Buzzin MotoGP

Rookie, Jorge Lorenzo led the way last night on the final night of testing under floodlights at the Losail Circuit in Qatar.

The young Spaniard was the fastest man on the track after a time of 1:54.552 saw him edge out James Toseland who had previously been top of the time-sheets.

Lorenzo, moved to Yamaha after winning the 250cc World Championship for the previous two years said “I am very happy because we have done two days of testing with a good rhythm throughout. 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.”

He went onto say “Despite all these positive signs we must keep our feet firmly on the ground, because I have never raced with the other riders and the first race will be a new experience for me.”

Second fastest man, James Toseland, who is the current World Superbike Champion, was only four-hundredths of a tenth slower on the Yamaha Tech-3 with Randy de Puniet coming in at third on the LCR Honda.

The second Yamaha came in fourth ridden by Colin Edwards and not surprising in fifth place was Casey Stoner after he low-sided off his Ducati on the second corner earlier in the session but in his usual cool manner just carried on with the job in hand and seemed happy with the improvements in testing.

Andrea Dovizioso was in sixth on the JiR Scot Honda followed by Nicky Hayden, the former World Champion on the Repsol in seventh.

In eighth place was Chris Vermeulen on the Rizla Suzuki with Alex de Angelis on the Gresini Honda and Valentino Rossi, five times World Champion, on the Yamaha completing the top ten riders.

Loris Capirossi had a big crash during the session on his Suzuki but was unhurt, he said “I also lost because I had a big crash, but luckily I wasn’t hurt and could carry on. Really this has been quite a good test because we have learnt many things. I tested three engines and maybe we lost our way there, but I’m glad we did it”.

The rest of the riders were placed in the following order: Loris Capirossi(Rizla Suzuki), John Hopkins(Kawasaki), Dani Pedrosa(Repsol Honda), Shinya Nakano(San Carlo Honda), Marco Melandri(Ducati Marlboro), Toni Elias(Alice Team), Sylvain Guintoli(Alice Team), Anthony West(Kawasaki)