FIM MotoGP World Championship Losail International Circuit Doha, Qatar March 8, 2008 Final Qualifying Results: 1. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:53.927 2. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:54.182 3. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:54.499 4. Casey STONER (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:54.733 5. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), Michelin, 1:54.818 6. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda), Michelin, 1:54.880 7. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), Bridgestone, 1:55.133 8. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), Michelin, 1:55.170 9. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), Michelin, 1:55.185 10. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:55.263 11. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:55.540 12. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:55.692 13. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:56.070 14. Toni ELIAS (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:56.251 15. Shinya NAKANO (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:56.434 16. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:56.730 17. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:57.198 18. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:57.445 More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: CRUCIAL FOURTH PLACE FOR STONER IN QUALIFYING IN QATAR, MELANDRI ON THE FIFTH ROW Casey Stoner starts his defence of the MotoGP World Championship from fourth on the grid in the Grand Prix of Qatar following today’s qualifying session, having been quickest in each of the three free practices. The third of those was when the Australian did his best work, the adjustments made since yesterday with the race setting on the GP8 having the desired effect and giving him confidence for tomorrow’s race. His team-mate Marco Melandri was nowhere near as satisfied after only managing the 16th fastest time on qualifying tyres. The Italian is hoping for a much better showing in the race. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 4th; 1’54.733 “To be honest I expected to be on the second row so I’m not too disappointed with the result, although I reckon that if I had another qualifying tyre like the one I set my fast lap on I could have comfortably been on the front. Anyway, sometimes there are certain things you can’t plan for and the important thing is that we’re in a good position for the race. We made one big change to the bike for third free practice and it was really positive but in tonight’s qualifying session we tried a few things that didn’t have the effect we’d hoped for, so we’ll go back to what we know works and I think that with a few more small changes we can be really competitive. There a lot of people with good race times, especially Lorenzo, so it will be interesting to see where everybody is in the warm-up. I know Jorge well from my 125 and 250 days so I’m not surprised that he and Andrea (Dovizioso) are fast but I must admit I didn’t expect James Toseland to be so strong and I take my hat off to him. If it comes down to a battle between us it won’t be anything different to any other race – everybody on the grid is a strong rival and they all have to be beaten.” MARCO MELANDRI – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 16th; 1’56.730 “Unfortunately there’s not much to say about today because things haven’t gone well. We’ve tried a lot of things but nothing has had the result we hoped for. I’m not able to ride well and we just can’t seem to find the grip on the front or the rear so I’m just too slow. We want to try out so many things but there’s no more time so we’ll just have to see how we go in the race” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi will be hoping that the strong race pace they showed during today’s final practice session continues in tomorrow’s race, after a tough qualifying session left them on the fourth and fifth rows respectively. Vermeulen (P11, 1’55.540) and Capirossi (P13, 1’56.070) showed consistently improving times during the first evening session – and for much of the qualifying hour – as they continued to work on the set-up of their GSV-Rs for tomorrow’s 22-lap race. The pair were unable to make headway with their qualifying tyres and now have a lot of work to do to get up towards the front when the race gets underway tomorrow evening. This evening marked the inaugural MotoGP qualifying session held at night, as the riders came to terms with colder track temperatures caused by the chilly desert air. Reigning 250cc World Champion Jorge Lorenzo on his factory Yamaha took pole position in his first event in the MotoGP class. Tomorrow’s race will be the opening round of the 2008 season and the first-ever road-racing Grand Prix staged at night under floodlights. The flag drops to signal the start of the race at 23.00hrs local time (20.00hrs GMT), when both Rizla Suzuki MotoGP riders will be looking for good starts to get them straight into the challenging pack. Chris Vermeulen: “We made a lot more progress with the bike today and also my own performance around this track improved. We got into a good rhythm in the first session and at the end I was well inside the top-10 on race tyres. The bike felt good and I could consistently and easily keep doing those times. The qualifying was a different story and it was plain to see that the other tyre manufacturer had an advantage on us on qualifiers, which makes it difficult having to start from back on the fourth row. As for tomorrow’s race I’ll go out and give it 100% and I know my race pace is better than some of the guys in front of me so I’ll see how we can go!” Loris Capirossi: “I think we can still make a big step in the race conditions and get a good result from here. From when we tried the qualifiers in the test last week, I chose the wrong ones this week. I had only two qualifiers to Chris’s three and maybe he had two slightly better ones, as well as one the same as me, and he said it didn’t work well for him either. Anyway this was my choice and I know it was a mistake. I am sure that the race will be much better for us.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “We knew from the test that we were going to be up against it as regards qualifying tyre performance, and therefore the result was not completely unexpected. Another couple of tenths for Chris would have helped him get onto the third row, but for both the riders we can be positive that our race pace has improved dramatically over the weekend and both Loris and Chris made 1’56.0 laps on their chosen race rubber. We know that they are both extremely hard and consistent racers, and whilst starting from the fourth and fifth rows is far from ideal, I think both riders are confident that we can achieve a far better result by the end of the Grand Prix tomorrow evening!” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Qualifying Struggles for Bridgestone Riders in Qatar Round 1: Qatar Qualifying Losail International Circuit, Sunday 09 March 2008 Ducati Corse’s Casey Stoner will start the opening race of the 2008 championship from the second row of the grid as Bridgestone’s qualifying tyres struggled for pace around the cool Losail International Circuit on Saturday evening. Stoner’s time of 1m54.733s was a one second improvement over his best “qualifying” time in last week’s test and he will line up fourth on tomorrow’s grid. Jorge Lorenzo took pole for the Fiat Yamaha Team with a time of 1m53.927s. In his first race weekend using Bridgestone tyres, Valentino Rossi posted the seventh quickest time on qualifying tyres, but the Fiat Yamaha rider has made important improvements with his race tyre performance during Saturday, which will set him up well for Sunday evening’s landmark Qatar night race. Completing the top ten is John Hopkins who will make his Kawasaki race debut from tenth place after a strong qualifying lap in the difficult conditions. Several riders have nevertheless shown better-than-expected performances on race tyres, an area that Bridgestone also highlighted as a pre-race concern. Stoner and Rossi were both able to set times on race tyres at the start of the qualifying session under the 1m56s barrier, in conditions which are likely also to be faced in Sunday’s race. Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development Were the qualifying results as you expected? “Based on the results from last week’s test session, we knew that we would face a tough time in the qualifying session and so it proved. Nevertheless, Casey, Valentino and John all produced lap times that perhaps defied the competitiveness of their qualifying tyres and so they fully deserve their top ten results. Casey showed a marked improvement over the time he achieved in the test, managing to dip under 1m55s, which was also around a one second improvement on his lap times on race tyres. Our qualifiers simply did not offer the riders sufficient grip for these colder night-time conditions, especially in comparison to the performance of our rivals. I would like to reassure all our teams that we will continue to work hard in this area for coming races.” How has race tyre performance been? “Actually, I must admit that the race tyres have performed slightly above expectations, although it will still be a tough race for everybody on Sunday. On Saturday morning, with track temperatures slightly above what we forecast for the race, there were a number of our riders able to lap under 1m56s, including Casey and Valentino, but also Alex de Angelis who was the top placed Honda rider in fourth position. Even though the track was only a few degrees warmer, this has a positive effect on our tyre performance. At the start of qualifying, some degrees cooler, Casey and Valentino continued to lap in the mid-high 1m55s, which was encouraging, and I hope they can both compete for strong results on Sunday. Of course, our rivals have been competitive and have set a high benchmark this weekend, not least Lorenzo, who will be on pole on Sunday and is therefore the man to beat.” Bridgestone-shod Riders’ Qualifying Session Results Pos. Rider Team Qualifying Time (pos) Gap to Pole P4 Casey Stoner Ducati Corse 1m54.733s +0.806s P7 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m55.133s +1.206s P10 John Hopkins Kawasaki Racing Team 1m55.263s +1.336s P11 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m55.540s +1.613s P12 Alex de Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m55.692s +1.765s P13 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m56.070s +2.143s P14 Toni Elias Alice Team 1m56.251s +2.324s P15 Shinya Nakano San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m56.434s +2.507s P16 Marco Melandri Ducati Corse 1m56.730s +2.803s P17 Sylvain Guintoli Alice Team 1m57.198s +3.271s P18 Anthony West Kawasaki Racing Team 1m57.445s +3.518s More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo will make his MotoGP debut from pole position at the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar on Sunday, after clocking the fastest time ever at the Losail International Circuit in Saturday evening’s premier class qualifying session. The double 250cc World Champion took the top spot in the final moments of the historic maiden night-time qualifying session with a scorching 1’53.927 lap, becoming the first rider in history to break the Losail 1’54 barrier in the process. He also echoed one of his idols, as he became the first rider to take pole position on debut in the class since Max Biaggi moved up as 250 champ in 1998; the Italian going on to win the race at Suzuka. Lorenzo’s late time only just overshadowed another 2008 premier class rookie, Tech3 Yamaha rider James Toseland, as the Briton confirmed his superb pace in testing and practice by securing second on the grid for his own MotoGP debut. Toseland made a statement of intent 20 minutes into the qualifying practice by breaking Valentino Rossi’s pole record from 2007 and did battle for top spot with Lorenzo throughout the session, only to be outdone by the young Spaniard at the death by just 0.255. Colin Edwards completed an all-Yamaha front row, continuing his renaissance as Toseland’s team-mate in the Tech 3 Yamaha outfit. His appearance in the top three also makes it a Michelin clean sweep on an excellent day for the French tyre manufacturer, with all seven of their riders in the top ten. The fastest of the Bridgestone brigade was 2007 MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner, the quickest rider in every practice session prior to the evening shootout taking fourth place. Randy de Puniet was the fastest Honda rider of the day, just ahead of factory rider Nicky Hayden as the final two participants to go round in under 1’55. Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi was, in a rare occurrence for the five-time MotoGP World Champion, the lowest placing Yamaha rider, ahead of Repsol Honda’s 2007 World Championship runner-up Dani Pedrosa, 800cc newcomer Andrea Dovizioso of JiR Team Scot and Kawasaki’s John Hopkins. 