Casey Stoner - Photo Credit: Repsol Honda
Casey Stoner is still confident of challenging for pole position tomorrow despite being outpaced by a pair of Yamahas in final practice in Qatar. Jorge Lorenzo was the fastest man ahead of Cal Crutchlow but Stoner blamed traffic for only being third quickest. The World Champion was happy with the Honda RC213V overall and feels positive heading into qualifying.
“Today has been pretty good for us in general, we had some issues in the first two sessions but we’ve fixed them slightly in last one which is definitely positive. We’ve been able to turn down the electronics a lot more and now I have more feeling and connection with the rear tyre which gave me a lot more confidence. This allowed me to do some good lap times with some pretty old tyres. A few people got in our way throughout the session so we were unable to show what we were really capable of, but we know how we feel and we’re confident for qualifying tomorrow”.
Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa also had issues on Friday but they were of his own making. The Spaniard crashed early in FP2 and although he escaped uninjured, he still thinks he has a way to go before he gets the best out of his bike.
“The day wasn’t as good for us as we would have liked. I had some problems with the electronics and I couldn’t ride at a hundred percent, especially in the exits of the corners where we have more issues. Let’s hope the mechanics can find a solution and we can have a good qualifying session tomorrow. The crash in the first session was totally unexpected; it was on my first lap of the second exit and I was not pushing at all. But I escaped unhurt and do it’s ok”.
