Strong first session for Repsol Honda Team in Qatar

2011-03-17 19:42
At 19h55 local time, the first session of the 2011 season started at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar. This seemed a continuation from the test that took place earlier this week, with conditions almost identical.

Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner retained his position at the top of the timing sheets with a time of 1'55.752 and completed a total of 16 laps spending the evening fine tuning set-up for the weekend. His team mate Dani Pedrosa followed closely behind and completed 18 laps in the forty-five minute session. He experienced a rare issue with the rear tyre, a medium compound already used during winter testing with no problem, which his team and Bridgestone need to properly understand. Andrea Dovizioso had some vibration on the front end and he and his team will continue to work on this when Free Practice continues tomorrow at 18h00 local time.

Earlier in the afternoon, pre-season photos were taken for the world's media outlets. The Repsol Honda Team also took this opportunity to show their support for Japan in this difficult time, with a Japanese flag on their bikes accompanied by a supporting message of hope, to not give up fighting: "Ganbare Japan!".

CASEY STONER
CASEY STONER – 1st - 1'55.752

"We started of where we left on Monday and used more or less the same set-up - the wind is a little stronger than we had in the test but the track condition feels pretty good. We need to improve rear edge grip, this is an area we've struggled with a little so we need to improve that which will give us better turn in and exit from the corner. I'd say we're about 80% complete on the bike package, we have a few main areas we can improve, but this is always the case - you can always improve something, and if we do in these areas it will makes us a lot more confident. I did the whole session with the same rear hard tyre and I was happy with it from the beginning to the end, and this is good for the race. Finally the season has started, everything has gone fantastic so far but we need to be realistic and keep focused".
DANI PEDROSA
DANI PEDROSA – 2nd - 1'56.362

"I had a problem with the rear tyre that we need to understand. It's the first issue we've had this winter with the tyres, so I hope it's an exception to the rule. We started the practice very well, we were fast in the first exit and then we stayed with the same tyre, the softer compound, for the whole session. Even if I used the same compound during the winter test without any problem for several laps, today already in the second round I felt it dropped down a lot, and in the third and last one it was even worse. With only 45 minutes practice, the rounds are very short and you don't have much time to make changes. Maybe the tyre had a problem, maybe it dropped down a lot because with 125cc and Moto2 bikes on track the conditions were very different comparing with the test of few days ago, we don't know exactly. Anyway, the Grand Prix weekend just started and we will try with another tyre tomorrow to understand more. I hope we can take the best profit of both practices sessions to prepare for the race in a good way".
ANDREA DOVIZIOSO
ANDREA DOVIZIOSO – 8th - 1'56.592

“With four days of practice it is important to manage the tyres so today we used only the hard compound to save the soft tyres for tomorrow and the coming days as I expect it will only be possible to use the soft rear tyre for the race. The biggest problem today was a vibration on the front when I released the brake and this limited me a lot because I was not able to push and lean as I wanted. We need to understand this problem and solve it as soon as possible. Tonight my engineers will analyse the data and we will see how to improve this issue. I am not happy about my lap time, but I am confident that we can improve because I feel that we have margin. Today, I'm very proud as Italy celebrates it's 150th anniversary of unity as a Country, so I have a special sticker on my helmet to commemorate this".

Practice Results
1 Casey Stoner 1'55.752 AUS HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Dani Pedrosa 1'56.362 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Hector Barbera 1'56.421 SPA DUCATI Paginas Amarillas Aspar
4 Marco Simoncelli 1'56.441 ITA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
5 Valentino Rossi 1'56.479 ITA DUCATI Ducati Marlboro Team
6 Ben Spies 1'56.493 USA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
7 Jorge Lorenzo 1'56.586 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
8 Andrea Dovizioso 1'56.592 ITA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
9 Randy De Puniet 1'56.790 FRA DUCATI Pramac Racing
10 Colin Edwards 1'56.879 USA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
11 Nicky Hayden 1'56.910 USA DUCATI Ducati Marlboro Team
12 Hiroshi Aoyama 1'56.987 JPN HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
13 Loris Capirossi 1'57.366 ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
14 Cal Crutchlow 1'57.429 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
15 Karel Abraham 1'57.821 CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Motoracing
16 Alvaro Bautista 1'58.528 SPA SUZUKI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
17 Toni Eias 1'59.087 SPA HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP

Circuit information
First race 2004
GPs held 7
Laps 22
Race distance 118.360km / 73.546miles
Track length 5.380km / 3.343miles
Track width 12m
Longest straight 1,068km / 0.664miles
Corners 16 (10 right, 6 left)
Pole position Left

Losail International Circuit,
Al Wusail, North Relief Road,
Doha, Qatar.
T: +974 472 9151
F: +974 472 9246
P.O.Box 4611


Email: info@circuitlosail.com
Website: www.circuitlosail.com

General : info@circuitlosail.com
Ticket : tickets@circuitlosail.com
Marshals : marshals@circuitlosail.com


Circuit records
Pole position 1m53.927s (170.003Km/h) Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha, 2008)
Race lap 1m55.153s (168.193Km/h) Casey Stoner (Ducati, 2008)
Race time 42m36.587s (166.665km/h) Casey Stoner (Ducati, 2008)
MotoGP Wins x3 Casey Stoner (2007, 2008, 2009)
2010 Winner Valentino Rossi (Yamaha)

Source: Repsol Honda Team

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