MotoGP 2009 - Round One

MotoGP 2009 - Round One - Preview

Five months on from the final race of the 2008 FIM MotoGP World Championship, the 2009 edition of the series starts up on April 12th with the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar. The first of 17 races to decide who will be crowned the king of the premier class takes place at the Losail International Circuit in the Arab emirate, which opens the season for the third consecutive year.

The only night race on the MotoGP calendar, the visit to Qatar is a showpiece event for both the state and the FIM World Championship. The inaugural event under the floodlights took place last year, and was won by Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner.

Reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi has won races at every track to be used in 2009, but is still pending victory after sunset. The Fiat Yamaha rider was victorious by day in the desert in 2005 and 2006, engaging in his first head-to-head battle with future title rival Stoner at the latter event. Last season he finished fifth in Qatar, off the podium for the first of only two occasions.

The Losail International Circuit is a favoured track for former champion Stoner, the scene of his first pole position and MotoGP victory. The Australian begins the season fresh from a triumph in the BMW M Award competition in testing at Jerez, a ‘qualifying’ competition in which he rolled over the opposition with an outstanding lap. Attention will be focused on Stoner’s endurance, called into question by his not having undertaken any long run outs since undergoing scaphoid surgery in November.

Guaranteed to be at less than 100% is 2008’s third place finisher Dani Pedrosa, who missed the final test of preseason through injury and was a doubt for the Qatari round up until Tuesday morning. A testing crash at the scene of this weekend’s race left Repsol Honda’s Spanish star requiring surgery on his arm and leg, with his estimated return to fitness extremely close to opening night.

Jorge Lorenzo returns to the scene of his amazing MotoGP debut - where he took pole and finished second - after an injury-free preseason. He will be racing with Bridgestone rubber on his Fiat Yamaha M1 for the first time in what will be the maiden race for the series under the new single tyre supplier regulations.

Four more factory riders will be in action in Qatar, as Ducati Marlboro’s Nicky Hayden lines up alongside Repsol Honda replacement Andrea Dovizioso and Rizla Suzuki’s unchanged line-up of Loris Capirossi & Chris Vermeulen.

2004 Qatar race winner Sete Gibernau will be participating in his first MotoGP race since the 2006 Portuguese Grand Prix, whilst premier class bows will be made by Pramac Racing’s Niccolo Canepa & Mika Kallio and Scot Racing’s Yuki Takahashi. The 800cc field is completed by Monster Yamaha Tech3 riders Colin Edwards & James Toseland, San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alex de Angelis and Toni Elias and Hayate Racing man Marco Melandri.

Practice for the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar begins on Friday night, with the first 45-minute practice session for the MotoGP riders taking place at 10.30pm local time.

The lower cylinder categories of the MotoGP World Championship are on double duty in Qatar this week, concluding their preseason testing just days before the opening race of the 2009 season. Virtually the entire 250cc and 125cc grids are already in the Arab emirate for two nights of fine-tuning.

One rider, however, is notable by his absence. 250cc World Champion Marco Simoncelli is facing a battle for fitness after suffering a fractured scaphoid at the most inopportune of moments. The injury - picked up in a motocross training session - has required the insertion of a screw, leaving the Metis Gilera rider with a tough start to his title defence. He had been the fastest rider in testing at the Circuito de Jerez in the week prior to his crash.

Simoncelli’s late setback contrasts with the recuperation of rival Alvaro Bautista, who is in the final stages of recovery from a fractured collarbone. The Spaniard has returned to action with no signs of taking things easy, and looks to begin his quest to go one better than his 2008 runner-up spot on the right foot.

Another favourite ready to ride through the pain barrier is Hector Barbera, recently re-injured in preseason. Pepe World’s Spanish star incurred a knock to his knee in Jerez, but the blow pales in comparison to the back injury that forced him to spend five months on the sidelines.

Prominent riders making their debuts in the class at the Qatari race include Mike di Meglio and Gabor Talmacsi, the two most recent 125cc World Champions. Add last year’s racewinner Mattia Pasini into the equation, and the first race of the season looks to be a wide open affair.

