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Defending double world champion Casey Stoner will head into the first race of the new 1000cc MotoGP era having been fastest in all three 2012 pre-season tests.
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Good track conditions experienced on Friday did not last for the MotoGP™ riders on day two at Jerez, with the forecast rainfall hitting southern Spain. The participants were able to ride briefly in the dry in the early hours of the Test, but at 10.30am the rain made its presence felt and left wet asphalt for the riders. That meant a return to the garages and a wait for the mechanics to make the necessary set-up changes.
The Repsol Honda rider only moved to the head of the timesheets on his 54th and final lap, but felt the day had gone largely to plan.
Testing began at 10am and concluded at 6pm. The final hour saw the track action briefly halted after an accident for Mattia Pasini.
The three-day test marked the first time that the full 21 rider grid, including the nine new CRT entries, have been on track at the same time.
Honda's reigning champion Casey Stoner was fastest at the two previous tests, held in Malaysia, and also on day one in Jerez. Ducati's Nicky Hayden then led a rain-interrupted second day.
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Hi everyone.
After a wonderful week at home with Adri and Ally, I've just arrived back in Sepang for the second test.
It's been a wonderful week, Ally is feeding and sleeping well and without wanting to tempt fate, it seems we have a perfect child at the moment! Both Adri and I have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves this week, getting to know our little girl and sharing little things with her, such as her first experience of hiccups!
After being the driving force behind MotoGP's 800cc formula, Honda badly needed to win it before the category was replaced by 1000cc machines in 2012. Thankfully for the manufacturer, along came Casey Stoner, as Toby Moody explains
Sitting at my desk back in February I eagerly followed the progress of the MotoGP test that was taking place out in Malaysia after the enforced winter testing ban. Liveries were revealed and new crash helmet designs shown to the world, but one picture caught my eye. It was spectacular and showed that one guy in particular was totally hand-in-glove with his 2011 motorbike; that guy was Casey Stoner. He was hanging off the bike through a right-hander, the rear Bridgestone spinning like hell behind him with the front firmly planted. During a lap both wheels were certainly not always in contact with the ground.
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| CASEY STONER |
Following his dominant performance at the Sepang test at the beginning of this month, Casey Stoner has returned to his European base in Lausanne, Switzerland, where Stoner has enjoyed the first few weeks of fatherhood with wife Adrianna following the birth of his first child, Alessandra Maria Stoner.
With almost a month's rest under his belt, reigning MotoGP champion Stoner will return to Malaysia for the next test on the 1000cc RC212V as the countdown to the opening race of the season at Losail in Qatar on April 23 continues.
Q:
Specifically, how is the 1000 different from the 800 on corner entry, mid-corner, exit?
Casey Stoner:
Well, the only thing I think, not so much from the 1000 to 800, but just an improvement that we've made with Honda, is braking stability. The wheelbase is maybe a little different and when we go on the brakes we've, of course, got a bit more stability as we're going into the corner. The rear's not wanting to hop up as much. So we can actually sink our hands into the brakes a lot harder. So it's actually changing the braking points by a little bit less than what we'd expected, because our bike has improved quite substantially in that point. I'd say corner entry is exactly the same. Everything from that point on is very similar. I think it's mainly just chassis-wise that we've improved. The weight of the bike is exactly the same, the way it's going to react is very similar, if not the same.
Q:
Is the weight of the RC213V the same?
Casey Stoner:
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