Dani Pedrosa 2008

This weekend the MotoGP Championship gets underway at the Losail International circuit in Qatar with it’s second night race.

The Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa has confirmed he will be on the grid for the first race of the season after suffering injuries in a crash while testing in Qatar at the beginning of March.  Pedrosa missed some important test sessions and this will be his first time back on his machine since the accident.  Team-mate Andrea Dovizioso has proved to be outstanding in the wet as well as making progress with the factory RC212V.

Casey Stoner was a second faster than any other machine on the track at the floodlit test session and has won the last two races on this track.  However, he has not spent long spells on his Ducati Marlboro since the operation on his wrist during the winter and has admitted to not having the movement there that he had before.  Team-mate Nicky Hayden has so far been disappointed with his pace and has struggled to get to grip with his bike.  It was hoped that the Desmosedici would prove to be more suited to the aggressive riding style of Hayden but he still has a way to go yet to prove it to himself and his team.

Valentino Rossi is still aiming for his victory at the Qatar circuit after finishing down in fifth position last year’s season opener.  The Italian is happy with the improvements on his M1 machine and said that the Fiat Yamaha team have done a great job giving him the confidence to challenge any other rider out there.  Meanwhile, his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo will be on Bridgestone tyres for the first time on the circuit where he made his debut in MotoGP.

The Rizla Suzuki team with riders Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi are confident that they can make it onto the podium at the opening round.  The team have struggled on this circuit in the past but have consistently been in the top five in testing.

James Toseland is expected to be fit to ride the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha this weekend after suffering a second massive accident during the winter practice in Jerez on March 29th.  He had a huge high-side while competing in the BMW M Award qualifying simulation, leaving him with concussion and a broken bone in his foot.  His team-mate Colin Edwards has shown impressive pace during the winter test sessions and his more than happy with improvements made to his machine.

The Pramac Ducati team are hoping to be one of the front runners this season after an impressive test session in Jerez with the former 250cc rider Mika Kallio. The Finnish rider finished in sixth place overall and at times had got up to fourth while team-mate Niccolo Canepe, continued to struggle with pace on the Ducati.

Yuki Takahashi will be riding for the Scot Racing Team making his MotoGP debut and knows that he has a lot of work ahead of him.  The rookie rider finished at the BMW M Awards event in fourteenth place in his first competitive MotoGP race.

Sete Gibernau will be on the grid for the Grupo Francisco Hernando Satellite bike Team after qualifying in an impressive eighth place at the BMW M Awards event on the Ducati.  Despite concerns for Gibernau’s fitness the team know that they must work hard but are more focused after the Jerez test session.

The San Carlo Honda team have again Alex de Angelis on their team alongside their new signing Toni Elias.  Elias rode for the Satellite Ducati team last season and so also has a lot of experience under his belt, despite only finishing in twelfth position overall.

Marco Melandri for the Hayate Racing team was almost 1.5 seconds faster in his Jerez test session than he was in any of his races in the 2008 season.  The team have put the success down to improving set-up and new parts after a disappointing Qatar test on the Ninja ZX-RR.

LCR Honda rider Randy De Puniet, was much lower down the time-sheets than he wanted to be in the last test session and is still not comfortable with the work left to do.  The Frenchman is aiming to be in the top ten at the opening round after the team admitted to still having a lot of work to do.

This is the only night race of the 2009 and the first of seventeen races on the calendar beginning on the 12th April.  The first practice takes place on Friday night with a 45-minute session for the MotoGP riders beginning at 10.30pm local time.  On Saturday the qualifying practice takes place at 23.05 local time with the Commercialbank Grand Prix Of Qatar taking place on Sunday at 23.00 local time.

Casey Stoner

The annual BMW M Award event took place at Jerez on Sunday at this weekends official test with Casey Stoner on the Ducati Marlboro claiming the brand new BMW 135i for the fastest lap of the session.

Stoner set a time of 1:38.646 seconds aboard his Desmosedici GP9 machine with only 10 minutes of the session remaining and shortly before the rain began.

It’s the second year running for Stoner who was followed by Valentino Rossi, the 2007 winner on the Fiat Yamaha, and Rizla Suzuki riders Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen in third and fourth respectively.

The second Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo took fifth place with an impressive Mika Kallio for the Pramac Racing team on his tail to take sixth, despite a trip off track earlier in the session.

Andrea Dovizioso was seventh for the Repsol Honda team ahead of Sete Gibernau on the Grupo Francisco Hernando Satellite bike, Toni Elias on the San Carlo Honda Gresini and Colin Edwards on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3.

James Toseland, the second Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider, suffered a massive highside with only 15 minutes of the session remaining, bringing out the red flag while he was attended to by the medical team.  He was stretched off track and taken to the circuits Clinica Mobile, where it was announced that he was not seriously injured but was heavily bruised.  It has since been confirmed that the 28-year-old rider has broken the fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot as well as badly spraining his right ankle,  multiple bruising and concussion.

None of the injuries, however, should stop Toseland from being on the grid at the opening round of the MotoGP Championship in Qatar on April 12, and he will want to make it up to his team after admitting that he felt the accident was his fault as he was lacking temperature in his rear tyre.