The MotoGP World Championship kicks off under the desert lights for the second year in a row with the six-strong Honda contingent ready to go racing. The Grand Prix of Qatar marks the debut of the new 2009 lineup of Honda riders and teams. Dani Pedrosa is back for his fourth year in the premier class, now joined by second year rising star Andrea Dovizioso on the factory Repsol Honda team. Pedrosa hasn’t had the smoothest of off-seasons. A left knee injury suffered in the Australian GP at Phillip Island last fall lingered into the new year, forcing Pedrosa to curtail his Malaysia test program in early February. Then came another setback when Pedrosa crashed heavily during a test here in Doha in early March, fracturing his left radius (forearm) and lacerating and bruising his already damaged left knee. Surgery and post-op recovery kept him out of the final pre-season test at Jerez de la Frontera, raising questions about whether he’d be ready for the curtain-raiser. But the tenacious Spaniard has vowed to be ready for the season. Dovizioso earned a promotion to the Repsol Honda team with a solid debut season that included a podium finish in the Malaysian Grand Prix and other races when he finished as the top Honda rider. The 23-year-old Italian finished his freshman season fifth overall, the highest placing non-factory rider. With Pedrosa injured, Dovizioso was tasked to do the bulk of the development work on the 800cc V4 engine, now breathing through pneumatic valves. Dovizioso was the highest placing Honda in the Official MotoGP Test at Jerez, though he admitted there was work to do before the season-opener. The rest of Honda’s 2009 class of MotoGP riders is a mixture of the old and the new. After a year away from the family fold, Toni Elias brings the familiar number 24 back to the San Carlo Honda Gresini team where he’ll join forces with Alex de Angelis. At the Official MotoGP Test in Jerez, Elias, 26, made the most of his factory Honda RC212V by clocking the highest top speed. That should put him in good stead on the ultra-fast main straight of the 5.38km Losail International Circuit. De Angelis is back for his second year in MotoGP. The 25-year-old from Rimini showed his diverse talents by taking fourth place finishes in the pouring rain on the tortuous Sachsenring and in the sunshine of Mugello. But he wasn’t able to capitalize on his best finishes and needs to be more consistent. For 2009, team owner Fausto Gresini will continue to mentor his fellow Italian as he continues to master the satellite Honda RC212V. Scot Racing Team MotoGP’s Yuki Takahashi moves from a successful 250cc career to the MotoGP class. The Japanese ace finished the 2008 season on a high note with a second in the Valencia finale before stepping up to the senior class in a test the following day. Frenchman Randy de Puniet is back for his fourth season in MotoGP and second for the LCR Honda team. In his first year with the team, De Puniet struggled to adapt to the Honda RC121V. He’ll need to be more consistent to keep up with the competition among his fellow Honda riders and the rest of the MotoGP field. The first ever nighttime Grand Prix of Qatar took place last year, giving the best riders in the world a new set of challenges under the brilliant lights of the largest permanent venue sports-lighting project in the world. Not only does it turn the traveling paddock into night owls, with practice and racing deep into the night to avoid the relentless desert sun, but the shadows from the 3600 lighting fixtures on the 1000 varied height lamp standards play tricks with the riders’ perceptions at speeds in excess of 330kph. The Losail International Circuit made its debut on the MotoGP calendar in 2004, giving the World Championship a foothold in the Arab-speaking world at one of the most modern racing facilities in the world. Sitting 10km outside the cosmopolitan city of Doha, the 5.38km track is fast, flowing, and wide open, a rider’s track that features more turns than any other track on the calendar, six lefts and ten rights. The constant high speeds and directional changes favour agile machines, while making tyre conservation critical. With one of the longest straights in racing, the track showcases the powerful and punishes the weak. Power deficiencies are on vivid display and only the most diligent riders can make up the difference on the track’s many flowing bends or the hard braking first turn where riders slow from top speeds of 330 kph. If the track has a downside it’s the blowing sand that can threaten traction. Artificial grass has been placed trackside to keep sand off the track, but it’s only partially successful and the surface can change without warning. Because the surface can be so tricky, the sighting and warm-up laps are more critical here than at any other track. This will be the first grand prix with Bridgestone as the sole tyre supplier. The Japanese brand has won the past two MotoGP World Championships and also the past two races in Qatar. The 18-rider MotoGP field will have four front tyres, in each of two different compounds, and six rears, also in two different compounds. Gone are qualifying tyres, which will allow the riders to spend the entire qualifying session working on race set-up, rather than one blistering lap on a ‘q.’ Dani Pedrosa, who finished third here in 2008, said: “First, I’ve got to say I’m really happy to be going to Qatar for this race. It’s clearly been quite a difficult winter for me and not the preparation for the season that we would have chosen. But my recovery from the surgery in March has been good – probably a little better than we expected – and that means I have the chance to make the first race, which is great. Obviously I haven’t been able to do the usual level of physical training while I’ve been injured, and we’ve missed out on some testing time, so we have some catching up to do. But I know my team hasn’t been standing still while I’ve been away and I’m really looking forward to getting back on the bike and riding for the maximum result possible for my situation.” Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso said: “Well, I’m really looking forward to the start of the season. This was my first winter as a factory Honda tester and it was an exciting experience to be in the full works squad. Now the preparation is over and we’re going racing. I like racing in Qatar, and riding under the floodlights at night is very special. It has an amazing, unique atmosphere and the layout of the track is different from the other circuits, in particular the turns are very long and it is not easy to get high speed corner. Still, I have always had good results in Qatar and last year, at my debut in MotoGP, I had a fantastic race. At the last test in Jerez our machine had improved compared to the previous test we did in Qatar at the beginning of March, so I’m confident for the first race of the season and I will be doing my best to fight up front.” LCR Honda MotoGP’s Randy De Puniet said: “The winter tests have been very productive for me and the whole team. The Honda/Bridgestone package is working well – especially my pace on race tyres. I’m looking forward to racing in Qatar because I prefer these new conditions when the temperature is cooler and I don’t have any special problems with the shadows on the track. We found a good base set-up in Jerez two weeks ago and didn’t change many things during the last test session so we focused on tyre testing with good results. I feel confident for the first race of the season because my squad is still the same and they do a great job”. Scot Racing Team MotoGP’s Yuki Takahashi said: “Next will be my first race in an unknown category. It will be an uphill course. Nevertheless, finding the limit is always fascinating. The pre-season tests were not enough to allow me to reduce the gap between me and my more experienced colleagues, and the next GP will be the first real chance to evaluate precisely what my position is. Competing in the night is not going to worry me; in the past, I hadn’t any problem”. San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Toni Elias said: “We have struggled a little more than we expected in testing, but we know where the problems lie and it is good to be going back to a circuit where we already have lots of data. I’m happy to be going racing with this team again, with Honda and on this fantastic bike. Ideally I’d like to be starting the season in better shape, but the truth is we have work to do in a short space of time when we get out to Qatar and we’ll be pushing hard in every aspect to approach the race in the best possible way. Racing at night makes it more tricky for us, but Losail is one of my favourite circuits and I’ve started on the front row there twice before both times with this team. I remember in particular three years ago we were three seconds off the pace on the first day and still managed to qualify on the front row. That just shows how quickly things can change in racing so we’ll go there with optimism, fight hard and see what happens.” San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alex de Angelis said: “I love Qatar as a circuit; it is one of my favourites, but I just hope it is a little warmer than when we were there for the test so that we can get more heat into the tire, because this is the area we’re struggling with the most. We haven’t had much time to work on the bike this winter and it was a real shame that it started to rain after the ‘qualifying’ session at Jerez because we were planning to do a race simulation, which I haven’t managed to do yet this pre-season. It means we go out there with a few question marks, particularly regarding tyre wear over race distance, but even so I am confident and excited to be going racing again.” Hiroshi Aoyama returns to the Scot Racing Team to lead Honda’s assault on the 250cc World Championship after compatriot Yuki Takahashi graduated to MotoGP. Aoyama will mentor team-mate Raffaele de Rosa, the 22-year-old from Naples who’s making his debut in the quarter-litre class. Valencia CF Honda SAG’s seven-time GP winner Hector Faubel will campaign a Honda 250 for the first time, teaming with Thai Honda PTT SAG Ratthapark Wilairot, the Thai rider who’s entering his third full season in the 250cc World Championship. Racing Team Germany’s young Swiss rider Bastien Chesaux is excited to make his 250cc debut on the team managed by former rider Dirk Heidolf. CIP Moto GP250 Shoya Tomizawa is another class debutante, the Japanese rider learning quickly how to slide the Honda as he joins the world circuit for the first time. Hiroshi Aoyama said: “The GP of Qatar is an atypical race. The test before it is of the utmost importance. If we had only the usual practice, then everything would be by far more complicated. The main point will be temperature and grip. I expect, for the race and for the whole season, very tough competition. Especially among the several riders that, as well as me, aim for victory”. Raffaele De Rosa said: “Qatar? I like the track. As far as my result is concerned, experience is the main issue. I’m trying to learn how to reduce the gap. During the winter tests I’ve been impressed by (Marco) Simoncelli and (Alvaro) Bautista. We will see how quickly Marco will be able to recover from the consequences of the accident that occurred to him recently. Anyway, I expect to see a large number of riders fighting for the top ten places. To be in that number is going to be my aim.” Shoya Tomizawa said: “Once again I’m experiencing something new. The Losail layout is like nothing I ever experienced in Japan, not only the track design but also the environment, so it took me a while to get comfortable. I’ll also looking for a more grip to improve the lap times I made during the test. At the moment, the rear is sliding a little too much out of the corners, but I feel comfortable sliding it. So the next step is to keep learning to ride the bike with this rear end sliding and getting on gas and keeping up a higher corner speed. It’s quite different from the stop-and-go technique I’ve used in Japan. The team is quite good, the bike is quite good, but there are so many things to learn.” Ratthapark Wilairot said: “I believe in my abilities and have high hopes and goals for the start of the new season. I’m very satisfied with the Honda RS250RW and believe I can achieve great results. I was happy with the official test at Losail, so I hope to finalize all the major adjustments and the first race will show the improvements of the bike and myself.” Hector Faubel said: “My two days of testing in Qatar were very helpful in preparing me and the team for the first race of the world championship. The race will be special, like last year’s, because it’s the only night GP with artificial lighting. These last few days I’ve focused and motivated for the first race of the 2009 season and want to prove to all the people who believe in me that I can be in the top positions.” Bastien Chesaux said: “It is for me the first time that I discover this circuit; racing at night is going to be incredible. It is completely different. We haven’t got the same sensations at night as during the day. The track is magnificent with many high speed turns. It is impressive. The motorcycle has been progressing well and has a lot of potential. It is very healthy and very handy in the technical parts of the track. I am delighted to get started at this first race and am lucky to be able to run among the best pilots of the world. There is an excellent camaraderie within the team. We communicate very well and they understand me. I have everything I need to progress in the best conditions, to give me the maximum to learn as quickly as possible and make a beautiful first race.” Racing Team Germany’s Jasper Iwema enters his first full season in the 125cc World Championship on a Honda RS125R. The 19-year-old from Hooghalen is the lone Dutch rider in the MotoGP World Championships.