Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner started the weekend strong, posting the fastest time in both first and second practice sessions of the AirAsia British Grand Prix on Friday, the sixth round of the 2011 MotoGP season.

Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team), who put forward a valiant effort in both sessions to catch the Australian, ended the day in second, followed by Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing).

The day began under cloudy skies which later turned to rain, making the first practice session of the day the session where all riders posted their fastest times.

The 25-year-old Stoner set a fastest lap of the day, posting a time of 2:03.748. Simoncelli, who topped the timings briefly, trailed Stoner by over half a second.

Yamaha Factory Racing’s Lorenzo set the third fastest pace which was over a second behind the Honda at the front, at 2:04.756.

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) posted the fourth fastest time just 0.022s behind reigning World Champion Lorenzo, with Andrea Dovizioso putting his Repsol Honda behind Lorenzo by 0.132s.

Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi completed his first laps at the circuit on a MotoGP machine having missed last season’s visit here through injury, getting up to a pace twelfth fastest with a time of 2:07.075 on his second to last lap.

Rossi later posted ninth fasted time in the second practice session, though times were significantly slower due to the wet conditions.

Cal Crutchlow of the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team saw as high as second position in the timings, finally setting sixth fastest lap by the conclusion of session one. Recovering team mate Colin Edwards was 16th in the timings.

Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies was seventh, with a fastest lap of 2:05.130, followed by Spanish riders Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) and Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki).

Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) completed the top ten with a time of 2’06.573 with Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) behind De Puniet by 0.201s.

Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing) had a crash during FP1 and escaped unharmed, ending the day in 15th.

British rider Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing) was fastest of the day in the Moto2, ahead of current championship points leader Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) who was second fastest, and Yonny Hernández (Blusens-STX) in third.

Johann Zarco (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) set the fastest time in both the first and second practice sessions in the 125 class, with Nicolás Terol (Bankia Aspar) and Sergio Gadea (Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing Team) a close second and third.

The Red Bull Rookies MotoGP Cup practice saw Australia’s series leader Arthur Sissis slot into sixth in the series’ first visit to Silverstone.

2011 MotoGP World Championship
Round Six – Silverstone, UK

MotoGP Friday Practice:
1. Casey STONER, 2:15.666
2. Marco SIMONCELLI, 2:16.463
3. Nicky HAYDEN, 2:17.070
4. Cal CRUTCHLOW, 2:18.109
5. Jorge LORENZO, 2:18.683
6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, 2:18.783
7. Ben SPIES, 2:18.820
8. Karel ABRAHAM, 2:19.009
9. Valentino ROSSI, 2:19.435
10. Toni ELIAS, 2:19.612
11. Alvaro BAUTISTA, 2:20.337
12. Loris CAPIROSSI, 2:20.607
13. Hector BARBERA, 2:20.639
14. Randy DE PUNIET, 2:20.982
15. Hiroshi AOYAMA, 2:21.026
16. Colin EDWARDS, 2:24.724