MotoGP World Championship – Round 1, Qatar Grand Prix

April 11th, 2010

(more…)

Rossi continues pre-season domination as Lorenzo makes his return

Reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi continued his domination of the pre-season testing programme in Qatar today, finishing the opening day of the final test 0.3 seconds ahead of Casey Stoner. His team-mate Jorge Lorenzo made a welcome return from injury to finish the day a creditable seventh and with Ben Spies third and Colin Edwards fourth, it was four Yamahas in the top seven.

Testing began at 6pm under the floodlights at the desert track and Rossi was in command from the word go, finding yet more improvement in the 2010 M1 at what is not generally one of his best tracks. A break for dinner saw both Stoner and Spies better his time but the Italian was determined to finish the day on top and improved again on his last run to regain first place.

Lorenzo missed the last test after breaking his hand and he was unsure how much strength he would have today, but the 23-year-old Spaniard was happy to find himself in better shape than expected and he steadily improved all night. He found the hard braking areas the most difficult but he was able to ride well enough to continue with his interrupted testing regime, and he is hopeful of further improvement tomorrow.

Valentino Rossi – Position: 1st Time: 1′55.402 Laps: 64
“I am so happy today because this isn’t one of our best tracks and to come here and be fastest shows what a great job Yamaha has done with this new M1. To start with the track was quite slippery but anyway we were still fast, and as the track started to improve I felt better and better. We are quite competitive and this gives me a good feeling, and I was happy to make this quick lap right at the end. We still have to decide the right tire and the best setting for it, and we will keep working on the electronics but the most important thing is that we’re faster than last year! Tomorrow we will continue with our work and try to finalise everything before the race.”

Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 7th Time: 1′56.838 Laps: 45
“It’s really good to be back on my bike and actually when I went out on track the first time today my hand felt better than I had expected. The pain has decreased a lot in the last few days and I’ve been doing a lot of physio to make sure I’m in the best possible shape for this test. I was able to do quite a lot of laps today and my time is not so bad in the end, it’s definitely interesting and important to be here and see our level after missing the last test. Dainese have made me a bigger glove and I have some protection on the hand; changing direction is okay, it’s just the hard braking areas where I have some problems. I need more practice but I think we have made a good start.”

Unofficial lap times

1. Stoner (Ducati) 1’55.352 (51 laps)
2. Rossi (Yamaha) 1’55.860 (57)
3. Dovizioso (Honda) 1’55.880 (66)
4. Hayden (Ducati) 1’56.116 (51)
5. Capirossi (Suzuki) 1’56.195 (58)
6. Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1’56.504 (44)
7. De Puniet (Honda) 1’56.505 (66)
8. Edwards (Yamaha)1’56.772 (48)
9. Kallio (Ducati) 1’56.767 (74)
10. Spies (Yamaha)1’56.780 (44)
11. Espargarò (Ducati) 1’56.897 (64)
12. Bautista (Suzuki) 1’56.898 (71)
13. Pedrosa (Honda)1’56.934 (56)
14. Melandri (Honda) 1’57.222 (64)
15. Barberà (Ducati)1’57.222 (74)
16. Aoyama (Honda) 1’57.251 (81)
17. Simoncelli (Honda) 1’57.379 (56)

The Ducati Marlboro Team concluded its preseason testing schedule this evening with both riders extremely satisfied with the set-up of their GP10 machines and their lap times. The second and final night of tests in Qatar saw Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden first and fourth on the time sheets despite both crashing in turn two, where several other riders also came unstuck.

The next appointment for the Ducati Marlboro Team is back on the same track on 11th April for the opening race of the season, the Grand Prix of Qatar.

Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1st 1’55.352 (51 laps)
“I am really happy with the test and the work we have done right up to tonight. In the first Sepang test we had a few things to work out but we have made constant progress. The latest big step forward with the GP10 came last night and today I was able to set a consistently fast pace. I have been able to work with the tires without putting too much stress on them and I was able to keep my pace on used rubber. I like the new engine a lot, it is more manageable and I am pleased to see the other Ducati riders, especially Nicky confirming that with fast times.”

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro Team) 4th 1’56.116 (51 laps)
“Today went better than yesterday, we took a step forward with the set-up and my lap time was decent. It is still taking us too long to get up to speed but there’s no doubt we’re making progress. Tonight I did my best time on a long run and I think I could have gone even faster on the next lap if it wasn’t for the crash in turn two. Anyway the bike is working well, the team has done a fantastic job and I can’t wait for the season to start now. I want to say a big thanks to all the guys at Ducati who are working so hard and giving me great support.”

Circuit Record: Casey Stoner (Ducati – 2008), 1’55.153, 168.193 Km/h
Best Pole: Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha – 2008), 1’53.927, 170.003 Km/h

The Fiat Yamaha Team riders concluded their pre-season preparation this evening with another strong performance in the humid Qatar night, Valentino Rossi finishing second and Jorge Lorenzo sixth. This was the last time the riders will be on track before the first race, back at the same circuit in three weeks time.

Rossi concentrated largely on finalising his race preparation today, also finding time to try a new tire compound for Bridgestone. The Italian completed 20 laps in a long run late in the evening with the aim of gathering more information for the race, which will help the team during the practice sessions when they return here. He set his best time of the day earlier in the evening, slightly slower than his time from yesterday, and finally had to settle for second behind Casey Stoner. The Italian has been fastest on five out of six test days this year however and he and his crew are now looking forward with confidence to the first race.

Lorenzo continued to make progress and to push as hard as his injured hand would allow, the Spaniard managing to test some new electronic settings amongst other things and improve on his time from yesterday. He still felt some pain in the hard braking areas and needed to take a painkilling pill, but he was happy to finish sixth in the circumstances and is confident that he will be back to full strength in time for the race. The first race of the 2010 MotoGP season takes place at Losail, Qatar on 9th, 10th and 11th April.

Valentino Rossi – Position: 2nd Time: 1′55.860 Laps: 57
“This has been another good day. We’ve concentrated mostly on the race preparation and it feels like we’re now ready for the first race. We did a long run at the end of the session and we got some good information, which will help us in the race. Now that testing is over I am very excited about the season. We’ve been strong throughout the six days of practice and it feels good to have been fast here also, where we have struggled in the past. We have only tested at two tracks so we need to wait for another different one to fully understand the new bike, but we’re in good shape. My M1 feels great and I’m looking forward to racing!”

Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 6th Time: 1′56.504 Laps: 44
“Today my hand felt okay, maybe a bit worse than yesterday. Of course it’s not as good as before the accident but this is to be expected! It’s hard for me in the braking areas and I can’t push any harder than I have been today at the moment, but I hope it will have improved a lot by the time of the first race. Our bike is great, Yamaha have done a fantastic job and you can see this from the strong performance of all the Yamaha riders. We’ve done a lot of work and tried many things, so I hope that these will help us when we come back here in three weeks. I will keep working to strengthen my hand and I hope to be in much better condition by then.”

Davide Brivio – Team Manager
We’re really happy about this final test. Although we were fast in Sepang we didn’t know what to expect here but we found that we were quick here as well – more than a second faster than last year in fact and this is encouraging! We’ve done some more work on the setting during this test and then today concentrated on race preparation, including doing a long run and trying some different combinations of bike and tires. The waiting is nearly over now and we’re ready!”

Wilco Zeelenberg – Team Manager
“We have been happy here to see that Jorge feels better than expected, even if his thumb is still not perfect. To be able to finish in the top six when he’s not in the best shape is a great achievement. We know there is improvement to make but considering the situation we can be happy with this test. Jorge feels good on the bike and we have made some good steps forward in these two days; he can feel the difference already. At the moment these tiny steps are very important. Now we have almost three weeks until the race and this gives Jorge time to improve further, so hopefully we will be in good shape when we return.”

The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team end its pre-season preparations for the 2010 MotoGP world championship in high spirits on a hot and humid night at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar.

With humid conditions reducing grip levels from the opening night, both Colin Edwards and Ben Spies were unable to improve their times tonight.

The Texan pair were still able to carry out some valuable testing on the set-up of their Yamaha YZR-M1 machines and also assess a range of soft and hard compound front and rear Bridgestone tires ahead of the first race under Qatar’s spectacular floodlights on April 11.

Edwards ended tonight’s six-hour session with the eighth fastest time, a best lap of 1.56.722 less than 0.5s away from the top five. Spies was just two places further back in 10th with a best lap of 1.56.780. That was less than 0.1s away from Edwards’ pace.

Spies’ best lap of 1.55.954 from the opening night was still good enough to secure him a top five place on the overall timesheets and boost his confidence ahead of his much-anticipated debut for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team next month.

Both Edwards and Spies escaped injury in identical crashes at Turn Two tonight.

Colin Edwards 8th 1.56.722 – 48 laps

“It wasn’t the ending to testing I was looking for but it wasn’t too bad. I just didn’t really have a great feeling with the bike tonight and we need to have a think about things before we come back for the race next month. We’ve got some work to do because I just didn’t feel as comfortable on the bike as I did last year, mainly with the front-end. And I know I go good at this track because I had a good race last year and finished fourth. I’m not sure what happened with the crash but I did exactly the same as Ben. I was on the soft front tire that I’d not really run that much on the first night. But I was on my sixth lap on the tire, so it should have been ready to push. But I was down before I knew it and it is a fast crash, even if you’re only in second gear. I’m just glad I didn’t get hurt so close to the first race because that was a fast crash. I’m really excited about going racing now. It seems like a long time since Valencia and I’m sure we can have another great year with the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team.”

Ben Spies 10th 1.56.780 – 44 laps

“I didn’t have a great night really but that can happen. Everything that could go wrong went wrong tonight. But I’ve have had a great winter and this was the first session where it didn’t go the way we wanted it to. I’d had some small issues early on and went into Turn Two again and just lost the front. I wasn’t really sure what happened but then four people crashed in the next 30 minutes so it must have got really humid really quick because something wasn’t right with that many people going down in the same place. I did a few more laps to clear my head and got down to some decent times and I’m happy I did that. But it was still a successful test and I leave confident that I’ll be competitive for the race next month. I want to thank my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 for all their effort in the winter. We’ve done a good job and I feel we’re in a position to have a competitive start to the season.”

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 duo Ben Spies and Colin Edwards produced dazzling performances under the Losail International Circuit floodlights in Qatar tonight.

Spies was in sparkling form to post a best time of 1.55.954 that secured him a stunning third place on the timesheets. Earlier on a balmy night in Doha, Spies had topped the timesheets for a brief period in the six-hour session that ran from 6pm to midnight.

What made the reigning World Superbike champion’s performance even more remarkable was he’d never ridden under the floodlights at the Losail International Circuit before. Yet Spies finished just over 0.2s behind circuit specialist and triple Qatar race winner Casey Stoner with Valentino Rossi once again quickest on his factory Yamaha YZR-M1 machine.

