MOTOGP Round 1 Qatar

From motogp.com
Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) delivered the goods in the first practice session for the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar at the Losail International Circuit.

The Australian brought forward his superb form from the pre-season tests, to the start of the Qatar race weekend and produced the quickest lap time of 1’55 752. This was over 0.610 quicker than his nearest rival.

Honda dominated the session with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) second fastest, but the surprise of the session was Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP), setting the third quickest lap of the 45 minute session.

All eyes were on the debut of Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) riding on his Desmosedici GP11 for the first time in a competitive session. After some disappointing performances in pre-season testing, he finished fifth, just being edged out by fellow Italian, Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team).

Current World Champion, Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) was 0.834 seconds off the fastest time set by Stoner and was one place behind fellow Yamaha Factory Racing team-mate, Ben Spies.

The gap between second and eighth was just 0.230 seconds, showing how close the competition is throughout the field in MotoGP.

The third Repsol Honda was Andrea Dovizioso who was 8th quickest and next, the Frenchman Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) in 9th position, who was making his debut for the team. The final place in the top ten went to American Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3).

MotoGP rookie, Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) finished in 14th after a difficult pre-season test where had suffered a nasty injury to his finger.

With all of the changes I'm looking forward to this season!

Go Stoner!

With all of the changes I'm looking forward to this season!

Go Stoner!

Absabloodylutly! Casey + Honda = Win

With all of the changes I'm looking forward to this season!

Go Stoner!

Absabloodylutly! Casey + Honda = Win

Deffinately looking forward to seeing some good results for Stoner. If you can't cheer for the green, cheer for the aussie

The top eight .23 secs apart. That's pretty impressive. If only there was a bigger grid

no glen, 2nd - 8th .2 seconds apart...

casey 6 tenths faster...

go stoner, go spies, go simoncelli and go randy!!

no glen, 2nd - 8th .2 seconds apart...

casey 6 tenths faster...

go stoner, go spies, go simoncelli and go randy!!

Ahh correct, well spied young man. Battle for 2nd and 3rd will be good then

no glen, 2nd - 8th .2 seconds apart...

casey 6 tenths faster...

go stoner, go spies, go simoncelli and go randy!!

Ahh correct, well spied young man. Battle for 2nd and 3rd will be good then

Until Stoner crashes out front, then it'll be 1st and 2nd.

no glen, 2nd - 8th .2 seconds apart...

casey 6 tenths faster...

go stoner, go spies, go simoncelli and go randy!!

Ahh correct, well spied young man. Battle for 2nd and 3rd will be good then

Until Stoner crashes out front, then it'll be 1st and 2nd.

Stoner only crashed due to the Ducati front end issues

Go Rossi

Looks like it will be Honda then the loosers...be interesting to see if these results are repeated in the race...
Who's been holding back...

Stoner sets the pace again in MotoGP FP2
The Australian’s lap time of 1’55:457 was achieved on his third lap of FP2 and was 1.3 seconds faster than his best time posted on Thursday in FP1.

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) was once again his nearest rival and finished 0.397 seconds behind his team-mate. Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) moved up three places from FP1 to be third quickest, 0.659 off Stoner’s best lap.

Stoner steals the spotlight in MotoGP FP3
At the Losail International Circuit, the Australian again dominated practice this evening. He recorded the best time of the weekend with a 1’55:035.

It was a Repsol Honda one- two-three, with Dani Pedrosa second and Italian Andrea Dovizioso third. The Spaniard was only 0.158 off Stoner’s quickest lap, whilst Dovizioso was a further 0.705 behind.

There was a marked improvement for the current World Champion, Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) as he got the edge over his team-mate Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) for the first time this weekend. He claimed the fourth quickest time and was very close to the lap time set by third placed Honda,

The top Ducati rider was Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar Team) who again produced a very strong performance in practice, finishing sixth. Ducati Team rider Valentino Rossi was eighth quickest whilst his team-mate Nicky Hayden was down in 14th.

Bautista out with a broken Femur :/

Hopper won't be subbing till Rd2 cos he's 20hrs plane flight away.. doh!

If Stoner keeps this up, everyone should just remove their brakes now. It's the only way. #motogp

I have watched the issues with Rossi and the Ducati and have prepared a rather long indepth engineering analysis of the issue however my shoulder is sore and i couldn't achieve the result I wanted.

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Valentino Rossi's new sticker for his front fender. Is this what he thinks about the #Ducati #MotoGP bike?
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Valentino Rossi's new sticker for his front fender. Is this what he thinks about the #Ducati #MotoGP bike?

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