Le Mans MotoGP: Casey Stoner impressed with Honda domination

Casey Stoner said he was thrilled to see Honda dominating practice and qualifying for tomorrow’s French MotoGP clash at the famous Bugatti circuit in Le Mans.

The French venue has traditionally been a happy hunting ground for Yamaha’s factory YZR-M1 with Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi winning for the last three years.

But Honda’s factory RC212V machine has been unstoppable this weekend and claimed the top four positions in qualifying earlier today.

Stoner led the way with another commanding display as he claimed his third pole position of the season with a lap of 1.33.153.

Marco Simoncelli did lap within 0.059s of the Australian but in reality the 2007 world champion will start tomorrow’s 28-lap race as a red-hot favourite with Andrea Dovizioso completing the front row and Dani Pedrosa in fourth.

Stoner said: “It has been a great weekend for Honda and it has been really impressive. This has been known to be a Yamaha circuit in the past and the Yamahas have always been very strong here with every rider on board. It is surprising that they seem to be struggling and I don’t think it is that we’ve improved a lot.”

“Looking at the lap times they seem to be struggling to reach the times they were doing last year. It is a strange case. The track is not perfect but it is working quite well. This weekend the Honda riders are ready for a fight.”