Sepang Test - January 2008

MotoGP 2008 - Round Four - Shanghai (China) - Day 1 - Dorna Report

Valentino Rossi´s morning lap of 1´59.906 was enough to take the early advantage in the MotoGP combined free practice standings at the Pramac Grand Prix of China, with not even the Italian himself able to beat his hot lap in the second session.

The Fiat Yamaha rider finished second in the afternoon runout, behind 2007 Shanghai racewinner and reigning World Champion Casey Stoner. However, Stoner´s 2´00.186 lap was not sufficient to better Rossi´s marker, falling just over two-tenths of a second short.

Both riders had grip problems on their final outing of the day, avoiding highsides on the sun-heated asphalt but losing time making corrections. Rossi ran off track, a fate that also befell Alice Team´s Toni Elias and Rizla Suzuki´s Loris Capirossi.

The top three in the combined results involved all three previous winners of the Chinese round of the World Championship, with Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa pursuing the leading duo at the scene of his 2006 maiden MotoGP victory.

Claiming a newfound level of comfort with his San Carlo Gresini Honda RC212V in Thursday´s press conference, Shinya Nakano gave weight to his statement by recording the day´s fourth fastest time. He was quicker than the likes of 2007 podium finisher John Hopkins and 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden, riding the factory version of the Honda machine.

Fully recovered from his Estoril tonsillitis, Alex de Angelis was seventh on the timesheet on the second satellite San Carlo Honda, ahead of Capirossi, JiR Team Scot´s Andrea Dovizioso and Tech 3 Yamaha veteran Colin Edwards.

MotoGP World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo did not come out for the afternoon session, having been taken to hospital for examination. The Spaniard suffered a highside in his first premier class Shanghai session, picking up a chipped bone in his left ankle and some damage to his lower right leg. It is not yet known if the Fiat Yamaha rider will return to action on Saturday as he looks to maintain his 100% pole position record.

Alvaro Bautista took provisional pole in an action-packed first 250cc qualifying session, as one of three riders in contention for the top spot in the final seconds.

The Mapfre Aspar rider had to work hard to confirm the position, with himself, quarter-litre category leader Mika Kallio and fellow Spaniard Hector Barbera all on pole pace on their final lap. Kallio occupied the place for just the briefest of moments, before Bautista bit back with a 2´05.035 hot lap as the session drew to a close.

Kallio was just under four tenths of a second slower than his title rival, with Barbera a further tenth behind onboard his Team Toth Aprilia machine. The latter was involved in a near-collision with Emmi-Caffe Latte´s Thomas Luthi, forcing the Swiss rider to sit up. Luthi finished the session in fourth.

Polaris World rider Mattia Pasini heads the provisional second row, ahead of Julian Simon, Hector Faubel and Marco Simoncelli.

Simoncelli was included on the list of crashers in the qualifying session, as were Doni Tata Pradita and Russel Gomez, who had a late coming together between their respective Yamaha Pertamina Indonesia and Blusens Aprilia bikes.

Stefan Bradl is on provisional pole for the 125cc Pramac Grand Prix of China, having recorded a late, late hot lap of 2´13.218 in the opening qualifying session in Shanghai.

The German, riding for Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing in 2008, has never been on pole in the World Championship, but is now in prime position to break his duck. He was the quickest participant in a session in which the top thirteen all rode round within the same second.

Bradley Smith looked to have taken the provisional pole spot with his own late surge, but missed out by just six hundredths of a second. Smith had earlier experienced a lowside crash on his Polaris World Aprilia. The Briton was not adversely affected by the incident.

The morning practice session´s fastest rider Nico Terol maintained his good form, pencilled in for the front row alongside the top two and Jack&Jones WRB team-mate Simone Corsi. The latter is the current series leader, on a two-race run of consecutive victories.

Reigning World Champion Gabor Talmacsi ran off track at the end of the session, and currently lies in fifth, ahead of Bancaja Aspar colleague Sergio Gadea, Onde 200 KTM´s Raffaele de Rosa and Ajo Motorsport rider Mike di Meglio.