Late in 2008 Antonio Banderas bought the 125cc/250cc GP teams of Motomondiale to the tune of €6 million. With Moto2 starting for the first time in history this week, Banderas has unveiled his new team: Jack & Jones by Antonio Banderas. At a press launch Monday, Banderas personally unveiled the Moto2 race bikes the team will be using. Unfortunately, he left his mask, cape, and sword at home.
Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner have lobbied Dorna to start the season opener at Qatar at least an hour earlier than was previously scheduled. Scheduled to start at 11pm local time, MotoGP’s night race at Qatar benefits from hitting the European market during prime time television hours, and hits American shores during reasonable daylight hours.
The evening start also means that riders don’t have to compete during the hot daytime desert weather, but the downside with that is the evening temperatures rapidly change as the night progresses and evening dew forms on the Losail track. With riders crashing later in the Qatar testing times this past week, Rossi and Stoner think the MotoGP race would be better served starting earlier in the evening.
MotoGP testing has concluded at the Losail International Circuit just outside of Doha, Qatar, and sees Casey Stoner making a late push to take the top spot at what has become one of his top tracks in the past years. There was some doubt with Stoner though, as Rossi lead almost all of Thursday’s sessions, and was biting on Stoner’s heels today. Surprise appearances from the test come in the form of Ben Spies, Andrea Dovizioso, and Randy de Puniet. Spies finished Thursday third quickest, and was the fourth quickest rider overall. Dovi took the honors as the fastest Honda, but was challenged by de Puniet on Thursday for that spot. Thursday the French rider was 5th quickest, and managed to keep his shirt on despite the hot weather in Doha.
Friday saw Nicky Hayden make progress with the Ducati Desmosedici, while Colin Edwards slipped down the overall grid Friday, despite his strong numbers Thursday and consistent runs during both test days. Lorenzo and Pedrosa were both present for the track test, but not in spirit. Both riders were suffering from injuries, and it showed in their performance under the hot desert lights. Check past the jump for a full timing sheet.
After injuring his hand earlier this year, Jorge Lorenzo has been sitting out MotoGP’s testing days, trying to recover in time for the upcoming season. Now leaving a post on his Facebook page, Lorenzo confirms that he will be at the Qatar test later next month. Surely with this message, all eyes will be trained on the Middle-Eastern track, looking for the first signs that Lorenzo will be able to dethrone the reigning World Champion Rossi.
Continuing to develop their MotoGP entry, FB Corse has announced their intent to participate in the Qatar testing session, which is schedule to start on March 17th. In confirming their attendance in Qatar, FB Corses Principal Andrea Ferrari also confirmed that the team would not be attending MotoGP’s testing session at Sepang, Malaysia in February. More on this and sneak photos of the FB Corse MotoGP race bike after the jump.
Nicky Hayden is a go for Friday’s practice session for the Polini Grand Prix of Japan, although the American will not be fully recovered from his Qatar highside. Hayden still has several stiches from his practice session crash at Qatar, but they should not affect his ability to ride hard on Sunday.
When the cost-saving measures were passed down this year for MotoGP, it reduced the time riders could lap around the track during practice sessions from one hour to 45 minutes. When the rule was put into practice for the first time at Qatar, the reduced practice time came under a lot of criticism from teams, who found themselves scrambling to setup bikes properly, and making bad decisions. Thus based on the feedback they received, the Grand Prix Commission is due to meet prior to the Motegi Grand Prix in Japan, where they are expected to restore the sessions back to their one hour format again.
You may remember that , sponsoring the Rossi/Lorenzo duo in MotoGP. While Petronas has worked with Yamaha for eight years in a variety of fields, this marks their first collaboration with them in MotoGP, and it is costing them a pretty penny: $24 million for three years, or $8 million a year. For this sum, Petronas branding will appear on the Fiat Yamaha team’s bikes, equipment, and uniforms. Looking closer at the deal we see how large of a deal this is when compared to other similar sponsorships in MotoGP, while also at the same time, how the actual sum paid might be much less than $24 million.
After being rained out yesterday, the Qatar GP, at the Losail International Circuit, finally got its green flag today. There was however a good omen to the start of the season, question mark riders Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden made it onto the starting grid and finished a respectable result. We don’t want to give away anymore of the MotoGP season opener, so continue reading for all the spoilers.
If you tuned into SpeedTV today (or whatever your local channel may be), you may have noticed only a few laps of 125cc & 250cc racing, and noticeable absence of any MotoGP action. This is because a rare rainstorm at the Losail International Circuit this evening scrubbed the first MotoGP race of the season. Because of the rain-soaked tracks and heavy use of flood lights, the circuit became almost mirror like and was too treacherous for the riders to compete on safely. The season opener for MotoGP has been pushed back to Monday at 9pm Qatar time, with an additional warm-up session beforehand at 6.30pm.
The unluckiest man of the weekend has by far been Nicky Hayden. In the first Free Practice, he suffered a clutch problem, followed by an electrical problem, which cost him testing time in the session and forced him to use his backup bike. The next day in the second Free Practice, Hayden had an engine blow up on his Desmosedici, forcing him one again onto his backup bike. Lastly in the Qualifying Session, Nicky Hayden took a huge highside just a few minutes from the end of the session, and now his participation in the season opener at Qatar is questionable.