FIM MotoGP World Championship Losail International Circuit Doha, Qatar March 8, 2007 Free Practice 1 and 2 Combined Results: 1. Valentino Rossi (Yam YZR-M1), Michelin, 1:56.464 2. Colin Edwards (Yam YZR-M1), Michelin, 1:56.665 3. Casey Stoner (Duc GP07), Bridgestone, 1:56.745 4. John Hopkins (Suz GSV-R), Bridgestone, 1:56.972 5. Carlos Checa (Hon RC212V), Michelin, 1:56.981 6. Dani Pedrosa (Hon RC212V), Michelin, 1:56.996 7. Marco Melandri (Hon RC212V), Bridgestone, 1:57.112 8. Loris Capirossi (Duc GP07), Bridgestone, 1:57.247 9. Toni Elias (Hon RC212V), Bridgestone, 1:57.382 10. Shinya Nakano (Hon RC212V), Michelin, 1:57.491 11. Alex Barros (Duc GP07), Bridgestone, 1:57.620 12. Chris Vermeulen (Suz GSV-R), Bridgestone, 1:57.620 13. Randy de Puniet (Kaw ZX-RR), Bridgestone, 1:57.686 14. Kenny Lee Roberts (Hon KR212V), Michelin, 1:57.738 15. Nicky Hayden (Hon RC212V), Michelin, 1:57.992 16. Alex Hofmann (Duc GP07), Bridgestone, 1:58.021 17. Olivier Jacque (Kaw ZX-RR), Bridgestone, 1:58.523 18. Sylvain Quintoli (Yam YZR-M1), Dunlop, 1:58.720 19. Andrew Pitt (Ilmor GP), Michelin, 1:59.930 20. Jeremy McWilliams (Ilmor GP), Michelin, 2:00.125 21. Makoto Tamada (Yam YZR-M1), Dunlop, 2:00.188 Top Speeds: 1. Casey Stoner (Ducati), 317.2 kph/197.1 mph 2. Loris Capirossi (Ducati), 316.7 kph 3. Alex Hofmann (Ducati), 314.6 kph 4. Alex Barros (Ducati), 313.3 kph 5. Dani Pedrosa (Honda), 311.2 kph 6. Marco Melandri (Honda), 307.8 kph 7. John Hopkins (Suzuki), 307.1 kph 8. Olivier Jacque (Kawasaki), 306.3 kph 9. Colin Edwards (Yamaha), 305.9 kph 10. Jeremy McWilliams (Ilmor), 305.6 kph 11. Sylvain Quintoli (Yamaha), 305.2 kph 12. Nicky Hayden (Honda), 305.0 kph 13. Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki), 304.7 kph 14. Toni Elias (Honda), 303.7 kph 15. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), 303.7 kph 16. Carlos Checa (Honda), 302.6 kph 17. Shinya Nakano (Honda), 302.4 kph 18. Randy De Puniet (Kawasaki), 302.0 kph 19. Andrew Pitt (Ilmor), 301.3 kph 20. Kenny Lee Roberts (Honda), 300.0 kph 21. Makoto Tamada (Yamaha), 300.0 kph/186.4 mph More, from a press release issued by Ilmor GP: Ilmor GP continued to make progress today in Qatar ahead of the first race on the 2007 MotoGP World Championship on Saturday. Both riders clocked up a decent amount of laps during the two free practice sessions in dry conditions at the Middle Eastern track. Following on from the final official test two weeks ago in Jerez, the team have worked tirelessly analysing the data accumulated over the three day test to further improve the bikes overall rideability. The engine has had a significant upgrade since the test so the bike has seen a considerable improvement since the team’s last appearance in Qatar back in February. It was a good day for the Fiat Yamaha team with Valentino Rossi clocking up the fastest lap of the day at 1.56.464 just ahead of his team mate Colin Edwards with 1.56.665. Andrew Pitt #88 Fastest Lap: 1.59.930 Top Speed: 301.3 Km/h Jeremy McWilliams #99 Fastest Lap: 2.00.188 Top Speed: 305.6 Km/h Andrew Pitt, Ilmor GP Rider: “We had a few problems during the second practice session and I had to use my spare bike minor electrical issues, nothing major. I did 35 laps over the two practice sessions and had some good consistent time to try out the different tyre compounds we have the front sorted now and I think we’re nearly there with the rear. Overall I’m pleased with today, I got into the 1.59’s which is good and we’re slowly closing the gap I’m looking forward to tomorrow. .” Jeremy McWilliams, Ilmor GP Rider: “Today was positive the bike is getting better. Again we made good progress but we’re still some way off where we want to be it wasn’t a bad start though. We tried some new Michelin rubber today and I’m pleased with the performance. I had a couple of minor handling issues but we collected a lot of information over the course of the day so we’ll definitely be in better shape tomorrow.” Mario Illien, Ilmor GP Team Principal: “I think it’s fair to say that we have continued our trend on from the test in Jerez we’re still making good improvements to the bikes overall performance everyone can see that which is very positive now we just need to focus on maintaining consistency and closing that gap up.” Mike Janes, Ilmor GP Team Manager: “I’m pleased with today’s performance we’ve moved forward from the test in Jerez and we continue to make decent steady progress we have a lot of work to do this afternoon ahead of the third practice session tomorrow and then our first qualifying session of the season but I’m looking forward to making