FIM MotoGP World Championship Losail International Circuit, Qatar April 6 Thursday’s Best MotoGP Practice Times: 1. Kenny Lee ROBERTS, Roberts/Honda, Michelin, 1:56.905 2. Casey STONER, Honda, Michelin, 1:56.911 3. Marco MELANDRI, Honda, Michelin, 1:57.010 4. Colin EDWARDS, Yamaha, Michelin, 1:57.024 5. Loris CAPIROSSI, Ducati, Bridgestone, 1:57.031 6. Valentino ROSSI, Yamaha, Michelin, 1:57.141 7. Dani PEDROSA, Honda, Michelin, 1:57.360 8. Toni ELIAS, Honda, Michelin, 1:57.392 9. Nicky HAYDEN, Honda, Michelin, 1:57.452 10. Sete GIBERNAU, Ducati, Bridgestone, 1:57.569 11. Carlos CHECA, Yamaha, Dunlop, 1:57.992 12. Chris VERMEULEN, Suzuki, Bridgestone, 1:58.783 13. Shinya NAKANO, Kawasaki, Bridgestone, 1:58.786 14. John HOPKINS, Suzuki, Bridgestone, 1:58.892 15. Alex HOFMANN, Ducati, Dunlop, 1:59.245 16. Makoto TAMADA, Honda, Michelin, 1:59.609 17. James ELLISON, Yamaha, Dunlop, 1:59.620 18. Randy DE PUNIET, Kawasaki, Bridgestone, 2:00.216 19. Jose Luis CARDOSO, Ducati, Dunlop, 2:00.257 More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Roberts heads MotoGP classification on first day in Qatar Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar – Thursday 6th April 2006 On-track action got underway in Qatar today, with the Losail circuit playing host to the first practice sessions ahead of Saturday’s Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar. Kenny Roberts Jr. was the fastest rider of the day, heading the standings with a lap of 1’56.905. The American rider was faster than Loris Capirossi’s pole-setting time from last year on his flying lap, the first time in a long while that the Team Roberts man has topped the timesheets in a dry session. Behind him, Australian Casey Stoner braved a lack of sleep after a late arrival in Qatar to come in second, six thousandths of a second off Roberts. One of MotoGP’s young rookies, Stoner will be looking to improve still further from his great sixth place result in Jerez. The young LCR Honda rider only reached the circuit at 9.30 this morning directly from Doha airport after several flight delays, making the run which gave him the fastest time in the morning session all the more impressive. Marco Melandri and Colin Edwards couldn’t join Roberts and Stoner in breaking the 1’57 barrier, but came in third and fourth fastest of the day, followed by series leader Loris Capirossi and World Champion Valentino Rossi. The Honda trio of Dani Pedrosa, Toni Elias and Nicky Hayden, ahead of Ducati’s Sete Gibernau, completed the top ten. Randy de Puniet is still suffering with hand problems from his crash during warm-up in Jerez. The French Kawasaki rider struggled through both sessions today, finishing second last in 18th, and will have another medical check in the morning to see if he is fit to continue the weekend. Hector Barbera and Jorge Lorenzo finished the day at the top of the 250cc classification yet again. The two Aprilia riders have been continually fastest in testing and in the first Grand Prix of the season, and once more led the pack in Qatar, with Barbera finishing first. Alex de Angelis rounded off the top three positions, ahead of a resurgent Sebas Porto and Roberto Locatelli. Outside the 2’03 barrier, Andrea Dovizioso, Jakub Smrz, Hiroshi Aoyama, Yuki Takahashi and Marco Simoncelli were the other five riders in the top ten. Italian Mattia Pasini rode quicker than the 125cc pole time from last year by nearly two seconds, earning the provisional pole in 125cc with a lap of 2’07.628. The MVA Master Aspar team dominated the day, and repeated their feat from the morning session by taking the top four places, with Sergio Gadea, Alvaro Bautista and Hector Faubel completing the top four. The top ten was completed by Lukas Pesek, Mika Kallio, Julian Simon, Gabor Talmacsi, Pablo Nieto and Joan Olive. Like De Puniet in MotoGP, several riders were walking wounded through the paddock today, with the 125cc class being hit by a spate of foot injuries. Michele Pirro will race his first Grand Prix of 2006 on Saturday after a broken leg, whilst both Malaguti riders Tomoyoshi Koyama and Alexis Masbou can be seen on crutches around the Losail Circuit. MotoGP 1st — Kenny Roberts: 1’56.905 “It’s been a long time for the team and for me but it feels good to be back at the top. When you’ve got such a great engine and such great tyres then it comes easy to go fast. To be honest I felt I could have gone faster on my own but Loris Capirossi came out in front of me and it actually held me up a little. I set the time when I was behind him but I know we have the pace. Hopefully we can keep it going for the rest of the weekend because this team have been waiting too long for a top result and they deserve one. The other riders will improve tomorrow so we will have to be on our game again.” 