The 25-year-old was forced to finish early after a crash at the second corner in the final hour while using a hard compound Bridgestone front tire. But he declared himself delighted with progress in his 44-lap stint.

Fellow Texan Colin Edwards was equally impressive in fourth position after he posted a best time of 1.57.541 in a 59-lap stint. Edwards continued to fine-tune the race-set-up of his YZR-M1 machine, working on Yamaha’s new swingarm and Bridgestone’s new hard compound front tire.

Ben Spies 3rd 1.55.954 – 44 laps

“I know this track from last year but riding under the floodlights is definitely a bit different and nothing I’ve experienced before. The perception of speed is much faster with it being at night but I’m having a lot of fun. It’s really well lit up but there are a couple of darker spots on the track that you have to get used to but I’ve not done too bad in adjusting to the lights. I know the track but any track I go to on a MotoGP bike makes it definitely different because of the lines you take. Some of the lines I’d take on the superbike just don’t work but I felt like it was coming together good and following a couple of people it felt like I was doing more of the right things than I was in Malaysia. Obviously it is great for me to be high up the timesheets but I’m still taking baby steps to improve and not getting carried away. The crash was nothing too serious. I was running the hard front and I wasn’t getting a good feeling from it. We changed the pressure to try and help for my second run but I just lost the front at the second corner. But to be third is fantastic for my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3. They have been giving me great support.”

Colin Edwards 4th 1.56.541 – 59 laps

“It was a good night. It didn’t start off too great and it took me a while to get into the groove. We played around with the set-up using some of the new parts I’d liked in Sepang and also running some of last year’s pieces to get some good information. The lap time was about the same so around this track the new parts aren’t making the difference like they did in Malaysia. I did a long run on the hard front and I like it. I did race distance on it and it felt really good. I ended up doing 27-laps on it, which is five more than race distance, and it still felt really good. I’m getting the feedback I need at full lean angle and it holds the turn much better.”

Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden ended the first of two nights of testing in Qatar with the second and eighth fastest times respectively, the Ducati Marlboro Team riders working throughout a sticky evening to get their GP10 machines to grips with a particularly slippery track surface. The high levels of humidity experienced tonight are also expected for the first race of the season, which takes place here on the 11th April.

Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro Team) 2nd fastest: 1’55.717 (48 laps)
“We tried a few different set-up solutions but the main focus tonight was the tires. I used the same set for thirty laps and set some of my best lap times towards the end, so we are satisfied with that. We have also worked on the balance of the bike because the conditions here are very different to Malaysia and I prefer the bike to be more rigid. So far so good.”

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro Team) 8th fastest: 1’56.855 (77 laps)
“Things went well for the first half of the session then we kind of got stuck. The general feeling of the bike is quite good but I would like to be a step closer to the top guys. The biggest problem is that we’re not able to get the most out of the soft tire – we can’t seem to get it working at the right temperature so I have to keep using the harder compound. It happened in Malaysia and we’ve struggled with it again today at a circuit where the conditions are very different, so it is important we work out the reason.”

Circuit Record: Casey Stoner (Ducati – 2008), 1’55.153, 168.193 Km/h
Best Pole: Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha – 2008), 1’53.927, 170.003 Km/h

Unofficial lap times – Thursday 18th March

1. V. Rossi (Yamaha) 1’55.402
2. C. Stoner (Ducati) 1’55.717
3. B. Spies (Yamaha) 1’55.954
4. C. Edwards (Yamaha) 1’56.540
5. R. De Puniet (Honda) 1,56.588
6. Dovizioso (Honda) 1’56.811
7. J. Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1’56.838
8. N. Hayden (Honda) 1’56.855
9. M. Kallio (Ducati) 1’56.923
10. D. Pedrosa (Honda) 1’57.047
11. L. Capirossi (Suzuki) 1’57.099
12. M. Melandri (Honda) 1’57.605
13. H. Barbera (Ducati) 1’57.822
14. Y.Aoyama (Honda) 1’57.888
15. M. Simoncelli (Honda) 1’57.891
16. A. Espargaro (Ducati) 1’57898
17. A. Bautista (Suzuki) 1’57.960

Former World Champion Casey Stoner (Ducati) won the rain-delayed Qatar Grand Prix by speeding from the pole position to the checkered flag on a warm night in the desert east of Doha.

The win was his third in a row on the Losail International Circuit and the first under the new racing regulations that include control tires and limited practice and qualifying. None of which seemed to bother the 23-year-old Australian.

Stoner sped away at the start, built a comfortable lead in the early going, then rebuffed a mid-race attack by Valentino Rossi (Yamaha). From the 11th lap to the end of the 22-lap affair, Stoner steadily built his lead to a margin of victory of 7.771 seconds. Rossi’s teammate Jorge Lorenzo was third. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) came home in fourth just ahead of Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda).

Stoner had to wait a day to notch his third consecutive win. Rare torrential rains just as the MotoGP field was about to start its warm-up lap on Sunday night forced the postponement of the race to Monday night. The only time anyone could remember this ever happening to the senior class was in the 1960’s when the 500cc GP on the Isle of Man was delayed a day by “fog on the mountain.”

Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso nearly equaled his stunning premier class debut from 2008 by finishing fifth. Dovi had moved into third on the fourth lap before front end issues that affected much of the 18-rider field also slowed his drive. The problem had never arisen during practice and qualifying, so the young Italian had some on the job learning. But he managed it well and gained valuable experience. Unfortunately, on lap 14 he was dropped one spot by Colin Edwards (Yamaha), but he’d still finish as the top Honda rider.

San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alex De Angelis made a late run at Dovi and closed to within 1.6 seconds at the stripe. The excitement in his race came on the 11th lap when he made contact with Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa as the pair went side-by-side through a left-hand corner. De Angelis ran wide, slamming into Pedrosa’s left side and leg, which had recently been surgically repaired. Pedrosa slid off the left side of the saddle as his RC212V skated along the rumble strips, but somehow the gritty Spaniard managed to stay upright.

The controversial pass put De Angelis in seventh and two laps later he would steal sixth from Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki).

Teammate Toni Elias gave the San Carlo Honda Gresini squad a double top ten finish by taking ninth. But the Spaniard wanted more in his return to the team he last rode for in 2007, especially since he was racing a factory supported Honda RC212V. It hadn’t been an easy weekend for Elias, who now looks forward to better things at the following grand prix in Motegi, Japan in two weeks.

Elias was the first of three Hondas to finish in order. Behind came LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet and Pedrosa. De Puniet battled a front tire grip problem that slowed him early on and he could finish no better than tenth.

Scot Racing Team MotoGP’s Yuki Takahashi scored a point in his MotoGP debut. The former 250cc campaigner treated his first race like a master class, learning from the rest of the more experienced field. Mostly he learned about dealing with the front end and braking in what was his longest ever ride on a GP machine.

The second running of the night-time race was a success, even if the MotoGP world had to wait a day. The World Championship order is as per race order after only one race.

MotoGP Rider Quotes:

Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: 5th.
“I didn’t start well but I was able to overtake some riders and get into third position. During the first three laps the machine was performing really well – as it had during practice – and I tried to keep in contact with Valentino, but then I started struggling with the front. It was folding entering the corners and, later, also mid-corner, so I couldn’t turn as I would have liked. I had to slow down and compensate by turning with the rear tire. We never had this issue during practice or the pre-season tests, so we need to understand what happened and do some more work to adapt the machine to the tires. It was a very hard fight today, and I’m satisfied that we learned a lot here in practice and during the race. Now we’ll analyze the data and work hard for the next one in Japan.”.

Alex de Angelis, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 6th.
“I’m so happy with this result because I think we deserve it after working so hard this weekend. I didn’t get a great start but I knew my pace was okay so I just tried to stay calm, pass as many people as possible and make up positions. We knew the podium was out of reach for us here but I always felt we were capable of a top result and sixth place falls into that category. I was called up to Race Direction to put forward my version of the collision with Dani but there was no complaint against me so it wasn’t a big deal. This is just the start and even though we know this circuit suits my style of riding and my package, our aim is to be consistent and keep scoring results like this one. ”

Toni Elias, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 9th.
“Taking into account where we started from and the problems we had this weekend, this is a decent result for us and I’m satisfied. In terms of points it probably would have been better for us if the race was cancelled here because we knew it would be tough for us but the truth is that if you had offered me ninth place on Friday, I probably would have taken it! We know we have work to do and we know exactly where our problems are, so we’ll work together with Honda to try and fix them as much as possible before the next race in Japan.”

Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda: 10th.
“I am a bit disappointed because I expected a better result after my performances in the practice sessions. I made a good start and after that I thought that the race was easy for me. But suddenly I started to suffer grip problems on my front tire. It was a bit dangerous and did my best to manage the race like this. It’s strange as I did not have this feeling during the whole week end and it was like riding on a soft tire. My target was the top ten but I could get a better result in different conditions. Anyway we will analyse the data to be more competitive in Japan”.

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 11th.
“Overall I’m happy because of my progress over the weekend. I improved in every session and I’m glad to have come here and scored five points – though I’m also slightly disappointed because it could even have been ten or eleven. I got a good start and the race was going very well at the beginning. After seven or eight laps, though, I had started to get some vibration with the front wheel which became more severe as the race progressed. I started to lose grip at the front and my lap times suffered, so we’ll have to check what the issue was. I also suffered a lot physically in the race, and de Angelis gave me a big hit mid-race. The collision was avoidable I think because he could have passed me cleanly. My knee was giving me a lot of pain by the end and my left arm was pretty tired too. Still, we came away having completed the race and with a few points, which was our target, so I’m happy.”

Yuki Takahashi, Scot Racing Team MotoGP:15th.
“The best came at the end, when I had a chance to follow Marco Melandri for a long while. I studied him, and I got a lot of information about how to deal with the front tire and about braking points. Don’t forget that this is my first race in the MotoGP class. Not only that, but I never did a long run before. I’m satisfied. My target was learning the bike and how to compete against the best riders in the world. How to deal in the heat of the first laps, and strategies, and tactics. At the beginning I lost a little time, but I did not want to make any silly mistake. And at the end I was able to keep the same pace of the riders who were in the first groups. And now, let’s prepare for my home race, in 13 days, in Japan.”

Stoner Ran the Weekend in Qatar, this is what they had to say….

Casey Stoner took a dominant victory in the opening round of 2009 MotoGP World Championship and his third in consecutive years at the Grand Prix Qatar in tonight’s rescheduled race under the floodlights of Losail. With torrential rain forcing the postponement of the original contest last night, the riders returned to the track today for a 20-minute warm-up at 1830h ahead of a 2100h start. The nervous wait didn’t seem to affect the Australian, who launched from pole position to lead the entire distance, maintaining his searing pace in the second half of the race to keep the chasing Valentino Rossi at bay.

