Nightmare start for Casey Stoner in Catalunya

Reigning world champion Casey Stoner made a nightmare start to his bid for a second successive Catalunya MotoGP victory this morning.

The 22-year-old was uninjured in a crash exiting the Curve Elf first corner after just 20 minutes as he looked completely out of sorts on the factory Ducati GP8.

Stoner was able to ride his damaged motorcycle back to the pits but the session only got worse for the Aussie, who was left shaking his head in his hands at the end.

Just 12 minutes after his crash he ran off the track under braking at the Curva La Caixa and if that wasn’t bad enough, he did the same with eight minutes remaining.

Stoner’s troubles left him down in eighth with a fastest time of 1.44.245. That was 0.554s off pacesetter Dani Pedrosa.

Stoner wasn’t the only Ducati rider to endure a miserable start. Toni Elias suffered a massive crash at the Curva Repsol after just six minutes. The Spaniard touched a damp kerb following overnight rain as he approached the right-hander.

His Alice Ducati was badly damaged, though Elias walked away unscathed after coming to rest sat on top of his fuel tank!

Randy de Puniet also crashed at the same point five minutes later, though his LCR Honda suffered much less damage and the French rider was also able to walk away and complete the rest of the session.