250cc The quarter-litre qualifying practice, meanwhile, saw Lorenzo’s former mentor and close friend Alex Debon take the first pole position of his long career, the 32 year-old using the 250cc 2008 Aprilia RSA he helped to develop last year to great effect to head the front row with a time of 1’59.470. Lotus Aprilia’s Debon will have one of the new 2008 pole position Tissot watches to compare with Lorenzo’s, while behind him on the grid will be two more Aprilia-equipped Spaniards, Hector Barbera (Pepe Team Toth) and Alvaro Bautista (Mapfre Aspar), ahead of Red Bull KTM’s Finnish rider Mika Kallio. 125cc History was made in the 125cc class as the dominant rider at every practice session in Losail this week, Bradley Smith, continued his sparkling form to take his first World Championship pole, courtesy of a 2’05.242 hot lap – thus becoming the first British rider to qualify in first position in the single-cylinder category in over three decades. Smith, who makes his race debut with Polaris World Aprilia this weekend, was relatively unscathed by a late crash at the end of the session and will be joined on the front row by World Champion Gabor Talmacsi (Bancaja Aspar), Mike di Meglio (Ajo Motorsport) and Blusens Aprilia’s British rookie Scott Redding. Meanwhile Smith and Redding’s compatriot Danny Webb qualified in fifth, to make it three Englishmen in the top five. Redding in turn becomes the youngest ever rider to start a race from the front row of the grid. More, from a press release issued by JiR Team Scot Honda: Andrea Dovizioso starts on 3rd row in ninth position for first MotoGP race of 2008 Tonight’s very important qualifying session for the first MotoGP race of the season produced a lot of expectation and also came with some big surprises. Andrea Dovizioso, heading towards his first start in the MotoGP championship, gains a third row position for tomorrow’s race. Obviously JiR Team Scot wanted more than that with their previous testing form around the Losail circuit, but the atmosphere in the garage is serene ahead of tomorrow’s 22-lap race because their pace in race trim is very consistent and at a high level. In any case the third row looks is very special as the three riders on it have 11 world titles between them! Gianluca Montiron Team Director, JiR Team Scot “For team and rider this is the first qualifying session and we are on the third row and we are verifying the technical configuration of the bike for the race. This allows us to think enthusiastically for the race and for the rhythm of the race. This means that overall we have a positive evaluation for the official start of the season. Therefore we have to look at the race tomorrow with confidence because the team is very good, it’s working well together, we know our capability and the strategy we have used to move forward has produced good results.” Cirano Mularoni Team Manager, JiR Team Scot “Obviously our ambition was a little higher from what the stopwatch finally showed us today, but our prospects for tomorrow are very positive as technically we have found the right configuration for the race and the general balance of the bike is good. In the warm-up we also will see different climatic conditions so we will work on the final tuning of the bike. In any case, we always work thinking of the performance over a full race distance and not a single lap. One thing is sure, is that we have to increase our performance on qualifying tyres!” Andrea Dovizioso Rider, JiR Team Scot MotoGP HONDA RC212V Best time: 9th – 1′ 55″185 “During free practice we decided to try some solution which didn’t give us the expected results and in qualifying trim with qualifying tyres we were not in the best condition to use the maximum potential of those soft tyres. A small lack of confidence in the front qualifying tyre didn’t give me chance to use the incredible potential of the rear tyre. We’re going to work on that as we have the chance to do much better. For the race we’re in good shape, which I think will allow us to be consistent. Obviously starting from the third row is not the best, but I hope to run up the front as soon as I can in the early laps. Warm-up will be helpful to work a little more on suspension settings and get better stability in braking, which is the thing I need to sort out as it’s proved a little complicated to solve. I will start very relaxed as I’m convinced the tyre choice I made for 22-lap race and my setting in race configuration will give me massive confidence for the race itself.” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: ROSSI HEADS THIRD ROW FOR NIGHT-TIME QATAR SHOWDOWN Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi will start tomorrow’s season-opening MotoGP race from the front of the third row, after qualifying seventh under the Qatar floodlights tonight. The Italian lacked a little pace with his qualifying tyres this evening but a strong showing on Bridgestone race tyres in tonight’s first practice session left him feeling nonetheless relaxed for tomorrow’s race. After struggling slightly for grip yesterday the earlier practice session, run in slightly warmer temperatures, saw Rossi making significant improvements to his setting and finishing third fastest. Qualifying was something more of a struggle for the multiple world champion however and he was unable to break into the top positions, but he is confident that a good start and a strong first lap will see him in a position to fight with the protagonists in tomorrow’s 22-lap race. Rossi’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo took an impressive pole position in his first ever MotoGP qualifying session, leading an all-Yamaha front row from Tech 3 riders James Toseland and Colin Edwards. Tomorrow’s race, the first ever MotoGP night-race, will start at 2300 local time. Valentino Rossi Position: 7th Time: 1’55.133 Laps: 24 “After the test we knew that we weren’t going to be in perfect shape for the qualifying; we tried a few modifications but we weren’t able to completely fix the problem and so I couldn’t challenge for the front row. This aside however, I’m pleased with the progress we made today and our race pace is much better than yesterday. We’re still missing a couple of tenths from the front but we have a few small modifications planned and I think we’re in okay shape for the race. The third row isn’t great but we know that the Bridgestone tyres work very well straight away and so if I get a good start then I hope I can challenge at the front. The bike is feeling good, we’ve found some more grip compared to yesterday and for sure I can say that we’re in better shape than last year. Congratulations to Lorenzo because he was very impressive tonight and this shows that our bike is very good. It’s only the first race and I’m quite relaxed; I feel good on the bike, I can ride it exactly how I want to and now we’re just waiting for tomorrow.