2008 MotoGP Qatar

[Wouter Melissen]

Free Practice 1

1 1 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team DUCATI 1'55.870 17 19 327.4
2 48 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1'55.924 20 22 0.054 0.054 321.0
3 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP HONDA 1'56.221 15 15 0.351 0.297 313.1
4 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1'56.269 19 22 0.399 0.048 319.4
5 2 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'56.478 21 23 0.608 0.209 320.4
6 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP HONDA 1'56.525 22 22 0.655 0.047 311.5
7 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Tech 3 Yamaha YAMAHA 1'56.574 21 22 0.704 0.049 311.5
8 52 James TOSELAND GBR Tech 3 Yamaha YAMAHA 1'56.950 13 21 1.080 0.376 311.3
9 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'57.069 4 22 1.199 0.119 315.2
10 21 John HOPKINS USA Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'57.085 20 20 1.215 0.016 314.3
11 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA Ducati Marlboro Team DUCATI 1'57.137 20 21 1.267 0.052 327.9
12 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'57.287 19 21 1.417 0.150 317.4
13 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini HONDA 1'57.561 21 22 1.691 0.274 309.2
14 56 Shinya NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini HONDA 1'57.588 16 23 1.718 0.027 312.2
15 7 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'57.639 10 20 1.769 0.051 315.1
16 24 Toni ELIAS SPA Alice Team DUCATI 1'58.130 13 17 2.260 0.491 324.9
17 13 Anthony WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'58.912 15 21 3.042 0.782 314.0
18 50 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team DUCATI 1'59.006 16 16 3.136 0.094 321.1

[Wouter Melissen]

Free Practice 2

1 1 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team DUCATI 1'55.442 12 17 327.8
2 48 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1'55.453 21 24 0.011 0.011 321.0
3 52 James TOSELAND GBR Tech 3 Yamaha YAMAHA 1'55.812 16 21 0.370 0.359 312.3
4 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Tech 3 Yamaha YAMAHA 1'55.942 24 24 0.500 0.130 310.9
5 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP HONDA 1'55.963 11 20 0.521 0.021 315.5
6 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini HONDA 1'56.120 12 24 0.678 0.157 312.7
7 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP HONDA 1'56.234 21 23 0.792 0.114 311.9
8 7 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'56.279 13 23 0.837 0.045 318.4
9 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1'56.395 10 22 0.953 0.116 319.5
10 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'56.922 18 22 1.480 0.527 317.2
11 2 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'56.962 14 15 1.520 0.040 321.6
12 56 Shinya NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini HONDA 1'57.011 12 21 1.569 0.049 313.8
13 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'57.045 6 24 1.603 0.034 313.4
14 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA Ducati Marlboro Team DUCATI 1'57.091 4 22 1.649 0.046 327.9
15 24 Toni ELIAS SPA Alice Team DUCATI 1'57.311 12 20 1.869 0.220 323.5
16 21 John HOPKINS USA Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'57.416 14 21 1.974 0.105 313.9
17 13 Anthony WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'57.934 18 18 2.492 0.518 314.2
18 50 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team DUCATI 1'58.500 19 19 3.058 0.566 321.1

[Homem de Gelo]

Lorenzo's times are very encouraging. Perhaps Michelin do have the better tyres for these cool conditions.

Stoner is fast as usual since last year.

Repsol boys just keep out of luck.

[Homem de Gelo]

autosport.com - MotoGP News: Lorenzo grabs pole on MotoGP debut

Lorenzo on pole, Toseland 2nd. Nice start for the rookies.
Yamaha 1-2-3-7. Guess who's 7th!

Michelin totally dominated qualifying, but the race might be anothert story.

Elias' ruined Stoner's last attempt. Who knows what could have happened?

I can't wait for the race!!!

[Homem de Gelo]

The Ducati's were 4-14-16-17.
Stoner is either god on 2 wheels or the bke has his DNA. I bet on a bit of both.

[Jack_Bauer]

It's great to see James Toseland putting in a good performance on his debut weekend. He's a really top bloke from everything I've seen of him, really deserves his success.

From a purely patriotic view it's also good to see a Brit doing well. The last British WSBK champ to move to MotoGP (Neil Hodgson) didn't exactly cover himself in glory!

Of course, now that I've said that he'll probably drop it on the first corner!

[Homem de Gelo]

Wow. What a race!
Those guys were giving nothing away and it was like a cat fight for each and every inch from the word go. Stoner, really, really impressed me today. Besides how he makes the Ducati look from another category compared to his teammates, he kept his cool and rode to the top one place at a time. And it was not easy. The pnematic Yamahas flew down the straight and you could see from the 'wobbling' how he was pushing to not let them break away. I consider this another milestone victory in his career. Very championlike.

And it really did seem as if the top 7 were in a category of their own.

I'm very excited with the rookies, except De Angelis, shit happens.


Pedrosa rocked too. He certainly squeezed every singe milisecond from the bike and more.

Nightracing rocks.
Moto GP is back!
Casey Stoner was on fire!!!

Roll on Jerez!




And could Rossi's time slowly but surely be passing by??? I think not, yet. But it sure seems as if this is the hardest he ever had to fight against in Moto GP.

[magracer]

Great races!

I'm officially dumping F1 for Moto GP.

I'll be interesting to see F1 races at night though.

[2ndclasscitizen]

Watch for Pedrosa and the 3 newies, Lorenzo, Dovisioso and Toseland. Pedrosa was only getting passed because his injury stopped him braking hard. And how good were Dovisioso's moves on Rossi? Good stuff.

[faksta]

Dovizioso's fight with Rossi in the end was great. Much reminding Schumacher and Montoya and what they constantly had on track - several turns changing their positions.

And I personally liked so much both winners in junior categories - Gadea won with broken shoulder - great for him. Reminded me of Nuvolari. And Pasini's final jump from 3rd to 1st place was so unexpected...

[2ndclasscitizen]

Pasini's overtaking move was really good, an absolute ripper.