Event: Qatar Grand Prix Free Practice
Date: Friday, 7th March 2008
Ambient temperature: 15 degrees
Track temperature: 14 degrees
Humidity: 32%

Jorge Lorenzo

Fiat Yamaha’s young new recruit Jorge Lorenzo heralded his arrival into the 2008 MotoGP in Qatar with an impressive performance on the opening night of his first ever premier-class Grand Prix. With the first race of the season taking place under floodlights in somewhat cooler temperatures than the riders have been used to at the desert track in previous years, it was an interesting first ‘day’ of the season but Lorenzo was unfazed by the conditions and finished in second place overall behind Casey Stoner.

This evening’s first free practice saw the youngest rider on the grid picking up exactly where he left off at last week’s test, quickly finding his rhythm and lapping consistently fast to finish the session in second. Tonight’s later practice saw more of the same as Lorenzo and his team worked on perfecting their set-up and, later on, testing a few Michelin tyres.

JORGE LORENZO – Position: 2nd Time: 1’55.453 Laps: 46
“I’m happy tonight because we started working from where we left off at the test and things were very good again. Honestly though I didn’t really expect to be second on my very first day at a MotoGP race! The track seems dirtier because the wind has been blowing the sand on to it lately, so I think that tomorrow, once the bikes have cleaned it a bit, it will be better and we will be able to push more. I am completely comfortable with the light situation and I’m not even thinking anymore about the fact that we’re riding at night, it seems normal. We’re still lacking a bit of feeling in the front and need a bit more grip, but things are improving step by step. We’ve tried a few different tyres and it seems that the Michelin’s are working well here; overall I’m feeling good and I’m very pleased with my pace. Despite my position tonight, I’m not thinking about the result at all, I just want to concentrate on doing the best I can do.”

DANIELE ROMAGNOLI – Team Manager
“Today everything went very well, although we’re not completely surprised because last week we were also quite fast here. We started from the base setting we had at the test and made some small adjustments to the suspension, and it worked well immediately. Today it was very important to select the best tyre for the cold conditions and Michelin gave us some good material to work with. We still need to keep working on the front feeling and tomorrow we have a few more adjustments planned in order to keep on trying to improve our package.”

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi, following on from a test here last week, finished the night’s work eighth on his Bridgestone-shod YZR-M1.

After suffering from a few problems at last week’s test, marginally warmer temperatures for the first practice of the night saw Rossi improve his pace somewhat, finishing in fourth after the first hour. He began to suffer from a lack of grip later on however as conditions deteriorated and the temperature went down and he was unable to improve on his earlier time, dropping to eighth in the combined standings.

VALENTINO ROSSI – Position: 8th Time: 1’56.269 Laps: 44
“Earlier this evening it was a bit warmer than at the last test and it was helping us quite a lot, because we were already faster and lapping close to the leaders. Unfortunately later on in the second practice the track seemed more slippery and we suffered a lot. We just didn’t have enough grip and we weren’t able to improve on our time from the previous session. We weren’t able to completely sort out the problem tonight but we will have a good look at the data and try to find the right step for tomorrow, I think we need a slightly harder setting. I’m really sorry that Pedrosa fell, and I hope that he is okay. I was riding normally, if not at lap record pace, but I think he was travelling faster behind me and wasn’t able to stop when he exited the turn and hit me from behind. It was unlucky. Finally, I want to say again that the lighting is very good and now honestly I am not really thinking about it, it seems like normal!”

DAVIDE BRIVIO – Team Manager
“It’s clear that we have some work to do and we’re still searching for the right setting to make our package work at its full potential in these low temperatures. Now the engineers will check the data carefully and we will try some different things tomorrow and see how we go. It’s a very good sign that the other Yamaha’s are doing so well because this shows that our bike is very good and that we just need to find the key to make Valentino’s one work as well as we know it can.”

TOSELAND AND EDWARDS OFF TO FLYING START IN QATAR
Tech 3 Yamaha riders James Toseland and Colin Edwards got the 2008 MotoGP season off to a flying start in Qatar tonight, ending the opening night of practice with the third and fourth fastest times. Just one week after finishing second in the floodlit IRTA test, Toseland managed to knock 1.1s off his best time from the opening session, shrugging off an early crash to make a confident start to preparations for his MotoGP debut on Sunday night. A best lap of 1.55.812 was the third quickest, just 0.370s off the pace of reigning world champion Casey Stoner.