The 125cc category has seen a preseason on-track battle taking place between Bancaja Aspar teammates Julian Simon and Bradley Smith, the standout riders of the past few months. Simon took the advantage at the penultimate preseason test in Jerez, but Qatar is one of Smith’s favoured tracks and the scene of his first Grand Prix pole position.

The duo’s teammate Sergio Gadea is the winner of the only 125cc night race to date, and as such features amongst the favourites for victory in a list that also includes 2009 World Championship runner-up Simone Corsi, German star Stefan Bradl and the dangerous Bainet Derbi duo of Joan Olive & Pol Espargaro.

The Losail International Circuit lies on the outskirts of Doha, the capital city of Qatar. Built in little over a year, the track cost $58 million USD and required round-the-clock dedication from almost 1,000 workers in order to get it ready for the inaugural event on October 2nd 2004. The clockwise-running track itself has a flowing layout of 5.4 km, surrounded by artificial grass designed to prevent sand from the neighbouring desert from blowing onto the circuit. The main straight is over a 1000m in length and there is a good mix of medium and high-speed corners.

-- HRC Preview

The MotoGP World Championship kicks off under the desert lights for the second year in a row with the six-strong Honda contingent ready to go racing.

The Grand Prix of Qatar marks the debut of the new 2009 line-up of Honda riders and teams. Dani Pedrosa is back for his fourth year in the premier class, now joined by second year rising star Andrea Dovizioso on the factory Repsol Honda team.

Pedrosa hasn’t had the smoothest of off-seasons. A left knee injury suffered in the Australian GP at Phillip Island last fall lingered into the new year, forcing Pedrosa to curtail his Malaysia test program in early February. Then came another setback when Pedrosa crashed heavily during a test here in Doha in early March, fracturing his left radius (forearm) and lacerating and bruising his already damaged left knee. Surgery and post-op recovery kept him out of the final pre-season test at Jerez de la Frontera, raising questions about whether he’d be ready for the curtain-raiser. But the tenacious Spaniard has vowed to be ready for the season.

Dovizioso earned a promotion to the Repsol Honda team with a solid debut season that included a podium finish in the Malaysian Grand Prix and other races when he finished as the top Honda rider. The 23-year-old Italian finished his freshman season fifth overall, the highest placing non-factory rider.

With Pedrosa injured, Dovizioso was tasked to do the bulk of the development work on the 800cc V4 engine, now breathing through pneumatic valves. Dovizioso was the highest placing Honda in the Official MotoGP Test at Jerez, though he admitted there was work to do before the season-opener.

The rest of Honda’s 2009 class of MotoGP riders is a mixture of the old and the new. After a year away from the family fold, Toni Elias brings the familiar number 24 back to the San Carlo Honda Gresini team where he’ll join forces with Alex de Angelis. At the Official MotoGP Test in Jerez, Elias, 26, made the most of his factory Honda RC212V by clocking the highest top speed. That should put him in good stead on the ultra-fast main straight of the 5.38km Losail International Circuit.

De Angelis is back for his second year in MotoGP. The 25-year-old from Rimini showed his diverse talents by taking fourth place finishes in the pouring rain on the tortuous Sachsenring and in the sunshine of Mugello. But he wasn’t able to capitalize on his best finishes and needs to be more consistent. For 2009, team owner Fausto Gresini will continue to mentor his fellow Italian as he continues to master the satellite Honda RC212V.

Scot Racing Team MotoGP’s Yuki Takahashi moves from a successful 250cc career to the MotoGP class. The Japanese ace finished the 2008 season on a high note with a second in the Valencia finale before stepping up to the senior class in a test the following day.

Frenchman Randy de Puniet is back for his fourth season in MotoGP and second for the LCR Honda team. In his first year with the team, De Puniet struggled to adapt to the Honda RC121V. He’ll need to be more consistent to keep up with the competition among his fellow Honda riders and the rest of the MotoGP field.