250cc 1st – Hector Barbera: 2’02.081 “My hand is still a little swollen, but I’m enjoying riding the bike and I am picking up some of the confidence I lost last year. I got the provisional pole at Jerez too, but I ended up fifth there, so we can’t rest on our laurels, we just have to keep working as hard as we have been and be consistent. “ 125cc 1st – Mattia Pasini: 2’07.628 “I felt comfortable throughout the session. The team has done a good job as we were able to sort out a few set-up problems we had in the morning session. We still have to decide which tyres we will use for the race. The most important thing on Saturday will be the start I don’t want to make the same mistake I made at Jerez.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: A DIFFICULT OPENING DAY FOR KAWASAKI IN QATAR Kawasaki Racing Team riders, Shinya Nakano and Randy de Puniet, remain upbeat and confident after a difficult opening day at the Losail International circuit in Qatar. Nakano finished today’s free practice in 13th place overall, after struggling to find a good rhythm on his Ninja ZX-RR around the long, and technically demanding, Losail circuit. The 28-year-old Japanese rider spent much of today working with his crew to refine the set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR, critical on a circuit that demands a well-balanced bike that changes direction easily. Despite making improvements to both his set-up and his lap time towards the end of the afternoon session, Nakano was unable to find a comfortable feeling with the bike, after losing the front and rear repeatedly at certain sections of the 5.380 km Qatar circuit. Nakano is confident that only minor changes are required overnight to transform the handling of his Ninja ZX-RR ready for tomorrow, when he will also work his way through the many tyre options that Bridgestone have brought to Qatar, in order to identify a suitable tyre for Saturday’s 22-lap race. Randy de Puniet also had a difficult opening day at Qatar, as he struggled with the hand injury he sustained after highsiding himself out of the morning warm-up session for the Spanish Grand Prix two weeks ago. The 25-year-old Frenchman could only manage ten laps during first free practice this morning, but was much improved for the afternoon session after receiving treatment and painkilling injections in the circuit medical centre beforehand. De Puniet will continue to receive treatment for the injury ahead of tomorrow’s practice and qualifying sessions, in which he remains confident of improving significantly on his 18th position from today. Shinya Nakano: 13th “Today I just couldn’t find a good rhythm on the bike. We are a little way off on set-up at the moment, not far off, but far enough to cause me some problems on the track. I lost grip at the front and the back during both practices today, which means I wasn’t able to push as hard as I would have liked. I think we only need to make small changes to the bike to see a big difference, and once I’m able to push, I’m confident I can improve on my lap time considerably. At this track tyres are critical, and tomorrow we must focus on working our way through the tyre options that Bridgestone have available for us here.” Randy de Puniet: 18th “Yesterday my hand felt okay, but this morning when I woke up it was painful even to unscrew the top from a bottle of water. Maybe I slept with the hand in a bad position; I don’t know. This morning on the bike I had a lot of pain – on the back of my hand when braking, and closer to my wrist when accelerating – and it was unsafe to carry on. Between the sessions I received treatment at the medical centre, along with some painkilling shots, and the hand was a lot better in the afternoon. During the second session I concentrated not on fast times, but on being as smooth as possible. I am confident that, if my hand injury continues to improve tomorrow, then my lap times will do the same.” Harald Eckl: Team Principal “Today was a difficult one for both riders. Once Shinya finds a set-up and a tyre he is happy with then I am confident that we will see him move steadily up the time sheet tomorrow. Randy is in some pain with his injured hand, but we saw an improvement this afternoon and, hopefully, after treatment and rest this evening, the injury will be less of a handicap for him tomorrow. We must work hard now to find a solution for this track, but I have every confidence that the team can do this.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: GOOD START FOR DUCATI MARLBORO MEN AT LOSAIL Ducati Marlboro Team riders Loris Capirossi and Sete Gibernau each made positive starts on the opening day of the first flyaway round of the 2006 MotoGP season, with Capirossi fifth fastest overall and Gibernau tenth; still well in touch with the leading riders. The two opening sessions were held in cooler and more overcast conditions than is the norm in the Qatari desert, but the MotoGP pace was as hot as ever, with Capirossi, in perfect shape after his Jerez success, a mere 0.126 from the new circuit best, set by Kenny Roberts Junior, who got the best time of the day whilst following the Italian rider. Gibernau was just over half a second from the fastest lap on the opening day. Gibernau has never tested