2011 Laguna Seca MotoGP FP1 Result: Stoner Holds Off Pedrosa And Lorenzo

Casey Stoner has topped the first session of free practice at Laguna Seca, getting up to speed early and setting a steady pace around the 1'22.3 bracket. Stoner's Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa ended in 2nd, and just a tenth of a second slower than Stoner, despite a low-speed tip over after running on at the Andretti Hairpin. Pedrosa just edged ahead of Jorge Lorenzo, the Yamaha rider twelve hundredths behind the Australian.

Ben Spies set the 4th fastest time, but was half a second off the pace of Stoner, while Andrea Dovizioso ended up in 5th, a tenth behind Spies. Marco Simoncelli was the last rider to get within a second of Stoner, just over nine tenths off the time of the Repsol Honda man.

Nicky Hayden was the fastest Ducati, the two-time winner at the track quick round here. Hayden ran a back-to-back test on the GP11 and the new GP11.1, as currently being used by his teammate Valentino Rossi. Hayden set his best time on the GP11 in the first run, but spent the rest of the session on the GP11.1, making solid progress on the bike. Meanwhile, Valentino Rossi spent the entire session on the GP11.1, the plan to try the GP11 against the GP11.1 seemingly shelved for the moment. Rossi ended the session in 9th, behind both Colin Edwards in 8th and Hayden in 7th. Alvaro Bautista rounded out the top 10 on the Rizla Suzuki.

Cal Crutchlow was the fastest of the Laguna Seca first-timers, the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha man setting the 13th fastest time, while fellow Laguna rookies Karel Abraham and Hiroshi Aoyama (who missed last year's race through injury) were down in 16th and 17th. Meanwhile, wildcard rider Ben Bostrom ended the session as last, but under 5 seconds off the time of Stoner, and improving on every lap.

Results: