Casey Stoner - Photo Credit: Repsol Honda Team
Casey Stoner left it until his final lap of the day before going quickest on the opening day of the final pre-season test at Jerez. The World Champion trailed the Yamahas for much of the day, with Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies each taking turns at the top, but clocked a 1:39.146 to go a quarter of a second faster than Lorenzo.
Windy conditions made life difficult for everyone with Stoner sticking to shorter runs but over the course of the day, the Australian managed 54 laps, well over a full race distance. Lorenzo also had a productive day on the Yamaha completing an incredible 76 laps with his fastest good enough for second, a tenth ahead of Dani Pedrosa.
Pedrosa led the second factory Yamaha of Ben Spies while Cal Crutchlow finished a superb fifth for Monster Yamaha Tech 3, less than a second off the pace. The Briton outpaced the best of the Ducatis with Nicky Hayden in sixth, 1.366s down on Stoner, while Alvaro Bautista and Andrea Dovizioso completing the top eight on their satellite bikes.
Valentino Rossi could only manage ninth on the second Ducati and worryingly for the Italian squad, the former world champion was suffering with the same problems which blighted his 2011 campaign, particularly corner entry speed.
Stefan Bradl took tenth for LCR Honda but the performance of the day came from Randy de Puniet. The Frenchman was 11th on the Aprilia-supported CRT bike being run by the Aspar team, just 1.8 seconds off the pace and a tenth behind Rossi's factory Ducati.
Of the other Claiming Rule teams, Colin Edwards was three seconds off the pace in 16th with Michele Pirro right behind on his first day riding Gresini's FTR-Honda. James Ellison also tested the Paul Bird ART-Aprilia against the competition for the first time and was 21st overall, 4.331s in arrears.
MotoGP Official Test (Jerez) – Day One Classification
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Team | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Casey Stoner |
Honda | Repsol Honda Team | 1:39.146 |
| 2 |  Jorge Lorenzo |
Yamaha | Yamaha Factory Racing | +0.273 |
| 3 | Dani Pedrosa |
Honda | Repsol Honda Team | +0.433 |
| 4 |  Ben Spies |
Yamaha | Yamaha Factory Racing | +0.838 |
| 5 |  Cal Crutchlow |
Yamaha | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | +0.984 |
| 6 | Nicky Hayden |
Ducati | Ducati Team | +1.366 |
| 7 | Alvaro Bautista |
Honda | San Carlo Honda Gresini | +1.399 |
| 8 |  Andrea Dovizioso |
Yamaha | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | +1.519 |
| 9 | Valentino Rossi |
Ducati | Ducati Team | +1.774 |
| 10 |  Stefan Bradl |
Honda | LCR Honda | +1.837 |
| 11 |  Randy de Puniet (CRT) |
ART Aprilia | Power Electronics Aspar Team | +1.869 |
| 12 | Hector Barbera |
Ducati | Pramac Racing Team | +2.242 |
| 13 |  Karel Abraham |
Ducati | Cardion AB Motoracing | +2.457 |
| 14 | Aleix Espargaro (CRT) |
ART Aprilia | Power Electronics Aspar Team | +3.147 |
| 15 | Franco Battaini |
Ducati | Ducati Team | +3.257 |
| 16 | Colin Edwards (CRT) |
Suter BMW | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | +3.316 |
| 17 | Michele Pirro (CRT) |
FTR Honda | San Carlo Honda Gresini | +3.509 |
| 18 | Danilo Petrucci (CRT) |
Ioda Aprilia | Came Ioda Racing Project | +3.604 |
| 19 | Mattia Pasini (CRT) |
ART Aprilia | Speed Master | +3.869 |
| 20 |  Yonny Hernandez (CRT) |
FTR Kawasaki | Avintia Racing MotoGP | +4.291 |
| 21 | James Ellison (CRT) |
ART Aprilia | Paul Bird Motorsports | +4.331 |
| 22 | Ivan Silva (CRT) |
FTR Kawasaki | Avintia Racing MotoGP | +4.879 |