The first ever night time Grand Prix of Qatar took place last year, giving the best riders in the world a new set of challenges under the brilliant lights of the largest permanent venue sports-lighting project in the world. Not only does it turn the travelling paddock into night owls, with practice and racing deep into the night to avoid the relentless desert sun, but the shadows from the 3600 lighting fixtures on the 1000 varied height lamp standards play tricks with the riders’ perceptions at speeds in excess of 330kph.

The Losail International Circuit made its debut on the MotoGP calendar in 2004, giving the World Championship a foothold in the Arab-speaking world at one of the most modern racing facilities in the world. Sitting 10km outside the cosmopolitan city of Doha, the 5.38km track is fast, flowing, and wide open, a rider’s track that features more turns than any other track on the calendar, six lefts and ten rights. The constant high speeds and directional changes favour agile machines, while making tyre conservation critical.

With one of the longest straights in racing, the track showcases the powerful and punishes the weak. Power deficiencies are on vivid display and only the most diligent riders can make up the difference on the track’s many flowing bends or the hard braking first turn where riders slow from top speeds of 330 kph.

If the track has a downside it’s the blowing sand that can threaten traction. Artificial grass has been placed trackside to keep sand off the track, but it’s only partially successful and the surface can change without warning. Because the surface can be so tricky, the sighting and warm-up laps are more critical here than at any other track.

This will be the first grand prix with Bridgestone as the sole tyre supplier. The Japanese brand has won the past two MotoGP World Championships and also the past two races in Qatar. The 18-rider MotoGP field will have four front tyres, in each of two different compounds, and six rears, also in two different compounds. Gone are qualifying tyres, which will allow the riders to spend the entire qualifying session working on race set-up, rather than one blistering lap on a ‘q.’

Dani Pedrosa, who finished third here in 2008, said: “First, I’ve got to say I’m really happy to be going to Qatar for this race. It’s clearly been quite a difficult winter for me and not the preparation for the season that we would have chosen. But my recovery from the surgery in March has been good - probably a little better than we expected - and that means I have the chance to make the first race, which is great. Obviously I haven’t been able to do the usual level of physical training while I’ve been injured, and we’ve missed out on some testing time, so we have some catching up to do. But I know my team hasn’t been standing still while I’ve been away and I’m really looking forward to getting back on the bike and riding for the maximum result possible for my situation.”

Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso said: “Well, I’m really looking forward to the start of the season. This was my first winter as a factory Honda tester and it was an exciting experience to be in the full works squad. Now the preparation is over and we’re going racing. I like racing in Qatar, and riding under the floodlights at night is very special. It has an amazing, unique atmosphere and the layout of the track is different from the other circuits, in particular the turns are very long and it is not easy to get high speed corner. Still, I have always had good results in Qatar and last year, at my debut in MotoGP, I had a fantastic race. At the last test in Jerez our machine had improved compared to the previous test we did in Qatar at the beginning of March, so I’m confident for the first race of the season and I will be doing my best to fight up front.”

LCR Honda MotoGP’s Randy De Puniet said: “The winter tests have been very productive for me and the whole team. The Honda/Bridgestone package is working well - especially my pace on race tyres. I'm looking forward to racing in Qatar because I prefer these new conditions when the temperature is cooler and I don't have any special problems with the shadows on the track. We found a good base set-up in Jerez two weeks ago and didn't change many things during the last test session so we focused on tyre testing with good results. I feel confident for the first race of the season because my squad is still the same and they do a great job”.

Scot Racing Team MotoGP’s Yuki Takahashi said: “Next will be my first race in an unknown category. It will be an uphill course. Nevertheless, finding the limit is always fascinating. The pre-season tests were not enough to allow me to reduce the gap between me and my more experienced colleagues, and the next GP will be the first real chance to evaluate precisely what my position is. Competing in the night is not going to worry me; in the past, I hadn’t any problem”.

San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Toni Elias said: “We have struggled a little more than we expected in testing, but we know where the problems lie and it is good to be going back to a circuit where we already have lots of data. I’m happy to be going racing with this team again, with Honda and on this fantastic bike. Ideally I’d like to be starting the season in better shape, but the truth is we have work to do in a short space of time when we get out to Qatar and we’ll be pushing hard in every aspect to approach the race in the best possible way. Racing at night makes it more tricky for us, but Losail is one of my favourite circuits and I’ve started on the front row there twice before – both times with this team. I remember in particular three years ago we were three seconds off the pace on the first day and still managed to qualify on the front row. That just shows how quickly things can change in racing so we’ll go there with optimism, fight hard and see what happens.”

