Qualifying Results
1 Casey Stoner 1’54.137 AUS HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Dani Pedrosa 1’54.342 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Jorge Lorenzo 1’54.947 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
4 Marco Simoncelli 1’54.988 ITA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
5 Ben Spies 1’55.095 USA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
6 Hector Barbera 1’55.223 SPA DUCATI Paginas Amarillas Aspar
7 Andrea Dovizioso 1’55.229 ITA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
8 Cal Crutchlow 1’55.578 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
9 Valentino Rossi 1’55.637 ITA DUCATI Ducati Marlboro Team
10 Colin Edwards 1’55.647 USA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
11 Randy De Puniet 1’55.656 FRA DUCATI Pramac Racing
12 Hiroshi Aoyama 1’55.724 JPN HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
13 Nicky Hayden 1’55.881 USA DUCATI Ducati Marlboro Team
14 Loris Capirossi 1’56.323 ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
15 Karel Abraham 1’56.665 CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Motoracing
16 Toni Eias 1’57.992 SPA HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
After dominating all three practice sessions at Losail Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) clinched the first pole of the 2011 season, the 27th of his career, for the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar with a fine display in qualifying on Saturday evening.
The MotoGP class was presented with warmer temperatures and less wind compared to the two previous days during the hour-long qualifying session. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) was the only man who could compete with Stoner’s brilliance and took provisional pole off him during the session, but ended up 0.205s behind when Stoner blitzed his lap time with a pole position lap of 1’54.137. Pedrosa will now make his first ever front row start at the Losail International Circuit.
The final place on the front row went to Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) who finished 0.810s behind Stoner. Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) was the surprise of the session with a great lap to finish fourth fastest, just four-hundredths slower than the current MotoGP World Champion. Ben Spies on the second factory Yamaha was fifth, with the top Ducati again Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar Team) who was sixth fastest, 1.086s off the time set by Stoner.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 again produced a good showing with the sole British representative Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech) managing eighth place on the grid for his first MotoGP race, despite the awkward injury to his finger. Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso heads up the second row after timing in seventh fastest, whilst Valentino Rossi will start from the third row on his Ducati debut after setting the ninth fastest lap, precisely 1.5s off Stoner’s time. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards completed the top ten in QP, which Álvaro Bautista missed after undergoing surgery on a fractured left femur he suffered in a practice session crash on Friday.
In Moto2 Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) converted his practice session pace into pole position for the intermediate category race. A lap of 2’00.168 secured the German rider the first pole of his World Championship career to date.
Reigning 125 World Champion Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) will join the German on the front row after finishing 0.207s behind, with Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) completing the front row as the new three riders per row format comes into effect for the Moto2 and 125 classes.
Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing), Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing) and one of the title favourites for 2011 Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar) took second-row spots, with Moto2 debutant Bradley Smith (Tech 3), Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2), Michele Pirro (Gresini Racing Moto2) and Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing) all inside the top ten.
Nico Terol (Bankia Aspar) achieved pole with a late lap in the 125 session, beating Sandro Cortese (Intact Racing Team Germany) to top spot by 0.090s in the dying moments of the 40-minute run with a lap of 2’06.605.
.Efrén Vázquez will occupy the third and final spot on the front row, with 125 returnees Sergio Gadea (PEV-Blusens-SMX Paris Hilton) and Héctor Faubel (Bankia Aspar) joined by Jonas Folger (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) on row two. Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) was seventh fastest and was the last rider to achieve a lap time within two seconds of the pole sitter, with Alberto Moncayo (Team Andalucía Banca Cívica), rookie Maverick Viñales (PEV-Blusens-SMX Paris Hilton) and Luis Salom (RW Racing GP) completing the top ten.
The Moto2 and 125 classes both completed their warm up sessions on Saturday evening. The MotoGP class will warm up at 6pm local time on Sunday, with the 125 race scheduled for 7pm, Moto2 at 8.15pm and MotoGP at 10pm.
– HRC Report
The 2011 MotoGP World Championship will begin with Honda riders on the first two spots of the grid following a dominant performance in final qualifying under the desert lights of the Losail International Circuit in Qatar.
Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC212V) continued the strong form he’s shown throughout winter testing and this inaugural race weekend by taking the season’s first MotoGP pole in the one hour session, held late on Saturday evening. Stoner, who was fastest in all three free practice sessions, lapped the 5.380k circuit in 1m, 54.137s.. The lap was fastest of all by a comfortable .205s as Stoner continues to showcase his ability to adapt the machine which he first rode at the end of last season.
Though the lap wasn’t the fastest qualifying mark ever, it was the fastest of the control tyre era and not far from the outright mark set in the last year of qualifying tyres.
The pole was the 23rd of Stoner’s MotoGP career, his 27th overall, and his second in the MotoGP class aboard a Honda. His first came at this track in 2006 in only his second MotoGP race.
Second on the grid is Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V), the Spaniard who’s been the only rider to keep Stoner honest this week. Pedrosa was second to Stoner in all three practice sessions and led Friday’s final 45-minute practice until Stoner went faster in the closing stages. Still, the two Repsol Honda riders have been so consistently fast that many of their rivals have admitted that beating them in Sunday’s curtain-raiser will be difficult.
Stoner and Pedrosa had a thrilling back and forth battle in the closing stages of the session that went to Stoner, though Pedrosa is quite strong and the speed of the two riders has them in a class by themselves.
Second year MotoGP rider Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) will start his second season from the fourth spot on the grid after coming within .041s of his first front row start. The Italian, who has full factory machinery, wasn’t confident ahead of qualifying based on Friday’s practice, but after adjustments by the team to the race set-up, he was able to pick up the pace. His only concern was fuel consumption on a track with a very long straightaway and a number of hard accelerating corner exits.
The third member of the Repsol Honda team, Andrea Dovizioso, wanted to join his team-mates on the front row before ultimately qualifying on the row three pole. The problem was with his qualifying tyre, which he didn’t make the most of, though on race rubber he was confident of being able to challenge for a podium. The one area that needed improvement was stability under braking, which he planned to address in tomorrow night’s “morning” warm-up.
Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) made his MotoGP debut here last year by qualifying tenth fastest, two spots higher than today’s mark. He wasn’t happy with that position, but believes his race set-up will suit the nighttime race. Aoyama was on his way to improving his grid spot before hitting traffic that denied him the chance.
Toni Elias (LCR Honda MotoGP) had a difficult evening in his first MotoGP qualifying session in more than a year. The 2010 Moto2 World Champion has struggled to find rear tyre grip throughout the pre-season and those struggles continued here this weekend. Complicating matters is that the Losail circuit is set in the desert, with gusting winds often blowing fine sand onto the racing surface, which was uncommonly cool this evening.
The top three riders in Moto2 were a mixture of young and more young, and vastly superior to the remainder of the 39-rider field.
Earning his first ever pole position was Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing-Kalex), the son of former 250cc World Championship runner-up Helmut Bradl. Bradl was fast here last year, but was involved in a collision on the first lap of the first ever Moto2 race when he and Alex de Angelis high-sided in turn three after de Angelis had machine problems. Bradl said he wanted to put that incident behind him and concentrate on this race, which he’ll begin with a slight advantage over Marc Marquez following his lap of 2m, 01.68s.
Marquez (Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol-Suter), the 125cc World Champion, was impressive in his Moto2 debut. The young Spaniard made Bradl work for his pole position, while showing that he’d instantly adapted to the larger, Honda-powered four-stroke. The grid position wasn’t that surprising since Marquez has been fast from the start of Moto2 testing. The protégé of Emilio Alzamora was on provisional pole when Bradl stole it from him in the last five minutes. Still, second in his first Moto2 race is heady stuff.
Swiss rider Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) finished .621s behind Marquez to complete the new front row makeup. Starting with this race, the grids of all grand prix classes are three across, which MotoGP has been for some time. It was the gap behind him that was more noteworthy. Luthi had over a second on fourth fastest Yuki Takahashi.
MotoGP Rider Quotes:
Casey Stoner, Repsol Honda: 1st – 1m, 54.137s: “We can’t ask for a much better weekend, everything has gone well and the team have made all the right steps and gradually improved the bike as the weekend progressed. Tonight I was able to achieve good, consistent lap times again on the hard tyre and this is important for the race tomorrow. As ever, we will keep our feet on the ground as we’ve had good starts to seasons in the past and then they haven’t played out as expected, we just need to keep working and ensure that we continue to progress. We’ve done all our homework and the best job possible, now I just want to get the season started.”