Nicky Hayden produced an equally impressive display and whilst the result was not as spectacular as Stoner’s his determination certainly was. The American suffered a heavy crash during Saturday’s qualifying session that left him nursing an extremely sore back and three stitches in his chest but he valiantly battled through to take twelfth place, almost snatching eleventh from Dani Pedrosa on the line with an exciting late charge.

CASEY STONER (Ducati MotoGP Team) 1st

“I’m so pleased with this victory because it is fruit of the hard work done by everybody at Ducati over the winter. It has been difficult to work in such short sessions here this weekend and going into the race last night we took a gamble with a setting change that we weren’t sure about, but we got the opportunity to try it in warm-up and it felt great, so thank you to the team that worked really hard during the whole week-end. That gave me more confidence ahead of the race. We knew this circuit is demanding for fuel consumpionts and I had to adapt my style a little to keep the pace up and hold the advantage over Valentino but finally we didn’t have problems at all with it. My wrist felt 100% tonight but I still need to work on my overall fitness after the down time over the winter and I’m sure we can keep progressing.”

NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati MotoGP Team) 12th

“It’s been a tough weekend and we’ve had a lot of issues” obviously a 130mph high-side doesn’t help things but nothing really went smooth. In the beginning of the race I was quite slow, I didn’t get a great start but actually as the fuel load changed and I got a better feeling I got faster and faster and the last five or six laps were my fastest of the whole weekend. It would have been nice to nick Dani at the end there but I think the team have showed that even though a lot of stuff has gone against us this weekend we’re not going to give up. Hopefully the bad stuff is behind us now and Casey has shown the potential of the bike, so crazy as it sounds I’m leaving here in a really positive mood and looking forward to Motegi.

————————————————–

Fiat Yamaha pair open account with double podium in Qatar

Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo put in a strong opening showing for the Fiat Yamaha Team tonight, finishing second and third under the Qatar floodlights after the race was delayed 24 hours following last night’s heavy rain. Tech 3 Yamaha rider Colin Edwards brought his M1 home in fourth, making it three Yamaha’s in the top four, with Casey Stoner taking the race win.

Starting from second on the grid, Rossi lost some ground at the start and was passed by Loris Capirossi and then Lorenzo. He had passed his team-mate back by the end of the first lap and on lap three he despatched Capirossi, but by that time Stoner was already some three seconds clear. The world champion set off in pursuit and after ten laps had closed the gap to less than two seconds, but the wear and tear from pushing so hard on his Bridgestone tires was beginning to tell and he wisely chose to settle for the safe option and twenty points, crossing the line 7.771 seconds adrift.

His team-mate Lorenzo, who finished second here last year in what was his first MotoGP race, rode a spirited race from the third grid spot. He slipped down to sixth at one point but found his rhythm and fought back to pass Edwards, Capirossi and eventually Dovizioso to take the final podium spot, a further eight seconds behind Rossi.

Round two of the MotoGP World Championship takes place at Motegi in Japan in just under two weeks time.

Valentino Rossi – Position: 2nd Time: +7.771
“So I think it’s definitely more fun to race on a Monday than test, like last year! Today the conditions of the track were quite different to before and this evening in warm-up we encountered a couple of small problems related to tires, so our strategy had to change slightly tonight. It’s a pity because I think last night we could have put up more of a fight, but anyway this is a good result to start the season, much better than last year. I knew I needed a good start in order to go with Stoner but unfortunately I didn’t get one and I lost some time fighting with Lorenzo and Capirossi and by then Stoner had already gone! The middle part of the race was great fun and I made six or seven good laps to come much closer, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to continue in that rhythm, it was too risky for the tires and I decided it was more important to take the 20 points. Casey was very strong today but he is always fast here and I believe that our potential is very good; I think that we can be back fighting again in Motegi. I am so glad we could race today after yesterday and I am satisfied to be leaving here having made a good start to the season – it is long!”

Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 3rd Time: +16.244
“I am so happy to be on the podium tonight, I really enjoyed some parts of the race when I made some good overtakes and felt confident enough to take some risks. The grip of the track was better tonight but my rear tire was moving from the start, so this is something we need to address and improve. Apart from the result and the points it is clear we have some work to do because our pace tonight was too far off Rossi and especially Stoner. The gap is too big! After yesterday’s crazy weather I am really happy we could race, it was very important for everyone and now we have got the season underway with a good result, my aim is to be much closer to the leaders in Motegi.”

Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“We didn’t win but we can consider this a good start to the season, certainly much better than in 2008. Now we need to work to fix one or two small problems that we have. The middle part of the race was good, we were gaining on Stoner but in the latter stages he was in a better condition to push and Valentino was right to settle for second. It’s a long championship and the points are important. We are confident that we will be able to battle with Stoner in Motegi.”

Daniele Romagnoli – Team Manager
“We are happy with the result because we have started the season well and this is very important, especially with so many rule changes to get used to. It is clear that we have some hard work to do in order to close the gap on the leaders and that we need to improve our setting further, so this will be our target for Motegi. Well done to everyone for the effort to get the race run tonight, it was very important to have the chance to compete.”

——————————————————————

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP’s Chris Vermeulen equalled his best-ever result at Losail in Qatar tonight by racing his Suzuki GSV-R to seventh place.

Vermeulen got a good start from the third row of the grid and was up with the leading group early on. As the race settled down he was involved in a number of battles with various riders and fought all the way to the line to score his – and Rizla Suzuki’s – first points of the 2009 MotoGP season.

