FIM MotoGP World Championship Losail International Circuit Doha, Qatar April 11, 2009 Qualifying Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Casey STONER (Ducati), 1:55.286 2. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), 1:55.759 3. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), 1:55.783 4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), 1:55.977 5. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki), 1:56.149 6. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), 1:56.194 7. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), 1:56.358 8. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), 1:56.493 9. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), 1:56.790 10. Mika KALLIO (Ducati), 1:56.852 11. Marco MELANDRI (Kawasaki), 1:56.962 12. Toni ELIAS (Honda), 1:57.225 13. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), 1:57.510 14. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), 1:57.729 15. Sete GIBERNAU (Ducati), 1:57.899 16. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati), 1:58.215, crash 17. Yuki TAKAHASHI (Honda), 1:58.784 18. Niccolo CANEPA (Ducati), 1:58.999 FIM 250cc World Championship Qualifying Results: 1. Alvaro BAUTISTA (Aprilia), 2:00.677 2. Hiroshi AOYAMA (Honda), 2:00.777 3. Mike DI MEGLIO (Aprilia), 2:01.113 4. Hector BARBERA (Aprilia), 2:01.174 5. Hector FAUBEL (Honda), 2:01.636 6. Gabor TALMACSI (Aprilia), 2:01.693 7. Mattia PASINI (Aprilia), 2:01.699 8. Alex DEBON (Aprilia), 2:01.713 9. Thomas LUTHI (Aprilia), 2:01.738 10. Roberto LOCATELLI (Gilera), 2:01.839 23. Marco SIMONCELLI (Gilera), no time recorded FIM 125cc World Championship Qualifying Results: 1. Julian SIMON (Aprilia), 2:06.974 2. Bradley SMITH (Aprilia), 2:07.107 3. Andrea IANNONE (Aprilia), 2:07.588 4. Nicolas TEROL (Aprilia), 2:07.781 5. Sandro CORTESE (Derbi), 2:07.835 6. Sergio GADEA (Aprilia), 2:08.147 7. Stefan BRADL (Aprilia), 2:08.148 8. Pol ESPARGARO (Derbi), 2:08.380 9. Marc MARQUEZ (KTM), 2:08.417 10. Jonas FOLGER (Aprilia), 2:08.42 22. Cameron BEAUBIER (KTM), 2:10.248 More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Stoner show continues with pole for Qatari season-opener GP1 Qatar Qualifying Losail International Circuit, Saturday 11 April 2009 Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner again topped the timesheets throughout qualifying on the second night in Qatar. Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi starts tomorrow’s grand prix from second, whilst teammate Jorge Lorenzo clinched third spot on his penultimate lap. All riders recorded their fastest qualifying lap on Bridgestone’s medium compound front tyre and soft compound rear tyre. Repsol Honda’s newcomer Andrea Dovizioso will start fourth tomorrow, whilst the Rizla Suzuki duo of Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen will start fifth and eighth respectively. Four satellite teams also appeared inside the top ten. Colin Edwards will start tomorrow from sixth for Monster Yamaha Tech3, followed by LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet in seventh. Alex de Angelis will start ninth for San Carlo Honda Gresini and MotoGP debutant Mika Kallio rounds out the top ten on his Pramac Racing Ducati machine. Based on previous race and test experience at the Losail circuit, Bridgestone selected the soft and medium compounds as the two options for this grand prix. All 18 riders have now used both soft and medium compound front and rear slicks, and with track-time on both options they will now be able to make their compound decisions for the race. Many opted for medium compound fronts and medium rears for the second practice session, but for qualifying every rider chose the medium Bridgestone front tyre and the soft Bridgestone rear. The weather was kind to the field today, with a brief rain shower falling between the second practice session and qualifying at 2100hrs, and another light shower falling as the chequered flag brought MotoGP qualifying to an end. Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development “Every rider tried the medium compound front tyre today, which in the hotter conditions gave more stability on corner entry and mid-corner. For the qualifying session, everyone used the medium compound front, and chose the soft compound rear to deliver their quick laps. I would say that from the two specifications of compound, every rider will now know what their race choice will be. “The track conditions were the samefor today’s practice session as yesterday’s, but by the end of the qualifying session the track was much cleaner. But I think for the race tomorrow the track conditions will have changed again. As part of the new tyre regulations, riders have used fewer tyres in the last two days than they would have done in previous years and they still have sufficient tyres for tomorrow’s race so I am happy with the way these regulations are working.” Top ten Qualifying (Saturday 23:05 23:50 GMT+3) Pos Rider Team Qualifying Time Gap 1 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 1m55.286s 2 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha 1m55.759s +0.473s 3 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha 1m55.783s +0.497s 4 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda 1m55.977s +0.691s 5 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki 1m56.149s +0.863s 6 Colin Edwards Yamaha Tech3 1m56.194s +0.908s 7 Randy de Puniet LCR Honda 1m56.358s +1.072s 8 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki 1m56.493s +1.207s 9 Alex de Angelis San Carlo Honda 1m56.790s +1.504s 10 Mika Kallio Pramac Racing 1m56.852s +1.566s Weather: Dry. Ambient 25°C; Track 25°C (MotoGP official timing) More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki’s has Loris Capirossi qualified in the middle of the second row for tomorrow’s Qatar Grand Prix, as he recorded the fifth fastest time during this evening’s qualifying session. Capirossi (1’56.149, 18 laps) had already made his intentions known by clocking the third quickest time in the final free practice session earlier in the evening. He worked with his crew to modify his race set-up on his Suzuki GSV-R and is positive he has a good bike and tyre combination for tomorrow’s 22-lap race. Capirossi could have been further up the grid, but was held up by four slower riders on his final lap and missed the opportunity of a possible front row start. Team-Mate Chris Vermeulen (P8, 1’56.493, 19 laps) looked liked joining Capirossi on the second row, but a couple of tiny mistakes on his final lap of the session cost valuable hundredths-of-a-second leaving Vermeulen directly behind Capirossi in the middle of the third row. Vermeulen found the harder option compound of the Bridgestone control tyre to his liking this evening and is confident of a strong race tomorrow. Today’s qualifying was