Quatar - MotoGP

[Samster]

Bike racing on a Thursday! Brilliant!

Here's the results from the last free practice sesh in the desert.......the World Champ goes quickest............

Valentino Rossi was the fastest rider on track today at Losail, having posted the best time in the closing stages of the second free practice session.

Young guns Toni Elias and Nicky Hayden blazed to second and third respectively, finishing ahead of Italian veteran Loris Capirossi, who has taken consecutive wins in the last two races.

Capirossi's Ducati Marlboro team-mate Carlos Checa was fifth ahead of Colin Edwards and Marco Melandri. John Hopkins was eighth fastest leading home Max Biaggi and Alex Barros. Frenchman Olivier Jacque, standing in for Alex Hofmann at Kawasaki this weekend, didn?t take part in the session.

 

[Grey Wolf]

Watching today

Could Toni Elias be the new Rossi?

 

[RHINO]

Could Toni Elias be the new Rossi?

Hmmmmm, i think 'Danny Pedrosa' could.

 

[Samster]

FP3 results

Melandri on top after FP3

 

[Samster]

3 poles in a row for Loris!

Loris Capirossi took his third pole position in as many weeks with a scintillating series of laps at the end of today?s qualifying session for the Marlboro Grand Prix of Qatar. After starting from the front of the grid and going on to win the race at both Motegi and Sepang, the Ducati rider is on course for an incredible hat-trick at the fourteenth round of the season, where he will be joined on the front row by Sete Gibernau and Valentino Rossi.

?This is a difficult track for us but we made quite a good job during the practice,? said Capirossi, whose time of 1?56.917 was more than two seconds quicker than last year?s pole time, set by his current team-mate Carlos Checa. ?We tested a lot of rear tyres and found the best solution for the front one, but for the race it will be very difficult. For sure, 21 laps in these conditions will be tough for everybody but we will see in the morning. I am very happy with this pole position, especially because it?s not so easy to overtake at this track.?

Gibernau, the winner of last year?s inaugural race at the Losail International Circuit, ended the session just 0.077 seconds adrift of the Italian and was the only serious challenger for pole, with recently-crowned World Champion Rossi a further 0.366 seconds back. Colin Edwards, who finished second to Gibernau last season, had held on for top spot for lengthy spells during the session but eventually dropped back to fourth place in the late push for times on qualifying tyres.

Edwards is joined on the second row of the grid by Marco Melandri, who set the quickest time in the morning free practice session despite still riding with 35 stitches in the foot injury he sustained in a crash with Rossi at Motegi less than two weeks ago. Carlos Checa snatched the final second row spot from Shinya Nakano with a quick final lap that saw the Japanese rider relegated to seventh place.

Nakano will be the only Kawasaki rider on the grid tomorrow after Olivier Jacque was flown back to Europe for further checks on a back injury he sustained in a crash yesterday morning. The former 250cc World Champion, riding in place of the injured Alex Hofmann, was released from hospital but requires further diagnostic tests before beginning an intense recovery period ahead of the next round at Phillip Island, Australia, in two weeks? time.

Nicky Hayden was unable to extend his run of top six grid positions beyond eleven races after qualifying eighth fastest and joins Nakano on the third row, as does Toni El?as, the weekend?s surprise package so far. El?as has lapped consistently amongst the top riders and today managed the ninth fastest time despite running into the gravel trap early in the afternoon session. The Spanish youngster starts tomorrow?s race looking to emulate the achievement of his current Yamaha team-mate Ruben Xaus, who took a shock podium finish here last season when riding for Ducati.

Here's the timings: