MotoGP: Qatar Test Day One Results

MotoGP was under the lights of the Losail International Circuit out here in Qatar on Sunday night. With the weather staying warm, but the humidity coming on in the latter stages of the night, it was the Hondas once again who were setting the pace for MotoGP’s pre-season testing sessions. With four Hondas within half a second of each other, it seemed only the Yamahas were capable of getting in-between the RC212Vs of Pedrosa, Stoner, Aoyama, and Dovizioso (Simoncelli would finish farther down the time sheet as 11th fastest).

Leading the tuning fork charge was Ben Spies, who bested his current teammate Jorge Lorenzo by just over a tenth of second. Spies also would lead former teammate Colin Edwards by just under two tenths of a second, as the three Yamahas rounded out what would be the second row if this was race qualifying. Meanwhile the Ducatis all landed in the slower half of the field, clearly struggling with the desert track.

Pos.	Rider	Team	Fastest lap	Prev. Gap	Lead. Gap	Laps
1	Dani Pedrosa	Repsol Honda Team	1:56.271	–	–	41
2	Casey Stoner	Repsol Honda Team	1:56.414	+0.143	+0.143	32
3	Hiroshi Aoyama	San Carlo Honda Gresini	1:56.444	+0.030	+0.173	59
4	Ben Spies	Yamaha Factory Racing	1:56.563	+0.119	+0.292	38
5	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha Factory Racing	1:56.682	+0.119	+0.411	60
6	Colin Edwards	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	1:56.742	+0.060	+0.471	42
7	Andrea Dovizioso	Repsol Honda Team	1:56.780	+0.038	+0.509	56
8	Valentino Rossi	Ducati Marlboro Team	1:57.038	+0.258	+0.767	57
9	Nicky Hayden	Ducati Marlboro Team	1:57.137	+0.099	+0.866	57
10	Randy De Puniet	Pramac Racing Team	1:57.143	+0.006	+0.872	39
11	Marco Simoncelli	San Carlo Honda Gresini	1:57.226	+0.083	+0.955	57
12	Alvaro Bautista	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	1:57.302	+0.076	+1.031	61
13	Hector Barbera	Mapfre Aspar Team	1:57.325	+0.023	+1.054	69
14	Loris Capirossi	Pramac Racing Team	1:57.437	+0.112	+1.166	56
15	Karel Abraham	Cardion AB Motoracing	1:57.499	+0.062	+1.228	49
16	Cal Crutchlow	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	1:57.737	+0.238	+1.466	51
17	Toni Elias	LCR Honda MotoGP	1:58.250	+0.513	+1.979	65