held in similar conditions to yesterday, with track and air temperatures both at 25ºC. Ducati’s Casey Stoner will start from pole position with reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi alongside him. Tomorrow’s 22-lap race is the first round of the 2009 season and the only night race on the MotoGP calendar. The race will get underway at 23.00hrs local time (20.00hrs GMT), when both Rizla Suzuki racers will be aiming to get the season off to a good start. Loris Capirossi: “It has been not too bad overall because we have improved a lot and went one second quicker than we did at the last test here. The bike is working well and we have found a good setting. We worked a lot on engine braking and mapping today and the whole team worked really hard to make everything happen. We tried to use all the time to its best extent and we are able to confirm that the bike is much better here than last year. I want to thank the whole factory for all the hard work they have put into the bike for this year. I think our qualifying is not too bad, but the race will be very hard and we will need to fight a lot to get a good result!” Chris Vermeulen: “It has been a much better day for us today. We really got the tyres sorted out today and we know what we are going to be running tomorrow. We will certainly be using the harder ones – both front and rear. We found that the softer rear had a bit more potential for pure lap-time speed, so we saved a couple of those for the qualifying session. We were able to do three or four laps on each tyre and that suited me. It felt like the bike was working well and the last tyre was going really well, but I just missed doing a final lap by a couple of seconds. The lap that I did my best time on was not a perfect lap and I was hoping to get one more lap in and iron out those mistakes. Starting from the third row is a lot better than it was last year and I’ll try and get a good start and stay with the front group and see what happens at the end of 22-laps!” Paul Denning – Team Manager: “We have made the steps forward from yesterday that we hoped we would. Both the guys are able to ride with more aggression and confidence. Clearly the front row was in sight for Loris, but it is difficult to make it round the last corner with four bikes in front of you! Nonetheless, he is focussed on the race tomorrow and the middle of the second row isn’t a bad place to start. “Chris has improved massively from yesterday evening, and but for a couple of mistakes on his last lap, he could easily have been on the second row alongside Loris. As it is we have seen time-after-time that he races better than he qualifies. We will go into the race tomorrow night to achieve our target of a good solid start to the season for both riders.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: DOVIZIOSO AND PEDROSA GIVE STRONG PERFORMANCES IN QATAR QUALIFYING Qatar GP, Saturday April 11th Qualifying for the Grand Prix of Qatar saw the Repsol Honda riders secure 4th and 14th places on the grid for tomorrow’s 22-lap race, with both Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa putting in fighting performances at opposite ends of the timesheets. Like yesterday, Dovizioso was immediately quick, initially setting the pace in qualifying and spending much of the 45-minute session within the top three. The Italian was delighted with his final lap time of 1m 55.977s and found a set-up for his RC212V which he believes will allow him to fight hard in the season opener tomorrow night. Pedrosa too put in an impressive performance today, dropping his lap time by nearly four seconds from yesterday, an improvement the 24-year-old Spaniard said he wasn’t fully expecting. Though he’s still far from full fitness as he recovers from injury, Pedrosa has given himself a fighting chance of taking some points when the MotoGP season kicks off at 23.00 tomorrow evening. Andrea Dovizioso, 1’55.977, 4th “I’m very happy with this fourth position. We worked hard during qualifying, testing the two bikes with two different set-ups. Both solutions gave good feedback, I was confident, and the machine performance improved. I’m happy with the rhythm we found for the race with the hard tyres, and also the lap times we achieved with the soft tyre. I’m satisfied also because I had room for even more improvement during my last lap with soft tyre – in fact I made a mistake and I spoiled the improvement I’d made in T1. I think racing suits my style and mentality better than practice so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.” Dani Pedrosa, 1’57.729, 14th “Well we’ve made it into the race and that was the aim of coming to Qatar so I’m please with that. I didn’t expect to improve my lap time by this much from yesterday so this is good progress. The leg feels a little better and I pushed harder today than yesterday, though this situation is not something that is fixed after one day. My lap time is not really so bad considering my condition and the time I’ve spent away from the track, but for sure I wanted to be faster than this and a bit further forward on the grid. Still, the race is here we’ll get ready to give it the maximum effort tomorrow. Maybe I can improve my lap times by a further second or so.” Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager “Today both riders did a very good job in qualifying. Andrea put in a great performance and pushed really hard this evening. There are still some riders ahead of him but his lap time really displayed his fighting spirit. There are some technical areas with the machine that we have to improve, but Andrea showed that he can fight hard in tomorrow’s race. Dani also showed a lot of spirit today. His physical condition is far from perfect still, but he improved step by step today and the total result was a big improvement over yesterday. The whole team’s motivation is very high and I think we can have a good race tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: FIAT YAMAHA PAIR SHARE FRONT ROW FOR FLOODLIT OPENER Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo will share the front row for tomorrow’s season-opening Grand Prix in Qatar, having qualified second and third in tonight’s session at the Losail International Circuit. The pair were split by just 0.024 seconds tonight and beaten only by Casey Stoner, with Rossi and Stoner having now been first and second in all three sessions. Despite the single-tyre rule having spelled the end of one-lap qualifying tyres, tonight’s session proved to be exciting nonetheless with most riders, including Rossi and Lorenzo, choosing to keep one of the softer compound Bridgestone tyres to use at the end of the 45 minutes for a couple of flying laps. Tomorrow’s 22-lap race will see the riders using the harder compound Bridgestone rubber and Rossi, who has had a good race pace