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 2nd – 1m, 54.342s “The weekend has been very good for us so far, I’ve been running at the top in every session and I’m very happy to be on the front row in Losail for the first time; this is a big improvement for me. Nevertheless, we have to focus on the race, Casey is running very fast, also Lorenzo is improving very quickly, so we have to focus making no mistakes tomorrow. I don’t know yet if the race will be a fight between Casey and myself. We’ve never run at 10:00 pm, so I hope the bike works well after 125 cc and Moto2 races. I want to prepare as best as possible for tomorrow and be ready to be consistent for 22 laps. The race will be fast, I guess, so we will need to maintain a high pace. I hope I will be able to do it and fight for the victory.”
Marco Simoncelli, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 4th – 1m, 54.988s “Today went well and I’m happy because after practice yesterday I never thought about the fourth time. In this round we have made some small changes and we went a lot better in race trim. Then on the “dry” lap I have been strong and I came within .041s of the front row. I’m still a bit concerned about fuel consumption, but we will still talk about it before the race. In any case, starting from the front is already quite an advantage and that will allow me to consume less fuel. Of course the two who have gone ahead are very strong and will dispute the race between themselves, but I will fight for a position of prestige.”
Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda:, 7th – 1m, 55.229s “I’m disappointed with the third row, I need to improve the use of the soft tyre for a better qualifying. The positive point is that we have a good pace to fight for a podium spot, this is our target tomorrow. We will work during the warm up to improve the set up to get more stability at the beginning of the braking and I hope to gain more confidence and find a good stability in the front. For the race it will be very important to have a good start and arrive at turn 1 close to the first riders. It is impossible to catch Casey, I will try to maintain contact with Dani, Lorenzo and Spies. It’s important to start the season with a good result and I will give everything in the race.”
Hiroshi Aoyama, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 12th – 1m, 55.724s “The position that I have won on the grid is not fantastic, but in race trim I feel OK. Of course I would favor starting further ahead, but I’m still pretty confident. Unfortunately in the last minute the track was very busy and I could not improve. In any case we are confident for the race and I feel prepared to make a good result.”
Toni Elias, LCR Honda MotoGP: 16th – 1m, 57.992s: “Basically we have tried different chassis geometries and different suspension but whatever we tried we get stuck on the same lap time and this is very frustrating for me. We are struggling a lot, more than I was expecting, but we still have 20 minutes tomorrow to adjust the bike. I want to thank the team for their good job and I will continue to do my best.”
Moto2 Rider Quotes.
Stefan Bradl, Viessmann Kiefer Racing – Kalex: 1st – 2m, 0.168s “We found a good set-up in the last test in Jerez and we can continue like this in the beginning of the free practice, so I’m very happy about this. We are really consistent, we are really competitive at the beginning of the practice, also at the end and with the used tyres now in the warm-up, so everything is working quite well at the moment, so, yeah, just make a good start for tomorrow and we will see. Anyway, I think it will be very hard for tomorrow, because the gap is not too big any more, so we have to concentrate. But still the bike is doing a job, I enjoy riding, so I’m looking forward for tomorrow.”
Marc Marquez, Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol – Suter: 2nd – 2m, 0.375s “The truth is we are really happy. I feel more and more comfortable on the bike, mainly thanks to my mechanics, who are doing an incredible job. To start from the first row in our first Moto2 Grand Prix is a very good result and I will do my best tomorrow. We still have to see how the bike works in race conditions and with a full tank, but I hope I will be able to have a good start. In Moto2 the start is a bit more complicated, but I hope everything goes well. We are gathering experience and that’s the most important thing.”
Thomas Luthi, Interwetten Paddock, Moto2 – Suter: 3rd – 2m, 0.996s “The basic problem is that I was saving my tyres yesterday, as I didn’t have a big amount. I didn’t know that more tyres were going to be flown in or I would have pushed harder. My lap times compared to yesterday were better, but I was sliding a lot and need to find a solution for the race.”
