Simoncelli shines in Italian FP1

Friday, 1 July 2011

Marco Simoncelli set a last minute fast lap to jump to the front of the pack, ahead of Repsol Honda riders Stoner and Dovizioso, in the first practice session ahead of the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM. The top three riders were within one tenth of a second of each other.

The Italian from Cattolica opened the race weekend at Mugello with a fastest time of 1’48.987, putting his San Carlo Honda Gresini Team bike 0.040s in front of Casey Stoner, who had and early run off, and 0.101s ahead of Andrea Dovizioso. The fastest Yamaha in the session was Yamaha Factory Racing's Jorege Lorenzo, who set a fourth quickest time of 1’49.251, just slightly more than a tenth of a second ahead of team mate Ben Spies.

Colin Edwards posted the sixth fastest of the session on his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 bike, followed by Dani Pedrosa, who returns to racing after a 3 round absence due to a fractured a collarbone sustained at Le Mans. The Repsol Honda rider won the race here last year, leading every lap from pole position.

The swiftest Ducati of the field was that of Nicky Hayden, who posted a time of 1’50.203, while team mate Valentino Rossi suffered a mechanical problem. The Italian pulled off the track and was assisted by track marshals who pushed his Ducati Team to the pits, leaving him 13th in the timings.

Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) completed the top ten times of the session.