Casey Stoner dominates on home soil

The Repsol rider has topped the first two free practice sessions, while his teammates Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa finished sixth and seventh respectively.

On the spectacular Phillip Island circuit, the local idol, Stoner started the Grand Prix by dominating every session, despite suffering a minor crash. Highly motivated by racing at home, on a track he knows well and in front of his fans, Stoner has set the pace.

His teammates finished somewhat further back, in sixth and seventh place at the end of the day, as they were overtaken by American Ben Spies. Both have complained about the bumpy Australian track, but the truth is they finished more than a second behind Casey.

Casey Stoner’s statements:

I haven’t felt entirely comfortable with the bike today, and I’m sure we can improve it a lot. The circuit is much bumpier than last year and I think it will be very difficult to feel completely at ease, because the circuit complicates everything.

Overall, we’ve seen that the Honda is better in certain respects compared with what we had last year, but with these bumps it’s hard to compare other areas. We need to improve the bike’s front end so it absorbs the bumps better, and find a bit more grip at the rear. There is a lot of work ahead, and we know we can go much faster.

Andrea Dovizioso’s statements:

It’s been a complicated day. The circuit has many more bumps than last year and they’re hard to see, perhaps because the track is very dark, I don’t know, but I’ve struggled a lot with the front end and I don’t have confidence.

I decided to keep the hard compound on the front tyre because it suits my riding style better, but with these bumps it’s impossible to control the bike. When I switched and fitted the soft one at the front, I also couldn’t improve my times.

If the temperatures drop tomorrow it will be even more difficult, but we’ll try to improve as much as possible and put together a good qualifying.

Dani Pedrosa’s statements:

In the morning I started calmly, to get a feel for the circuit, and we did a fairly decent time, but in the afternoon I suffered a lot because I had no grip at the rear.

The bike was spinning a lot and we couldn’t solve it during the whole session. The fact that my times are very similar in the morning and afternoon indicates that something isn’t right. It’s a shame, because tomorrow the weather probably won’t be as good as today, it will likely be colder, but I trust my team and I hope to improve.

The circuit is very bumpy, much more than last year, and that complicates things even further. There are many points where the wheels don’t touch the ground. Either way, we’ll try to make some changes to the bike and I hope to improve my riding as much as I can, so we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.

Source and photo | Repsol