further progress tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Hopkins fights through the pain barrier in Qatar Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer John Hopkins recorded the fourth fastest time during today’s first practice day for the Qatar Grand Prix at Losail. Hopkins (P4, 1’56.972, 39 laps) was still suffering the after effects from a heavy crash last month, but the gutsy Anglo-American star overcame the pain to put in a solid day’s performance and set himself up nicely for this weekend’s MotoGP curtain raiser. He made maximum use of the latest generation of Bridgestone race tyres, which the Japanese company has brought to this race, by only using two rear tyres throughout the whole day. Chris Vermeulen (P12, 1’57.636, 43 laps) had a tough morning as he and his crew worked hard to overcome a braking setback. He lost quite a bit of time from the session but was able to get back into the flow of things as the afternoon progressed. He has a clear indication of which direction to go in tomorrow and will be eager to move up the timesheets. Today’s practice was held in warm and sunny conditions at the 5.380km long Losail International Circuit. Track temperatures reached 42°C, but air temperature was a pleasant 25°C as the circuit was cooled by a strong wind. Valentino Rossi set the fastest time on his factory Yamaha. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP has one more practice session tomorrow morning, followed by the hour-long qualifying session in the afternoon. Saturday’s 22-lap race gets underway at 15.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT). John Hopkins: “We’re pretty happy with today. The pain level in my hand has been quite high so my pain threshold has had to withstand that all day. I’ve been working hard with the MotoGP clinic and my trainer Johnny Louch, and Team Physio Dean Miller, have been doing a tremendous job getting me back to fitness. Bridgestone has also done an exceptional job here this week by bringing some really good tyres, they have stepped it up massively from what we had here at the test. I think this is the first time in my career that I have only used two rear tyres in a whole day! I ran one for this morning session and another for the whole of the afternoon and set my fastest lap-time on the last lap in both cases. We still have a couple more things to do to the bike tomorrow but we will be ready for qualifying and I’ll be doing every thing I can to bring the pain in my hand down. Then we’ll be ready to go racing when Saturday comes!” Chris Vermeulen: “We were well prepared for this track this morning as we were only here a couple of weeks ago. We didn’t have a lot of things to test so the biggest issue was tyre choice – now that we have a limited amount it’s important to pick the right ones. In the morning I had a bit of a brake issue on both bikes and it cost us a bit of time getting it sorted. This afternoon we managed to get it all sorted and I was able to get into more of a rhythm. We have found a good direction with the bike and the tyres and we have some good ideas of things to try tomorrow.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “After such an intensive winter of testing it’s great to be back in a competitive atmosphere and getting through our work with a clear target in mind of a good result on Saturday. John in particular has done especially well today, and has only used two rear tyres all day. He set his fastest times on the last laps of each session, so in terms of consistency the possibility of improving our race pace seems very positive. Chris used the same strategy as John today by doing lots of laps on one tyre. He is still looking for a bit more pace but the crew know where he needs to go and I think Chris has the ability to take that time jump when everything feels right with the bike. The competition at the head of the field especially Valentino looks extremely strong. But everybody is getting closer lap-by-lap and we’ll definitely be amongst the group challenging for a podium come race day!” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER A CLOSE THIRD ON FIRST DAY OF THE 800S Ducati Marlboro Team men Casey Stoner and Loris Capirossi were third and eighth quickest during the first two sessions at Losail today, the first day of MotoGP’s new 800cc era. Stoner, making his GP debut for the team, was less than three tenths off ‘provisional pole’, pronouncing himself happy with progress. Capirossi meanwhile worked on perfecting a radical new chassis set-up with one of his Desmosedici GP7s. Today also saw the implementation of MotoGP’s new tyre regulations that restrict each rider to 14 front slicks and 17 rear slicks per weekend. The team has been preparing for the new rules by working closely with Bridgestone during winter testing. CASEY STONER, 3rd fastest, 1m 56.745s “We found some reasonably good tyres and straight away we were quicker than in testing a few weeks back, plus the track condition is good, so I’m really happy. This morning and this afternoon I only had one set of tyres each session, so I’m quite happy with tyre life and the way they’ve performed. This afternoon we ran into a few little problems with the bike but other than that everything is going quite well. We had to work at getting some traction with the last tyre I used, the front end wasn’t turning as well as we’d like it to, so we improved that a little bit towards the end. We’ve still got a fair bit to go through tomorrow, though we’ve pretty much narrowed rear choice down to two tyres. The new tyre rules aren’t a drama – during testing we worked with that system to get accustomed to it, though we pretty much know what tyres to use here and Jerez because we’ve tested at both tracks recently, so we’ve been able to minimise the selection.” LORIS CAPIROSSI, 8th fastest, 1m 57.247s “We started here with two different chassis set-ups, with very different settings in the rear end. I first tried one of these solutions at Jerez and I liked it very much, so I am continuing in this direction, though after just two hours of practice it’s not yet perfect for this track. We use a very hard front here, a specific tyre for this circuit only, and I don’t yet feel 100 per cent confident in the tyre, but Casey is using the same front and he’s done a lot of laps with it and done some very fast times, so that gives me confidence. The new tyre rules do change the strategy of practice. You are restricted to how many tyres you can use, so sometimes you have to do a lot of laps on a tyre even if you don’t feel totally happy with it. But it’s the same for everyone and it’s okay. The bike is working very well in race trim, racing is always different from practicing, so I’m feeling positive about the race.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Encouraging Start For Bridgestone In Qatar Round 01 – Qatar – Free Practice Losail International Circuit, Thursday 8 March 2007 The opening day of action for this year’s MotoGP championship saw the top eight riders of the day all lap under the official circuit record set by Valentino Rossi in 2006. Casey Stoner, one of four riders completely new to Bridgestone tyres this season and Suzuki’s John Hopkins, who enters his fourth MotoGP season as a Bridgestone-shod rider, both set times under the 1m57s mark to take third and fourth spots in Thursday’s combined classification. Stoner’s team-mate and triple race winner last season, Loris Capirossi, kicked off his 2007 campaign in eighth place sandwiched between Bridgestone newcomers Marco Melandri and Toni Elias, who ended the opening day in seventh and ninth positions for the Honda Gresini team. Pramac D’Antin’s Alex Barros led a trio of riders on Bridgestones within 0.06s of each other, the Brazilian taking 11th place ahead of Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen in 12th and Kawasaki’s Randy de Puniet in 13th. Alex Hofmann’s best time was good enough for tenth place in the morning session but, unable to improve on his time in the afternoon, he ended the day in 16th position, one place in front of Kawasaki’s Olivier Jacque in 17th. Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development What was the plan for today’s opening practice sessions? “We have used today’s session to evaluate the two different specifications of tyre that we have provided our teams for this weekend’s GP. Based on the results from the test a few weeks ago, we developed a medium and a hard specification tyre for front and rear which our teams have within their allocation of 31 tyres. All five of our teams have conducted an initial evaluation of the two specifications with pleasing results. Both specs have shown a good performance and durability but we will use tomorrow morning’s practice to finalise the precise tyre for Saturday’s race. What improvements have been seen compared to last year’s GP? “The biggest difference has been the improved track conditions. In previous years we have seen quite a lot of initial degradation on both front and rear tyres due to the nature of the track on the opening day. This year, the circuit seems to offer more grip and we have been able to get up to speed quickly. That in turn