all weekend, is confident of being able to mount a strong challenge. Lorenzo meanwhile has posted his fast times on the softer tyre and now needs to make a few changes together with his team and use the warm-up well in order to refine his setting and find a better feeling with the race tyre. The race will begin at 2300 local time, CET 2200. Valentino Rossi Position: 2nd Time: 1’55.759 Laps: 19 “I am really happy to be on the front row here because we know that this isn’t one of our best tracks. We also knew that Stoner would be strong and, although this is definitely true, we’re not too far off and the gap is closing all the time. Starting second is going to be very important here because there is a question mark over the tyres on this surface. The asphalt is still very dirty which is hard on the tyres and I think that the last few laps are going to be quite entertaining! There are a couple of places on the track where we can still be faster so we will have a look at the data and I hope we can make another step in the warm up and fix a couple of small problems. There is definitely a question mark over the last six or seven laps though and I think we could be sliding about a bit. Anyway, everyone is in the same position, with the same tyres, and it could make it quite fun; let’s wait and see.” Jorge Lorenzo Position: 3rd Time: 1’55.783 Laps: 19 “After being on pole here in my first MotoGP race last year, I am happy to be back on the front row at least! It is going to be important I think because it will be a hard race. During the test here I was faster with the hard tyre but for some reason we have the opposite situation this time and I am much faster with the soft tyre. With the hard tyre we have a few issues still, which is a problem because this is the tyre we need to use for the race. Now we need to work hard to try to solve the problem tonight. Tomorrow I won’t be thinking about winning, just about doing the best I can and taking as many points as is possible in the circumstances. Of course you never know what will happen in a race!” Davide Brivio Team Manager “The first row was our main target so we’re pleased with this result. We were also able to make a few more adjustments and improve the setting, so we’re happy with how we’ve used the reduced track time we’ve had. The gap to Stoner is still there but we will try a few more things in the morning to try and close it a bit more, then the rest will be up to Valentino!” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “Tonight’s session was not so bad, and it’s good for everyone in the team to see Jorge on the front row here again. We know that he can be fast with the soft tyre but we still need to improve the pace with the hard tyre because at the moment we still have some problems, mainly on the entry to the turn where the bike is still understeering. We have some ideas and the warm-up is going to be very important to improve things so that Jorge can ride to his full potential tomorrow night.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: DE PUNIET SEVENTH FASTEST IN QATAR QUALIFYING Losail, 11 April: LCR Honda MotoGP rider Randy De Puniet had a positive night at Losail race track ending the MotoGP’s floodlit qualifying session in 7th place. The Frenchman riding the Honda RC212V nr. 14 and his squad managed to get the 9th position in the second 45-minute free session at 7 pm local time. De Puniet circulated the “desert” circuit 36 times during the two sessions clocking his quickest time of 1’56.358. Despite some poor rain in the evening the track surface reached 25°C with all the riders making their tyres choices for tomorrows 22-lap night event that gets underway at 23:00 local time. Today’s frontrunner Stoner topped the board with a 1’55.286 lap followed by Rossi and Lorenzo. De Puniet 7th 1’56.358 De Puniet: “I am happy because we made a good job during the three sessions and improved a lot my feeling on qualifiers. We made some adjustments on the setting and now the bike turns better and I feel more aggressive in the corner entry. I was expecting this since a long time so I feel quite satisfied. The winter was hard as we missed some track time so we are very pleased with this third row. I am getting used to Bridgestone tyres and feel more comfortable now. I aim to finish the race in the top six”. More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Edwards on second row, Toseland 13th on grid for Qatar opener Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards will start the opening MotoGP race of 2009 in Qatar from the second row of the grid after an impressive qualifying performance tonight. A best lap of 1.56.149 left the Texan less than 0.5s off claiming a second successive front row start at the floodlit Losail International Circuit, Edwards adapting well to the first running of a new qualifying format. Tonight’s session was the first time that riders have not used super soft qualifying tyres to decide grid places, with qualifiers no longer required under the new single tyre rule. Qualifying was still an exciting affair though with Edwards figuring prominently during the 45-minute session. He was consistently in the top three and only two minutes remained when he held fourth place as Edwards posted his best time on the last of three soft Bridgestone tyres he saved from his allocation of six available. British rider James Toseland had a frustrating evening, the 28-year-old qualifying down in 13th place on the timesheets with a best time of 1.57.510. Toseland opted to use two soft rear tyres but it was a small problem with a hard compound front tyre that prevented him from ending the session with a deserved top ten. Toseland though is confident that he can mount an attack for a top six finish in tomorrow’s 22-lap race having been consistently able to run in the top ten throughout the weekend. To coincide with the start of the new MotoGP campaign, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team’s popular website has undergone a redesign for 2009. Log onto www.teamtech3.fr for all the latest news and pictures. Colin Edwards 6th 1.56.194 19 laps “I’m reasonably happy with the second row but I thought I had a shot at being in the top three. But even though I’m a veteran I’m still learning. I came here with a bike set-up different than what I’ve been running in the winter to cure some movement issues with the front when I push harder. The new setting is better but I’ve still got some of those issues and it is a little confusing. Valentino (Rossi) is going fast and he doesn’t have any issues, and Jorge (Lorenzo) is the same. So I’ve got to figure something out. I’ve made progress and I feel like I can go faster, but I’m having to anticipate the movement and that is not helping the lap time. I’ve got to figure out whether I need to go softer or harder with the