De Angelis surprises in Sunday session

Sunday, 18 October 2009

Alex de Angelis set the warm-up practice pace on Sunday morning at Phillip Island, with pole position holder Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi following him on the timesheet.

San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Alex de Angelis’ impressive weekend at the Iveco Australian Grand Prix continued, as he set a fastest lap of 1’30.807 in Sunday’s warm-up practice.

Under an overcast sky and with a track temperature of 19 °C, some 13 °C lower than in qualifying on Saturday, De Angelis – who is sixth on the grid – led pole holder Casey Stoner by 0.123s, with Valentino Rossi a further 0.143s behind the Aussie.

Rossi’s Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who has struggled with rear-grip issues and his physical condition throughout the weekend, mirrored his grid position of fourth, while Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa was fifth.

Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) and Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) were next in line, with Toni Elías (San Carlo Honda Gresini), Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro) and Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) also finishing inside the top ten.