has allowed our teams to get straight to work on bike set-up, so we have accomplished a lot of productive work.” How did the scanning procedures work on Wednesday? “For the first time, we had to carry out the tyre barcode scanning with FIM and I think it went smoothly considering it was out first proper experience of this procedure. We submitted the final choices to FIM yesterday after a busy day for our fitters and technicians, but all things considered everything worked well today. How have qualifying tyres been allocated? “Based on our advice, each of our five teams has allotted enough tyres to carry out two qualifying runs in tomorrow’s qualifying practice session. Until then, we will continue with our race preparations by carrying out long runs in the morning using the preferred tyre specification from today.” Bridgestone Combined Free Practice Session Results Pos Rider Team Session 1 (pos) Session 2 (pos) Gap P3 Casey Stoner Ducati 1m56.745s (2) 1m56.839s (3) +0.281s P4 John Hopkins Suzuki 1m57.281s (6) 1m56.972s (4) +0.508s P7 Marco Melandri Honda Gresini 1m57.443s (7) 1m57.112s (7) +0.648s P8 Loris Capirossi Ducati 1m57.270s (5) 1m57.247s (8) +0.783s P9 Toni Elias Honda Gresini 1m58.262s (12) 1m57.382s (9) +0.918s P11 Alex Barros Pramac D’Antin 1m58.315s (13) 1m57.620s (11) +1.156s P12 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1m58.559s (14) 1m57.636s (12) +1.172s P13 Randy de Puniet Kawasaki 1m58.238s (11) 1m57.686s (13) +1.222s P16 Alex Hofmann Pramac D’Antin 1m58.021s (10) 1m58.206s (16) +1.557s P17 Olivier Jacque Kawasaki 1m59.598s (17) 1m58.523s (17) +2.059s Weather: Dry – Air 23°C, Track 27°C, Humidity 13% (Session 1) / Air 25°C, Track 42°C, Humidity 13% (Session 2) More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki: MOTOGP FINALLY KICKS OFF IN QATAR The months of waiting finally came to an end in Qatar today, as this morning’s hour-long free practice session marked the official start of the 2007 MotoGP World Championship season. But it was a tough opening day for Kawasaki’s Randy de Puniet and Olivier Jacque, as they struggled to match the top end speed of their factory rivals along the Losail International circuit’s one kilometre long main straight. 26-year-old de Puniet managed to improve upon his best time from the recent test in Qatar to end the day thirteenth fastest overall, but the Kawasaki pilot is confident that there is more to come tomorrow. De Puniet focussed his efforts today on tyre testing with Bridgestone, to identify the race tyre best suited to the unique characteristics of the Losail circuit, and the weather conditions under which Saturday’s race will most likely be run. The Frenchman ended the session happy with his race tyre choices, but he will continue testing other options tomorrow, as he works to refine the set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR ahead of the first qualifying session of the new season. After being sidelined from the recent Qatar test through injury, Jacque made a steady start to the season in today’s two practice sessions. The 33-year-old Frenchman suffered a minor technical problem early on in the morning session, which caused him to run off the track, but was soon back up to speed on his number two machine. During both hour-long sessions Jacque and his crew concentrated on improving the feel and feedback from the front end of his Ninja ZX-RR, eventually finding a set-up he had confidence in. After a steady start the Kawasaki pilot ended the day seventeenth on the timesheet but, like his teammate, he feels there is definitely room for improvement tomorrow. Randy de Puniet: 13th – 46 Laps – Best Lap 1’57.686 “The base set-up we have is working well here and I was able to put in some fast and consistent laps this afternoon. Late on in the session we tried another race tyre option and I think that, with more time on this tyre tomorrow, it could well lead to an improvement in my lap time during Saturday’s race. We still need to work a little more on refining the overall set-up of the bike, but it’s fairly obvious that we are a little bit down on top speed here. The bike is quick through the few fast corners on this track, but we’re losing out at other points, like on the main straight.” Olivier Jacque: 17th – 40 Laps – Best Lap 1’58.523 “After the crash that I had here during the test, we decided to take it easy and not hurry today. We had a tough morning, firstly with a gearbox problem that caused me to run straight on a couple of times, and then with a complete lack of feeling on the front like I had no grip. I was not confident of ending the first