Stoner sends warning to rivals in first MotoGP Donington session

He may hardly be enamoured with the Donington Park circuit, but Casey Stoner remains the man to beat at the scene of the bwin.com British Grand Prix. The winner of last year´s wet race showed what he is capable of with the quickest lap of the Friday morning run, a 1´28.979 onboard the Ducati Desmosedici GP8.

San Carlo Honda Gresini´s Alex de Angelis clocked the second fastest lap of the session in his final outing of the first session, but was unable to get below half a second of Stoner´s early marker.

Of the Tech3 Yamaha riders, Donington local boy James Toseland will come under the most scrutiny this weekend. However, it was his teammate Colin Edwards who performed best from the off. The Texan –on the podium last year from a pole position start- was not only the fastest of the satellite outfit but also the quickest Yamaha rider out of the blocks, third on the timing screen.

Andrea Dovizioso, Nicky Hayden and the final rostrum finisher from 2007 Chris Vermeulen completed the top six, with Toseland and Valentino Rossi the only other riders within a second of Stoner´s time.

Ben Spies made his Grand Prix debut onboard the Rizla Suzuki GSV-R, gaining 29 laps of experience with the machine, whilst Jorge Lorenzo made a cautious return to action in fourteenth place.