San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alex de Angelis said: “I love Qatar as a circuit; it is one of my favourites, but I just hope it is a little warmer than when we were there for the test so that we can get more heat into the tire, because this is the area we’re struggling with the most. We haven’t had much time to work on the bike this winter and it was a real shame that it started to rain after the ‘qualifying’ session at Jerez because we were planning to do a race simulation, which I haven’t managed to do yet this pre-season. It means we go out there with a few question marks, particularly regarding tyre wear over race distance, but even so I am confident and excited to be going racing again.”

Hiroshi Aoyama returns to the Scot Racing Team to lead Honda’s assault on the 250cc World Championship after compatriot Yuki Takahashi graduated to MotoGP. Aoyama will mentor team-mate Raffaele de Rosa, the 22-year-old from Naples who’s making his debut in the quarter-litre class. Valencia CF Honda SAG’s seven-time GP winner Hector Faubel will campaign a Honda 250 for the first time, teaming with Thai Honda PTT SAG Ratthapark Wilairot, the Thai rider who’s entering his third full season in the 250cc World Championship. Racing Team Germany’s young Swiss rider Bastien Chesaux is excited to make his 250cc debut on the team managed by former rider Dirk Heidolf. CIP Moto – GP250 Shoya Tomizawa is another class debutante, the Japanese rider learning quickly how to slide the Honda as he joins the world circuit for the first time.

Hiroshi Aoyama said: “The GP of Qatar is an atypical race. The test before it is of the utmost importance. If we had only the usual practice, then everything would be by far more complicated. The main point will be temperature and grip. I expect, for the race and for the whole season, very tough competition. Especially among the several riders that, as well as me, aim for victory”.

Raffaele De Rosa said: “Qatar? I like the track. As far as my result is concerned, experience is the main issue. I’m trying to learn how to reduce the gap. During the winter tests I’ve been impressed by (Marco) Simoncelli and (Alvaro) Bautista. We will see how quickly Marco will be able to recover from the consequences of the accident that occurred to him recently. Anyway, I expect to see a large number of riders fighting for the top ten places. To be in that number is going to be my aim.”

Shoya Tomizawa said: “Once again I’m experiencing something new. The Losail layout is like nothing I ever experienced in Japan, not only the track design but also the environment, so it took me a while to get comfortable. I’ll also looking for a more grip to improve the lap times I made during the test. At the moment, the rear is sliding a little too much out of the corners, but I feel comfortable sliding it. So the next step is to keep learning to ride the bike with this rear end sliding and getting on gas and keeping up a higher corner speed. It’s quite different from the stop-and-go technique I’ve used in Japan. The team is quite good, the bike is quite good, but there are so many things to learn.”

Ratthapark Wilairot said: “I believe in my abilities and have high hopes and goals for the start of the new season. I’m very satisfied with the Honda RS250RW and believe I can achieve great results. I was happy with the official test at Losail, so I hope to finalize all the major adjustments and the first race will show the improvements of the bike and myself.”

Hector Faubel said: “My two days of testing in Qatar were very helpful in preparing me and the team for the first race of the world championship. The race will be special, like last year’s, because it’s the only night GP with artificial lighting. These last few days I’ve focused and motivated for the first race of the 2009 season and want to prove to all the people who believe in me that I can be in the top positions.”

Bastien Chesaux said: “It is for me the first time that I discover this circuit; racing at night is going to be incredible. It is completely different. We haven’t got the same sensations at night as during the day. The track is magnificent with many high speed turns. It is impressive. The motorcycle has been progressing well and has a lot of potential. It is very healthy and very handy in the technical parts of the track. I am delighted to get started at this first race and am lucky to be able to run among the best pilots of the world. There is an excellent camaraderie within the team. We communicate very well and they understand me. I have everything I need to progress in the best conditions, to give me the maximum to learn as quickly as possible and make a beautiful first race.”