day with a good feeling, but we did a couple of front suspension modifications for my last run and I feel that we are now going in the right direction.” Naoya Kaneko: Technical Manager “Looking at our position maybe it was not the start that we expected, but this was almost the first time out for Olivier at this track, and Randy was faster than the previous test. Everybody has made improvements since the last time that we came here and that is one of the reasons why we are a little bit behind. The Ninja ZX-RR base set-up is good but for tomorrow we have to keep working to improve our package, and it will be vital to get the most out of the qualifying tyres. It needs to be remembered that we are still at an early stage of development and today it is been the first day. We have to remain upbeat and confident for the future.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Yamaha duo draw first blood in opening practice of season Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar – Thursday 8th March Report Day 1 The 2007 MotoGP season officially got underway today, with riders undertaking their first practice and qualifying laps for the curtain-raising Commercialbank Grand Prix Of Qatar. Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards put in a magnificent showing at the Losail International Circuit in the afternoon session, with the Fiat Yamaha riders leading the way on day one. On track with his new blue and white livery for the first time, Rossi took the session by the scruff of the neck early on, laying down a time of 1’56.464 that remained unchallenged. His team-mate was close behind, with early morning pacesetter Edwards just over three tenths of a second slower than the five time MotoGP World Champion. Casey Stoner completed the top three on his new Desmosedici GP7, which would come as little surprise to anyone aware of the Australian’s pedigree in Qatar. Last year Stoner took pole at Losail in only his second MotoGP race. John Hopkins, making his return from an enforced absence caused by his crash in testing at the circuit, was immediately on the pace for Suzuki. The Anglo-American was one of six riders to go round in under 1’56, ahead of the resurgent Carlos Checa and Dani Pedrosa, fastest at the MotoGP Official Test. Marco Melandri, Loris Capirossi, Toni Elias and Shinya Nakano completed the top ten, with World Champion Nicky Hayden struggling during both sessions. ‘The Kentucky Kid’ was over 1.5 seconds slower than title rival Rossi, languishing in 15th. In the morning practices for all three classes, a starting simulation was permitted after the conclusion of the session. The new rule, brought in by Race Direction on the request of the Safety Commission, will be a permanent fixture of the opening practice session at every Grand Prix. Hector Barbera continued from where he left off at the end of preseason with the fastest time in 250cc today, a 2’00.070 lap of the Losail International Circuit. The Spaniard has commented that this season is the most important of his career, and certainly seemed motivated as he edged out former team-mate Jorge Lorenzo to take provisional pole for Saturday’s race. The reigning World Champion, Lorenzo was just less than two tenths of a second behind Barbera at the track where he took victory last season. Completing an all-Spanish trio at the business end of the standings, Alvaro Bautista also went round in under 2’01. The Aspar rider yesterday stated that he is not focusing on results this season, instead keen to simply enjoy himself during his debut season in the quarter litre class, but his opening qualifying performance confirms the potential Bautista holds in 250cc. Alex de Angelis, Thomas Luthi and Andrea Dovizioso rounded off the top six, ahead of Mika Kallio, Aoyama brothers Shuhei and Hiroshi, and one of last season’s standout performers in Qatar, Roberto Locatelli. Julian Simon was making his comeback from a shoulder injury suffered during testing two weeks ago, and braved the pain to finish 11th despite being less than 100% fit. One of the 125cc riders in the strongest form during preseason, Gabor Talmacsi maintained his momentum to take provisional pole. The Hungarian clocked a time of 2’06.557, the only rider to go round in under 2’07, at the track where he took charge this morning. Talmacsi headed an all-Aprilia top seven, with Mattia Pasini the closest to his timesheet-topping time. The Polaris World rider was just over half a second slower than the Aspar rider, ahead of former team-mates Sergio Gadea and Hector Faubel. Raffaele de Rosa had a storming session to put himself