Day one of testing in Brno concludes with Stoner on top

He may be leaving Brno with a points tally no greater than upon arrival, but 2007 MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner was determined to make as much use as possible of the visit to the Czech Republic. One of the riders with the most extensive testing programmes for the first day of post-race testing in Eastern Europe, the Ducati Marlboro rider topped the timesheet with a blistering 1´56.261 lap in the final hour of Monday action.

Using the current Desmosedici GP8 in favour of the 2009 prototype GP9, Stoner undertook some 55 laps of the circuit over the course of seven hours. He had already broken the 1´57 barrier before stopping for lunch -16 laps into his workload- and continued to shave tenths off his time as he worked on tyres and mechanical adjustments.

Sunday racewinner Valentino Rossi was finally able to work with the new Fiat Yamaha electronics package in a low-pressure setting, having elected against trying it out at Laguna Seca and Brno on race weekends. The Italian recorded a fastest time nearly dead-on one second slower than that of title rival Stoner, the only rider to go round quicker than him on Monday.

Alice Team´s first podium finisher Toni Elias was third fastest, ahead of Shinya Nakano in what was more dry time with the factory spec Honda RC212V for the San Carlo Honda Gresini rider. Also getting used to new machinery were the Rizla Suzuki duo of Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi, who were trying out a base prototype of the 2009 GSV-R despite neither having been confirmed as part of the team´s line-up for next year.

The most laps of the day were performed by second Ducati Marlboro rider Marco Melandri, also on the GP8 machine. In fact, the 2008 bike was used by all those in the factory and test team, with Niccolo Canepa also in attendance for another run with the regular riders.

Other test riders on track were Kawasaki´s Olivier Jacque –who joined LCR Honda´s Randy de Puniet in having a light crash before lunch- and Tadayuki Okada, the only Honda rider using the pneumatic valve engine RC212V. Okada was on Nicky Hayden´s Repsol Honda bike, aided by the 2006 World Champion´s crew, prepping the bike for the injured American´s return at Misano and beyond. Dani Pedrosa, meanwhile, performed a minimal eleventh laps and elected against using anything other than the standard spring valve motor, owing to his dissatisfaction with the performance afforded to him by his tyres.

The field will be depleted for the second and final day of testing on Tuesday, with many teams electing to field their full line-up on Monday only. The 250cc teams testing alongside the premier class, including the likes of Alvaro Bautista, Mika Kallio and Hector Barbera (plus 125cc rider Joan Olive on the 250cc Lotus Aprilia) are likely to head home after a single day of post-race action.

MotoGP Brno Test – Monday Official Times

1. Casey STONER, Ducati Marlboro Team - 1´56.261
2. Valentino ROSSI, Fiat Yamaha Team - 1´57.332
3. Toni ELIAS, Alice Team - 1´57.457
4. Shinya NAKANO, San Carlo Honda Gresini - 1´57.652
5. Chris VERMEULEN, Rizla Suzuki MotoGP - 1´57.742
6. Colin EDWARDS, Tech 3 Yamaha - 1´57.756
7. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Carlo Honda Gresini - 1´57.826
8. Sylvain GUINTOLI, Alice Team - 1´57.859
9. Jorge LORENZO, Fiat Yamaha Team - 1´57.979
10. Loris CAPIROSSI, Rizla Suzuki - 1´58.177
11. Niccolo CANEPA, Ducati Test Team - 1´58.204
12. Marco MELANDRI, Ducati Marlboro Team - 1´58.325
13. Randy DE PUNIET, LCR Honda MotoGP - 1´58.568
14. Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team - 1´59.067
15. Olivier JACQUE, Kawasaki Racing Team - 1´59.130
16. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, JiR Team Scot MotoGP - 1´59.172
17. James TOSELAND, Tech 3 Yamaha - 1´59.228
18. John HOPKINS, Kawasaki Racing Team - 2´00.414
19. Tady OKADA, Repsol Honda Team - 2´00.735