– Ducati Report
Valentino Rossi will start on the third row of the grid tomorrow in the Grand Prix of Qatar, while his teammate, Nicky Hayden, will have to try and work his way forward from the fifth row, with an error in the final split of what would have been his best lap preventing him from improving his time.
Nonetheless, the Italian rider said he is satisfied with the progress made with the setup of his GP11, and he hopes that his still-healing shoulder will permit him to maintain a good pace until the end of tomorrow’s 22-lap race, a distance that he still hasn’t completed in one run since his operation in November.
Valentino Rossi (Ducati Marlboro Team) 9th, 1:55.637
“I think that without my shoulder problem, which is causing us to lose five or six tenths, we could have been on the second row today, because we were able to improve the setup by making changes that will also be important in the foreseeable future. Today I was able to ride the GP11 better, but by the time we used the soft tyre at the end of the session, my strength was gone. When I tried to do my lap time, there were some parts of the track where I just couldn’t push. Anyway, we got an okay time and we still have some things we can try in the warm-up. As for the race I think that as long as my shoulder lasts, we’ll be able to have a pace that’s relatively competitive, apart from the two Hondas. We’ll see how it goes from a physical point of view in the second half of the race, after eleven or twelve laps in a row riding on the limit.”
Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro Team) 13th, 1:55.881
“It was pretty much the same way that it has been all weekend. I just clearly wasn’t fast enough. We tried something toward the start of the session that was very similar to last year’s setup, but it didn’t work. I got back on my other bike and had one decent lap going, but I made a mistake in the last corner. Most of the weekend I’ve been able to go just as fast on used hard tyres, but that wasn’t the case tonight, even though the temperature is warmer. I thought my best lap might get me out of trouble a little bit, because it was the first time since we got rid of qualifying tyres that I got into the 55s around here, but it wasn’t nearly good enough this year. We’ve known since the tests in Malaysia that everybody has made a big step. It’s been a frustrating weekend, and it won’t be easy tomorrow starting from way back, but we’re not ready to go home yet.”
– Yamaha Report
Yamaha Factory Racing rider Jorge Lorenzo reminded everyone why he’s the reigning World Champion this evening in the first qualifying session of the 2011 MotoGP World Championship. The blisteringly quick session saw the fastest riders breaking further and further into the 1’54s as the clock counted down. With just a handful of minutes to go the Mallorcan put the hammer down, delivering a 1’54.947 on his 23rd lap to secure a front row start with third place on the grid.
Lorenzo’s team mate Spies was also sending out a clear message on the time sheets. The Texan gradually worked his way down the 1.55s and was threatening to follow his team mate into the 1.54s until a small mistake costing a tenth of a second resulted in a best time of 1’55.095, just 0.148 of a second off the front row. As a result he will start mid second row in fifth for the opening race of the season under the floodlights tomorrow night.
Jorge Lorenzo / Position 3rd – Time 1’54.947 – Laps 26
There were some really impressive lap times out there tonight in the session. We are still quite far behind the front but our goal is to finish on the podium and that is in my mind for tomorrow. My race pace is pretty good; I think I can keep running 1’55.7s or maybe 1’55.8s. We will finalise our set up in warm up and try to achieve that tomorrow.
Ben Spies / Position 5th – Time 1’55.095 – Laps 26
It was actually better to be fifth than fourth for grid position although I’d have liked to be on the front row! It wasn’t a perfect session, I didn’t nail a perfect lap time but you rarely do. I don’t think we were too far off the maximum, maybe there were two tenths left in the bike and that’s it. It’s not so bad though, we have a good package to battle for the podium tomorrow. I did the best I could so not a bad start to the year.
Wilco Zeelenberg – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager
A very hot qualifying session, we’re happy to be near the front with both riders. Jorge is top three but very close in the times with fourth, fifth and sixth so it will be a tough race tomorrow. He feels ok with the bike and lap times were good. We’re going to focus on tomorrow now, it’s going to be a long hard race!
Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director
We will start the race in good positions with both riders, the race pace of both of them was very good so we are ready to go out there. Ben is quite satisfied with his bike set up, he made a small mistake and lost at least one tenth on his fast lap but he said the bike was working well with a used tyre so we have confidence for tomorrow. We will confirm the last details in warm up to be as good as possible for the race.
