Written by:
SPEED Staff
SPEEDtv.com
FIAT Yamaha Team's Valentino Rossi (Photo: Yamaha Racing)
ยป More Photos
The 2007 MotoGP season officially got underway today, with riders undertaking their first practice and qualifying laps for the curtain-raising Commercialbank Grand Prix Of Qatar.
Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards put in a magnificent showing at the Losail International Circuit in the afternoon session, with the Fiat Yamaha riders leading the way on day one.
On track with his new blue and white livery for the first time, Rossi took the session by the scruff of the neck early on, laying down a time of 1'56.464 that remained unchallenged. His team-mate was close behind, with early morning pacesetter Edwards just over three tenths of a second slower than the five time MotoGP World Champion.
Casey Stoner completed the top three on his new Desmosedici GP7, which would come as little surprise to anyone aware of the Australian's pedigree in Qatar. Last year Stoner took pole at Losail in only his second MotoGP race.
John Hopkins, making his return from an enforced absence caused by his crash in testing at the circuit, was immediately on the pace for Suzuki. The Anglo-American was one of six riders to go round in under 1'56, ahead of the resurgent Carlos Checa and Dani Pedrosa, fastest at the MotoGP Official Test.
Marco Melandri, Loris Capirossi, Toni Elias and Shinya Nakano completed the top ten, with World Champion Nicky Hayden struggling during both sessions. 'The Kentucky Kid' was over 1.5 seconds slower than title rival Rossi, languishing in 15th.
In the morning practices for all three classes, a starting simulation was permitted after the conclusion of the session. The new rule, brought in by Race Direction on the request of the Safety Commission, will be a permanent fixture of the opening practice session at every Grand Prix.
250GP
Hector Barbera continued from where he left off at the end of preseason with the fastest time in 250cc today, a 2'00.070 lap of the Losail International Circuit. The Spaniard has commented that this season is the most important of his career, and certainly seemed motivated as he edged out former team-mate Jorge Lorenzo to take provisional pole for Saturday's race.
The reigning World Champion, Lorenzo was just less than two tenths of a second behind Barbera at the track where he took victory last season. Completing an all-Spanish trio at the business end of the standings, Alvaro Bautista also went round in under 2'01. The Aspar rider yesterday stated that he is not focusing on results this season, instead keen to simply enjoy himself during his debut season in the quarter litre class, but his opening qualifying performance confirms the potential Bautista holds in 250cc.
Alex de Angelis, Thomas Luthi and Andrea Dovizioso rounded off the top six, ahead of Mika Kallio, Aoyama brothers Shuhei and Hiroshi, and one of last season's standout performers in Qatar, Roberto Locatelli.
Julian Simon was making his comeback from a shoulder injury suffered during testing two weeks ago, and braved the pain to finish 11th despite being less than 100% fit.
125GP
One of the 125cc riders in the strongest form during preseason, Gabor Talmacsi maintained his momentum to take provisional pole. The Hungarian clocked a time of 2'06.557, the only rider to go round in under 2'07, at the track where he took charge this morning.
Talmacsi headed an all-Aprilia top seven, with Mattia Pasini the closest to his timesheet-topping time. The Polaris World rider was just over half a second slower than the Aspar rider, ahead of former team-mates Sergio Gadea and Hector Faubel. Raffaele de Rosa had a storming session to put himself amongst the top five, closely followed by Pablo Nieto, Simone Corsi, and Michael Ranseder.
The top ten was completed by two riders tipped to challenge for the title in 2007, Tomoyoshi Koyama and Lukas Pesek, riding KTM and Derbi machines respectively.
Practice continues for the Commercialbank Grand Prix Of Qatar tomorrow from 9am local time (GMT+3).