Loris Capirossi had a less successful race, as he crashed out on lap eight. Starting from fifth on the grid Capirossi got off the line very well and was up into second place by the first corner – a position he held for the first two laps. As the race wore on he experienced a dramatic loss in front tire performance and eventually lost the front-end of the bike and crashed. Suzuki’s tough Italian walked away unhurt from the high-speed crash and will be fit for the next round in two week’s time.

Today’s race was held in dry and fine conditions with track and air temperatures both in the 20ºCs, stark contrast to yesterday’s torrential downpour that led to the race being postponed and rescheduled for today. Ducati’s Casey Stoner led the race from start to finish to record his third successive victory at the Qatari circuit.

Rizla Suzuki now travels to Suzuki’s home Grand Prix in Japan, which will be held at the Motegi Twin Ring Circuit on Sunday 26th April.

Chris Vermeulen:

“I made a good start and got into a good group of guys straight away and I was hoping to stay there. The track conditions were a bit different to what it had been all weekend and it was very different to the test which was how I had the bike set-up, and to be honest I really struggled for front-end feeling. Towards the end of the race the rear tire performance dropped off as well so that’s something we’ve really got to work on. It’s hard though with the lack of testing in race conditions and also on race weekend’s with the sessions being shorter and there being less of them, it makes it very difficult to put race distance on the tires and to iron out any other problems. It was not the result we wanted because we were hoping to be in the top-five. We have got quite a bit of work to do to catch up to the podium so we need to put our thinking caps on and go to Motegi and have a better performance!”

Loris Capirossi:

“I feel really sorry for the whole team, because all winter we have worked so hard and have gone quite well so this was hard to take. It was really strange today because our practice has been good, but in this evening’s warm-up I had a big problem with chatter, this hadn’t happened all weekend and then during the race it was the same. The front tire didn’t work like normal either, I had done 25 to 30 laps on the same tire with no problems and the feeling had always been good, but today after just five laps it felt like it was destroyed! This race is over now and we have to concentrate on the next one and find out why the things that happened today occurred.”

Paul Denning- Team Manager:

“Without doubt it was the right thing for MotoGP to stay on and race here at Qatar tonight, but unfortunately for Rizla Suzuki our bike worked quite differently than it had done all weekend for both riders. We suffered from a serious lack of front grip and some bad vibration which restricted both the guys. Clearly some of our competitors were far less affected by the different conditions and the Team – and Factory – will be working very hard to understand the difference in performance between tonight and the rest of the weekend. We will now go to Motegi and push 100% to perform a lot better at Suzuki’s home GP!”

————————————————————-

LCR Honda MotoGP racer Randy De Puniet finished in 10th position the night race at Qatar floodlit track. With a track temperature of 26°C the premier class riders got underway the first GP of the 2009 season at 21:00 local time after the cancellation of yesterdays race due to a rainstorm which is unusual for the desert circuit. Following on from an impressive practice session, Stoner won the opening round followed by Yamaha riders Rossi and Lorenzo.

After Saturday’s positive qualifying session (7th place), the Frenchman aboard the Honda RC212V nr. 14 started from the third row for the 22-lap event ending the first lap in 7th position but he struggled with front tire for the whole race and managed to finish in the top ten.

De Puniet – 10th
De Puniet: “I am a bit disappointed because I expected a better result after my performances in the practice sessions. I made a good start and after that I thought that the race was easy for me. But suddenly I started to suffer grip problems on my front tire. It was a bit dangerous and did my best to manage the race like this. It’s strange as I did not have this feeling during the whole week end and it was like riding on a soft tire. My target was the top ten but I could get a better result in different conditions. Anyway we will analyse the data to be more competitive in Japan”.

—————————————————————-

Superb win for Stoner in Qatar Monday night race

As the action in the premier class of the 2009 FIM MotoGP World Championship finally got underway, at the spectacular Losail International Circuit on Monday night, it was Casey Stoner who took the headlines, completing a hat-trick of season-opening wins at the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar.

Following the exceptional postponement of the opening MotoGP contest of the year due to rain in the Arabian desert, Monday night witnessed the first race in the new single tire supplier era, but it was a familiar story with Stoner crossing the line first, ahead of World Champion Valentino Rossi.

A ruthless Stoner took the holeshot from pole and had built up a two second gap at the end of the first lap. The 2007 World Champion’s victory never looked in serious doubt as he controlled the race from the front, having been the fastest rider in every session over the weekend. His winning margin was more than seven seconds at the end of a brilliant performance, casting aside any doubts about his fitness after winter surgery on his left wrist.

Completing the podium behind the front two was Rossi’s Fiat Yamaha colleague Jorge Lorenzo repeating his rostrum result from his MotoGP debut in the opening race of 2008, in his first race on Bridgestone tires.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards started his seventh season in MotoGP riding solidly from sixth on the grid to finish fourth on his own Bridgestone debut, making it three Yamahas in the top four.

Also on new tires and with a new factory bike Repsol Honda’s 2009 signing Andrea Dovizioso was fifth, fading slightly in the second half of the race having run in third place for several laps.

There was a good performance from Alex de Angelis, crossing the line sixth having qualified ninth at the start of his second year with the San Carlo Honda Gresini team. Rizla Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen also made a decent start to the year with his improved GSV-R machine in seventh.

An excellent MotoGP debut from satellite Ducati rider Mika Kallio, meanwhile, saw him end up as the best placed rookie in eighth for the Pramac Racing team.

On factory machinery and returning to the Honda Gresini team this year, Toni Elías could not do better than ninth, whilst Frenchman Randy de Puniet brought the satellite LCR Honda RC212V home three seconds behind the Spaniard to complete the top ten.

