After the Qatar Practice- conclusions and comments

The testing in Qatar has ended, and now is time for summarys, conclusions and of course.... Gossip.

Back in Barcelona following his Qatar test crash, Dani Pedrosa will need an operation on his left arm on Wednesday to fit a screw in a fractured radius bone, with his injured left knee also in need of surgery.

Winner of the last two MotoGP races at the Losail International Circuit, including last year’s historical first ever floodlit Grand Prix, Casey Stoner showed his strength around the 5.38km desert track again on Tuesday night.

The night time practice visit to Qatar, the second preseason test for the 2009 MotoGP field, ended with Stoner setting the pace just as he did in the opening test of the year in Malaysia in February.

Stoner’s best effort of 1’55.744 was recorded shortly after 9pm on the 22nd of his 31 turns under the floodlights, the Australian completing far fewer laps than any of his rivals. The test saw him successfully debut a new carbon fibre swingarm on the Desmosedici GP9, though he was unable to undertake a race simulation and kept to short bursts on track as he rebuilds the strength in his left wrist, which was operated on over the winter.

Stoner crashed without consequence on turn two around ten minutes after setting his best time, but was back out on track within an hour.

Casey Stoner was relieved that his injured wrist was less of an issue during this week's Qatar test, but does not believe the problem is behind him yet.

Last year’s Qatar poleman Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) got closest to Stoner on the timesheet, though he was nearly a full second (0.989s) behind the Ducati rider, with his best time registered late in the evening. Lorenzo’s colleague Valentino Rossi completed the top three with a 1’56.972 effort as the only other rider to go round under the 1’57 mark, the Italian satisfied with a new electronics system on the Yamaha M1.

The top five was rounded off by Rizla Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen, his best time arriving on the last of his 70 laps, and Stoner’s new team-mate for 2009 Nicky Hayden who is steadily improving on the Ducati, who knew maybe this year he will be competitive again, one can only hope.

A major redevelopment of the Suzuki GSV-R has shown major improvements for the factory’s riders in 2009 testing, with times in Qatar confirming the step forward taken in the run-up to the upcoming season.

Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi were both amongst the fastest six riders of the test, separated by 0.029 on a speedy final night under the lights. The duo were pleased to continue with the progression made at last month’s visit to Sepang –typically a strong track for Suzuki- but urged further improvement in engine speed in time for the first race of the year.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards continued his impressive winter testing form after a successful night test session in Qatar.

A best time of 1.57.515 left Edwards ninth on the final timesheets, though he was consistently in the top three for the majority of the test as he continued an impressive switch to Bridgestone tyres.

After a short rain shower severely disrupted the first night and windy conditions made lap times slower than normal race pace on the second evening, Edwards was able to lap at a consistent pace on the final night as he experimented with a range of chassis settings on his YZR-M1 machine.

With the first race back at the Losail International Circuit on April 12, Edwards also took advantage of the improved track conditions to complete a full 22- race simulation in readiness for the opening round. He was able to maintain a fast and consistent pace throughout thanks to the impressive endurance of Bridgestone tyres. His best lap in the race simulation of 1.57.932 was set on his last lap.

There were also crashes for Capirossi on turn six, Niccolo Canepa at turn 13 and Yuki Takahasi at turn three, but all three riders were reportedly unhurt.

With a new bike and the least testing time of all the MotoGP riders, it was almost inevitable that Marco Melandri would be part of the trailing pack at the Qatar night sessions as he got acquainted with the Hayate Racing machine. The Italian propped up the timesheet at the conclusion of the three-night test, three seconds down on former teammate Casey Stoner, although it would be deceiving to read too much into the time discrepancy.

Stoner was a second in front of any other rider, whilst the difference between Melandri and fourth-placed Chris Vermeulen was just over 1.5 seconds. His 1’58.851 time is a point on which to build at his next expected test in Jerez and race return at the Losail circuit.

“It was an ok three days. We are pretty far away with the rear grip and traction, so we really have to improve and make some big changes to understand our true potential,” reviewed Melandri on his first test of 2009.

The next outing for the MotoGP riders is the Official MotoGP Test at the Jerez circuit in southern Spain which takes place on 28th & 29th March. They will then return to Qatar for the first Grand Prix of the year on 10th-12th April.

Qatar Night Test, Day 3
1. Casey Stoner, Ducati Marlboro Team - 1'55.744 (31)
2. Jorge Lorenzo, Fiat Yamaha Team - 1'56.733 (82)
3. Valentino Rossi, Fiat Yamaha Team - 1'56.972 (75)
4. Chris Vermeulen, Suzuki MotoGP - 1'57.224 (70)
5. Nicky Hayden, Ducati Marlboro Team - 1'57.225 (53)
6. Loris Capirossi, Suzuki MotoGP - 1'57.253 (42)
7. Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda MotoGP - 1'57.401 (77)
8. Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda - 1'57.449 (74)
9. Colin Edwards, Monster Yamaha Tech3 - 1'57.515 (46)
10. Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Honda Gresini - 1'57.591 (61)
11. Toni Elias, San Carlo Honda Gresini - 1'57.804 (66)
12. Mika Kallio, Pramac Racing - 1'57.938 (54)
13. Niccolo Canepa, Pramac Racing - 1'57.946 (50)
14. Yuki Takahashi, Scot Racing Team - 1'58.412 (61)
15. James Toseland, Monster Yamaha Tech3 - 1'58.786 (51)
16. Marco Melandri, Hayate Racing Team - 1'58.851 (73)

Bridgestone has revealed that it hopes to complete the majority of its 2010 preparations during this year's pre-season MotoGP tests because of the reduction in testing mileage during the championship.

In previous years many races were followed by one or two day tests at the grand prix circuits, but under the recent regulation changes these sessions have been slashed, with just two single day tests at Catalunya and Brno now scheduled. Practice time during GP weekends has also been substantially reduced.