Motorcycle News

SUNDAY 09 MARCH, 2008 |

Stoner wins historic night race in Qatar

by Motorsport.com | post a comment

It didn't take long for Casey Stoner to get his Ducati back at the top of the podium. The 2007 MotoGP champion claimed round one of the new season at the first night race in series history. The floodlights around the Losail Circuit in Qatar lit the path for the Aussie to make his way to the front after starting in the second row. The rookie Jorge Lorenzo who started on the pole had a great race but wasn't able to keep a veteran like Stoner behind him. Still Lorenzo was able to keep his Yamaha in second, showing the world he can keep his quick pace going for a full race distance. Dani Pedrosa finished third after starting in eighth, a nice surprise to the Repsol Honda team.

Hanging back for a bit after the start, Stoner watched as riders around him banged into each other for position. He just needed to hold on until his Bridgestone tires got warm enough to grip in the low night temperatures. Once the bike was stable the champ was looking for the perfect opportunity and sprang into action the moment an opening came into view. Stoner was then able to control the rest of the race to the checkered flag, setting the fastest lap along the way.

"That was a fantastic race and I really enjoyed it," exclaimed Stoner, "it was like being back in 125s! The first few laps were really hectic, there were guys bashing fairings and I just tried to stay out of the way. When I got my chance to get through I took it and from there I just focused on setting my pace. Jorge rode brilliantly - it wasn't an easy race by any means, especially at the start. Over the first few laps I was struggling a bit for grip but then the tyres got up to temperature and improved. We knew we had a pretty good package for the race but obviously we couldn't be sure that things would go as well as that. I want to say thanks to everybody at Ducati for a great job, my team, the guys at Bridgestone... Thanks everybody."

Stoner's praise to Lorenzo was echoed up and down the field. The rookie came up from 250cc after winning that championship twice. The Spaniard had been quick throughout pre-season testing but no one knew how he would perform for a full race distance. At the start Lorenzo was shuffled from first to fourth. The youngster battled his way back into second, passing teammate Valentino Rossi to get there. Lorenzo worked hard to regain position and found the last part of the race to be physically exhausting. Fortunately by then he had a large enough gap to the riders behind him and his Michelin tires stayed strong. The second place victory here shows he will be a new top-runner the rest of the riders will have to contend with.

"For sure I couldn't have expected a better debut than this and I am very, very excited to be on the podium," smiled Lorenzo. "Second place is an amazing result for me and I had great fun. The start and first few laps were a bit crazy and really a bit of a scary time for me, but anyway I managed to make it through and get past some riders to get to second. I started to go with Stoner but after a while I became very tired and I started to have a lot of pressure and pain in my arms, so I really couldn't push any more! Anyway he was faster than us and I want to say congratulations to him because he deserved to win tonight.

"I think if I could have got a better start, maybe I wouldn't have got so tired later on and I would have been able to keep a better rhythm, but anyway I don't think I can ask for more than this tonight. I want to thank Yamaha and Michelin for all the hard work they have put in over the winter to get me to this point, and of course my team for all of their work. I don't want to start talking about the championship yet because this is only my first race, and now we will go to Jerez and do our very best again there and see what happens!"

Pedrosa was also feeling pretty tired in the last laps of the race. He broke his hand during winter testing seven weeks ago. The hand seemed to be getting better but a crash with Rossi on Friday made it a sore subject again. Pedrosa had an amazing start today, starting eighth on the grid he held the lead by the end of lap one. He then slipped back into fourth but was able to pass Rossi for third before the final laps.

"Tonight's result is unbelievable, we didn't expect this, so I'm very happy," said a relieved Pedrosa. "Seven days ago I was almost last in the tests here but my team have worked really hard, bringing both 2007 and 2008 bikes here and making many changes, they've been fantastic. For the first time I understand the meaning and the legend of HRC and I'm so proud to be part of this. They gave me a competitive bike and the Michelin tyres worked really good and I did my best on track but without them I couldn't have been able to make it.

