Dani Pedrosa on top in practice
Brno, Sat 25th Aug 2012 – As the MotoGP™ classes got their first taste of the track for this weekend’s bwin Grand Prix ?eské republiky at Brno it was Repsol Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa who set the tone after posting the fastest time of the day in the premier-class ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso.
Set in hot conditions on the harder rear tyre, a lap in the high 1.56s placed him ahead of Yamaha Factory Racing’s Lorenzo, who was a surprise crasher half way through the afternoon session, focussing his efforts on the softer rear tyre. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso completed the top three as he continued his good form this season, finishing less that two tenths off the top. In fourth, his teammate Cal Crutchlow was having a good day as he put in a fast lap at the end of the afternoon practice, matching his performance of the morning. LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl set the fifth quickest time of the day, with the German even setting the fastest time in the first sector of the track.
Sixth place was occupied by Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi, who had one of his best outings all season, finishing less than half a second off Pedrosa’s Honda. In seventh, Yamaha’s Ben Spies suffered a crash in the afternoon session, and was unable to better his time from the morning. San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista went eighth fastest, also crashing out in the afternoon with three minutes left after pushing for a faster lap. His best time was also set in the morning.
Power Electronics Aspar’s Randy de Puniet finished the day in ninth and as top CRT and was the only other rider in the top ten not to improve in the afternoon. His teammate Aleix Espargaró set the tenth fastest time of the day, yet also dropped his bike in the gravel with only two minutes left in the latter session. Pramac Racing Team’s Toni Elías, standing in for the injured Héctor Barberá was 11th. Avintia Blusens’ Yonny Hernandez caused the red flag to come out briefly for air-bag fence repairs, after crashing his bike for the second time in the day in the second practice, while Came IodaRacing Project’s Danilo Petrucci was a crasher in the morning session. None of the riders were hurt in the incidents.
Pedrosa – “Today we spent time working on the tyres and set up of the bike. We were trying to get the maximum time on the track as tomorrow we don’t know how the weather will be so it was important to have a lot of time in the dry. The feelings were improving but we still have some work to do especially with electronics and suspension. I was pretty lucky with the incident this morning as it could have been a lot worse. There were two massive rocks that flew up, one hit my left foot hard and the other one hit my screen and chin. At the beginning I thought I had broken something in my foot but fortunately it’s ok, just a lot of swelling, anyway the pain is going down from this morning so that’s a good thing”.
Casey Stoner during the press conference
Earlier in the week Casey, who suffered a terrible accident in qualifying for the Indianapolis GP last Saturday, was waiting for specialists to study the MRI scan and give him feedback and a suggested route for recovery. After speaking with them at lunchtime today, Casey was informed that it was crucial he received an operation to the torn ligaments as a priority.
At this time it is not confirmed how long the Repsol Honda rider will be out for, this depends on the success of the surgery and his subsequent recovery ability. The operation is scheduled for next week in Australia, HRC will give more information when available.
Casey Stoner – “I’m hugely disappointed for my team and all the guys around me. We’ve been waiting since Indianapolis for my doctor in Australia to receive the discs of the MRI scan and x-rays to fully understand the situation. The doctors in America were fantastic but I needed a specialist to study them and give me his report and explain exactly what’s gone wrong. We were hoping that once they had seen the scans that it wouldn’t be as bad as I first suspected and that we could race here, but in fact it was the opposite and a lot worse than first expected. We only found out at lunchtime today that it was game over but it seems this is our only option at this point. We don’t have a timescale for my return yet —it depends on the surgery and how fast I can recover. We still have a season to complete and this isn’t just me giving up, I want to get back to racing as soon as possible. I have a job to do and a career to see through to the end and for it to finish like this would be a disaster, so I’ll be back as soon as I can to take part in as many races as I can before the end of the season”.
