The last round of the 2012 MotoGP World Championship has had a slow start for the riders and fans at Valencia's Ricardo Tormo circuit.

It was the first chance for the riders to test the new asphalt here, but unfortunately the variable weather has affected the first day of free practice of the GP of La Comunidad Valenciana. With rain in the morning session, the Repsol Honda riders only managed a handful of laps - Dani Pedrosa was second fastest with a top time of 1'45.490 and completed 17 laps. Teammate Casey Stoner, still wary of his ankle injury, completed just 14 laps with a fastest lap time of 1'47.527 and finished 10th.

In the afternoon's FP2 session with mixed conditions, Stoner chose not to take to the track. Pedrosa completed an out lap, but returned to the pit box deciding nothing could be learnt.

Dani Pedrosa

“We didn't have so much time on track today. We had our first experience on the new asphalt in the wet and it seems like there are still some bumps, the worst point is turn 1, but we must wait for dry conditions to be able to judge the grip level of the new surface properly. Today it was important to go out in the morning because the weather conditions are not clear and it's possible that we may have rain on Sunday. In the afternoon we decided not to go out, so let's hope we have at least one dry session tomorrow to better understand the changes in the circuit and work on the best setup for the race.”

Casey Stoner

"I went out this morning to get a feeling on the wet track but I'm still not willing to risk anything, especially in a wet practice session. Then this afternoon there was no point in going out, it was half wet half dry the whole session and not a lot to learn. It's a little bit disappointing but hopefully we can get some better weather tomorrow and see what the new surface is like in the dry.”

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