2011 MotoGP season starts at Qatar this weekend
Friday 18 March: The 2011 MotoGP World Championship practice has already started under the desert lights in Qatar. No doubt the ongoing tragedy in Japan weighing heavily on the hearts and minds of the racing community.
Losail International Circuit is
15 kms. east of Doha. The 5.38k track, with ten right
hand corners and six lefts, was designed primarily for motorcycles with
vast run-off areas. The layout has a variety of
corners and a long front straight, with near constant high speeds and
changes of direction. One of the downsides is the desert location. Gusty
winds blow sand across the surface, which can catch a rider out if he’s
not paying attention, and which can also wreak havoc on tyre life.
The
1.068k front straight is one of the longest on the calendar, with
speeds reaching close to 330kph in qualifying and just less during the
race. An occasional tailwind can catch riders out, causing them to
overrun the first corner until they adapt to the speed.
What
makes the front stretch compelling is that the finish line is towards
the end of the straightaway, which lends itself to draft passing at the
finish line, and graphically highlights the top speed discrepancies
between the various machines.
The 2011 running of the race marks
the fifth year that the MotoGP season kicks off at night, as a
concession to the daytime temperatures that average 35C ambient and much
higher on the asphalt.
For the first time in
anyone’s memory, the grand prix weekend is spread out over four days,
with practice beginning Thursday evening leading up to Sunday’s
season-opener.
Honda MotoGP:
Honda riders excelled in the limited pre-season
testing by finishing fastest in each of the eight sessions over three
tests. The final test finished just days ago here at the Losail
International Circuit east of Doha, the capital of Qatar, and when it
did, Repsol Honda teammates were fighting for supremacy.
There
was little between
Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC212V) and
Dani Pedrosa
(Repsol Honda RC212V)
pictured at right when the two-day test concluded on Monday evening.
Stoner was a mere .064s better on his fastest lap of 1m, 55.681s,
though he was more consistently in the ‘55s.
The 25-year-old
Australian had an instant affinity for the desert circuit. In 2006, his
first year in the premier class, the Honda-mounted Stoner arrived at the
track after a difficult journey with little sustenance and earned his
first pole position in only his second MotoGP race. Stoner then went on
to lead the race for the first nine of 22 laps.
The following
year Stoner used his win in Qatar, one of ten victories in 18 races, as a
springboard to capturing the 2007 MotoGP World Championship. He
returned to Qatar the following year and won again, stretching his
margin of victory by more than two seconds, which he would do again when
he won the 2009 running of the race. Stoner was in the lead last year
and pulling away when his front end slid out. Now, having finished with
the fastest time at the test, Stoner is ready to get back to the top
step of the podium.
Pedrosa is no stranger to the podium in
Qatar. The two-time 250cc World Champion finished third to Stoner in
both 2007 and 2008. Having finished the test here with a near similar
time to his new team-mate, Pedrosa is ready for the start of the season.
In
2010, Pedrosa had his most successful season. The 25-year-old from
Sabadell, Spain won four races, twice as many as he’d won during any of
the previous four years of his MotoGP career. There were four further
podiums and certain to be more before he suffered a broken collarbone at
Honda’s home grand prix at Twin Ring Motegi. Pedrosa’s pre-season form
confirms that his physical condition has returned to championship level,
and he’ll need to be in top shape in such a talented field.
Andrea
Dovizioso, the former 125cc World Champion, enters his third year with
the Repsol Honda team having had his most successful MotoGP season in
2010. Dovizioso finished on the podium seven times and finished with the
most points of his MotoGP career, while equaling his career best
overall finish of fifth. Yet Dovizioso wasn’t able to add a victory to
his win in difficult conditions at Donington Park in 2009, though he
came tantalizingly close more than once.
Marco Simoncelli (San
Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V)
pictured at left enters his second season brimming with
confidence from a successful test season. Simoncelli was the fastest of
all riders at the second test in Sepang, narrowly in front of Pedrosa
and Stoner, with Dovizioso fifth fastest. The combination of a year’s
experience and improvements in the Honda RC212V had put Simoncelli among
the class favourites. The 2008 250cc World Champion saw the potential
in the 2011 race machine at the 2010 season-ending test after Valencia.
The bike has more power than previous versions and "Super Sic” was
comfortable from the start. Now he needs to maintain his progress as he
enters his first full season on factory equipment.
Hiroshi Aoyama
(San Carlo Honda Gresini), the last ever 250cc World Champion, also
starts his sophomore season in the premier class. The top Japanese rider
in the world championships made an impressive leap on the first day of
the final test to set the third fastest time.
Being among the
leaders is nothing new for the nine-time race-winner who has spent most
of his grand prix career in the Honda family and he plans to be there
this year. The move to the San Carlo Gresini Honda team has been
seamless and Aoyama gives the team much of the credit for his testing
success.
Toni Elias (LCR Honda MotoGP) is the most recent world
champion, having won the inaugural Moto2 World Championship in 2010.
Prior to that the Spaniard spent five years in the MotoGP class, with
three of those aboard Hondas. Now back in the top class, Elias has had a
difficult pre-season adopting to the Honda RC212V, though he refuses to
believe he’s gotten the most out of himself and the machine and expects
to improve with more seat time.
Copy and photos courtesy of Honda Motor Europe.
Yamaha Factory Racing:
Reigning MotoGP
World Champion Jorge Lorenzo steps up to the grid to challenge for a
second title at the controls of his YZR-M1. Joining him in the garage and completing Yamaha
Factory Racing's line up for this season will be 2010 MotoGP Rookie of
the Year Ben Spies.
The 2010 season saw Lorenzo firmly cement his place
as one of the Grand Prix elite. The 23 yr old Mallorcan stormed through
the 18 round season to take an impressive nine race wins and a premier
class record breaking 383 point tally on his way to title victory. The
Yamaha Factory rider has started every MotoGP race in his premiership
career at Qatar from the front row, t aking a pole position in his 2008
MotoGP debut and has always finished on the podium, although a race win
has so far eluded him.
Spies, the Texan Factory newcomer, is no stranger to
Yamaha having taken the Yamaha Factory Superbike to victory in the 2009
World Superbike Championship. He went on to impress in his debut season
in MotoGP in 2010 on the Tech3 Yamaha M1, securing sixth in the
championship standings as the highest placed non-factory rider, scoring
two podiums and a dazzling pole position start for his home race at
Indianapolis in the process. The 2010 season opener at the Losail
circuit saw the 25yr old push on from a fourth row grid start position
to finish the race in fifth, just 3.9 seconds from the race winner.
The pre-season winter testing has seen both riders
perform strongly, posting impressive race pace as they set up their 2011
M1s for what will be the final year of the 800cc MotoGP class. The
updated 800cc machi nes have made advances in grip level, stability and
electronics to give Lorenzo and Spies the best possible weapons in their
fight for the chequered flag.
Jorge Lorenzo: "The new season is here and I'm very proud to be able to start it
with the number one. Our bike has been better and better from the first
test but there is still room for improvement. Winning the World
Championship last year was a great achievement but everybody starts the
same this weekend with no points and the competition is very tough. I
have been training very hard over the winter to be ready and I am
excited to start."
Ben Spies: "It feels really good to be here as part of the Factory Team, we
worked really hard last year to get here. I've got a great crew around
me, I've worked with most of them before in different teams so it's
almost like a reunion! Everything has gone really smoothly in the tests,
I have to say I'm more of a racer than a tester so I'm pretty impatient
now to get to it and see what we can do."
Copy and photo courtesy of Yamaha Motor Europe N.V.