"My hand was quite bad from the middle of the race to the end, I couldn't brake perfectly because my hand was shaking all the time but I was able to finish the race and this is the most important thing because the hand should be in better condition at the next race. I made an unbelievable start, I couldn't imagine getting a start like that. I overtook everybody on the way to the first corner and from there I pushed very hard. I couldn't stay with Lorenzo and Stoner, so we still have to improve but since last week's tests we've made an incredible step forward. Now we have a few weeks to recover full strength in the hand before Jerez."

Behind him Rossi continued to tumble down the order, finally settling for fifth after getting in a battle with rookie Andrea Dovizioso of JiR Team Scot. Rossi held the lead for a short while after passing Pedrosa. Unfortunately the Italian soon had to relinquish it to Stoner and that started the fall back to fourth. Soon fellow countryman Dovizoso was attacking from behind and eventually got past the former world champ to finish one spot away from the podium on his MotoGP debut.

"I'm very emotional for this first race. I never thought I would be so quick to finish so near the front and also become the first Italian rider home, which is great! I never really thought of the podium, as I seemed to start off not so good on the grid. Immediately after the start I pushed hard and tried to concentrate on the job in front, I was aiming at the train of riders just in front of me," expressed Dovizoso. "Perhaps I asked a little too much of my Michelin tyre combination which behaved very well in the race. I want to thank the team for the fantastic job that they did over the weekend. We struggled a little in qualifying, but came out in a very good way when it was time for the race. We have shown that we are ready to do well in MotoGP with Honda and I look forward to the next race."

Rossi made a risky change to Bridgestone this year, splitting the Fiat Yamaha team between two tire manufacturers. His teammate kept with Michelin and finished second here when Rossi just didn't have the speed. The race winner was on Bridgestones, so the tires can perform, but Rossi's team just isn't as familiar with that tire brand as Ducati is. That might mean the team will still need to work on dialing in the right set-up for the Yamaha-Bridgestone combination. For now the Italian faces a minor disruption in his quest for the championship, but he'll have to get up to speed quick before this molehill becomes a mountain.

"We expected a difficult race here, but actually not as difficult as this! We haven't been fast here in Qatar since last week's night test but, despite this, I thought we might be able to fight for the podium," admitted Rossi. "Tonight however it was really difficult and now we have to understand the reason for this result. After five or six laps I started doing 56.4 and 56.5 and from then on I couldn't improve on that pace until the end. I was very fast in braking, but not so fast in the corners. We know that we can make our Bridgestone tyres work better than this, because they are winning tyres and tonight they showed it once again. Throughout the winter, at all tracks, we were very fast and this is the only one where we were not. Now our task is to understand why this happened. We had a couple of ideas to try but in the end we decided to stick to what we know because we need some more time to understand how to improve and how to be faster. We know we can do better than this and so we just need to gather all the information and use it in the best way for the next race. Finally I want to say congratulations to Lorenzo for a great debut tonight; honestly I'm not surprised because I knew he was fast and talented, but he did very well tonight in a hard race so well done to him."

In three week's time the MotoGP teams will head to Spain for their first day race of the season at the Jerez Circuit. Rossi is strong here, having won five of the last seven races here. Will he be able to claim his sixth victory here or will his younger teammate and Spanish native upstage him and make the passionate local fans go crazy? Lorenzo was second fastest when the teams tested in Jerez this February.

Like Lewis Hamilton in Formula One, it's not right to put too much pressure on Lorenzo, he is still a rookie and admitted this first race made him nervous. Yet, I can't help but think it's not a matter of if, but when he will claim his first MotoGP victory within this year. Of course Stoner and a healed Pedrosa will be at the front, ready to teach the rookies a thing or two on how to dominate the podium year round.

By David C. Schilke

News for Saturday 08 March, 2008