front forks. I just wish I were an engineer because right now I’m not sure which direction I need to take. The new qualifying format was still exciting. I kept three softer tyres back and did two laps on each, and each time I got faster, but not quite fast enough for the front row. I’m looking forward to the race now and I feel ready. The guys in front of me are within touching distance though Casey (Stoner) is on another planet. Hats off to him, but I’m ready for the battle.” James Toseland 13th 1.57.510 “I started on a used front tyre that had done thirteen laps and I was straight into the low 58s and I thought great. I put a new hard front tyre in with my first soft rear tyre and the front never seemed to get to temperature. And when I put in my second soft rear the front wasn’t so stable mid-corner. Now you can’t just throw another tyre in with the new rules, so I’m really frustrated because the rear tyre was working pretty good. To do a 57 with the problems I had I’m actually pleased with that because I picked the bike up on my knee twice and I still did a reasonable lap time. I’m a bit disappointed because the bike was feeling good and I’m sure I could have got around the top six, but there was nothing I could do with the small issue with the front. I’ve got to take it on the chin and build on the progress I’ve made prior to the end of that session. If everything had gone to plan then I’d have qualified in the top ten and been looking at fighting for the top six. I’m going to need a good start and get my head down but I’m riding well and looking forward to it.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: After a dominant performance in the first MotoGP qualifying session of the year, Casey Stoner will line up on pole for the Commercial bank Grand Prix of Qatar. The 2007 FIM MotoGP World Champion and Ducati Marlboro rider will attempt to make it three consecutive season-opening victories in Qatar on Sunday, having qualified in style at the floodlit Losail International Circuit. The Australian, who took the win in the opening races of the year in 2007 and 2008, was in hot form again in the first qualifying session of the new single tyre supplier era, setting a 1’55.286s best time near the end of the session to keep him nearly half a second ahead of the chasing pack. The ‘best of the rest’ was World Champion Valentino Rossi who registered his best time on his penultimate lap, a 0.473s margin behind Stoner. The Italian therefore starts his title defence second on the grid, a big improvement on his seventh place in qualifying at Qatar last year. Rossi’s team-mate, 2008 poleman Jorge Lorenzo, completes the front row courtesy of his 1’55.783s time, itself just 0.024s behind his Fiat Yamaha colleague’s best. Like Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso was taking part in his first qualifying practice on Bridgestone tyres and the Italian youngster ended up in fourth spot. The new Repsol Honda rider will get away from the head of the second row on his factory debut as he attempts to match or improve on his impressive fourth place at Losail last year. Loris Capirossi, meanwhile, who starts his 20th World Championship season this weekend, will be on his compatriot Dovizioso’s shoulder having put himself fifth on the grid with the new and improved Suzuki GSV-R. Another experienced rider, Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards, completes the second row having lapped within a second of Stoner. Randy de Puniet of the satellite LCR Honda team posted a best effort of 1’56.358, just over a second off pole position pace, to qualify seventh, joined on the third row by Rizla Suzuki man Chris Vermeulen and San Marino rider Alex de Angelis of the San Carlo Honda Gresini team. Pramac Racing’s Mika Kallio completes the top ten as the best rookie qualifier. Dani Pedrosa qualified in 14th position on his Repsol Honda RC212V, handicapped by his left wrist and knee injuries but still giving himself a chance of scoring points on Sunday. Comeback star Sete Gibernau is also riding injured with an ongoing shoulder injury sustained in training in the winter, and he will start his first race in more than two years in 15th position. A huge high-speed highside crash for Nicky Hayden on turn two at the end of the session saw him unable to move up from 16th on the grid on his Ducati debut and he was stretchered away for medical attention. The American has hurt his back but his participation in the Commercial bank Grand Prix of Qatar has not been ruled out. 250cc Although some unseasonal and unexpected intermittent rain did not affect the MotoGP session, it did cause a 25 minute delay in the start of the 250cc qualifying practice. Álvaro Bautista wants to fight hard for the 250cc World title this year and he will start the first race of 2009 in the quarter litre class in pole position, whilst the current World Champion Marco Simoncelli misses out due to injury. Bautista took full advantage of Simoncelli’s absence, after the Italian withdrew following free practice 2 due to his wrist injury, the Spaniard registering a best effort of 2’00.677 right at the end of the session to beat his rivals. The late finish saw the 250cc riders round off the evening’s action at 1.15am local time, with Bautista heading the grid despite a late challenge from Scot Racing Team’s Hiroshi Aoyama -who was second by a 0.1s gap. Also on the front row are Bautista’s new Mapfre Aspar team-mate Mike di Meglio, on his 250cc debut as 125cc World Champion, and Pepe World Team’s Héctor Barberá, on the comeback trail from a serious back injury. Row two is filled by Héctor Faubel (Valencia C.F. Honda SAG), another 250cc debutant in Gabor Talmacsi (Balaton Racing Team), last year’s Qatar race winner Mattia Pasini (Team Toth Aprilia) and Alex Debon (Aeroport Castelló-Blusens). 