility of Pedrosa taking Stoner out this year if it just comes down to those two.

This is all GOOD STUFF! Too much to analyze. Waiting for qualifing. That will determine more, and the race will determine all.

The Sunday race is gonna be some sort of boring to me, because two repsol hondas are gonna be running away right from the start till the finish line, while the rest of the field are just fighting for the third placed-podium and some points left. I do know that hondas fans are gonna be mad and disagree reading my comments, but it is real man, just my own opinion. To me, It would be much better to see a close fight, dogfight, however, the gaps are quite big for the rest to catch up or stay with the repsol hondas.

I don't mind field separation if the reason is that the machines are all overpowered and the separations are caused by the riders skill levels. There is always good racing mid pack to watch (if the TV crew shows it).

What I can't stomach, is when the bikes are purposefully underpowered so the "factory" sponsors get their money's worth, or the motorcycle manufacturer is ensuring his team doesn't get beat by a satelite team.

If Honda has figured out a way to beat their competitors then it is up to the competitors to figure a way to improve. It is not good to hold back the achievers to help the underachievers (in my opinion). We don't need that in MotoGP.