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “I think that we’ve done a good job today. Valentino and the whole team had a very good reaction to yesterday’s problems and we improved our race pace considerably, so we’re very happy about that. We knew that our job with the qualifying tyre would be more difficult tonight and all things considered seventh is not so bad. It’s a starting point for us and now we will make progress in the future. Congratulations to Lorenzo for his pole position and to Yamaha for filling the front row; it’s going to be a very interesting beginning to the championship!” More, from another press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: LORENZO HEADS ALL-YAMAHA FRONT ROW ON SUPERB MOTOGP DEBUT Fiat Yamaha Team new recruit Jorge Lorenzo, at 20 the youngest rider on the grid, took an incredible pole position on his MotoGP debut in Qatar tonight. The Spanish rookie is the first rider in ten years to take pole position at his debut premier-class race and heads the first all-Yamaha front row since Sachsenring in 2002. Following on from an impressive opening night yesterday, Lorenzo continued with more of the same in the first session this evening and finished second. As a result he headed into this evening’s Qualifying session as one of the clear favourites for a spot on the front row and, with 20 minutes to go, he slotted in a Michelin qualifying tyre and went straight to the top of the time sheets. It was a night for the rookies as pole position was briefly surrendered to fellow Yamaha new-boy James Toseland, but Lorenzo’s final qualifying lap was too good for his competitors and a time of 1’53.927 saw him smash the previous pole record by over a second. Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi finished the evening in 7th place which will see him start from the front of the third row, whilst Lorenzo will lead the front row ahead of the two Yamaha Tech 3 riders, with Toseland in second and Colin Edwards in third. Tomorrow’s race, the first ever World Championship night race, gets underway at 2300 local time. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 1st Time: 1’53.927 Laps: 22 “Only in my dreams did I imagine being on pole at my very first MotoGP race; I can’t believe it! This is something great for all of Yamaha; there are three Yamaha riders on the front row and this shows how hard they have been working. Tonight my M1 was working very well and with the Michelin qualifying tyres it was excellent, but also our race pace is very good. Tomorrow will of course be very difficult; it’s my first MotoGP race so there is a lot to think about, but I am excited and of course we will try to do our best and see what happens! The team and Michelin have done a great job over the winter so this is a thank you to them. I will try to get a good start and I will have to concentrate very hard on the first lap when the tyres are cold, and then we’ll see what happens. Tomorrow is another day however and for the moment I just want to think about this and celebrate a special night for me and for Yamaha.” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “Like Jorge says, tonight is like a dream for us and we couldn’t ask for more. We’ve done a great job with Yamaha and Michelin during the winter and the rider has adapted very well to a MotoGP bike. Also the team have done very well setting up the bike for him so well done and thank you to all of them. Today the Michelin qualifying tyres worked perfectly but we’re also consistently fast with race tyres, so it’s quite exciting. I want to thank Yamaha for doing a great job in the winter and giving us a very competitive bike, we’re in good shape for the first race and now we are just waiting to see what happens tomorrow!” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Media Service: SECOND AND THIRD ROW FOR THE REPSOL HONDA TEAM RIDERS IN THE QATAR NIGHT RACE Nicky Hayden gets sixth best time and Dani Pedrosa, eighth. Esteve Rabat, eleventh in the 125cc category, will start out tomorrow on the third row The countdown for the kick off of the first Grand Prix of the 2008 season is reaching its end, and with less than 24 hours left to find out who the winners shall be in each of the three categories, the expectations are high. The top category gave surprises tonight for the starting grid, with three Yamaha’s running on Michelin tyres snatching the first three positions. Two newcomers to the category have taken first and second positions: Lorenzo surprisingly ran the best time and Toseland second best time, both followed by veteran Edwards. First thing tonight, during the third MotoGP free training sessions, both Repsol Honda Team riders have definitely taken different paths in order to face the last stretch of this Grand Prix. While the current 2006 World Runner-up, Dani Pedrosa, has chosen the Honda RC212V 2008, on the other hand the 2006 World Champion, Nicky Hayden, has been running with two units of the 2007 version. Pedrosa, reasonably recovered after yesterday’s fall where he hurt again the finger he fractured in January, has completed a total of 25 laps on the Qatar track, running the seventh best time in lap 21. American Hayden has completed 24 laps, running 15th best time in his last lap. In the timed MotoGP session, the qualification tyres were the true protagonists of the night. With the majority of riders on the track carrying out the usual tests on tyres to decide which ones to use for the race, Toseland was the first to open fire with qualification tyres, and did so soon, as there were still 37 minutes left for the finish. The trick worked out for the Englishman, who took first position after his first attempt. This risky action precipitated a dispute for pole position, and the other 17 riders started to fit their bikes with qualification tyres. Hayden started 25 minutes from the end, while Pedrosa followed suit two minutes later. After his three attempts, Hyden went from 8th to 7th and finally up to 6th position. Pedrosa failed at his frist attempt due to setup problems on his bike, maintained twelvth position after a second attempt in spite of improving his time, and finally climbed to 8th position. In the quarter-litre category, Julián Simón had some problems with his KTM since he arrived at this circuit, both in yesterday’s and today’s training sessions, and the tests earlier this week. During the second free training sessions he was unable to climb any further