Crutchlow dazzles in Qatar qualifying
MotoGP Rookie Cal Crutchlow lit up the Losail International Circuit in Qatar tonight with a stunning debut qualifying performance.
The British rider lapped faster than nine-times world champion Valentino Rossi and a host of more experienced riders to produce the performance of the night on board the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1 machine.
Crutchlow built up his confidence and speed throughout tonight’s session, the big progress he’s made in mastering the braking technique in MotoGP evident with fast and consistent pace.
He made major steps in improving front-end feel in the fast sections of the 5.38km Doha circuit and finished less than 0.5s away from the top six, despite still riding in constant pain from the nasty left finger injury he suffered in a testing crash on Monday night. He was a massive 2.2s faster than his best pace at the two-night test earlier this week and he’s confident he can fight for a top ten finish in his MotoGP debut tomorrow night.
Colin Edwards will kick off his ninth premier class campaign from 10th position, the experienced American finishing just over 0.060s behind Crutchlow.
Edwards was happy with his performance on the hard compound Bridgestone rear tyre he will use in the 22-lap race tomorrow night. But he was unable to significantly improve his pace on the soft tyre on his way to clocking a best time of 1.55.647
Cal Crutchlow / Position 8th – Time 1’55.578 – Laps 23
“It feels great to have qualified eighth when you look at the calibre and record of some of the guys behind me, but I’m not going to be getting ahead of myself. It is just a shame it is not the four-rider per row formation because that would be a second row! But to be on the third row, I’m happy enough with that. A qualifying session like that is not like Superpole in World Superbikes at all. I’m normally used to the intense pressure and being hyped up for one lap, so to have an hour where you build up pace a bit slower felt a bit strange. But I’m really happy and my fastest lap wasn’t a perfect one. I made a couple of mistakes but I think that’s because I’m having a small issue with the front-end in the fast corners. But I still managed a 55.5 and I never would have imagined doing that pace a few days ago at the test when I was doing high 57s. I’m not going to make a prediction for the race. I’d be happy to get a few points and have a strong race. It will be tough to finish where I’ve qualified but with the help of my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew, it has been a really positive weekend so far.”
Colin Edwards / Position 10th – Time 1’55.647 – Laps 24
“I definitely feel like I’m riding a lot better than tenth position, but that shows how competitive MotoGP is this year. As good as I’m riding, I feel like I should have been on the second row because all week I’ve been around sixth and seventh position. I just wasn’t able to lap as fast as I needed to be on the soft tyre. It looks a bit like last year in that when the Honda has a soft tyre in they can drop the lap time by a big chunk. We improve but not by a big margin and that’s something we need to work on in the future. But I’m really confident with the hard rear tyre and we’ve got the bike working great in race trim. I’m fast and consistent but I couldn’t do anything more, I’m definitely getting the most of the bike.”
– Bridgestone Report
Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Medium, Extra Hard. Rear: Medium, Hard
During the hour-long qualifying session at the Losail circuit this evening it was once again Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa who dominated the session, with the Australian finishing fastest with a stunning lap to secure pole position for tomorrow’s season-opening grand prix.
The outright pole position record at Losail was set in 2008 by Jorge Lorenzo, with a time of 1m 53.927s. That was on qualifying tyres in an era before single tyre supply when extra-soft compounds were made for maximum grip over just a few qualifying laps. Stoner’s pole time today was just over 0.2seconds slower but crucially was set on race tyres designed to perform over 22 laps of this circuit, giving an indication of his pace today. There are no qualifying tyres in the era of single tyre supply.
Pedrosa and Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo complete tomorrow’s front row of the grid, and like Stoner they too set their best times using Bridgestone’s harder option front and softer option rear slick tyres.
The top four riders all dipped into the 1m 54second bracket and, impressively, the top five riders, including Marco Simoncelli and Ben Spies, all lapped faster than the existing lap record.
Towards the end of the session the laptimes started tumbling as riders opted for the softer option rear slicks. After a day of the warmest weather since the test started last weekend, the track was in good condition today and a lot cleaner which was a factor in the fast pace and more riders being able to get the softer rear tyre working well.
