Stoner fastest as Sepang test finishes

 

Casey Stoner was back on track at Sepang on Thursday in more ways than one, setting the quickest lap time after Ducati rectified the problems of a day earlier. As this week’s MotoGP test came to an end, the Australian topped the timesheets from Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa, with former team-mate Andrea Dovizioso completing the top three for Tech 3.
Following the rain of the past two days, greatly improved conditions allowed Stoner to put in a best effort of 2:00.473. All riders took to the track early on, with 2010 title winner Jorge Lorenzo fourth on-board a new Yamaha chassis. He ended the day pleased with both handling and the rectification of a niggling electronics problem.

“Again we've been unable to profit from the full three days of the test here,” said fastest man Stoner. “The first day we only managed about 16 laps before the rain came and then yesterday we weren't able to get out at all. So today it's been good to have some nice weather, get out on track and find some different solutions on the bike.
“We've been trying a few different things with electronics to have the engine character the same way we like it. We've also tried shortening the wheelbase, aiming to reduce the chattering and we've been successful in decreasing it slightly, but at the moment we're unable to eliminate it completely so we still have quite a lot of work to do.”
It was another double top five result for Tech 3, with Coventry’s Cal Crutchlow just a tenth down on Lorenzo as Valentino Rossi led a trio of Ducatis from tenth downwards. Riding the LCR Honda, reigning 250cc Champion Stefan Bradl ended his test ninth quickest for LCR.
After a fall on Wednesday, Héctor Barberá recovered to sixth position for Pramac, just fractions ahead of fellow Spaniard Álvaro Bautista; he joins Gresini this year in place of Marco Simoncelli, who tragically lost his life at the Malaysian circuit in October.

soucre: www.gpupdate.net