than twelvth position, and in tonight’s timed session he finished 14th, which will put him on the third row of tomorrow’s starting grid. After 39 laps, his best time was 2’00.975 secs, one and a half seconds away from Alex Dubón, who was the fastest. The Repsol rider showed a poor top speed on the Qatar circuit, a problem also suffered by Hiroshi Aoyama and Mika Kallio, the other two KTM riders with support from Repsol. In their case, Kallio finally managed to improve and ran the fourth best time, while Aoyama will start in 12th position. Things went better for Esteve Rabat in 125cc. The Repsol rider finished the timed training session in eleventh position, result which will put him on the third row of the starting grid tomorrow. Rabat ran a time of 2’06.132 secs, after improving yesterday’s time by half a second in his last lap, 890 milliseconds away from the pole position scored by Englishman Bradley Smith. Quotes MotoGP Dani Pedrosa >> 1’55.170 secs, 48 laps, 258 Km. “In spite of trying with qualification tyres, I didn’t manage to improve my times much today, so tomorrow we’ll start out from the third row. We didn’t train much this winter with qualification tyres, so we need to carry out more tests to improve that aspect. I’m not happy with my position on the grid, but at least we’re in a better position than when we were training here last week. At least I’m satisfied with the fact that we managed to improve on the bike in such a short period of time. Tomorrow we have another 20 minutes to try and improve some more. Regarding the pace, we are not up to the level of the fastest in spite of having improved. But if we bear in mind that we haven’t trained that much this winter, that I injured my hand, and that the training sessions here a few days ago didn’t go too well, then the conclusion is that the situation isn’t that bad. After yesterday’s fall my hand hurt a lot, but the treatment I received, and which I will repeat tomorrow morning, is working very well. Now I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s race, and I only hope my hand will take so many laps.” Nicky Hayden >> 1’54.880 secs, 48 laps, 258 Km. “We’ve improved a lot this afternoon, well, tonight. After my first two attempts with race tyres I improved a little, and in the end I was able to run a reasonable time with qualification tyres. Nothing spectacular, but it gives us a decent opportunity for tomorrow. The big problem for us is the long straight here, as we lose a lot of time. I’m running on the bike I used in Valencia. I’m looking forward to racing tomorrow, and though I’d like to maintain a better pace, this is what we’ve got, and we’ll have to make do and fight with it. I’m enjoying riding at night, I think it’s good and I hope more circuits decide to install lighting systems. Thanks a lot to my team and to HRC, those guys have worked really hard. What they have done this last week to get more bikes for this race and give us more options is incredible. They have even made a new chassis for Dani which seems to be an important step forward, so I’m sure that the next time I get up on the 2008 bike I’ll try out one of those.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: GRIPPING STUFF FROM QATAR QUALIFYING The qualifying session for the first MotoGP round of 2008 took place tonight at Qatar’s Losail International Circuit and it was not short on surprises. Rookies Jorge Lorenzo and James Toseland took pole and second position on the grid, while some older hands struggled to find form at the 5.38km desert track. But John Hopkins, riding the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR in his first race weekend for the squad, came over the line with the tenth fastest time of the session on the 21st of 23 laps. He was also the third highest placed Bridgestone rider, with only current world champion, Casey Stoner, and Valentino Rossi ahead of him on similar rubber. Still struggling with a muscular injury in his groin, it was a great show of strength and determination by the 24-year-old. With conditions on the track being compounded by rapidly decreasing temperatures as the historic night time sessions progress, grip has, on occasion, been hard to find. Combine this with dust coming in off the desert and there’s ample opportunity for a slip. But Hopper kept his cool and, after further testing of different compounds, found enough confidence in his tyres to get his elbow down on his final lap! Anthony West struggled, as he has been at Qatar so far, to find his confidence on the 2008 Ninja ZX-RR but managed to improve on his earlier best times, putting in his fastest lap on his last outing: a sign that improvements continue to be made in the Kawasaki pit box. The headstrong Australian remains absolutely determined to make headway in the race itself having, with the assistance of his crew and Bridgestone, made steps in conquering the traction problems he’s been suffering of late. Tomorrow night’s race will be the first Grand Prix, on either two wheels or four, to be run at night and, while those actually at Losail are able to witness this phenomenal spectacle from the ground, it is surely the stunning aerial TV shots of the illuminated track which fully reveal the enormity of the lighting system which has been installed for the event. The Kawasaki Racing Team is striving to overcome the minor difficulties it has encountered and will be determined to prove itself, and its Ninja ZX-RR, at the inaugural race of the 2008 World Championship. John Hopkins #21 10th 1’55.263 “We went out tonight with the task of finalising our race tyre. The track grip has increased considerably since the test last week and the tyre we started with was a little too soft, so we’re now going to opt for a harder compound. We then started using the qualifying tyres, which have been difficult in the cold as, while riding, I have to try to keep the front end hot but the rear cool to make a good lap. We did the best we could and I gave it my all, although we just missed out on the third row. The fourth row isn’t exactly where we wanted to be but we have a good race pace and I didn’t feel the injury tonight once the adrenalin was pumping, so I’m confident we can do a good job tomorrow. We’ve got a few improvements to make overnight and the plan is to get a good start and be in the midst of the action. I’m really looking forward to it.” Anthony West #13 – 18th – 1’57.445 “I certainly didn’t expect to come into the new season and qualify dead last on the grid and, obviously, I’m far from happy with how things have gone over the past two days. John has shown that it’s possible