Hirohide Hamashima – Director, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development
“The pace we saw at the front today is very impressive so I must congratulate in particular Casey and the Repsol Honda Team. To be so close to the outright pole record using race tyres is very impressive, and I am very pleased with tyre performance today. We have seen this weekend that the extra hard front slick tyre will be the choice for almost every rider for the race, and also the hard rear tyre will be favoured for its extra durability. The circuit was cleaner today which helped tyre performance, particularly with the softer rear with which we experienced less graining today. If today’s pace is anything to go by, I am confident of setting our first new lap record of 2011 tomorrow.”
Top ten from Qualifying (Saturday 19:55 – 20:55 GMT+3)
Pos Rider Team Practice Time Gap
1 Casey Stoner Repsol Honda Team 1m54.137s
2 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1m54.342s +0.205s
3 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Factory Racing 1m54.947s +0.810s
4 Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m54.988s +0.851s
5 Ben Spies Yamaha Factory Racing 1m55.095s +0.958s
6 Hector Barbera Mapfre Aspar Team 1m55.223s +1.086s
7 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 1m55.229s +1.092s
8 Cal Crutchlow Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m55.578s +1.441s
9 Valentino Rossi Ducati Team 1m55.637s +1.500s
10 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m55.647s +1.510s
– Suzuki Report
Rizla Suzuki will not be able to replace the injured Álvaro Bautista in tomorrow’s Qatar Grand Prix, after exhausting all possible scenarios to get the Rizla Suzuki GSV-R on the grid.
The two riders most likely to replace Bautista – who broke his femur yesterday – are both unavailable, with John Hopkins in America and unable to get to Qatar in time and Nobuatsu Aoki in Japan where travel is very difficult due the terrible earthquake and tsunami tragedy that struck his country last week. The Suzuki management also made tentative approaches to several Moto2 riders that have MotoGP experience, but none of these riders were available due to commitments to their respective teams for the first race of the season.
Hopkins will join the team for the next round of the season at Jerez in Spain as a replacement for Bautista – while the Spaniard continues on his road to recovery.
Bautista is comfortable in hospital following the surgery to pin his left femur this morning, he plans to return to Spain early next week to begin his recuperation with a view to being back in MotoGP as soon as possible.
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“The 2011 season hasn’t yet started and to have this huge disappointment already is very difficult to deal with. The winter tests have been consistent and competitive, especially bearing in mind Álvaro’s ‘race-day’ mentality and his love of fighting with the other guys rather than just riding – we always expect more from him in the races than in the tests, so everything was looking good. The reason for the crash was quite simple – pushing too hard in this section without enough temperature in the new tyre – very similar to Rossi’s accident in Mugello last year. But the real reasons behind that – maybe feeling some pressure after losing track time on Thursday night with the arm pump, wanting to get back into the top group of lap-times as soon as possible – are more complex and unfortunately Álvaro paid a heavy price. This sport is very extreme, and the edge between success and disaster is very small. We are all disappointed, but he is the poor guy in hospital with a pin in his femur and a tough recuperation ahead. He has the strength of character and determination to come back from this, and on his behalf we’d like to thank everybody for their kind wishes and support, especially the doctors and staff of the Clinica Mobile who came to the hospital at 2.00am last night to check on the situation and lend their valuable advice and assistance.
“With regard to the Qatar GP, we really wanted to find a suitable rider and have the Rizla Suzuki on the grid tomorrow but the logistics for John or Nobu simply didn’t allow it. Also, the Moto2 teams who have riders with MotoGP experience, that we discussed the option with, were understandably reluctant to release a rider at the first round of the championship. Our reason to explore these options was simply to support the Championship, Rizla and all our partners, but ultimately it is a huge ask to expect any rider to jump for only qualifying and the race and expect too much – safety and common sense have to play their part as well and we fully respect those decisions.
“John isn’t happy with what happened to Álvaro, but I know he will do a solid job for us in Jerez, and we are hoping to arrange a shakedown test beforehand. Álvaro’s comeback timing isn’t clear, and John has BSB commitments that clash with Estoril and Le Mans, so we need to wait a while before any decisions for those races are made.
“Thanks to all Álvaro’s and the team’s well-wishers, we greatly appreciate it and we will do everything we can to recover quickly from this situation.”