Australian, Casey Stoner missed the first day of testing in the MotoGP preseason after he pulled his back doing warm-up exercises at the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia.
After receiving treatment, Stoner got back on his Repsol Honda and unofficially broke the Sepang circuit’s MotoGP lap record, once again setting the pace on the final day of testing on the new 1000cc bikes. Stoner did a 1 minute, 59.607 seconds on just his second lap of the test while Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa clocked a third-best time of 2:00.256.
The record was set in 2009 by seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi, who clocked 2:00.518 while riding the old 800cc capacity bike. Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo was second fastest, 0.591 seconds off Stoner’s pace. MotoGP is switching this year to 1000cc engines and the three days of pre-season testing in Sepang, Malaysia have given top riders their opportunity to push the new bikes against world-class competition.
The testing session marked an emotional return for riders to the Sepang circuit for the first time since Honda rider Marco Simoncelli died at the track in last October’s Malaysian MotoGP. Riders will return to Sepang for another 3 days of testing on February 28 with the 2012 MotoGP season commencing on April 8 in Qatar.