to get the bike and the tyres working here but, if I’m completely honest, for me it’s been more a problem of confidence than set-up. I just don’t feel comfortable on the bike; every session I’ve come close to crashing in the strangest places and I just don’t know why. Of course, I’ll sit down with my crew tonight to see if we can come up with some options to try in warm-up tomorrow but it’s difficult when there isn’t a specific problem we can point to and then work to resolve. Despite the problems we’ve had over the past two days, I’ll still be going out in tomorrow’s race to push as hard as I can for a good result because that’s what I’m here for.” Fiorenzo Fanali Hopkins Crew Chief “We have had a little bit of a grip problem at this track, so tonight we used the time to improve our setting to give John a better feeling, which we achieved. With qualifying we finally improved our time thanks to Bridgestone, who have made modifications to the qualifying tyre since testing. The last run John did was his best, although he lost a little time in the first sector as he made contact with the track with his elbow. He made up for this in the final few sectors so we know that had he had the possibility to go even faster, which is positive for tomorrow’s race.” More, from a press release issued by Michelin: MICHELIN MEN MONOPOLIZE LOSAIL FRONT ROW Michelin riders dominated the opening qualifying session of the 2008 MotoGP World Championship at Losail tonight, recording the three fastest laps in the sport’s first-ever night-time qualifying encounter. Two of Michelin’s four rookies stunned the MotoGP establishment by taking the first two places on the grid, double 250 World Champion Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) 0.255 seconds ahead of double World Superbike champion James Toseland (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin) with the more experienced Colin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin) third fastest. Randy de Puniet (Honda LCR RC212V-Michelin) and Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin) also performed brilliantly, scoring second-row starts under Losail’s 5.4 million watt floodlight system “We are happy with the performance of our tires today,” said Jean-Phillipe Weber, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing. “Our qualifiers worked well and taking pole position is always good, but the race is a different matter. We expect a tough race tomorrow because the lap times on race tires are faster than they were in last week’s tests here. “During the winter we worked very hard on a new rear construction that we introduced for the first time at Valencia last November. The focus was to make our tires work better at lower temperatures and over a broader range of temperatures and it seems that the last two days here have confirmed our work, because the track temperature is only 18 degrees and the moisture level is quite high.” Lorenzo, the first premier-class rookie to score pole first time out since Max Biaggi (Marlboro Honda NSR500-Michelin) at Suzuka in 1998, was obviously delighted with his performance. “This is amazing, I didn’t expect it,” said the Spaniard. “Many things have changed for me since last year — the bike, the team, the tires, but everything is working well for me. This is an important day for Yamaha and for Michelin, with three riders on the front row. Now we will see what happens in the race, I will try and get a good start and concentrate on the first few laps.” Qualifying Practice Classification: 1. Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team-Michelin), 1:53.927 2. James TOSELAND (Tech 3 Yamaha-Michelin), 1:54.182 3. Colin EDWARDS (Tech 3 Yamaha-Michelin), 1:54.499 4. Casey STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team), 1:54.733 5. Randy DE PUNIET (LCR Honda MotoGP-Michelin), 1:54.818 6. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda Team-Michelin), 1:54.880 7. Valentino ROSSI (Fiat Yamaha Team), 1:55.133 8. Dani PEDROSA (Repsol Honda Team-Michelin), 1:55.170 9. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (JiR Team Scot MotoGP-Michelin), 1:55.185 10. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki Racing Team), 1:55.263 11. Chris VERMEULEN (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP), 1:55.540 12. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda Gresini), 1:55.692 13. Loris CAPIROSSI (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP), 1:56.070 14.Toni ELIAS (Alice Team DUCATI), 1:56.251 15.Shinya NAKANO (San Carlo Honda Gresini), 1:56.434 16. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team), 1:56.730 17. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Alice Team), 1:57.198 18. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki Racing Team), 1:57.445 More, from a press release issued by Honda: DE PUNIET AND HAYDEN BATTLE TO SECOND ROW The curtain-raising hour of final qualifying here under the floodlights at Losail proved that the established order of rank, at least this far, has changed. Newcomer to the class Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) grabbed pole at his first premier class Grand Prix. British star James Toseland, who held onto pole for much of the hour-long session, lines up second on the grid and Colin Edwards (both Yamaha) completes the front row. This stint was a struggle for the leading Honda men but they did not buckle under early season pressure from the opposition. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) just edged ahead of former World Champion Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) claiming fifth spot on the grid with the American star sixth fastest. Casey Stoner (Ducati) secured fourth to head row two. De Puniet proved he had the mettle to run with the pace-setters early on and another eager contender was Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) who proved he has adapted to the 2008 Honda RC212V having moved up from the 250c class. The French LCR man lay fifth at the halfway stage with De Angelis sixth. Toseland’s lap time of 1m 54.562s was good enough to hold off the advances of Lorenzo and Edwards for all bar the final two minutes of this floodlit frenzy. The reigning World Superbike Champion even bettered his time to 1m 54.182s with 20 minutes left on the clock. But Lorenzo pounced at the close to run a 1m 53.927s lap that was out of reach of the field. Valentino Rossi’s 2007 pole time of 1m 55.002s was obliterated by his new team-mate Lorenzo and for the multiple World Champion to be eclipsed by the new boy shows that the current crop of new faces have the speed to mix it with the big boys. Nicky Hayden hoisted himself to sixth with a 1m 54.880s lap with one minute to go while Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) made eighth on the grid for a third row start, having suffered a crash yesterday. Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Scot Honda RC212V) lines up alongside the Spaniard as ninth fastest man. Shinya Nakano (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) qualified 15th. With the track temperature at a chilly 14 degrees towards the end of the stint, riders knew that the onset of night would affect grip having experienced similar conditions in yesterday’s session. Now it remains to be seen what happens under race conditions. Randy De Puniet, with a time of 1m 54.818s for fifth on the grid, said: “It’s coming better but in the first part of qualifying I didn’t have a good feeling from the front tyre but the lap time was good. Last week at the test I was very happy with the bike and we didn’t change anything, but the bike felt different from the start of practice here. I had a big crash on my second bike and I have to thank my team who worked very hard to get it ready for me this afternoon. I used the bike to set fifth fastest time and feel more confident now. My qualifying time could possibly have been faster but I came across Toni Elias at turn three. I am ready and I hope to have a good race.” Nicky Hayden, sixth on the grid, said: “We improved a lot this afternoon”¦ heck, it’s the middle of the night! My first two runs on race tyres I improved quite a bit and in the end I was able to get a respectable lap on qualifiers, nothing great, but I was able to give ourselves a decent chance. The big thing around here for us is the straightaway, we’re losing quite a bit of time. A big thanks to my team and to HRC, these guys have worked so hard, it’s silly how hard they have worked over the last week to get more bikes here, get more options for us, and build a different chassis for Dani’s bike, which seems to be a good step.” Dani Pedrosa, eighth with a time of 1m 55.170s said: “We struggled with qualifying tyres and we couldn’t improve my times so much, so we will start from the third row. We haven’t tested so much with qualifying tyres so we need more testing to improve our qualifying set-up. I’m not happy about my grid position but I’m better off than I was during last week’s tests here. I am happy about how the bike has improved in such a short time. Now we have another 20 minutes during warm-up to further improve it. As for race pace, we are not at the level of the fastest riders but we have improved. I’ve had a bad hand injury and we had problems testing here, so the situation isn’t so bad.” Andrea Dovizioso, ninth with a 1m 55.185s time, said: “During free practice we decided to try some solutions which didn’t give us the expected results and in qualifying trim with qualifying tyres we were not in the best condition to use the maximum potential of those soft tyres. A small lack of confidence in the front qualifying tyre didn’t give me a chance to use the incredible potential of the rear tyre. We’re going to work on that as we have the chance to do much better. For the race we’re in good shape, which I think will allow us to be consistent. Obviously starting from the third row is not the best, but I hope to run up at the front as soon as I can in the early laps.” Alex De Angelis finished up 12th with a best time of 1m 55.692s and said: “It’s been a good weekend for me. Every session I could run in fourth, fifth or sixth position on race tyres but when I tried hard with qualifying tyres I was always worse so I am a little sad about the situation. I was faster yesterday with qualifying tyres than today. We have to work together with Bridgestone to get better qualifying tyres and improve our qualifying times. I am only 12th on the grid but I know I can improve in the race because my rhythm is good on race tyres but it will be difficult for me off the start. The engine has good acceleration but I need more top speed.” Shinya Nakano down in 15th on row five said: “I’m not happy with today because qualifying is so important and I couldn’t improve my pace as I wanted to. Both myself and the team have done our best but the chance has gone and now we have to think about the race. We’ll have to get a good start and I’ll do my best to achieve the best result possible in the first Grand Prix of 2008.” 250cc World Championship Alex Debon notched pole with a time of 1m 59.470s with Alvaro Bautista second fastest and Hector Barbera third quickest man (all Aprilia). Yuki Takahashi (Humangest Racing Honda RS250RW) managed eighth on the grid with a time of 2m 00.326s. Takahashi said: “Qualifying was good and my lap time very good. The bike has been good all weekend, the only difficulty has been with carburation which has been delicate in the changing temperatures here at night. I am on the second row and that is important for me and my race pace is good. I will race with soft tyres and I really like the front it’s so good around here. If I get a good start I can run with the group around me on the grid.” Ratthapark Wilairot (Stop And Go Racing RS250RW) qualified 19th and said: “I was not happy with myself yesterday because I chose the wrong suspension settings but I went OK today. I didn’t push too hard just looking for a fast lap time but I have a very good race rhythm. The level is quite high this year but the RS250RW is so much better than my RS of last year, the engine worked perfectly in qualifying. I’m two seconds off pole set by a full factory machine so I’m happy. I need a good start in the race for sure and this bike starts so much better than the RS I raced last year.” 125cc World Championship British rider Bradley Smith put himself on pole for the first time in his career by carving a 2m 05.242s lap of this 5380m track despite a crash in the closing minutes of the half-hour session. He is joined reigning World Champion Gabor Talmacsi, Mike di Meglio and rookie Scott Redding (all Aprilia) on the front row. Louis Rossi (FFM Racing Honda RS125R) qualified 34th with a time of 2m 10.752s. Rossi said: “Today I set myself a target of 2m 09s but I just missed getting down to it. Still my best lap time was six tenths of a second faster in final qualifying and that was important. The difference between the French Championship and GP racing is very big and I have a lot to learn. I have improved braking a lot and can brake deeper into the corners and this has helped me today. I have also changed my riding style a little to do this, I lean off the bike more than before. The race will be hard but the bike is OK.” Honda rider quotes: Qatar GP Losail March 8, 2008. MotoGP: Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda: 5th – 1m 54.818s. “It’s coming better but in the first part of qualifying I didn’t have a good feeling from the front tyre but the lap time was good. Last week at the test I was very happy with the bike and we didn’t change anything but the bike felt different from the start of practice here. I had a big crash on my second bike and I have to thank my team who worked very hard to get it ready for me this afternoon. I used the bike to set fifth fastest time and feel more confident with the bike now. My qualifying time could possibly have been faster but I came across Toni Elias at turn three. I am ready and I hope to have a good race. Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 6th – 1m 54.880s. “We improved a lot this afternoon”¦ heck, it’s the middle of the night! My first two runs on race tyres I improved quite a bit and in the end I was able to get a respectable lap on qualifies, nothing great, but I was able to give ourselves a decent chance. The big thing around here for us is the straightaway, we’re losing quite a bit of time, the bike I’m using is what I had at Valencia. I’m really excited to be going racing. I’d like to have a better race pace and all that but it is what it is and it’s time to line up and go for it. I’m enjoying riding at night, I think it’s cool, I hope some more tracks decide to get some lighting systems going. A big thanks to my team and to HRC, these guys have worked so hard, it’s silly how hard they have worked over the last week to get more bikes here, get more options for us, build a different chassis for Dani’s bike which seems to be a good step so I’m sure the next time I get on the 08 I’ll try one of those. Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 8th 1m 55.170s “We struggled with qualifying tyres and we couldn’t improve my times so much, so we will start from the third row. We haven’t tested so much with qualifying tyres so we need more testing to improve our qualifying setup. I’m not happy about my grid position but I’m better off than I was during last week’s tests here. I am happy about how the bike has improved in such a short time. Now we have another 20 minutes during warm-up to further improve it. As for race pace, we are not at the level of the fastest riders but we have improved. And if we consider the fact that we didn’t so much testing during the winter, that I’ve had a bad hand injury and that we had problems in testing here, I think the situation isn’t so bad. After yesterday’s crash the hand was very painful. I’ve had some treatment on the hand and we will work some more on it tomorrow morning. I’m looking forward to the race, the only problem could be the strength of my right arm over full-race distance.” Andrea Dovizioso, JiR Scot Honda: 9th 1m 55.185s. “During free practice we decided to try some solution which didn’t give us the expected results and in qualifying trim with qualifying tyres we were not in the best condition to use the maximum potential of those soft tyres. A small lack of confidence in the front qualifying tyre didn’t give me chance to use the incredible potential of the rear tyre. We’re going to work on that as we have the chance to do much better. For the race we’re in good shape, which I think will allow us to be consistent. Obviously starting from the third row is not the best, but I hope to run up the front as soon as I can in the early laps. The warm-up will be helpful to work a little more on suspension settings and get better stability in braking, which is the thing I need to sort out as it’s proved a little complicated to solve. I will start very relaxed as I’m convinced the tyre choice I made for 22-lap race and my setting in race configuration will give me massive confidence for the race itself.” Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 12th 1m 55.692s. “It’s been a good weekend for me every session I could run in fourth-fifth-sixth position on race tyres but when I try hard with qualifying tyres I am always worse so I am a little sad about the situation. I was faster yesterday with qualifying tyres than today. We have to work together with Bridgestone to get better qualifying tyres and improve our qualifying times. I am only 12th on the grid but I know I can improve in the race because my rhythm is good on race tyres but it will be difficult for me off the start. The engine has good acceleration but I need more top speed.” Shinya Nakano, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 15th 1m 56.434s. “I’m not happy with today because qualifying is so important and I couldn’t improve my pace as I wanted to. Both myself and the team have done our best but the chance has gone and now we have to think about the race. We’ll have to get a good start and I’ll do my best to achieve the best result possible in the first GP of 2008.” 250cc: Yukio Takahashi, JiR Scot Honda: 8th – 2m 00.326s. “Qualifying was good and my lap time very good. The bike has been good al weekend the only difficulty has been with carburetion which has been delicate in the changing temperatures here at night. I am on the second row and that is important for me and my race pace is good. I will race with soft tyres and I really like the front it’s so good around here. If I get a good start I can run with the group around me on the grid.” Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT SAG: 19th 2m 01.487s. “I was not happy with myself yesterday because I chose the wrong suspension settings but went OK today. I didn’t push too hard just looking for a fast lap time but I have a very good race rhythm. The level is quite high this year but the RS250RW is so much better than my RS of last year, the engine worked perfectly in qualifying. I’m two seconds off pole set by full factory machine so I am happy. I need a good start in the race for sure and this bike starts so much better than the RS I raced last year.” 125cc: Louis Rossi, FFM Honda: 34th 2m 10.752s. “Today I set myself a target of 2m 09s but I just missed getting down to that time. Still my best lap time was six tenths of a second faster in final qualifying and that was important. The difference between the French Championship and GP racing is very big and I have a lot to learn. I have improved braking a lot and can brake deeper into the corners and this has helped me today. I have also changed my riding style a little to do this, I lean off the bike more than before. The race will be hard but the bike is OK and I know which tyres I will use.”