Dani Pedrosa, riding with knee and wrist injuries, battled through the pain barrier to pick up some important points in eleventh spot. On his Ducati debut, Pedrosa’s former team-mate Nicky Hayden also did well to complete the race in twelfth, given the back and chest injuries he suffered in a huge highside crash in qualifying on Saturday. The brave 2006 World Champion even set his best time on the last lap.

Sete Gibernau finished 13th on his MotoGP comeback with the satellite Ducati Grupo Francisco Hernando team, unable to push into the top ten due to his ongoing shoulder injury.

Marco Melandri made his first appearance for the Hayate Racing Team and ran off track early on but battled back well to finish in the points in 14th.

Commencing his 20th Grand Prix season Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi crashed out on lap eight and was unable to rejoin the race.

———————————————————————-

Repsol Honda riders Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa put on a battling display in the Qatar Grand Prix, finishing in fifth and eleventh places in the delayed opening round of the MotoGP World Championship. Both came away feeling positive after an eventful weekend, yet also believed their finishing positions didn’t fully reflect their potential in this dramatic 22-lap race.

Making his race debut in the factory Honda team, Dovizioso didn’t get the best of starts and slipped from fourth on the grid to seventh in the first few corners. The 23-year-old Italian then unleashed a series of scorching moves in the opening laps, climbing to third place and setting off in pursuit of Valentino Rossi. His blistering progress was only subdued by a feeling of reduced grip from the front of his RC212V which forced Dovizioso to slow slightly and adjust his riding style. He came home in a creditable fifth to collect 11 points.

No one would have believed his Repsol Honda team-mate, Dani Pedrosa, was riding injured as he stormed through the field from his starting position of 14th. The tough Spaniard was up to an amazing sixth place by lap eight and, considering that he’s been unable to ride for over five weeks as he recovered from surgery, an incredible result looked possible. However, the 24-year-old began to experience some vibration from his front wheel and started slip back through the field. He wasn’t helped by Alex de Angelis who spectacularly slammed into the side of Pedrosa – who had been forced wide as Chris Vermeulen slipped by to take sixth place. At the chequered flag, a battered and bruised Pedrosa valiantly held on to eleventh place to collect five valuable points – confirming that his decision to race in Qatar was the right one.

The Repsol Honda squad now heads for their home race, the Japanese Grand Prix which takes place at the Twin Ring Motegi, in two week’s time.

Andrea Dovizioso, 5th
“I didn’t start well but I was able to overtake some riders and get into third position. During the first three laps the machine was performing really well – as it had during practice – and I tried to keep in contact with Valentino, but then I started struggling with the front. It was folding entering the corners and, later, also mid-corner, so I couldn’t turn as I would have liked. I had to slow down and compensate by turning with the rear tire. We never had this issue during practice or the pre-season tests, so we need to understand what happened and do some more work to adapt the machine to the tires. It was a very hard fight today, and I’m satisfied that we learned a lot here in practice and during the race. Now we’ll analyze the data and work hard for the next one in Japan.”.

Dani Pedrosa, 11th
“Overall I’m happy because of my progress over the weekend. I improved in every session and I’m glad to have come here and scored five points – though I’m also slightly disappointed because it could even have been ten or eleven. I got a good start and the race was going very well at the beginning. After seven or eight laps, though, I had started to get some vibration with the front wheel which became more severe as the race progressed. I started to lose grip at the front and my lap times suffered, so we’ll have to check what the issue was. I also suffered a lot physically in the race, and de Angelis gave me a big hit mid-race. The collision was avoidable I think because he could have passed me cleanly. My knee was giving me a lot of pain by the end and my left arm was pretty tired too. Still, we came away having completed the race and with a few points, which was our target, so I’m happy.”

Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager
“Both riders were fighting hard to the chequered flag and I’m very pleased with their performance this weekend. We’ve amassed a lot of data from both machines and from Andrea and Dani’s feedback, and we’ll use this to work on the areas where we need to improve our machine’s performance. Now we’re back racing again we know what we’ve got to do. The weekend has been positive overall, but fifth and 11th isn’t where we want to be, so we’ll continue to work hard and move forward.”

———————————————————————–

It was second time lucky for the Qatari night race as the usual desert conditions prevailed for the duration of Monday’s running, leaving Casey Stoner and the Ducati Team to complete a clean sweep at the top of the time sheets in every one of the weekend’s sessions. The Australian was followed home by Valentino Rossi, whilst Jorge Lorenzo finished third to take the second podium spot for Fiat Yamaha.

As they had prepared to do before yesterday’s postponement, all riders competed on Bridgestone’s medium compound front and rear slicks. Whilst Stoner controlled the lead of the race, there were some close battles in the midfield including some fairing-bashing between Honda stable-mates Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and the recovering Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda).

After last night’s rain, the track conditions had changed today with the MotoGP machines running on a cleaner surface. Unlike the past three days, there was also very little wind all day to blow sand back onto the tarmac, meaning that the Stoner’s fastest race-pace lap was just six tenths of a second shy of his qualifying pole time, set using Bridgestone’s soft compound rear to give maximum grip over a short qualifying run.

Whilst the race weekend was extended by one day, no additional Bridgestone tires were allocated to the riders. Owing to an increased level of grip from the cleaner track and the slightly increased ground temperature, the medium compound slick was clearly the correct choice for today’s conditions.