One place and 0.130s further back was Edwards as Yamaha’s improved 2008 YZR-M1 occupied three of the top four places on the combined timesheets. Both Tech 3 riders spent the opening night assessing new Michelin tyres ahead of the 22-lap race, directly comparing the new rubber against the tyres they preferred at last week’s two-day test. Sunday’s showdown at the Losail International Circuit create history as the first MotoGP race to be held at night.

JAMES TOSELAND – Position: 3rd Time: 1’55.812 Laps: 21
“I’ve got to admit that I was a bit nervous before the first session and I don’t know why. I’ve been fine in testing but all of a sudden it dawned on me that this is it – the start of my MotoGP career. I was thinking too much about the unfamiliar things of being in a MotoGP weekend, and after the first session I just needed half-an-hour to chill out. I’m happy with my times and I’m just pleased that I have done similar things to what I did in the test. There was a lot of hype coming into the first race after my testing results and its nice to back it up when everybody is watching and its all official. It proves I can do well in this class. The track was dusty and dirty in the first session and I was using softer compound tyres just to get a feeling for the conditions. When I put the better tyres in I instantly had a good feeling, but I wanted to do a 1.55 on my second lap. I went into the corner too hard and should have waited a bit longer to build up my speed. I just lost the front. I’ve got to say hats off to Michelin and Yamaha. I don’t know how much Michelin improved from last year, but I know how much they have improved since I started in November and it has been a massive step. And for Yamaha to have three bikes in the top four shows they are working very hard.”

COLIN EDWARDS – Position: 4th Time: 1’55.942 Laps: 24
“Tonight was pretty good. I haven’t even touched the bike from the test and it is working great. The temperature was a bit higher than at the test in the first session and to be honest it was hard to learn a lot or get good information because the temperature will be a lot cooler at race time. The second session I tried three tyres. I was pretty sure I’d found a good race tyre but now I’m not so sure. I put the last of the three in at the end and I didn’t have high hopes for it all. But you can never discount anything until you try it. It ended up being the best tyre I tried and I did my best time on it, so I’m pleased with the way the bike is working. The goal is to get on the front row. My bike excels in turning and we’ve really got to be fast in the first three sections, because we are just lacking a little bit of speed on the straight. If we can start from the front row then we have a chance of getting a good result.”

LOSAIL LAP RECORD
C. Stoner (Ducati) 2007, 1’56.528

LOSAIL BEST LAP
V. Rossi (Yamaha) 2007, 1’55.002

バイカーブードゥー

Event: Qatar Grand Prix Free Practice
Date: Friday, 7th March 2008
Ambient temperature: 15 degrees
Track temperature: 14 degrees
Humidity: 32%

Jorge Lorenzo

Fiat Yamaha’s young new recruit Jorge Lorenzo heralded his arrival into the 2008 MotoGP in Qatar with an impressive performance on the opening night of his first ever premier-class Grand Prix. With the first race of the season taking place under floodlights in somewhat cooler temperatures than the riders have been used to at the desert track in previous years, it was an interesting first ‘day’ of the season but Lorenzo was unfazed by the conditions and finished in second place overall behind Casey Stoner.

This evening’s first free practice saw the youngest rider on the grid picking up exactly where he left off at last week’s test, quickly finding his rhythm and lapping consistently fast to finish the session in second. Tonight’s later practice saw more of the same as Lorenzo and his team worked on perfecting their set-up and, later on, testing a few Michelin tyres.

JORGE LORENZO – Position: 2nd Time: 1’55.453 Laps: 46
“I’m happy tonight because we started working from where we left off at the test and things were very good again. Honestly though I didn’t really expect to be second on my very first day at a MotoGP race! The track seems dirtier because the wind has been blowing the sand on to it lately, so I think that tomorrow, once the bikes have cleaned it a bit, it will be better and we will be able to push more. I am completely comfortable with the light situation and I’m not even thinking anymore about the fact that we’re riding at night, it seems normal. We’re still lacking a bit of feeling in the front and need a bit more grip, but things are improving step by step. We’ve tried a few different tyres and it seems that the Michelin’s are working well here; overall I’m feeling good and I’m very pleased with my pace. Despite my position tonight, I’m not thinking about the result at all, I just want to concentrate on doing the best I can do.”

DANIELE ROMAGNOLI – Team Manager
“Today everything went very well, although we’re not completely surprised because last week we were also quite fast here. We started from the base setting we had at the test and made some small adjustments to the suspension, and it worked well immediately. Today it was very important to select the best tyre for the cold conditions and Michelin gave us some good material to work with. We still need to keep working on the front feeling and tomorrow we have a few more adjustments planned in order to keep on trying to improve our package.”

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi, following on from a test here last week, finished the night’s work eighth on his Bridgestone-shod YZR-M1.

