Motegi MotoGP: Valentino Rossi stops Casey Stoner’s charge

Reigning MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi stopped Casey Stoner’s early season domination by clocking the fastest time in opening practice for Sunday’s Japanese GP.

The Italian lapped the Twin Ring Motegi circuit in a best time of 1.48.545 to edge out factory Ducati rival Stoner by just 0.056s.

Having dominated the opening round of the world championship in Qatar earlier this month, Aussie Stoner looked untouchable again for large parts of the 45-minute session, run under cool and grey skies at the Japanese circuit.

Rossi’s late charge came as he could only use the softer compound Bridgestone rear tyres with track temperatures only reaching 22 degrees and air temperatures a moderate 13 degrees.

The 30-year-old, who clinched his eighth world title at the Twin Ring Motegi just eight months ago, said: “This is a very good start because we’re at the top and this is very important!

“The conditions today were hard and it was difficult to reach the limit and work to the maximum with the bike and tyres, but it looks like we have a good potential here so I am happy.

“It’s important to be in front, even though it’s only Friday, because in Qatar we were second in every session and really we don’t like second so much; for sure first is much better!

“Tomorrow it seems it may rain but we haven’t had the chance to try the new Bridgestone rain tyres yet so I think that this could be an important chance for us to understand how they are. It will be interesting and I hope they are good!”

Stoner had to settle for second for the first time in any practice session in 2009, a best lap of 1.48.601 comfortably ahead of Rossi’s Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.

Stoner, who had an early off track excursion when he outbraked himself on the new Ducati GP9 going into the first corner, said: “We’re not too far from setting some very decent lap times and considering how cold it was this afternoon I think everything has gone as well as we could have expected.

“It looks as though the weather forecast is not good for tomorrow so this session might not turn out to be so important in terms of qualifying, but then if it’s dry again on Sunday it could turn out to be crucial.

“In general the bike feels quite good – we need to try and find a bit more grip on the rear, but now it’s just a case of seeing what the heavens throw at us tomorrow and dealing with that as best we can.”

Spaniard Lorenzo showed he is gradually getting accustomed to Bridgestone tyres as he ended up third, but the double world 250 champion was 0.420s slower than Rossi.

He said: “I’m so happy with this practice session because we often struggle a bit at the start of the weekend but today this wasn’t the case at all and I felt great from the start.

“My M1 felt good when braking, under acceleration and in the corners so I think we are in good shape and now I hope we can continue like this tomorrow even if it rains, in fact I am quite curious to see what happens in the rain and how the lap time is.”

Lorenzo just edged out the impressive Chris Vermeulen on the vastly improved factory Suzuki GSV-R.

The Aussie was fourth with a quickest time of 1.49.382, but he was the last rider to lap within a second of Rossi’s fastest pace.

“We’ve had quite a good start to the weekend here at Motegi. It has not been a track I have gone well at in my last three years with Suzuki, but it has been a big improvement today.

“We have taken a big step forward with the bike in certain areas – especially accelerating off the corners. There are a lot of those on to long straights here and it all seems to be working well for us.

“Today we used the same set of tyres for the whole session. They worked pretty well, but did drop-off a bit towards the end of the session, but if it is similar conditions on race-day we know what we will be using.

“The team did a great job today and we got through everything we needed to in the 45-minutes.

“With it being a shorter session now, we did well to get in three good runs and try out everything we needed to.

“Hopefully it will be dry tomorrow so we can learn more about the bike and keep improving, “said Vermeulen.

British rider James Toseland had his best day of a troubled 2009, the 28-year-old ending up 10th fastest on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1.

Toseland was running in the top six for the majority of the session and he ended up with a best time of 1.50.342.

Finnish rider Mika Kallio escaped injury in a big crash at the second corner, when he lost the rear of his Pramac Ducati GP9.

Several riders were complaining today of struggling to generate heat in the left side of Bridgestone’s hard compound tyre.

1. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 1min 48.545 sec
2. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 1min 48.601 sec
3. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team 1min 48.965 sec
4. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1min 49.382 sec
5. Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1min 49.965 sec
6. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1min 49.980 sec
7. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team 1min 50.030 sec
8. Marco Melandri ITA Hayate Racing Team 1min 50.123 sec
9. Toni Elias SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1min 50.209 sec
10. James Toseland GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1min 50.342 sec
11. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team 1min 50.391 sec
12. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro Team 1min 50.393 sec
13. Yuki Takahashi JPN Scot Racing Team MotoGP 1min 50.404 sec
14. Sete Gibernau SPA Grupo Francisco Hernando 1min 50.538 sec
15. Alex de Angelis RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini 1min 50.601 sec
16. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 1min 50.669 sec
17. Mika Kallio FIN Pramac Racing 1min 51.643 sec
18. Niccolo Canepa ITA Pramac Racing 1min 51.929 sec