Indy MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo unsure of Casey Stoner threat

Jorge Lorenzo said he is unsure whether Casey Stoner could threaten to end his golden run in America at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday.

Stoner has made a habit of starting strongly in Friday free practice but being unable to mount a strong victory challenge come Sunday’s race.

And Spaniard Lorenzo, who is bidding for a third successive victory on US soil in Sunday’s 28-lap clash, said it would be interesting to see if the Aussie could challenge for his first win in over ten months.

Stoner edged out Lorenzo by 0.225s in an opening free practice session run in baking hot conditions at Indianapolis.

And 23-year-old Lorenzo, who is looking to extend his commanding 77-point lead in the title race, said: “We started in quite good shape in second place with Casey making two explosive runs but he is always fast on Friday.

“We’ll see if he can continue this progression and he can improve his lap time for tomorrow. But I think everybody can improve by half-a-second or seven-tenths for tomorrow. Maybe he can go faster tomorrow but we will see.”

Lorenzo denied he would go for broke in Sunday’s race – round 11 of the 2010 MotoGP world championship.

The double world 250GP champion is hunting an eighth win of the campaign but he said it was important to focus on the championship.

He added: “The main goal is to win the championship. Winning races is good but the important thing is to finish races and win the world title. It is a dream and something I didn’t expect to get before the championship and now I’m getting it and I enjoy it a lot these results.”