The Stoner family back on familiar territory

The Stoner family back on familiar territory

16 year old rookie Casey Stoner sent murmurs of astonishment through the 250 paddock on Friday when he placed his Aprilia on sixth place on the provisional grid. The Australian youngster´s performance, on private machinery, is all the more remarkable considering that this is his first visit to the Phakisa Freeway and only his second Grand Prix on a 250 machine. One man who was wasn´t so surprised, however, was Casey´s dad, Colin.

`Just looking at the track when we arrived I thought it might be suited to Casey´s style,´ he explained to motograndprix.com. `I also think this place is probably suited to him in terms of atmosphere because it is very similar to Australia. The weather conditions and surrounding landscape are what he is used to and for sure that has helped him settle in and feel comfortable.´

Despite the composed reaction to his son´s performance, Colin admits that he didn't expect a second row lap time after just two sessions. `To be honest I thought he might take until Saturday afternoon to really settle in. In practice on Friday morning he didn´t go too well and the surface was a lot more bumpy than he expected, but he adapted his style to the track and coped very well. We are not getting carried away though, he knows he still has a lot of work to do.´