2011 Indianapolis MotoGP FP2 Result: Stoner Takes Charge From Spies

Casey Stoner has taken control of the timesheets in the second session of practice for the MotoGP class, the Repsol Honda rider edging out a very strong Ben Spies with just under five minutes in the session left. After some very bitter and rather lurid complaints about the slipperiness of the newly resurfaced track in the morning session - Dani Pedrosa said that whoever had done the resurfacing had done "the deal of the century" - the track condition improved enormously, the heat and the fact that 38 Moto2 bikes had spent 45 minutes cleaning the track making a huge difference. Stoner took close to three seconds off his time from the morning, 2nd-place man Ben Spies improving by nearly two-and-a-half seconds. Stoner had to face more than just the surface conditions to set the fastest time: at one point, the Australian found a groundhog in the path of his Repsol Honda, but both groundhog and motorcycle racer escaped unharmed, Stoner narrowly managing to dodge the large rodent.

The improvements in track condition were clearest from the finishing positions of Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo. The two Spaniards had been the most vocal critics of the new surface after FP1, finishing in 9th and 10th, but both men made major steps forward in the afternoon. Pedrosa just grabbed the 3rd fastest time in the dying minutes of FP2, bumping Jorge Lorenzo down into 4th. The third Repsol Honda rider ended just behind Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso finishing in 5th, ahead of Colin Edwards, the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha rider maintaining his position among the front runners after his 3rd fastest time in FP1.

San Carlo Gresini Honda man Marco Simoncelli was the 7th fastest rider on Friday afternoon, finishing the session just over a second slower than Casey Stoner, and just a few hundredths ahead of Marlboro Ducati rider Nicky Hayden. Rizla Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista ended FP2 in 9th, while Pramac Ducati's Randy de Puniet rounded out the top 10. After a difficult session, which went much less smoothly than the morning practice, Valentino Rossi ended the day in 11th.

Results: