Bike issues disrupt Casey Stoner’s MotoGP return

Mechanical problems have caused disruptions to Casey Stoner’s return to the MotoGP class at  the AirAsia Grand Prix of Japan in Motegi.

While his Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa set the fastest time in the second session, Stoner battled with technical and set-up issues that reduced his on-track running.

Stoner also admitted to not feeling 100 percent fit ahead of Sunday’s race – his return race from an ankle injury in August – but is confident he will improve as the weekend goes on.

“Today was a little disappointing. This morning we had our first bike fail on us so we lost valuable time, then in the second session we had a brake issue and spent a lot of time in the garage fixing that also,” the two-time world champion said.

“Of course I’m not feeling 100 percent as it is, so I wanted to get a reasonable feeling with it before I start pushing.

“At the moment the acceleration points are causing me most difficulty, as there are many areas at this circuit where the bike wants to wheelie and you need to keep your body and weight over the front of the bike. Unfortunately my foot doesn’t want to bend far enough to help me move forward so I’m having to pull myself forward which is giving me issues with my arms as they are working a lot harder than usual.

“We’ll keep working tomorrow and see what we can do.”

Pedrosa set the fastest time in the quicker second session ahead of championship leader Jorge Lorenzo and Tech 3 Yamaha’s Andrea Dovizioso.

LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl set the fourth fastest time of the day despite a short run off track, ahead of Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi, who jumped up the timesheets with an unexpected hot lap towards the end.

The top CRT spot went to Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaró.

Practice results, Japan

Practice 1

Practice 2