Racing Team Germany’s Jasper Iwema enters his first full season in the 125cc World Championship on a Honda RS125R. The 19-year-old from Hooghalen is the lone Dutch rider in the MotoGP World Championships.

-- Yamaha Preview

The triple-crown winning Fiat Yamaha Team of last year returns to action this weekend for the opening round of the 2009 MotoGP World Championship in Qatar. For the second year in succession the first race will be run under floodlights at the Losail International Circuit in Doha and reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi and last year's Rookie of the Year Jorge Lorenzo will be lining up alongside 16 other riders all out to claim motorcycling's biggest prize.

2008 saw Valentino Rossi return to the top after two difficult years, winning nine races, taking his eighth World Championship and ensuring that Fiat Yamaha took the Teams' title and Yamaha the Manufacturers'. He starts the season on 97 career wins - the second highest total in Grand Prix history - and although the all-time record of 122 wins, held by Giacomo Agostini, still stands some way off, with Rossi already signed with Yamaha for next year it is not too distant a target. The irrepressible Italian turned 30 in February and has put in a strong showing during testing, finishing second in the Jerez 'qualifying' shoot-out. He has two previous wins at the Losail desert track but last year saw him finish fifth, his second worst result of the season, in his first race with Bridgestone tyres. With a successful season on the Japanese rubber already behind him however there is nothing to hold him back this time and he will be out for victory this weekend.

Jorge Lorenzo blasted onto the scene in Qatar last year with a blistering pole position and a mature ride to second, belying his years and the fact that it was his first race in MotoGP. He went on to set successive poles at the next two races before riding to victory at just his third premier class race in Portugal. The middle part of the season saw him run into some difficulties with a couple of spectacular crashes and a series of injuries but he recovered well in the latter stages and took a total of six podiums in the season, enough to secure him the leading rookie title. With a year of experience now under his belt and having shown good form during preseason, including running second fastest at the Qatar test last month, the 21-year-old is undoubtedly a contender for race wins this year.

2009 sees several rule changes brought in, the most major of which is a single-tyre rule with all riders now on Bridgestone tyres. Each rider will have a maximum of twelve rear and eight front tyres per weekend, excluding rain tyres, with just two different compounds available to them at each race. In an effort to reduce engine mileage and therefore costs Friday morning practice has been cancelled and all other practice sessions have been reduced to 45 minutes. Post-race tests have also been outlawed, meaning that last week's test in Jerez was the last chance the teams will have to test this year's bikes outside of a race weekend this season.

The floodlit Qatar circuit features 3,600 light fixtures using 250, 1500 and 2500-watt bulbs and the system needs 13 megawatt generators to produce the required 5.4 million watts of power - creating enough light to cover an area equivalent to 70 football pitches. The bulbs are fixed on 1000 poles with mounting heights from 3 to 36 metres, all linked together by almost 500 kilometres of wire and supported by 300,000 kilos of concrete.

Valentino Rossi - "We're in good shape"
"Qatar isn't one of our strongest tracks but we still have a few cards to play and I hope that a little more work will see us improve for the first race. Tests really mean nothing once you get to raving, the situation is totally different and really we have little idea what will happen until we get there, it's very exciting! I'm feeling confident, we're in good shape even if we're going to what was our worst track during testing, but I am happy about the performance of my M1 in general; Yamaha have done a great job and so this makes me happy. With the new single tyre rule the tactics will become clearer race by race. I think a lot of new factors will come into play and strategy is going to be quite important to determine where you start the race. I think luck will also be a factor in qualifying, more so than previously! In fact, I am quite curious to see what will happen in a 45 minute race with so few tyres, it's going to be interesting. I've used the last week to relax, recharge and train. It's going to be a very long season and we need to be consistently at 100%. We will take it race by race and keep focused on the target, which is of course winning the championship once again."

