Under blazing summer sun Australian rider Casey Stoner made an impressive debut on the rollercoaster Laguna Seca circuit today, posting the eighth fastest time in free practice for the USGP. Stoner’s best time of 1’24.360 was set in the morning session and was just 0.5s off the fastest time set by local track expert Kenny Roberts Jr. Stoner easily adapted to the demands of the 3.6 km hillside circuit, and its in famous Corkscrew.

He was instantly on the pace in the morning session, going to the top of the times after just 30 minutes. For this race, both of Stoner’s Honda RC211Vs are now running the updated chassis specification which he first used at last week’s German Grand Prix. With track temperatures rising to 50 degrees, Stoner and the LCR team worked through a range of set-up options in the afternoon session.

“Casey did a good job learning the track, but this is our first visit to Laguna Seca so we have no data base to work from. It seems Casey had some grip problems this afternoon, and we tried a setting that was not perfect, but we have a good direction for tomorrow.”

“The track is OK, I had been told how scary the Corkscrew was but for me turn one is worse. I started with a good base setting and learnt the track quickly in the morning session. Then in the afternoon we went in a bit of circle with the set-up, I lost some front-end feel, and it wasn’t until I went back to the original settings that I did a good time on the final lap. The track is bumpy everywhere, and it got even bumpier in the afternoon. The kerbs are also slippery and the asphalt patches look like grease -- it’s easy to lose the front, especially at the Corkscrew.”