Opening night in Qatar beckons for MotoGP riders

2009-04-07 06:20
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 runouts 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 lineup of Loris Capirossi & Chris Vermeulen.

2004 Qatar racewinner 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.

Source: Dorna

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