125cc The opening qualifying session of the 2009 FIM MotoGP World Championship season, held earlier in the evening, saw Julián Simón lap ahead of his rivals to take pole. Returning to the single cylinder class this year and fastest in every 125cc session so far this weekend, Simón’s 2’06.974s best effort towards the end of the session put him on pole, just ahead of his new Bancaja Aspar team-mate Bradley Smith. Englishman Smith missed out on repeating his 2008 Qatar pole position by just 0.133s. Joining the pace-setting Aspar pair on the front row are Italian rider Andrea Iannone (Ongetta I.S.P.A.) and another Spaniard, Nico Terol (Jack & Jones Team), who were respectively 0.614s and 0.807s down on Simón’s pole time. The second row of the grid for the first race of the year on Sunday night will feature Sandro Cortese (Ajo Interwetten), last year’s Qatar race-winner Sergio Gadea (Bancaja Aspar), Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) and Pol Espargaró (Derbi Racing Team). After the three respective warm-up sessions on Sunday evening, the 125cc riders will dispute the first race of the year at 8pm local time, followed by the 250cc race at 9.15pm and the MotoGP spectacular at 11pm. More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing Team: First MotoGP qualifying session satisfying for Pramac Racing rider Mika Kallio who will therefore start from the fourth row. The Finnish rider made it to sensibly improve his best lap time compare to the free practices by more than one second and a half. Less luck for his teammates, Niccolò Canepa, that concluded in eighteenth position. The Genovese rider still needs to ride for some kilometers to result more competitive. Tomorrow the start of the MotoGP 2009 season with the Grand Prix of Qatar that will begin at 10pm local time in Italy. Fabiano Sterlacchini – Pramac Racing Technical Director “Satisfied even if in this world everyone wants always more. With only few tenth of a second we could have been one row in front. Anyway everything is going well and conquered the top ten in the first qualifying session, as MotoGP Rider, is not so bad. Tomorrow it will be interesting to see how we will do in the race, we will have to start well to remain with the fastest riders. Niccolò, as said yesterday, still have to ride for many kilometers to understand the bike at 360 degrees. We believe that after a few races he can be faster as well.” Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing rider – 10th best lap time in 1’56″852 “Not too bad. Yesterday was a bit better with seventh position, but if I would have known before coming here that I would have been in the top ten in my first qualifying session I would have put my signature for it. Of course it is only the beginning and we have to work too improve. At the moment there aren’t any big problems. When I was riding with other riders I noticed that I didn’t have the same grip coming out of the corners. We will have to improve this and things will be easier for us.” Niccolò Canepa – Pramac Racing rider – 18th best lap time in 1’58″999 “I knew things wouldn’t have been easy. I am a bit disappointed but the only thing to do in this moment is work hard to improve. We are too far, I know we can do much better and we will give all we have. Tomorrow it will be for me a great opportunity to ride for many kilometers to improve my riding style on this track.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER SETS POLE ON DIFFICULT DAY FOR HAYDEN Casey Stoner will start the 2009 MotoGP World Championship from pole position in Qatar after a dominant performance in today’s single qualifying session, which saw Nicky Hayden suffer a spectacular crash that has left him battered, bruised and doubtful for his Ducati race debut tomorrow night. The American is suffering severe pain in his back and after undergoing some initial x-rays at the circuit medical centre, he has been taken to a local hospital for further checks. He also required three stitches in a cut on his chest and a decision on his participation in the race will be made tomorrow. As he had done in each of the free practice sessions, Stoner set the pace throughout this evening’s 45-minute grid shoot-out and rarely looked threatened at the top of the time sheets, leading nearest rival Valentino Rossi by over a second for the majority of the session before the Italian closed the gap to 0.432 seconds at the end. However, the Australian’s first question to his mechanics on his return to parc fermé was not about his own authoritarian performance but about the condition of Hayden, who he had seen left strewn in the gravel at turn eight following a sickening high-side. It was the latest episode in a luckless weekend for the American, who suffered an engine breakdown in today’s final free practice. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1st (1’55.286) “It rained a little bit at ‘lunchtime’ between the two practice sessions today but it was gone as quickly as it arrived and we were relieved that we were able to ride at all. There is a little bit of dust and dirt that seems to come down with the rain here so we knew the track conditions would be slick and the lap times wouldn’t come down much. The reality was that there was so much dirt out there that the softer compound tyres worked virtually like a qualifier and only lasted for a couple of laps. Even on a race tyre it is hard to predict whether your set-up is going to work because the conditions are different every time we go out so we’re going to have to wait and see what tomorrow brings. It’s impossible to guess what could happen in the race but generally I’m happy with our set-up and the main thing for us at this early stage is to pick up points, keep working on our weaknesses and make sure we don’t make the same mistakes as last year by getting to the middle of the season with problems to fix. The whole team are keeping our fingers crossed for Nicky too. Hopefully he can ride tomorrow but the most important thing is that he’s okay.” NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Marlboro Team) 16th (1’58.215) “I don’t feel like going for a jog right now, I can tell you that much! It was a big crash and I’m in a lot of pain so we’re going to get some more x-rays done and see what the score is”. 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 More, from a press release issued by Honda: DOVIZIOSO FOURTH IN REPSOL HONDA DEBUT The first ever lone 45-minute qualifying session was held under the lights on a warm, windy evening in Losail, with the established order showing the way in advance of tomorrow’s season-opening Commercial bank Grand Prix of Qatar. Casey Stoner (Ducati) topped the two MotoGP practice sessions and continued his good form in qualifying. The 2007 World Champion moved to the top of the leaderboard after just under five of the 45 minutes, dropping early leader Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) to second. At the time, San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alex de Angelis was a close third with LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet fifth, three Hondas in the top five. For the next 40 minutes, Stoner continued to improve his time, finishing with a pole position time of 1m, 55.286s. The lap was roughly 1.3s off the 2008 pole position time of Jorge Lorenzo, third today behind teammate Valentino Rossi (both Yamaha). Stoner finished with a cushion of .473s on Rossi and .497 on Lorenzo. Much of the difference can be traced to tires. This is the first race with Bridgestone as the sole tire supplier and the company provided two rear tire choices, a medium and a soft. The softer of the two wouldn’t last an entire race; it became, in effect, a qualifying tire which most everyone used for their fast laps. And both Stoner and Rossi voiced concerns about the