Preview Grand Prix of Qatar, Losail, Qatar

2012-04-03 12:50
The MotoGP World Championship shifts gears in 2012 with many of the top riders in the world now aboard the fastest, most sophisticated racing motorcycles ever built, and no manufacturer is better prepared for the new era that begins under the desert lights at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar than Honda.

Two very important technical developments have been instituted for 2012. The first is that MotoGP will return to its roots. The displacement will rise from 800cc to 1000cc, not far from the 990cc capacity of the MotoGP era from 2002 to 2006. The second is the advent of Claiming Rules Teams, which were introduced as a lower cost alternative to prototypes. The nine riders of CRT motorcycles will race with heavily modified production motors, such as the Honda CBR1000RR, in prototype running gear.

Reigning world champion Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC213V) was the dominant MotoGP rider in all three pre-season tests. The 26-year-old Australian seamlessly made the transition from the 800cc Repsol Honda RC212V that he rode to 12 pole positions and 10 victories in 2011 to the 1000cc Repsol Honda RC213V, setting the fast time in both Sepang tests and again at the final test in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain.

Stoner has been the most successful MotoGP rider in Qatar. His first pole position came in his very first MotoGP race in Qatar in 2006. Since then he�s been on pole three times and has led every GP, with victories in four of the past five races, including last year, when he began his successful 2011 campaign with a win from pole.

Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa was the second fastest Honda rider during pre-season testing. The Spaniard won three times out in 2011, a promising season which was interrupted by injury. Now fully fit for the start of the season for the first time in years, Pedrosa is looking forward to 2012 as the season in which he challenges for the title from Qatar to Valencia.
Pedrosa has been on the Qatar podium in three of the past five years, including a third place finish to Stoner in last year�s race. The lone night race of the season presents unique challenges and Pedrosa understands that the championship can�t be won in Qatar, but it could be lost.

Alvaro Bautista (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC213V) joins the Honda family in 2012 for his third year in MotoGP. The 27-year-old Spaniard has spent the limited pre-season adapting to the San Carlo Honda Gresini RC213V. With only eight days on the new machine in 2012, some of which were compromised by rain, Bautista heads into the season with plenty of work to do, but with confidence that his championship-winning Gresini team can carry him to success.

Bautista is one of a handful of MotoGP riders to have raced on the Losail Circuit in all three classes. In 2006, he won the 125cc GP from the pole, then qualified on the front row for each of his three years in the 250cc class. Bautista didn�t finish his inaugural MotoGP race in 2010. And last year he was injured in pre-season testing in Qatar, forcing him to sit out the season-opener.

Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP RC213V) began his 2011 Moto2 World Championship-winning campaign with a victory in Losail from the pole position. The win was one of four in the first six races that built the foundation for his season-long title run.

Now he switches to the much more powerful LCR Honda MotoGP RC213V as the only rookie on a prototype. And, like Bautista, he�s had limited seat time. Which means that the first race of the 2012 season will be the first in a learning process that will continue for the rest of his racing career.

Facing an even more daunting task is MotoGP rookie Michele Pirro (San Carlo Honda Gresini FTR-Honda). Pirro finished last season strongly with a breakthrough win in the final Moto2 race of 2011 in Valencia. The 25-year-old Italian, who finished eighth in last year�s Moto2 race in Qatar, is the lone Honda representative among the CRT set. The Gresini machine uses a Honda CBR1000RR engine built by Dutch specialists Ten Kate Racing in a British-made FTR chassis, with Showa suspension.

The completed machine wasn�t delivered until late in the pre-season, which put him behind his CRT brethren, many of whom had begun testing in 2011. Other than a brief shakedown test at the Imola circuit, Pirro has just three days of seat time on the FTR-Honda at the final MotoGP test of the year in Jerez. That will put added pressure on Pirro and the team when they hit the track in Qatar.

