Rookies rule as night test concludes.


Saturday, 1st March 2008

Lorenzo, Toseland star in Qatar.

The final pre-season MotoGP test of 2008, and first ever to be held at night, has concluded with two rookies at the head of the Qatar timesheets after Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo edged out Tech 3 Yamaha's James Toseland by just 0.040secs.

Lorenzo, the reigning double 250cc world champion, had been second fastest to MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner with race tyres on the opening night and he again impressed with multi-lap rubber on the final night.

The #48 completed a promising race simulation that saw a series of 1min 56secs laps - close to Stoner's 2007 race winning pace - before (like most riders) trying a qualifying tyre, with which he narrowly demoted reigning double World Superbike champion Toseland on his very final lap of the seven hour session.


"I am very happy because we have done two days of testing with a very good rhythm throughout," said Jorge. "Our performance has been consistent, which is very important after the trouble we had at the last test and this makes me confident for the first race. The race simulation today was really positive, although I think we still need to do some work on the rear of the bike which might allow us to be a bit faster.

"Despite all these positive signs we must keep our feet on the ground, because I have never raced with the other riders and the first race will be a new experience for me!" he warned. "Next week many things will be different so we must remain focused and hopefully maintain a good rhythm. I am happy because I think people understand now that I am ready for this, and this is very important for me and for my confidence.

"I do not have experience in MotoGP so I cannot say how this championship will turn out, but let's say that without experience the winter tests were good and with some experience the championship might be even better!" concluded Lorenzo.


The season-opening Qatar Grand Prix takes place on March 9 and Lorenzo won't be the only rookie approaching the inaugural night race with confidence. A determined Toseland - who also set his best Friday lap time on a qualifying tyre - has slowly but surely been working his way towards the front of the MotoGP field during winter testing and is a previous Qatar winner in WSBK.

Just 0.381s behind Lorenzo, in third position, was Frenchman Randy de Puniet, who was once again the top Honda rider - with his satellite spec LCR machine. The former Kawasaki rider was over 0.6secs quicker than the leading factory RC212V, of Nicky Hayden, by the conclusion of testing and could be set to shock during his third MotoGP season.

Toseland's team-mate Colin Edwards completed an all-Michelin top four, while Ducati's world champion Casey Stoner was the leading Bridgestone

rider in fifth - on a night when none of the Bridgestone-shod racers made significant improvements on qualifiers - despite suffering a turn two accident at around 10.30pm local time.



The remaining top ten position were occupied by JiR Team Scot rookie Andrea Dovizioso, Hayden, Rizla Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen, San Carlo Honda Gresini rookie Alex de Angelis and then five-times MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi - who ended the test 1.7secs slower than his Michelin-shod team-mate Lorenzo and with work clearly still to do.

It definitely wasn't the end to the pre-season that the Italian had been hoping for, especially after two promising tests, and Rossi later revealed that they'd run out of time after heading in the wrong direction with tyre choice for the cool conditions.

The session was briefly red-flagged at around 9.30pm local time following a fall by new Rizla Suzuki Loris Capirossi at turn seven, but the veteran Italian was unhurt and once the action resumed he was soon back out riding again - eventually lapping eleventh fastest.


In addition to the tumbles by former team-mates Stoner and Capirossi, there were crashes late in the session for Capirossi's troubled Ducati replacement Marco Melandri, San Carlo Honda Gresini's Shinya Nakano and Alice Team's Sylvain Guintoli - the chilly 13°C track temperature a likely factor in those falls.

Guintoli's bike was badly damaged, but he was later given the all clear by doctors.

The opening pair of practice sessions for the 2008 Qatar Grand Prix will take place on March 7.

 Gi  

--Last edited by Gisele_V on 2008-03-01 22:59:35 --

Rossi: Lights good, lap time bad.

Friday, 29th February 2008

"We know that this track doesn't have the best grip, but other riders are going faster, so we must do better" - Valentino Rossi.

Valentino Rossihad no complaints about the Qatar lighting system during his first night laps on a MotoGPbike - although he finished the day just ninth fastest and 'must do better' during the second and final night of 2008 pre-season testing.

Rossi's only previous taste of Qatar night riding was back in 2006 - with a road bike and using only a partially floodlit track - but the Fiat Yamaha rider was unfazed by 'full' night riding conditions and it was soon business as usual for the Italian.

"There was a lot of curiosity about this night test and I have to say that I am quite satisfied. I think they have made a great job with the lights and you can ride quite normally, as if it's day. The visibility is quite good so there is no danger for us; it's really no more difficult than riding in the day," he declared.


One of Rossi's main aims for the first night's testing was to work with new tyre-supplier Bridgestoneto find the best tyres to suit the conditions, which are much cooler than during the daytime tests and races of the past four years.

"Maybe it would be better to move this night race to a period when the temperature is a little bit higher however, because at the moment it's very cold here!" said the #46.

The seven times world champion also worked on general set-up, during what is the final pre-season test of 2008. Rossi completed 82 laps overall, with a best time of 1min 56.749secs - a worrying 1.419secs slower than world champion Casey Stoner

"Today we have worked a lot on the bike set-up, but we were not so fast and we are still missing some grip in acceleration," he revealed. "We tested several different tyres and settings, but I am still sliding a bit when I open the throttle and the front is going a bit wide.

"We know that this track doesn't have the best grip, but other riders are going faster, so we must do better. We have a couple of ideas for tomorrow and I am sure we will be able to improve," he added.