After suffering from a few problems at last week’s test, marginally warmer temperatures for the first practice of the night saw Rossi improve his pace somewhat, finishing in fourth after the first hour. He began to suffer from a lack of grip later on however as conditions deteriorated and the temperature went down and he was unable to improve on his earlier time, dropping to eighth in the combined standings.

VALENTINO ROSSI – Position: 8th Time: 1’56.269 Laps: 44
“Earlier this evening it was a bit warmer than at the last test and it was helping us quite a lot, because we were already faster and lapping close to the leaders. Unfortunately later on in the second practice the track seemed more slippery and we suffered a lot. We just didn’t have enough grip and we weren’t able to improve on our time from the previous session. We weren’t able to completely sort out the problem tonight but we will have a good look at the data and try to find the right step for tomorrow, I think we need a slightly harder setting. I’m really sorry that Pedrosa fell, and I hope that he is okay. I was riding normally, if not at lap record pace, but I think he was travelling faster behind me and wasn’t able to stop when he exited the turn and hit me from behind. It was unlucky. Finally, I want to say again that the lighting is very good and now honestly I am not really thinking about it, it seems like normal!”

DAVIDE BRIVIO – Team Manager
“It’s clear that we have some work to do and we’re still searching for the right setting to make our package work at its full potential in these low temperatures. Now the engineers will check the data carefully and we will try some different things tomorrow and see how we go. It’s a very good sign that the other Yamaha’s are doing so well because this shows that our bike is very good and that we just need to find the key to make Valentino’s one work as well as we know it can.”

TOSELAND AND EDWARDS OFF TO FLYING START IN QATAR
Tech 3 Yamaha riders James Toseland and Colin Edwards got the 2008 MotoGP season off to a flying start in Qatar tonight, ending the opening night of practice with the third and fourth fastest times. Just one week after finishing second in the floodlit IRTA test, Toseland managed to knock 1.1s off his best time from the opening session, shrugging off an early crash to make a confident start to preparations for his MotoGP debut on Sunday night. A best lap of 1.55.812 was the third quickest, just 0.370s off the pace of reigning world champion Casey Stoner.

One place and 0.130s further back was Edwards as Yamaha’s improved 2008 YZR-M1 occupied three of the top four places on the combined timesheets. Both Tech 3 riders spent the opening night assessing new Michelin tyres ahead of the 22-lap race, directly comparing the new rubber against the tyres they preferred at last week’s two-day test. Sunday’s showdown at the Losail International Circuit create history as the first MotoGP race to be held at night.

JAMES TOSELAND – Position: 3rd Time: 1’55.812 Laps: 21
“I’ve got to admit that I was a bit nervous before the first session and I don’t know why. I’ve been fine in testing but all of a sudden it dawned on me that this is it – the start of my MotoGP career. I was thinking too much about the unfamiliar things of being in a MotoGP weekend, and after the first session I just needed half-an-hour to chill out. I’m happy with my times and I’m just pleased that I have done similar things to what I did in the test. There was a lot of hype coming into the first race after my testing results and its nice to back it up when everybody is watching and its all official. It proves I can do well in this class. The track was dusty and dirty in the first session and I was using softer compound tyres just to get a feeling for the conditions. When I put the better tyres in I instantly had a good feeling, but I wanted to do a 1.55 on my second lap. I went into the corner too hard and should have waited a bit longer to build up my speed. I just lost the front. I’ve got to say hats off to Michelin and Yamaha. I don’t know how much Michelin improved from last year, but I know how much they have improved since I started in November and it has been a massive step. And for Yamaha to have three bikes in the top four shows they are working very hard.”

COLIN EDWARDS – Position: 4th Time: 1’55.942 Laps: 24
“Tonight was pretty good. I haven’t even touched the bike from the test and it is working great. The temperature was a bit higher than at the test in the first session and to be honest it was hard to learn a lot or get good information because the temperature will be a lot cooler at race time. The second session I tried three tyres. I was pretty sure I’d found a good race tyre but now I’m not so sure. I put the last of the three in at the end and I didn’t have high hopes for it all. But you can never discount anything until you try it. It ended up being the best tyre I tried and I did my best time on it, so I’m pleased with the way the bike is working. The goal is to get on the front row. My bike excels in turning and we’ve really got to be fast in the first three sections, because we are just lacking a little bit of speed on the straight. If we can start from the front row then we have a chance of getting a good result.”

LOSAIL LAP RECORD
C. Stoner (Ducati) 2007, 1’56.528

LOSAIL BEST LAP
V. Rossi (Yamaha) 2007, 1’55.002

バイカーブードゥー