From a press release issued by JiR Team Scot: The 2008 Grand Prix season starts this weekend on the 9th March with the Grand Prix of Qatar in which JiR Team Scot is involved in two classes: the premier MotoGP class and 250cc GP. In the premier class, JiR Team Scot is running Italian talent Andrea Dovizioso on a Honda RC212V and in the quarter litre class is the Japanese rider Yuki Takahashi on a Honda RS250RW. This will be a season rich in emotion in which JiR Team Scot wants to be a major player and challenge for both titles. It is a gruelling 18-round calendar this year with a second race in the USA at Indianapolis making its debut, in addition to the established Laguna Seca round. The 2008 season will be a long one, in which the team will be absolutely focussed on each and every event, and determined to succeed. For the first time in the history of a motorcycle World Championship the desert race in Losail will take place at night under floodlights making this a unique event in MotoGP’s 60-year history. Gianluca Montiron Director JiR Team Scot “This is the beginning of an exciting championship! We want to be competitive from the very start and we have grown together in the premier class. We’ve dedicated all our winter time to building up our two teams, which are especially focussed around our riders. Andrea and Yuki will both reap the benefits of this. We have a team, which is big on experience through the smaller capacity classes and very professional. Our principle target will be to demonstrate that the choices we’ve made and the strategy we’ve chosen to get to this stage have been the right ones. This first race will be the time we verify what we’ve done in testing so far and I’m confident that we are up to this task, because I know the value of both the team and riders.” Cirano Mularoni Team Manager JiR Team Scot “Winter has been demanding for us we as we’ve done a lot of work and we have ended testing with some good results. Andrea and his team are rookies in MotoGP, but they have demonstrated in past seasons in the 250cc category to be able to be fighting for the championship. I’m also very satisfied with the relationship with our technical partners, who support us with a lot of dedication. This first race of the season is most unusual, thanks to the time of the race, but I do think we can go there knowing that our package is competitive and this is thanks to the huge amount of data we received during the winter tests.” Andrea Dovizioso Rider, JiR Team Scot MotoGP Honda RC212V “If I look to the results of the winter tests I’m very confident about this weekend’s race in Qatar. I did not expect to find myself with such a good feeling with the bike and also to be able to achieve the results I have in the tests. The team works very well together and our technical package is competitive. If we need to fine-tune the aspects of the machine we have demonstrated that our capability to do so is very high. I think that our tests have shown our real value on track and this is why I think we can look forward this weekend to be up there battling with the top riders. I’m excited to be starting this championship and for this first race which is going to be in the dark I have to say that we are ready!” Yuki Takahashi Rider, JiR Team Scot 250GP Honda RS250RW “For the first race there are a lot of question marks both technical and from the timing of the races. A lot of my former competitors are now in MotoGP and other 125cc riders have joined the 250 class, so it’s difficult to say who will be fast and who can lead races. Also we’re going to race in the night this is a situation completely new to everybody and despite three days of test in these conditions the race will probably be a little unpredictable! I will be giving 100% so that I can start in the best condition possible the 2008 championship to back up the excellent job that the team has done so far.” Losail Circuit Length of circuit: 5380m (3.343 miles) Main straight: 1068m (0.664 miles) Width: 12m Pole Position: Left Right corners: 10 Left corners: 6 MotoGP Lap record: 1’56″528 C. Stoner 2007 (Ducati) Pole Position: 1’55″002 V. Rossi 2007 (Yamaha) Gran Premio del Qatar 2007 – Results: 1st Casey Stoner (Ducati) 2nd Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 3rd Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 250GP Lap Record: 2’00″121 A. De Angelis 2007 (Aprilia) Pole Position: 1’59″432 J. Lorenzo 2007 (Aprilia) Gran Premio del Qatar 2007 – Risultati: 1st Jorge Lorenzo (Aprilia) 2nd Alex De Angelis (Aprilia) 3rd Hector Barbera (Aprilia)