Jorge Lorenzo - "Eager to start"
"I am feeling good and I'm eager to start the championship. Preseason has been hard work, but finally I understood how to be fast with the new Bridgestone tyres and the last day in Qatar and the test in Jerez have left me feeling confident and hopeful for a good start to the season. The tyres are very different and I have had to adapt my riding style, but step-by-step we have become accustomed to them. For qualifying it's a bit of a pity because I was a rider that was always strong on qualifying tyres, but it's the same for everyone so we will get used to it. I feel much more experienced than this time last year and much stronger as well, even if I was on pole for this race last year! My target for the season is to improve on my fourth position of last year; I want to make sure I improve year by year. The championship is too big to think about yet, for now I am just concentrating on Qatar. I also have a new number, 99, which I think looks good on my M1 and I hope that it will bring me luck!"

Davide Brivio - "Consistency is the key"
"As a team we're very excited to be finally going racing. Valentino has been strong during testing and we're not worried about Qatar, we still have some things to try and we're confident we will be fast enough to challenge there. The new tyre rule is quite exciting, it adds something new to the first race, but we're very confident because we've had a year on the Bridgestones and it's also clear that they've done a good job with the new tyres. It will be strange not having Friday practice, and we will have to make sure we're very focused and concentrated throughout to use the time in the best way. Luckily we have the most experienced team in the paddock! For the season in general, the key to winning the championship will be consistency. Our aim is to start on the right note in Qatar."

Daniele Romagnoli - "A friendly track for us"
"Finally we're approaching the first race and in quite good shape after our reduced winter test time. The main aim of winter testing was to find a good base for the new Yamaha M1 for Jorge and we have managed to do this, so we're confident that we can achieve a good result in Qatar, especially after the last setting changes we made in Jerez. We need to keep working however because it's clear that our rivals are very strong this year. Qatar is a friendly track for us after Jorge's great debut there last year both in qualifying and in the race. I think if we could repeat that then it would be perfect! It's the first time we're racing with the new tyre rule and we're definitely going to need to optimise tyre use especially for qualifying, but it's not a big problem because as I said we already have a good base. The team is excited to be starting again and now we're just waiting for Friday afternoon to get to work!"

-- Suzuki Report

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP travels to Losail in Qatar this coming weekend for the first round of the 2009 MotoGP season with high hopes, following its successful pre-season test programme.

Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen were regularly amongst the top riders at all of the 2009 tests, culminating with Capirossi recording the third quickest time at the final test in Spain last month, with teammate Vermeulen narrowly behind with the fifth fastest lap. Now both riders will be planning to continue with the good run of form that has seen the 2009 Suzuki GSV-R emerge as one of the most improved bikes of the year.

The first round of the season is the only night right race on the calendar as thousands of watts of man-made light illuminate the 5,380m Losail International Circuit to give the riders a clear view of the track and add yet another amazing spectacle to the already high-speed excitement of MotoGP.

The Qatar race will be the first time that the new single tyre rule comes into operation, with all riders now using Bridgestone tyres and no qualifying rubber will be available. It will also see a new timetable introduced, as the riders now have two free practice sessions - there were three in previous seasons - followed by the qualifying session to get the grid positions for race day.

Capirossi and Vermeulen take to the track at 21.30hrs local time (18.30 GMT) on Friday 10th April. Sunday's race will get underway at 2300hrs local time (20.00hrs GMT) when both riders will be aiming for glory.

Loris Capirossi:
"It was pleasing to finish the test schedule with a good result at Jerez and it shows how far the bike has come on in the winter. But now we have to be focused on racing, because we have to keep improving and try to get the best position we can. We want to be on the podium and winning races and I believe that is where we can be. Qatar has been a tough track for Suzuki in the past, but the test there earlier this year was quite good and hopefully we can get the season off to a strong start!"

Chris Vermeulen:
"Last week at Jerez we had a very good test and it gave us a chance to check a few things and get right into the racing mode in time for Qatar. We had an important test at Doha last month and we are going there a lot better prepared than the same time last year. Qatar has been a track that we have struggled at in the past, but the new GSV-R seems to be working very well there this year and both Loris and I were well on the pace in the test. Hopefully we can stay in the top-five at Qatar, because that is certainly what we are aiming for and if we can it will get the season off to a strong start and give us something to build on throughout the year!

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