MotoGP: A New Order of Things During Qualifying at Qatar

The return of MotoGP racing is finally upon us with the start of the Qatar GP. Qualifying was underway under the night’s sky at Losail International Circuit this Satursday, as the season-opener and only night race brought the MotoGP paddock together to begin the 2012 MotoGP Championship. With Losail’s long straightaway amplifying the slower pace of the CRTs, it is clear that two races will be run during the MotoGP race on Sunday. With the Yamahas showing a new speed in Qatar, the talk going into Saturday’s qualifying at Doha for once was not dominated by the work of HRC.

For the first time since 2008, Casey Stoner was not the man on the pole position after the Qatar GP’s qualifying session. Instead on-track rival Jorge Lorenzo will take the front spot, followed by Stoner and surprise front-row qualifier Cal Crutchlow. Starting on the second row is Ben Spies, who would have qualified up near Lorenzo had he not crashed his Yamaha YZR-M1 in the closing minutes, and been dragged by the cuff of his glove — fortunately the Texan was not injured from the incident.

Leading the charge for Ducati was Nicky Hayden, while Valentino Rossi lapped as the slowest prototype rider on his factory Ducati Desmosedici GP12, though The Doctor was the fastest rider down the front straight. Noticeably off the pace was Dani Pedrosa who battled with his #2 bike after his #1 bike suffered electrical problems on Friday. Meanwhile lurking behind his teammate’s shadow was Andrea Dovizioso, who is still coming to terms with his switch from a factory Honda to a satellite Yamaha. With the Aprilia ART bikes all to going down in Turn 2 at some point during the session, Colin Edwards and his BMW/Suter was left as the top CRT bike at Qatar.

Going into tomorrow’s race, the grid in Qatar will certainly not be the one that many would have predicted last year. As Casey Stoner said after qualifying though, “it should be a good race tomorrow.”

Qualifying Results from the Qatar GP at Doha, Qatar:

Pos.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	MPH	Time	Diff.
1	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	203.25	1’54.634	–
2	Casey STONER	AUS	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	206.23	1’54.855	0.221
3	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	203.81	1’55.022	0.388
4	Ben SPIES	USA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	202.63	1’55.512	0.878
5	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	Ducati	207.66	1’55.637	1.003
6	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	204.37	1’55.858	1.224
7	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	205.55	1’55.905	1.271
8	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	209.46	1’55.983	1.349
9	Stefan BRADL	GER	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	207.54	1’56.063	1.429
10	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Cardion AB Motoracing	Ducati	207.23	1’56.198	1.564
11	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	207.72	1’56.521	1.887
12	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	210.09	1’56.813	2.179
13	Colin EDWARDS	USA	NGM Mobile Forward Racing	Suter	195.61	1’57.644	3.010
14	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	Power Electronics Aspar	ART	192.38	1’58.266	3.632
15	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Power Electronics Aspar	ART	193.93	1’58.520	3.886
16	Yonny HERNANDEZ	COL	Avintia Blusens	BQR-FTR	188.65	1’58.795	4.161
17	Michele PIRRO	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	FTR	193.31	1’59.085	4.451
18	Mattia PASINI	ITA	Speed Master	ART	193.56	1’59.195	4.561
19	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Came IodaRacing Project	Ioda	184.42	1’59.664	5.030
20	Ivan SILVA	SPA	Avintia Blusens	BQR-FTR	190.20	2’00.493	5.859
21	James ELLISON	GBR	Paul Bird Motorsport	ART	192.56	2’00.757	6.123