MotoGP Qatar final preseason test results: Stoner edges Rossi

Ben Spies in fourth, Nicky Hayden fifth, Colin Edwards ninth in last preseason test before racing starts at same circuit on April 11

March 19, 2010

Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner ended Valentino Rossi’s dominance of preseason testing by edging out the Fiat Yamaha rider by 0.049 second after two nights at the Losail circuit in Qatar, where the ’10 MotoGP championship will begin in just over three weeks. The roles were reversed last night, with Rossi dominating the first round of testing on Thursday, but Stoner and his crew found something that helped the Australian drop his time by 0.314 second to squeak by the nine-time (and current) world champion on the final timesheets. Stoner set his time just before he became one of four riders to fall in Turn Two on the second night (Ben Spies, Nicky Hayden, and Colin Edwards were the others). “I am really happy with the test and the work we have done right up to tonight. In the first Sepang test we had a few things to work out but we have made constant progress. The latest big step forward with the GP10 came last night and today I was able to set a consistently fast pace. I have been able to work with the tires without putting too much stress on them and I was able to keep my pace on used rubber. I like the new engine a lot, it is more manageable and I am pleased to see the other Ducati riders, especially Nicky confirming that with fast times."

Rossi never approached his quick time from yesterday, most likely because he spent Friday night testing various electronics measures and a new spec tire from Bridgestone. “This has been another good day. We've concentrated mostly on the race preparation and it feels like we're now ready for the first race. We did a long run at the end of the session and we got some good information, which will help us in the race. Now that testing is over I am very excited about the season. We've been strong throughout the six days of practice and it feels good to have been fast here also, where we have struggled in the past. We have only tested at two tracks so we need to wait for another different one to fully understand the new bike, but we're in good shape. My M1 feels great and I'm looking forward to racing!”

Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovisioso surprised many by slotting into the third spot, improving his best time from Thursday night by almost a full second. “I’m really satisfied with these two days of testing because we took another significant step forward. I’m pleased to have the third fastest time today because we improved both consistency and pace, which is a result of the hard work done by Honda and by my team. Today we focused on fine-tuning the bike set-up and also the weight distribution. At the end of the session we wanted to do a race simulation but the track was too slippery because of the high humidity. Still, we have reduced the gap to Stoner and we are closer to Valentino as well. Of course we have to keep on working hard, but I’m happy to face the first round of the season with the machine package we have achieved so far.” His teammate Dani Pedrosa hasn’t had a very good test, as he uncharacteristically languished over 1.5 seconds off the pace and ended up 13th, struggling mostly with instability entering corners under braking.

Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Ben Spies continued to impress, finishing with the third quickest time on Thursday, and ending up fourth after failing to improve on time on Friday. Spies was one of the riders to fall in Turn Two on Friday, luckily without injury. “I didn't have a great night really but that can happen. Everything that could go wrong went wrong tonight. But I've have had a great winter and this was the first session where it didn't go the way we wanted it to. I'd had some small issues early on and went into Turn Two again and just lost the front. I wasn't really sure what happened but then four people crashed in the next 30 minutes so it must have got really humid really quick because something wasn't right with that many people going down in the same place. I did a few more laps to clear my head and got down to some decent times and I'm happy I did that. But it was still a successful test and I leave confident that I'll be competitive for the race next month. I want to thank my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 for all their effort in the winter. We've done a good job and I feel we're in a position to have a competitive start to the season.”

Nicky Hayden looks to have vindicated the changes Ducati made to the GP10 Desmosedici in order to make it more adaptable, ending up fifth quickest, a marked contrast to his preseason struggles last year. Today went better than yesterday, we took a step forward with the set-up and my lap time was decent. It is still taking us too long to get up to speed but there's no doubt we're making progress. Tonight I did my best time on a long run and I think I could have gone even faster on the next lap if it wasn't for the crash in turn two. Anyway the bike is working well, the team has done a fantastic job and I can't wait for the season to start now. I want to say a big thanks to all the guys at Ducati who are working so hard and giving me great support."

Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo rode well in spite of the motocross training injury to his hand that forced him to miss the Sepang test several weeks ago. The Spaniard managed to improve his time from yesterday, even though it was obvious he was experiencing pain in his hand, especially under the furious braking forces of a MotoGP bike. "Today my hand felt okay, maybe a bit worse than yesterday. Of course it's not as good as before the accident but this is to be expected. It's hard for me in the braking areas and I can't push any harder than I have been today at the moment, but I hope it will have improved a lot by the time of the first race. Our bike is great, Yamaha have done a fantastic job and you can see this from the strong performance of all the Yamaha riders. We've done a lot of work and tried many things, so I hope that these will help us when we come back here in three weeks. I will keep working to strengthen my hand and I hope to be in much better condition by then."

Spies’ Monster Tech 3 Yamaha teammate Colin Edwards was fourth quickest on Thursday night, but he didn’t improve his time on Friday and was one of the riders to fall victim to Turn Two. The other half of “Team Texas” ended up ninth. “It wasn't the ending to testing I was looking for but it wasn't too bad. I just didn't really have a great feeling with the bike tonight and we need to have a think about things before we come back for the race next month. We've got some work to do because I just didn't feel as comfortable on the bike as I did last year, mainly with the front-end. And I know I go good at this track because I had a good race last year and finished fourth. I'm not sure what happened with the crash but I did exactly the same as Ben. I was on the soft front tire that I'd not really run that much on the first night. But I was on my sixth lap on the tire, so it should have been ready to push. But I was down before I knew it and it is a fast crash, even if you're only in second gear. I'm just glad I didn't get hurt so close to the first race because that was a fast crash. I'm really excited about going racing now. It seems like a long time since Valencia and I'm sure we can have another great year with the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team."

Final Combined Times
1. Casey Stoner Ducati 1:55.353
2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1:55.402
3. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1:55.879
4. Ben Spies Yamaha 1:55.954
5. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1:56.115
6. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1:56.195
7. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1:56.504
8. Randy De Puniet Honda 1:56.504
9. Colin Edwards Yamaha 1:56.540
10. Mika Kallio Ducati 1:56.767

MotoGP Qatar final preseason test results: Stoner edges Rossi

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