longevity of the medium tire in race conditions. In his first ride on the factory Repsol Honda RC212V, Dovizioso missed out on a front row starting position by just .194s. The Italian proved he was worthy of his promotion to the factory team by dueling with Stoner in the early going, then remaining solidly in the top five for almost the entire session. His best lap of 1:55.977 came on his final flying lap of the 5.38 kms. track. LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet will start the race directly behind Dovizioso on the row three pole. Now in his second year on the RC212V, the Frenchman threw himself into the mix with a blazing burst of speed that vaulted him into second as the final third of the session approached. That was his 13th lap and it would remain his best. San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alex de Angelis is at the other end of the third row after qualifying ninth. Teammate Toni Elias will start the factory supported Honda RC212V from the end of row four in twelfth place in his return to the San Carlo Honda Gresini squad. One row back sits Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa. The injured Spaniard is still unable to bend his surgically repaired left knee, the legacy of a testing crash here one month ago, but rode valiantly as he looks for points in Sunday’s race. He was helped by having the fastest motorcycle in the field, with a top speed of 338.6 km/h. Two-time 250cc winner Yuki Takahashi qualified 17th and will make his MotoGP debut from the sixth row. Andrea Dovizioso, starting his first race for the Repsol Honda team, said: “I’m very happy of this session. We did a hard work during the qualifying testing two bikes with two different set up. Both solutions gave a good feedback, I got a positive feeling and the machine improved. I’m happy of the rhythm we have found for the race pace with the hard tyres and also the lap times with the soft tyre. I’m happy also because I had room for improvement also during my last lap with soft tyre, in fact I made a mistake and I spoiled my good time I had a T1. All in all I’m very satisfied, when we get into racing which suits better with my mentality and I can give my best in racing.” Randy De Puniet, with a time of 1m 56.358s for seventh on the grid, said: “I am happy because we made a good job during the three sessions and improved a lot my feeling on qualifiers. We made some adjustments on the setting and now the bike turns better and I feel more aggressive in the corner entry. I was expecting this since a long time, so I feel quite satisfied. The winter was hard as we missed some track time so we are very pleased with this third row. I am getting used to Bridgestone tyres and feel more comfortable now. I aim to finish the race in the top six”. Alex De Angelis, who finished 9th with a best time of 1m 56.790s, said: “I think we’re in good shape to have a really good race tomorrow. I don’t think we’re quite on the pace to be fighting for the podium but we can definitely be in the running for a top result. I’m really pleased with the race setting but on the softer tyre when we went for a quick lap time the tyre started to lose grip after just a few corners and I wasn’t able to make the most of it. If we can get a little more grip from the rear on the harder compound that would be great too and that’s what we’ll work on in the warm-up. Anyway, a third-row start should give me the opportunity to have a nice race and I’m ready for the battle! “ Toni Elias, on his return to the San Carlo Honda Gresini team, said: “I think we’re in good shape to have a really good race tomorrow. I don’t think we’re quite on the pace to be fighting for the podium but we can definitely be in the running for a top result. I’m really pleased with the race setting but on the softer tyre when we went for a quick lap time the tyre started to lose grip after just a few corners and I wasn’t able to make the most of it. If we can get a little more grip from the rear on the harder compound that would be great too and that’s what we’ll work on in the warm-up. Anyway, a third-row start should give me the opportunity to have a nice race and I’m ready for the battle! “ Yuki Takahashi, making his MotoGP debut with the Scot Racing Team MotoGP, said: “We had several tests to do to improve the bike, and 45 minutes probably is too short a time. After 20 minutes I decided to use new tyres and went out for fast lap, but I could not find help from any other rider. I lapped alone, and this made it more difficult. Anyway, I was able to improve my time and then went back to my box. We did some adjustments. to the bike, then out again with just a few minutes to go. I was in a good group of riders Dovizioso, De Puniet, Hayden but Nicky fell down just in front of me. I had to brake to avoid him, lost time and, when I passed the finish line, they were already waiving the chequered flag”. Dani Pedrosa, struggling with injuries to a time of 1m 57.729s, said: “Well, we’ve made it into the race and that was the aim of coming to Qatar, so I’m pleased with that. I didn’t expect to improve my lap time by this much from yesterday, so this is good progress. The leg feels a little better and I pushed harder today than yesterday, though this situation is not something that is fixed after one day. My lap time is not really so bad considering my condition and the time I’ve spent away from the track, but for sure I wanted to be faster than this and a bit further forward on the grid. Still, the race is here we’ll get ready to give it the maximum effort tomorrow. Maybe I can improve my lap times by a further second or so.” 250cc World Championship Scot Racing Team 250cc rider Hiroshi Aoyama came within a tenth of a second of taking the pole position for the season-opening Qatar Grand Prix with his very last lap in the rain-delayed qualifying session. The Japanese star lapped the 5.38 ks Losail International Circuit just a tick slower than pole-sitter Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) in Saturday night’s 45-minute session that ended at 1:15 a.m. local time. Having built up his speed throughout, Aoyama’s final lap was his best, but it was heartbreakingly short of perfection. Still, he’s happy to be on the front row in his first race for the Scot Racing team. Hector Faubel will start for his new team, Valencia CF Honda SAG from the second row. The Spaniard qualified fifth fastest and on the same second as the pole-sitter. Ratthapark Wilairot will start the Thai Honda PTT SAG Honda from 12th on the grid, two spots in front of Raffaele de Rosa of Scot Racing Team 250cc. CIP Moto GP250’s Shoya Tomizawa will start his first grand prix outside of Japan in 16th. Racing Team Germany’s Bastien Chesaux will make his debut for the team from the 21st starting spot. Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Racing Team 250cc) qualified second and said: “Let me thank my crew. They are helping me a lot and the bike is good. There are a few things that we would like to improve, but we cannot. Anyway, I’m quite happy. About tomorrow, and the race, I’m convinced we can do well. We know the track, and the bike has an excellent set-up. The problem is that, at this site, the weather condition can change suddenly. Who knows how it will be tomorrow?” Hector Faubel (Valencia CF – Honda SAG) qualified fifth and said: “The day has finished but it looks like it has only just begun. I cannot wait until tomorrow, since today was so short for me. Today I have felt confident with the motorcycle, although we had a small problem with the carburetion and I know that I am going to obtain good results. The margin of improvement still exists and is still very big and this gives me more motivation to continue working. I’ve done 45 minutes with the same tire and with the settings of the last test day going in the right direction. If we look at the past testing days, today it has been the best day since the beginning.” Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT SAG) qualified 12th and said: “Today the time was not very good. The wind was helping us in the straight, but at the corner entry it was unsettling for the bike. It has been the first day that we have done only one session of 45 minutes. Nonetheless, the adjustment has been good from the beginning. I continue having good feeling on the motorcycle and this is good. We will see tomorrow if the conditions will be good and this way to be able to lap with more confidence.” Raffaele de Rosa (Scot Racing Team 250cc), moving up from the 125cc class, qualified 14th and said: “Having just a half day, on Friday, made it more complicated. We did a good job on the chassis. I’m not really worried, because we decided to work aiming at the race, and not the qualifying. Not everything is ok, but we improved almost everywhere. The engine is ok”. Three-time Japanese wild card Shoya Tomizawa (CIP Moto-GP250) qualified 16th and said: I’m fairly happy with the result as the track condition kept changing. We still have to work a little more on the set-up, because this time the front end wasn’t quite right and I felt a little lack of grip on the rear, so I couldn’t really push harder. But my overall feeling is that I can go faster. We did improve a little bit on the gear ratio. My confidence keeps growing on this racetrack, but I think I was a little slow for changing direction. Another thing I have to work on is learning how to follow faster riders to get a better lap time. Class rookie Bastien Chesaux (Racing Team Germany), starting his first full GP season, qualified 21st 125cc World Championship Jasper Iwema (Racing Team Germany) qualified 25th with a time of 2m 11.864s. Honda rider quotes: Qatar GP Losail April 11, 2009. MotoGP: Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: 4th – 1m 55.977s. “I’m very happy of this session. We did a hard work during the qualifying testing two bikes with two different set up. Both solutions gave a good feedback, I got a positive feeling and the machine improved. I’m happy of the rhythm we have found for the race pace with the hard tyres and also the lap times with the soft tyre. I’m happy also because I had room for improvement also during my last lap with soft tyre, in fact I made a mistake and I spoiled my good time I had a T1. All in all I’m very satisfied, When we get into racing which suits better with my mentality and I can give my best in racing.” Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda: 7th – 1m 56.358s. “I am happy because we made a good job during the three sessions and improved a lot my feeling on qualifiers. We made some adjustments on the setting and now the bike turns better and I feel more aggressive in the corner entry. I was expecting this since a long time, so I feel quite satisfied. The winter was hard as we missed some track time so we are very pleased with this third row. I am getting used to Bridgestone tyres and feel more comfortable now. I aim to finish the race in the top six”. Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 9th 1m 56.790s. “I think we’re in good shape to have a really good race tomorrow. I don’t think we’re quite on the pace to be fighting for the podium but we can definitely be in the running for a top result. I’m really pleased with the race setting but on the softer tyre when we went for a quick lap time the tyre started to lose grip after just a few corners and I wasn’t able to make the most of it. If we can get a little more grip from the rear on the harder compound that would be great too and that’s what we’ll work on in the warm-up. Anyway, a third-row start should give me the opportunity to have a nice race and I’m ready for the battle! “ Toni Elias, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 12th – 1m 57.225s. “I think we’re in good shape to have a really good race tomorrow. I don’t think we’re quite on the pace to be fighting for the podium but we can definitely be in the running for a top result. I’m really pleased with the race setting but on the softer tyre when we went for a quick lap time the tyre started to lose grip after just a few corners and I wasn’t able to make the most of it. If we can get a little more grip from the rear on the harder compound that would be great too and that’s what we’ll work on in the warm-up. Anyway, a third-row start should give me the opportunity to have a nice race and I’m ready for the battle! “ Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 15 – 1m 57.899s. “Well, we’ve made it into the race and that was the aim of coming to Qatar so I’m pleased with that. I didn’t expect to improve my lap time by this much from yesterday so this is good progress. The leg feels a little better and I pushed harder today than yesterday, though this situation is not something that is fixed after one day. My lap time is not really so bad considering my condition and the time I’ve spent away from the track, but for sure I wanted to be faster than this and a bit further forward on the grid. Still, the race is here we’ll get ready to give it the maximum effort tomorrow. Maybe I can improve my lap times by a further second or so.” Yuki Takahashi, Scot Racing Team MotoGP: 17th 1m 58.784s. “We had several tests to do to improve the bike, and 45 minutes probably is too short a time. After 20 minutes I decided to use new tyres and went out for fast lap, but I could not find help from any other rider. I lapped alone, and this made it more difficult. Anyway, I was able to improve my time and then went back to my box. We did some adjustments. to the bike, then out again with just a few minutes to go. I was in a good group of riders Dovizioso, De Puniet, Hayden but Nicky fell down just in front of me. I had to brake to avoid him, lost time and, when I passed the finish line, they were already waiving the chequered flag”. 