the Desmosedici at Qatar before, making his opening day effort all the more noteworthy. LORIS CAPIROSSI, fifth fastest, 1m 57.031s “Coming back to Qatar was a big question mark for us after winning at Jerez. I am very satisfied at this stage and special thanks to Bridgestone for their great commitment. The front is OK, and we tested some new rears. On my final out lap I improved my time with a tyre that had already completed a few laps. In the afternoon session we worked on the geometry of the bike to find improvements and tomorrow we will continue in that way. We started the season in the best possible conditions and we want to continue in the same way. The track conditions are much better than in the past and with 15 degrees less air temperature this time, it makes it much kinder on the riders.” SETE GIBERNAU, tenth fastest, 1m 57.569s “Tenth position is not so good but we improved a lot after the morning session and the bike is getting much, much better. We know with our settings that we have to work a lot and every hour I think we will see an improvement. We have a long way to go and at present it is difficult to set up, but I am starting to feel much better. Hopefully tomorrow we will improve a lot but we are only about half a second off the pace right now. We knew it was going to be a challenge on the first day and tomorrow will be a long, hard day.” Temperatures: Ambient: 27 degrees. Track: 43 degrees More, from a press release issued by Fortuna Honda: FORTUNA HONDA RIDERS HIT THE TRACK IN LOSAIL Marco makes the provisional front row whilst team-mate Toni Elias is eighth, less than half a second down The FORTUNA HONDA riders today completed the first day of practices at the 2006 Qatar Grand Prix which was blessed with excellent weather. The lack of wind meant that conditions were near perfect for the riders as they got to grips with the Qatari circuit of Losail. After his fine performance at Jerez two weeks ago, Marco Melandri was right back on the pace as he lapped consistently. Looking comfortable throughout, the Italian rider posted the third best time of the day, just 0.105 of a second behind provisional pole-sitter, Kenny Roberts Jr. Team-mate Toni Elias, who celebrated his 23rd birthday at Jerez last weekend where he finished in an excellent fourth place, dedicated himself to the set-up of his Honda RC211V and tested various Michelin tyres. In the end, the Spanish rider was eighth, less than half a second of the pole pace. MARCO MELANDRI (1’57″010, 3rd position, 21 laps): “I am happy not only to have got a good result today, but because I arrived here in Qatar feeling very relaxed and concentrated. The test day we had in Jerez on the Monday was very important in that sense, I want to thank the Honda technicians for all the support they have given me to improve my feeling with the bike. I think we are very close to getting the ideal set-up for the bike. I have always liked this circuit a lot and the track is in very good condition. However, we can still improve further.” TONI ELIAS (1’57″392, 8th position, 20 laps ): “I am satisfied. In the morning I did not feel very comfortable on the bike so we made a change to the set-up which gave us the results we had hoped for. From then on I lapped much more comfortably and was able to focus on testing the Michelin tyres. The forecasts say it will be very hot here on race day and I hope that does not affect our performance. We still have to improve some aspects but I think we have made an important step forward already.” More, from a press release issued by Camel Yamaha: CRUCIAL PREPARATIONS BEGIN FOR CAMEL YAMAHA RIDERS IN QATAR Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards began key set-up work on their Yamaha YZR-M1 machines for the Grand Prix of Qatar in relatively mild temperatures of 27ºC today. After excelling at this track in pre-season tests the riders were keen to gauge the bike’s performance against the other main contenders in the MotoGP class and after two intense free practice sessions they ended the day in optimistic moods about their chances for Saturday’s race. Following on from a disappointing first race of the season in Jerez two weeks ago, where both Rossi and Edwards suffered from vibration problems when cornering, the Italian and the American confirmed that the issue was not as severe at this circuit. Edwards spent much of the afternoon session at the top of the time sheets as he set an impressive and consistent pace before eventually dropping to fourth place two places ahead of Rossi. The fastest lap of the day was recorded by Kenny Roberts Junior (Honda KR) in a time of 1’56.905, just ahead of Casey Stoner and Marco Melandri (both Honda). COLIN EDWARDS (4th, 1’57.024, 28 laps) “Everything is much better today and I’ve been able to do some good laps, so it’s certainly a better start than we made in Jerez! Although it’s much less, the vibration hasn’t completely gone and we have a couple of other issues that we need to work on in order to be completely ready to push