The Honda-powered Moto2 class that Pirro and Bradl left behind will crown a new champion in 2012. The rider seen as the most likely contender is 2011 runner-up Marc Marquez (Team Catalunyacaixa Repsol-Suter). The former 125cc World Champion had an incredible run in Moto2 that took him the championship lead at the Japanese Grand Prix. But two races later, a Malaysian GP corner marshal who failed to warn him of water on the track, with Marquez crashing so heavily that it put him out of the final two races and much of the pre-season with vision problems. Marquez has overcome the vision difficulties and was fifth fastest in the final official pre-season test, the only one in which he took part.

Leading the field of Moto2 riders was Claudio Corti (Italtrans Racing Team-Kalex), the Italian a scant .004s over Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock-Suter) after three days at Jerez. Luthi had been fastest on the first two days.

Luthi began last season by qualifying on the front row and finishing third in Qatar, and finished the season fifth overall. The high point was his win from the pole in the Malaysian GP. Corti was a revelation at the Jerez test having shown little of that potential in 2011. Last year he had a single top ten finish-fourth at Phillip Island-and only four other points-paying finishes.

The ultra-competitive class includes 17 grand prix winners, including Toni Elias, the veteran who won the inaugural Moto2 World Championship in 2010. Elias returns to the class after a difficult 2011 MotoGP season.

There are a number of new riders to the class, including Gino Rea, the British rider joining the Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 team in 2012. Also new to the class is Elena Rosell, the Spaniard who will make history when she becomes the first female rider to compete in Moto2 for the QMMF team.

As in the premier class, the smallest class in world championship racing has been transformed for 2011. The high-pitched scream of 125cc two-strokes has been replaced by the muted rumble of 250cc four-strokes in the all-new Moto3 class.

Of the 32 Moto3 riders, 18 are using Honda power and nine of those are racing the complete Honda NSF250R race bike, the replacement for the Honda RS125R.

Maverica Vinales (Avintia Racing Moto3 FTR-Honda) used Honda power to top the final Moto3 test of the season by an impressive .424 sec. In his rookie 125cc season, the now 17-year-old Spaniard made a head-turning debut by winning four races and finishing third overall.

Equally impressive was third place finisher Romano Fenati. The 16-year-old is a product of the Italian Motorcycle Federation (FMI), which is developing young Italian riders for the future. Fenati will race an FTR-Honda for Team Italia FMI in his debut grand prix season.

Also new to the world championships is Niccolo Antonelli. Antonelli is being groomed by Fausto Gresini, the most successful team owner in MotoGP history. Antonelli, who turned 16 less than two months from the start of the season, will race a San Carlo Honda Gresini Moto3 NSF250R Honda.

The searing heat in the desert east of Doha, the capital of Qatar, dictates that the Losail International Circuit hosts the only night race on the calendar. Doha is an increasingly cosmopolitan city, with new modern high-rises constantly transforming the skyline and no end to the growth. Because of that, Qatar was chosen as the host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, a first for the Arab world.

The 5.38Km track, with its ten right hand corners and six lefts, is one of the few modern race courses that was designed with a priority on motorcycle safety. There are vast safety margins and artificial grass to help control the desert winds from blowing sand onto the track. Not only does that make traction uncertain, but it also causes a condition in tyres known as graining, essentially excessive wear. The lap begins and ends on the 1.068Km front straight, one of the longest on the calendar, with speeds reaching above 330Km/h in the race and certain to be higher in 2012 on the litre displacement machines. It isn�t uncommon to see even the best riders overrun the first corner early in practice, as they adapt to the speed and occasional tailwinds. And it also isn�t uncommon to see the race decided at the finish line, as riders take advantage of the draft to make dramatic overtaking moves at the stripe.

The remainder of the track is predominantly right-biased, with a number of corners linked one to another, forcing riders to get the first one right in order to move swiftly through the second.

The first grand prix was run in the blistering daytime heat in 2004, while the first race under the lights was in 2008. The track is the largest permanent venue sports-lighting project in the world, with 3600 fixtures making the circuit visible for miles in every direction at night.