"The lights are not a problem, but the temperature is!" confirmed team manager Davide Brivio. "Maybe it would be better to ride in Qatar when the temperature by night is a little bit higher. The track temperature is equal to the air temperature - low! At the time of the race it was only 15°, so it is a limiting situation concerning tyre performance.

"As far as the bike is concerned, we still have some work to do to increase our performance here and we especially need to improve the setting in order to make the tyres work better in the low temperatures. Tomorrow we will be testing new settings and materials from Bridgestoneand we will try to be faster than we were today," stated the Italian.

The season-opening Qatar Grand Prixnight race will take place on March 9.

 Gi

Qatar night test times - Thursday.

Friday, 29th February 2008

MotoGP lap times from the opening night of the Qatar test.

The two-night test marks the first time that MotoGP bikes have ridden on a floodlit circuit and the last chance for track time before the inaugural MotoGP night race, to be held back at Losail on March 9, opens the 2008 racing season.

The full 18-rider 2008 MotoGP line-up are present for the special test, which concludes on Friday night.

Previous night tests at Qatar took place on a partially floodlit circuit, using road bikes.

1. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1min 55.330 secs
2. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team (M) 1min 56.019 secs
3. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP (M) 1min 56.062 secs
4. Andrea Dovizioso ITA JiR Scot Team (M) 1min 56.121 secs
5. James Toseland GBR Yamaha Tech 3 (M) 1min 56.251 secs
6. Alex de Angelis RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 1min 56.571 secs
7. John Hopkins USA Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 1min 56.614 secs
8. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1min 56.621 secs
9. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team (B) 1min 56.749 secs
10. Colin Edwards USA Yamaha Tech 3 (M) 1min 56.762 secs
11. Toni Elias SPA Alice Team (B) 1min 57.007 secs
12. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1min 57.010 secs
13. Shinya Nakano JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 1min 57.223 secs
14. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 1min 57.522 secs
15. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 1min 57.551 secs
16. Marco Melandri ITA Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1min 57.593 secs
17. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alice Team (B) 1min 57.644 secs
18. Anthony West AUS Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 1min 57.787 secs


2007 Qatar Grand Prix - 10/03/2007:
Pole position: Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha (M) 1min 55.002secs

Fastest lap by manufacturer:
Ducati: Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro (B) 1min 56.528secs
Yamaha: Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha (M) 1min 56.717secs
Suzuki: John Hopkins USA Rizla Suzuki (B) 1min 56.939secs
Honda: Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda (M) 1min 56.951secs
Kawasaki: Randy de Puniet FRA Kawasaki Racing (B) 1min 57.710secs
KR212V: Kenny Roberts Jr USA Team Roberts (M) 1min 58.365secs


Gi  

--Last edited by Gisele_V on 2008-03-01 23:05:25 --

Rossi suffers final test frustration.

Saturday, 1st March 2008

"I cannot say I am happy with this test and speaking honestly I expected to be faster here" - Valentino Rossi.

Having been just ninth fastest on the opening night of the Qatar test, Valentino Rossihad warned that he and his team 'must do better' on Friday.

However, with just a week to go before the 2008 season opener, the Italian instead concluded his pre-season preparations by slipping one further position and lapping a full 1.7secs from the top.

Rossi and the Bridgestoneside of the Fiat Yamaha garage took a wrong turn on tyre selection and - after then 'abandoning' their initial choice - were left without enough time to complete a race simulation.


"I cannot say I am happy with this test and speaking honestly I expected to be faster here," confirmed Rossi. "Unfortunately we wasted some time working on the set-up of the bike to try to adapt it to some tyres that we then decided to abandon.

"Once we'd made this decision we worked with different tyres and things improved a bit, but the test was nearly over and we didn't have enough time to complete all the work we wanted to do. Because of this I did not do a race simulation, but I was able to make two good runs," he explained.

The Doctor thus ended the inaugural night test with a best lap of 1min 56.256secs, compared with 1min 54.552secs for pace setting rookie team-mate Jorge Lorenzo and a 1min 55.485secs for top Bridgestone rider Casey Stoner (fifth).

"Unfortunately [there] wasn't enough time to improve as much as we could have and I am still lacking a couple of tenths," he declared.

Despite an unspectacular end to winter testing, Rossi remains upbeat heading into his first grand prix weekend on Bridgestone tyres - back at Qatar, for the first ever MotoGPnight race, on March 7-9.

"Generally speaking however all of the winter tests, barring this one, have been positive for us; I was fast in Sepang and fast in Jerez. It's a pity that I wasn't able to be fast here as well, but we have some good ideas for the [race] next week and this does not dent my confidence," he said.

Team manager Davide Brivio also claimed to be confident for the start of the new season, although he admits that practice and qualifying will now be even more crucial.

"We expected to be faster here in Qatar, but we have collected a lot of useful information," he said. "We will have to exploit the next four hours of practice in the best way next week, in order to be able to fight at the front.

"We must improve, this is obvious, but we know we still have one full weekend to work on our bike. Generally speaking, our winter testing was satisfactory and so, despite this last test, we maintain our confidence for the start of the season," Brivio added.

Now I'm getting scared...

 Gi

I counting the minutes!!

3rd time lucky I guess! Hope!

For sure I want it to come Jackie! 5 months of waiting... I almost died!!!!
2 days... 2 days!!!!!!    

 Gi