Hiroshi Yamada – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager Motorcycle Sport Unit
“I would like to congratulate Casey Stoner and Ducati Team for their victory in what has been a very unusual race weekend at Losail. It is very rare that we have a race on Monday! We came here knowing that our tires faced a challenge as Qatar was one of our most difficult races last year, but I am happy with the level we have delivered this weekend. I am pleased that we have been able to meet the task of providing a consistent control tire and I am pleased we have completed this weekend with no problems.”

Casey Stoner, Ducati Team, Race Winner
“Everyone is on the same tires now so you don’t hear any more things about ‘his tires are better than mine’. The grip is not the best at this track and the bike was moving around a little, but maybe from my dirt-track days I feel more comfortable than maybe other riders do like this. We are all on the same tires so it is a good feeling to win the first race like this.”

COMMERCIALBANK GRAND PRIX OF QATAR

Pos.- Points- Num., Rider /Nation, Team, Motorcycle: Total time

1- 25- 27, Casey STONER / AUS, Ducati Marlboro Team, Ducati: 42′53.984
2- 20- 46, Valentino ROSSI / ITA, Fiat Yamaha Team, Yamaha: 43′01.755
3- 16- 99, Jorge LORENZO / SPA, Fiat Yamaha Team, Yamaha: 43′10.228
4- 13- 5, Colin EDWARDS / USA, Monster Yamaha Tech 3, Yamaha: 43′18.394
5- 11- 4, Andrea DOVIZIOSO / ITA, Repsol Honda Team, Honda: 43′21.247
6- 10- 15, Alex DE ANGELIS / RSM, San Carlo Honda Gresini, Honda: 43′23.867
7- 9- 7, Chris VERMEULEN / AUS, Rizla Suzuki MotoGP, Suzuki: 43′27.611
8- 8- 36, Mika KALLIO / FIN, Pramac Racing, Ducati: 43′28.739
9- 7- 24, Toni ELIAS / SPA, San Carlo Honda Gresini, Honda: 43′33.465
10- 6- 14, Randy DE PUNIET / FRA, LCR Honda MotoGP, Honda: 43′36.268
11- 5- 3, Dani PEDROSA / SPA, Repsol Honda Team, Honda: 43′42.510
12- 4- 69, Nicky HAYDEN / USA, Ducati Marlboro Team, Ducati: 43′42.867
13- 3- 59, Sete GIBERNAU / SPA, Grupo Francisco Hernando, Ducati: 43′46.199
14- 2- 33, Marco MELANDRI / ITA, Hayate Racing Team, Kawasaki: 43′50.363
15- 1- 72, Yuki TAKAHASHI / JPN, Scot Racing Team MotoGP, Honda: 43′54.270
16- NA 52, James TOSELAND / GBR, Monster Yamaha Tech 3, Yamaha: 44′08.962
17- NA 88, Niccolo CANEPA / ITA, Pramac Racing, Ducati: 44′09.012

Not classified

DNF NA 65, Loris CAPIROSSI / ITA, Rizla Suzuki MotoGP, Suzuki: 13′49.501

Edwards claims brilliant fourth in floodlit Qatar opener

I guess it doesn’t matter much who your crew is when you got the goods!

The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team finally ended an eventful Qatar MotoGP weekend with Colin Edwards riding to a brilliant fourth place finish in tonight’s rescheduled opening race.

The race was run nearly 24 hours late after the opening round of the 2009 world championship was postponed because of a freak desert storm last night. Tonight’s race went ahead over the scheduled 22-lap distance after Losail International Circuit staff spent the day using specialist vehicles to clear dust and sand off the surface.

Edwards produced one of the best performances of the race in which he was able to showcase his overtaking skills. His stunning surge from ninth on lap one culminated with a pass by Andrea Dovizioso for fourth on lap 14 to ensure Yamaha claimed three of the top four places.

British rider James Toseland looked well set for a top ten challenge as he shadowed Randy de Puniet and Mika Kallio in the early stages. But just as he closed in for an attack, he ran off into the gravel trap at the final corner on lap seven after a tangle with Toni Elias. He got back on track and finished just outside the points in 16th position.

Colin Edwards 4th – 13pts

“That was a good start to the season after I made a rubbish start to the race. I thought I’d got a good start but the next thing I know is everybody flying by me. I was way down and it cost me the chance to fight for the podium really. I’m not saying I could have run with Jorge (Lorenzo) because he was riding really well, but it would have been nice to give myself a shot. The track conditions were good considering the rain we had last night and I just concentrated on being smooth and not abusing the tire too much and it paid off because when I caught (Andrea) Dovizioso I could see he was having some issues. By the time I passed him for fourth, Jorge was long gone and it was going to take a massive mistake from him for me to get close to Jorge but I kept pushing. I’d like to think I could have kept the pace with Jorge if I’d got a good start, but it’s easy to say that after the race. The grip from Bridgestone was really good and I’m glad we all stayed and raced. I just want to say thanks to all my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3. It has been a long and difficult weekend but we have all pulled together, stayed strong and focused and come out with a good result, so I’m looking forward to another good race in Japan next time out.

James Toseland 16th – 0pts

“It has been a difficult weekend to say the least and I know we have got a long way to catch up. This race was almost like a test for me, and like in testing, I didn’t have a lot of luck out there. I felt like I could fight for the top ten but Toni Elias came up the inside of me at the final corner as I was closing on Randy de Puniet and Mika Kallio. He touched me and I went off into the gravel and that left me out of the points unfortunately. We tried a different front-end setting for the race to try and solve some stability issues I’ve been having, and there is plenty of room for improvement. I just need time on the bike and a bit of luck to go my way. My guys have put in a lot of effort this weekend and I’m confident I can get a good result in Japan for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team.”