| FREE PRACTICE REPORT | 09/04/2010 | | Lorenzo and Rossi second and third on opening night | | | Five months on from the final race of last season the Fiat Yamaha pair of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were back in action in Qatar tonight for the opening free practice of 2010, finishing the session second and third behind Casey Stoner. Last season's in-house rivalry looks set to continue with the Spaniard having the edge over the Italian tonight by just 0.002 seconds, the former emerging unscathed after touching a white line and sliding off his M1 near the end of the session.
Lorenzo, last season's runner-up, was on great form for most of the hour despite not being back to full fitness after his recent hand injury. The 22-year-old was looking comfortable and confident on his bike and was able to ride without any additional hand protection inside his glove. After sitting third in the times for most of the session a late improvement saw him better his team-mate's time by just two thousandths of a second, before making a mistake at turn 14 the next time around and going down into the gravel trap. He was luckily unhurt and is confident that he can make further improvements tomorrow.
Reigning World Champion Rossi meanwhile was a little disappointed with his opening performance and admitted he was expecting to be faster after his strong showing here in testing. The 31-year-old found he was lacking grip on the dusty track and he and his team will be looking to improve their setting tomorrow in order to get the most out of the Bridgestone tyres and close the gap to Stoner.
Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 2ndTime: 1'56.026Laps: 20
"I'm quite happy about tonight and about my hand; I tried riding for the first time without the extra hand protection and I was okay. I felt good on the bike and my thumb didn't really hurt, it was a lot better than at the test. We still have a few things on the bike that we need to work on but we have made a good start. It was a pity to crash, I was pushing hard at the time and I just made a small mistake, touching the white line; these things happen and luckily I didn't hurt myself. Tomorrow we'll continue our work and try to improve more." |
| Valentino Rossi - Position: 3rdTime: 1'56.028Laps: 23
"Honestly I expected to be faster today - the lap time is not bad but it could be better. The conditions are much better than during the test, it's warmer and a lot less humid so I'm happy about that, but we don't have enough grip and I was sliding quite a lot so we need to try to find a way to improve this. Stoner is always very fast here and I hope we can close the gap to him by making some small changes to our suspension. If we can stop the bike sliding then we will be a lot faster."
Wilco Zeelenberg - Team Manager
"Apart from the crash we're very satisfied with this first official session of the year. Jorge was on a quick lap when he touched the white line and went down, this is just one of those things that happens to every rider now and again and luckily he wasn't hurt. It was encouraging to see Jorge's level after missing some testing and we can see that he is already competitive. The bike is good and the speed is there; there are just a few small details to work on but we've made a good start."
Davide Brivio - Team Manager
"Tonight we checked the different Bridgestone tyres and also made some small adjustments to the balance of the bike, but we still need to improve our setting. At the moment we're not getting the full potential of our tyres and this is slowing us down. We are not too far off but we can be better so we'll work hard tomorrow to make a step forward."
Spies and Edwards kick off 2010 MotoGP challenge in Qatar
Ben Spies kicked off his first full MotoGP campaign in Qatar tonight with a promising ride to sixth position on his debut for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team.
Making only his second appearance under the spectacular Losail International Circuit floodlights after a brilliant fourth place in last month's night test, the Texan started strongly and was immediately able to post competitive lap times.
Quickly into a fast and consistent rhythm in the early stages of the eagerly anticipated first session of the season, Spies was challenging in the top three behind Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi.
Spies, who won both World Superbike races in Qatar last year, spent the majority of the session evaluating the harder compound Bridgestone rear tyre in readiness for Sunday night's 22-lap race.
It was a tactic that paid off handsomely for the 25-year-old, who posted his best lap of 1.56.818 on his 21st lap, just one lap shy of full race distance.
Fellow Texan Colin Edwards started his third season in the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 squad by clocking the 12th fastest time in hot conditions as air temperatures hit 26 degrees. A best lap of 1.57.167 was less than 0.5s off the fourth best time set by Andrea Dovizioso.
Edwards was able to run in the top six for part of the session as he worked tirelessly with his crew to improve front-end feel on his Yamaha YZR-M1 machine. Edwards, who finished fourth in the Qatar MotoGP race a year ago, is confident weight distribution changes planned for tomorro w's practice and qualifying will bolster his hopes of a successful start to the season. |
| Ben Spies - Position: 6th Time: 1'56.818Laps: 22
I didn't want anything crazy to go on with it being the first race. I wanted to be in the top ten for the first session of the year because the last time I rode the bike I fell, so I just wanted to clear my head and get off to a good start. To be in the top ten in the first session and right in sixth, I'm happy with that. We never really threw a lap time in and the session was pretty smooth. We went out on the hard tyres and it was good. We did our quickest lap on the 21st lap, which is close to a full race. Every time we went out the times were getting faster. Besides the top three guys, I think we've got pretty good speed, which is really important. We need to get some time on the softer tyre so when qualifying comes we can use it to its full potential. I still think we've got a second at least with fresh hard tyres on the bike, so I'm pretty happy about that." |
| Colin Edwards - Position: 12thTime: 1'57.167 Laps: 22
"I left the test last month in a bit of a grey area and wondering about a couple of things because the bike has a different geometry this year and it's changed the feel a bit. I've been trying to adapt to it but I need to make some changes and bring the set-up closer to what I had last year. Right now I'm not feeling all that comfortable. I feel like I'm chasing the bike on the front and it doesn't turn until I open the throttle. With this bike you can't ride it without momentum. That's one of its strong points and right now I can't take advantage of that. We'll take some weight off the front for tomorrow night and in my opinion that will help. I think 12th is a bit of a false position because I'm sure with some changes I'v e got another second in me. Right now there's too many corners where I can't carry the momentum I want. But I'm confident we can improve a lot." |
| | 2010 MotoGP Qatar - Doha/Losail 09/04/2010 | | Pos. | Rider | Manu. | Nat. | Total Time | | 1 | Casey Stoner | Ducati | AUS | 1'55.500 | | 2 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | ESP | 1'26.000 | | 3 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | ITA | 1'28.000 | | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Honda | ITA | 1'56.698 | | 5 | Nicky Hayden | Ducati | USA | 1'56.739 | | 6 | Ben Spies | Yamaha | USA | 1'56.818 | | 7 | Alvaro Bautista | Suzuki | ESP | 1'56.998 | | 8 | Randy De Puniet | Honda | FRA | 1'57.031 | | 9 | Mika Kallio | Ducati | FIN | 1'57.059 | | 10 | Hector Barbera | Ducati | ESP | 1'57.105 | | 11 | Daniel Pedrosa | Honda | ESP | 1'57.133 | | 12 | Colin Edwards | Yamaha | USA | 1'57.167 | | 13 | Loris Capirossi | Suzuki | ITA | 1'57.363 | | 14 | Marco Simoncelli | Honda | ITA | 1'57.535 | | 15 | Aleix Espargaro | Ducati | ESP | 1'57.605 |
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