Another unique feature of the first grand prix of the season is that it�s a four-day weekend. Moto3 practice begins at 6:00 p.m. (GMT +3) on Thursday evening, with the first MotoGP race of the season on Sunday night at 10:00 p.m.


HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES

Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC213V)
�After good pre-season tests in both Sepang and Jerez, we head to Qatar feeling positive, but still have some work to do. This will be the first time with the new bike on this circuit, so we will need to spend some time on the set-up to put ourselves in the best position. We've always enjoyed good results at the Losail Circuit, but this is a new season and there are more competitors contesting for victory this year. I'm excited to get the season started and fight for another world championship.�

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V)
�Each year is different and there are always various obstacles to go through during a season. I�ve had good and bad races in the past, but a big part of these results are determined by how you have prepared yourself in the winter. I�ve worked very well this year, I had a good pre-season with the bike and with my physical training; I hope that luck is on my side this time, so we can have a good championship. Qatar is important because it�s the first race of the season, but you have to minimise risks. If you don't win this race you can still win the championship, but on the other side, a mistake can complicate the year. I�m ready. Let�s see how everything goes and where everyone is.�

Alvaro Bautista (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC213V)
�Finally we're hitting the track for the first race after preseason testing at Sepang and Jerez. I am really looking forward to racing again, because testing is pretty stressful. With so much work to do in and out of the box, the days are endless. Now is the time for the real action, for us to give everything to the task and experience that adrenaline that only racing provides. This will be my first race with Team San Carlo Honda Gresini and it's exciting, because the guys are working well and I think we have made the connection we need for me to exploit my potential in Qatar. I like the circuit, it's fast and flowing and has a nice long straight. Unfortunately, I am still not keen on the idea of racing at night. Even though the track is well lit it is still not the same as racing in the day. It is also usually quite humid, which makes the track surface slippery and even though the race takes place earlier this year I still think it will be a problem. Anyway, it is an interesting event and I have the machinery to be fighting at the front, so I will be giving my best to do that.�

Michele Pirro (San Carlo Honda Gresini FTR-Honda)
�I am feeling nervous, but excited ahead of this new challenge. Obviously I know I don't have the means to run at the front, but I will be giving my all to be amongst the best of the CRT entrants. Unfortunately, we only have 500Km on the clock, so we know we have a lot of work to do with the new bike, but we know the potential is there and we will do everything we can to be as competitive as possible in Qatar. The team is working hard with a lot of enthusiasm and I am getting along well with all the guys, so I am sure we can take a big step forward from Jerez. I like the circuit and racing at night is appealing.�

Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP)
�I am really looking forward to the first race. I like the circuit a lot and want to finish the race between place seventh and tenth. In qualifying my dream is to get into the top seven and not lose more than one second.�

HONDA MOTO2 RIDER QUOTES

Marc Marquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol - Suter)
�I�ve been waiting for this week to arrive. We are heading to Doha this Tuesday, where we will be starting a new Moto2 season and hoping to achieve a much better result than last year. The entire team has worked very hard this winter to be ready for this moment and I only have words of thanks for them and the sponsors. The injury is less and less of an issue now, something that is a very positive sign for the start of the World Championship. These have been difficult months, but once we arrive in Qatar there is no looking back and we must try to enjoy ourselves. The Losail track is one that I like: It�s fast, very unique and a place where I hope that the Suter can give maximum performance.�

HONDA MOTO 3 RIDER QUOTES

Maverick Vinales (Avintia Racing Moto3 � FTR-Honda)
�I am very excited about the start of the World Championship. Of course, you are always a little nervous when the first race comes around, because it�s when you really find out the true potential of the teams and riders. It�s more curiosity than nerves. I am keen to find out if we are going to see the same battles in Moto3 as in 125cc and which riders will adapt best to this category.
These bikes are a little easier to ride, which might bunch things up even more than in 125cc. We�ll see. It is definitely going to be a close class. The preseaso

Source: Honda Pro Image

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