250cc: Hiroshi Aoyama, Scot Racing Team 250cc: 2nd – 2m 00.777s. “Let me thank my crew. They are helping me a lot and the bike is good. There are a few things that we would like to improve, but we cannot. Anyway, I’m quite happy. About tomorrow, and the race, I’m convinced we can do well. We know the track, and the bike has an excellent set-up. The problem is that, at this site, the weather condition can change suddenly. Who knows how it will be tomorrow?” Hector Faubel, Valencia CF – Honda SAG: 5th 2m 01.636s. “The day has finished but it looks like it has only just begun. I cannot wait until tomorrow, since today was so short for me. Today I have felt confident with the motorcycle, although we had a small problem with the carburetion and I know that I am going to obtain good results. The margin of improvement still exists and is still very big and this gives me more motivation to continue working. I’ve done 45 minutes with the same tire and with the settings of the last test day going in the right direction. If we look at the past testing days, today it has been the best day since the beginning.” Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT SAG: 12th 2m 02.062s. “Today the time was not very good. The wind was helping us in the straight, but at the corner entry it was unsettling for the bike. It has been the first day that we have done only one session of 45 minutes. Nonetheless, the adjustment has been good from the beginning. I continue having good feeling on the motorcycle and this is good. We will see tomorrow if the conditions will be good and this way to be able to lap with more confidence.” Raffaele de Rosa, Scot Racing Team 250cc: 14th – 2m 02.408s. “Having just a half day, on Friday, made it more complicated. We did a good job on the chassis. I’m not really worried, because we decided to work aiming at the race, and not the qualifying. Not everything is ok, but we improved almost everywhere. The engine is ok”. Shoya Tomizawa, CIP Moto-GP250: 16th 2m 03.590s “I’m fairly happy with the result as the track condition kept changing. We still have to work a little more on the set-up, because this time the front end wasn’t quite right and I felt a little lack of grip on the rear, so I couldn’t really push harder. But my overall feeling is that I can go faster. We did improve a little bit on the gear ratio. My confidence keeps growing on this racetrack, but I think I was a little slow for changing direction. Another thing I have to work on is learning how to follow faster riders to get a better lap time.” More, from a press release issued by KTM: KTM 125cc factory riders tackle season’s opening GP in Qatar Red Bull KTM factory rider Marc Marquez narrowly missed a second row grid position for Sunday’s opening 125cc GP racing under lights on the Losail circuit in Qatar. The 16-year old Spaniard was denied his second row slot in the last seconds of the qualifying session but is still looking confident for the race on Sunday evening. Marquez was also ninth fastest in the free training. The Qatar GP is the only night race on the calendar. Marquez in his second season and raring to go “Things went well for us, more or less,” the 16-year old Spaniard said. “At the beginning of the Grand Prix practice we ran into a few problems we had not had before, but my technicians were able to sort them out and I could increase my speed. The engine feels strong but there’s still room for improvement with the chassis but considering the short amount of track time, we can’t complain. My goal now is to get a good start in the race and to hang on to the leading group.” Marquez did add that the much more experienced pole man and countryman Julian Simon was looking strong. “He’s had a lot of experience in the 125 and the 250 category but I’m only in my second year of Grand Prix racing. We have to be patient and try to get closer bit by bit.” Team boss Harald Barton also said there was work to do on the set up. “As far as the bike is concerned, the engine is very good but we do have some work to do on the chassis,” he said. Beaubier back on the bike after earlier crash It has also been an eventful week for Marquez’s Red Bull KTM factory teammate the 16-year-old American Cameron Beaubier who crashed during tests last Tuesday, dislocating his shoulder and sustaining a nasty bang on the head. Beaubier, in his rookie year with the team, was back on the bike in preparation for the race and finished twenty second in the field in the qualifying. “Yesterday was okay and today I was just trying to get the feeling back for being on the bike. This is my first weekend so I don’t need to rush,” Cameron said. Asked about the experience of racing under the lights at Qatar, he commented: “It’s difficult but the track’s fun. You can’t really notice its night time on the track. The lights light up the track perfectly.” Cameron was also cautiously confident about being able to race on Sunday. “I think it will be fine. I hope to get a good start and we’ll go from there.” More, from a press release issued by Team Haojue: HAOJUE IMPROVE IN QATAR Team Haojue riders Michael Ranseder and Matt Hoyle made great steps forward tonight during qualifying for tomorrow’s opening 125cc GP at Losail in Qatar. Both riders – and the newest race team on the 2009 GP circuit – improved their lap-times from last night and the whole squad is optimistic about tomorrow’s race. Teenager Hoyle, who is taking part in his first ever Qatar GP, took 300ths-of-a-second from his Friday practice time; and Ranseder shaved almost 200ths-of-a-second from his personal best yesterday. Garry Taylor – Team Director: “It’s a positive start and in eight months we’ve gone from the first turn of a wheel to qualifying for a GP. It’s a tribute to everyone, especially Jan and Franco for the engine, and all at Harris Performance for the chassis development. “Now we’re on the first rung of the ladder in our development year and it’s a tribute to the people at Haojue who have had the vision to start such a demanding project. “In two days of testing this week in pre-race and qualifying, every single problem the ‘gods of racing’ could throw at us happened – and the team pulled through. “We’ve got our first race tomorrow and we’re all a little bit nervous as we’re not truly where we want to be, but if you’re going to do it, you have to jump in there at the deep end.” 125cc Qualifying Results: 1: Julian SIMON, SPA (Aprilia) 2’06.974 2: Bradley SMITH, GBR (Aprilia) 2’07.107 3: Andrea IANNONE, ITA (Aprilia) 2,07.588 4: Nicolas TEROL, SPA (Aprilia) 2,07.781 5: Sandro CORTESE, Ger (Derbi) 2’07.835 29: Michael RANSEDER, AUT (Team Haojue) 2’12.676 31: Matthew HOYLE, GBR (Team Haojue) 2’15.586