at the limit. I was able to set a decent pace and knock out some consistent laps with the current setting on the bike but we definitely still have a few things to work out. I’ve gone well at this track since the first day I came here and it really helps to have tested here recently, but we need to take this extra step before I can be truly confident about my chances on Saturday.” VALENTINO ROSSI (6th,1’57.141, 41 laps) “We knew from the tests that the bike worked much better at this track and that was the case today. The vibration is not so much and only in a couple of corners, but we can control it. Now we can work more normally, concentrating on setting-up the bike in order to go faster, rather than thinking all the time about the vibration. We still have all day tomorrow to make some small improvements and I think we can be fast in the race on Saturday, as we were last year. There are some very fast riders at the front and we are all very close together. It seems the other guys were ready to push hard from the very beginning and they are full of motivation so it will be a hard battle. Jerez was also a hard battle for me but I hope Saturday will be a different kind!” DAVIDE BRIVIO CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR “It is still quite early but at the moment it looks like we might have a normal weekend! Both riders have a good pace and between them they completed many laps today, gathering some important information to work on the setting of the bike tomorrow. We still have to improve though and it will be important to keep up with the steps made by our competitors. Things appear better than they were at Jerez but we’ll wait until tomorrow to get a better idea.” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Difficult first day for Rizla Suzuki MotoGP at Qatar Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers Chris Vermeulen and John Hopkins finished in 12th and 14th places respectively after spending the majority of the first day at Qatar battling to improve their performance. The low-grip and dusty nature of the Losail International Circuit always presents a challenge to get the best tyre and handling package for the race and today was no exception. Both racers tried many different set-ups on their Rizla Suzuki GSV-Rs, in addition to reverting to the original settings they had used at the test here in February. Hopkins and Vermeulen both suffered with a series of handling and vibration issues and their respective teams worked hard to combat these afflictions and give the riders more confidence as they tried to improve on their lap times. Today’s practice sessions were held in dry but cloudy conditions with air temperatures reaching 27°c and track surface temperatures hitting the mid 40s. The fastest time of the day was set by ex-World Champion Kenny Roberts Jr. Tomorrow will see Rizla Suzuki MotoGP have another free practice session in the morning followed by the important hour long qualifying session in the afternoon. Round two of the MotoGP World Championship will get underway at 15.00hrs local time (14.00CET) on Saturday 8th April. John Hopkins: “It’s been a bit like Jerez really in that we have had a difficult first day. We didn’t really come out swinging like we would have wanted to but it’s all trial and error really. We know what we had here at the test and today we tried a bunch of different set-ups, but with only having an hour long session you are not able to make big changes like a swing-arm or the chassis so today was more about trying lots of other different things. At the end of this afternoon’s session we had made a lot of progress and we know that there is now light at the end of the tunnel. We are fairly confident that we will be able to pick up the times tomorrow.” Chris Vermeulen: “It’s good racing at a track that I know. I’ve raced here in Superbike and we tested here in February, but the surface was a lot different from then, as it was a bit dusty early on and this made it quite slippery. We had a bit of difficulty to start with and we ended up by going back to the exact settings we had at the test. We are struggling with a few things including a bit of chatter, but the guys are working really hard and I’m sure we will get it sorted for tomorrow and move further up the time sheet.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “Everybody has worked really hard today to get the best out of the Rizla Suzuki GSV-R, but realistically without the success we would have liked. The bike’s strongpoint since the start of the season is that the chassis package has worked well but we came across some handling and vibration issues at the track today that were not easy to fix. Suzuki is concentrating very hard on continuing engine development – so we need the chassis package to be working at its optimum to be competitive. There will be a lot of midnight oil burnt this evening to try and find the best solution for tomorrow and give John and Chris the confidence to push harder and get into a better position.”