Casey Stoner is just a few days away from claiming the 2011 MotoGP Championship. Well, that's the way it looks at least. The Repsol Honda rider led the free practice sessions today at Phillip Island, finishing three tenths of a second ahead of his championship rival, Jorge Lorenzo.
But it wasn't all smooth sailing for Stoner. The Australian had a fall in FP1 and later, as with other riders on the grid, complained about the track surface.
"I don't feel totally comfortable with the bike today and I'm sure we can improve the bike a lot," Stoner said. "The track is certainly a lot more bumpy than last year and I think it will be very difficult to get the bike feeling 100% as the circuit is making things worse. In general we've found the Honda is better in certain aspects than what we had last year but with these bumps it's difficult to compare in other areas. We need to get the bike riding the bumps in the front a lot better, and also find some more rear grip. There is still a lot of work before we find the right race set up and we know we can go a lot faster".
Stoner can clinch the MotoGP championship on Sunday, but he'll have to count on a poor performance from Jorge Lorenzo. If Lorenzo can finish on the podium during the Australian GP, Stoner will have to wait until the next race for his shot at the championship.
Lorenzo was second fastest in FP1 but then dropped time during FP2.
"Today I felt great in the morning but in the afternoon not as good. It was impossible to replicate the lap time from the morning," Lorenzo said. "We were up to five tenths slower and I'm not sure why, maybe the track conditions were different, anyway we'll see what happens tomorrow. We know that Casey is very fast here but today he wasn't so quick. We must try to win and if not possible fight for the podium on Sunday."
