Rossi takes control again at day one in Qatar

Thursday, 18 March 2010 (motogp.com)

The opening session of the final pre-season Test ended with Valentino Rossi at the top of the timesheets - as he has been throughout pre-season - followed by Casey Stoner and Ben Spies. See highlights here on motogp.com!

Continuing his pre-season form Fiat Yamaha Valentino Rossi was the fastest rider of the first day at Losail, as the World Champion set a best time of 1’55.402 on his factory M1. Setting his hot lap inside the final 10 minutes of the session, which ended at midnight local time, Rossi completed 64 turns and pushed Casey Stoner down to second position on the timesheet.

The Australian’s affinity with the track at which he has won the last three Grands Prix led him to within just over three-tenths of a second of Rossi, as the Ducati Marlboro rider maintained the same set-up on his Desmosedici GP10 that he used last time out at Sepang.

The fine progress that Ben Spies is making in the lead-up to his first full season shows no sign of slowing down, and at just over two-tenths off Stoner the American of the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team was second fastest. A crash at turn two suffered inside the final hour failed to take the shine off what was an impressive display, as he timed a fast lap of 1’55.954, the last under the 1’56” mark.

His team-mate Colin Edwards made it three Yamahas inside the top four times with a 1’56.540, and the Monster Tech 3 man will continue to test some new parts for the factory on Friday. He was just over half a second off Spies’ time, and both are set to ride a race simulation on Friday.

Randy De Puniet’s RC212V was the highest placed Honda and the LCR rider was pleased with his results. He also plans a race simulation for day two, depending on his physical condition as he has been feeling slightly ill.

Andrea Dovizioso of the Repsol Honda team rode 65 laps on his factory prototype as he aims to smooth out any lingering problems before the start of the season, and the Italian was sixth fastest with a time of 1’56.811.

Rossi’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo struggled with his injured right hand and was forced to stop regularly. Despite his severe discomfort and a trip to the Clinica Mobile for treatment the Spaniard did manage to complete 45 laps, with a best time of 1’56.838 placing him a respectable seventh on the timesheet – under 1.5 seconds off his team-mate and rival Rossi.

Ducati rider Nicky Hayden and Mika Kallio of Pramac Racing were eighth and ninth fastest respectively, and Dani Pedrosa’s pre-season continues to run a none too smooth course. The Repsol Honda rider was 10th quickest of the session after his 60 laps produced a best time that was over 1.6 seconds off Rossi’s marker.

Qatar Official Test

Session 1 - 18/03/10

Pos	Rider	Team	Fastest lap	Prev. Gap	Lead. Gap	Laps
1	Valentino Rossi	Fiat Yamaha Team	1:55.402	-	-	64
2	Casey Stoner	Ducati Marlboro Team	1:55.717	+0.315	+0.315	48
3	Ben Spies	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	1:55.954	+0.237	+0.552	44
4	Colin Edwards	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	1:56.540	+0.586	+1.138	59
5	Randy De Puniet	LCR Honda MotoGP	1:56.588	+0.048	+1.186	54
6	Andrea Dovizioso	Repsol Honda Team	1:56.811	+0.223	+1.409	65
7	Jorge Lorenzo	Fiat Yamaha Team	1:56.838	+0.027	+1.436	45
8	Nicky Hayden	Ducati Marlboro Team	1:56.855	+0.017	+1.453	77
9	Mika Kallio	Pramac Racing Team	1:56.923	+0.068	+1.521	72
10	Dani Pedrosa	Repsol Honda Team	1:57.047	+0.124	+1.645	60
11	Loris Capirossi	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	1:57.099	+0.052	+1.697	40
12	Marco Melandri	San Carlo Honda Gresini	1:57.605	+0.506	+2.203	63
13	Hector Barbera	Aspar Team	1:57.822	+0.217	+2.420	62
14	Hiroshi Aoyama	Interwetten-Honda MotoGP	1:57.888	+0.066	+2.486	75
15	Marco Simoncelli	San Carlo Honda Gresini	1:57.891	+0.003	+2.489	63
16	Aleix Espargaro	Pramac Racing Team	1:57.898	+0.007	+2.496	67
17	Alvaro Bautista	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	1:57.960	+0.062	+2.558	56