amongst the top five, closely followed by Pablo Nieto, Simone Corsi, and Michael Ranseder. The top ten was completed by two riders tipped to challenge for the title in 2007, Tomoyoshi Koyama and Lukas Pesek, riding KTM and Derbi machines respectively. More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: Perfect Start For Fiat Yamaha Team At First 800cc Grand Prix In Qatar Fiat Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards got the first ever Grand Prix of the new 800cc era off to a flying start in Qatar today, both lapping comfortably under the 990cc circuit record and finishing the day in first and second places after two free practice sessions. Following a long winter of testing it was a relief for the team to finally get the season underway, with this the first time the championship has begun outside Europe since Rossi’s historic first win with Yamaha in South Africa in 2004. After an excellent performance at the test here just a few weeks ago, Rossi and Edwards were both confident of a strong start today and there were no surprises from their 800cc M1s, running in their new Fiat Yamaha Team livery for the first time. Edwards finished the morning session on top with his team-mate close behind in third whilst Rossi dominated the second free practice this afternoon, sitting at the top of the time sheets for the majority of the hour-long session. Edwards, despite not bettering his time from this morning, was second, just over three-tenths of a second behind his Italian team-mate. Today was also the first day of the new MotoGP tyre regulations, which stipulate a maximum of 31 tyres (14 fronts and 17 rears) per rider during a Grand Prix weekend. This has forced the teams to alter the way they work throughout the practice sessions but Rossi especially is confident that these new rules will help rather than hinder the riders, bringing increased clarity on set-up decisions and making it easier to plan the weekend’s work. Valentino Rossi Position: 1st Time: 1’56.464 Laps: 47 “It was a very good beginning for all of the team; it’s a new season and we have a new sponsor and livery so it’s good to start with both Colin and I at the top! We were in a good situation at the test here also but really the most important test was Jerez, because there we understood a lot more about our bike and we made some important changes. It seems here that the setting is very good and we were fast from the start this morning. I’m very happy with my Yamaha today, I can ride it well, I have a good rhythm and it’s great fun to ride here in Qatar! For me, the new tyre rule is very good. Like this you know just what you have from the start, it’s much more logical and there is less confusion for everyone. It means we can make decisions more quickly and I think, especially with a delicate bike like ours, that it’s going to be helpful to have such a clear situation with tyres from the start of every weekend. Now let’s see how we get on tomorrow and try to keep this rhythm going throughout the weekend.” Colin Edwards Position: 2nd Time: 1’56.665 Laps: 45 “Today’s gone pretty good, I think we can say we’ve made a strong start to the weekend. After finding a great setting here at the test we made a few more changes in Jerez and made the bike even better. We started off today with the bike set-up pretty similar to Jerez, with just a few small changes, and it seemed to work well from the off. We had a little bit of an issue this morning with a tyre, but we compared notes with Valentino afterwards and sorted that out pretty quickly between us. It’s the first day of the new tyre rules and it’s a little bit scary to know that there’s no longer an inexhaustible supply, but we just have to slightly adapt the way we work to accommodate it and I think it will work well in the long run. Here it could be more of an issue because the conditions can be quite changeable from day to day, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed that we stay in the ‘range’ and save one of each of our best tyres for race day.” Davide Brivio Team Director “This is a very good start to the season because both riders are feeling comfortable and finding it easy to keep a good pace. Now the most important matter is to make a good tyre choice, especially considering the new rules. It’s definitely helped that we’ve tested here not long ago but we also made a lot of progress in Jerez and this has showed today. It’s only Thursday of course and the race is a different matter, but it’s nice for the team to be in first and second and we couldn’t have hoped for a better start to the weekend.”