2010 Brno Post-Race Test Times 1pm - Lorenzo Fastest By Half A Second

The rain that had threatened to make the mid-season Brno MotoGP test a washout did not materialize on Monday morning, and the first part of the test took place under clear skies and bright sunshine. When the bikes took a break for lunch, it was Fiat Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo who was clearly fastest, beating Marlboro Ducati's Casey Stoner by nearly six tenths of a second. Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi were 3rd and 4th fastest respectively, a couple of tenths apart.

The test gave us a number of clues as to the work going on for 2011. Jorge Lorenzo is riding a 2011 prototype Yamaha M1, while Valentino Rossi - now officially confirmed as riding with Ducati next season - is testing 2010 suspension upgrades and trying to solve the grip problems he suffered yesterday. He is already over a second faster than on Sunday, so presumably they've found the problem.

If Valentino Rossi is not riding the 2011 Yamaha, Ben Spies is. Spies had two bikes in his garage - one Tech 3 machine, and one kept permanently under a cover, which when removed revealed an all-black carbon-fiber fairing, hinting at confirmation of his future in Yamaha. Yamaha Racing MD Lin Jarvis said that the team is very close to announcing their rider lineup for 2011, but that they still had a few details to work out.

The Honda garages were fullest. Dani Pedrosa had two bikes sitting at the back of the garage with the covers on, while Andrea Dovizioso had one covered bike in the garage. The plans for the Repsol Honda team were to test suspension parts in the morning, with new parts and new bikes to be tested this afternoon, if there is enough time from working on the 2010 suspension parts.

As for Ducati, there are bikes under wraps in the garages, but as Ducati has a longer development lead time than Honda and Yamaha - a result of their drastically smaller racing department - the 2011 bike is just about complete, and is not expected to be drastically different to the 2010 machine. At Suzuki, Loris Capirossi is out testing a whole host of new parts in an attempt to make the bike competitive, while Alstare Suzuki WSBK rider Sylvain Guintoli has stepped in to test for Alvaro Bautista, while the Spanish star recovers from the badly bruised back he suffered in his crash during practice.

Times as of 1pm: