MotoGP: Lorenzo leads Yamaha 1-2-3 in first Free Practice at Qatar

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MotoGP: RACE RESULTS

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Yamaha dominated last night’s first Free Practice session under the floodlights at Qatar’s Losail Circuit. The returning Valentino Rossi led much of the session before being squeezed out by teammate, Jorge Lorenzo, who finished top with a lap of 1’56.685 and by the satellite Yamaha of Cal Crutchlow. These three were covered by less than one tenth of a second and were half a second clear of the Repsol Honda of Marc Marquez.
Andrea Dovizioso made a good start for Ducati, clocking 1’57.276 ahead of Alvaro Bautista, Stefan Bradl, Dani Pedrosa, Aleix Espargaro and Nicky Hayden, these six being covered by 0.4 seconds. Bradley Smith was 11th quickest ahead of the satellite Ducatis of Andrea Iannone and Ben Spies, who rounded off the prototype contingent and left a neat one-second gap back to Hector Barbera, who led the CRT machines.
There were few early surprises in the support classes, which completed their first two Free Practice sessions. The first fastest Moto2 machines were all had Kalex frames, with the Italtrans of Takaaki Nakagami leading Esteve Rabat, Pol Espargaro, Scott Redding and Julian Simon. The Red Bull KTM Ajo of Luis Salom led the way, followed by Jonas Folger, Alex Rins, Alex Marquez and Niccolo Antonelli.
Keeping an eye on riders from South East Asia as we do, Thai Honda Honda PTT Gresini Moto2 rider, ‘Feem’ Ratthapark Wilairot fared best, finishing 11th in FP2. Feem’s teammate, Indonesia’s Doni Tata Pradita was almost three seconds slower in 28th, while fellow countryman Rafid Topan Sucipto finished 32nd and last, more than six seconds slower. Malaysian Zulfahmi Khairuddin made a quiet start in Moto3 by his standards, finishing 14th in FP2 and 1.7 seconds slower than teammate Salom.



Story:

MotoGP: Lorenzo leads Yamaha 1-2-3 in first Free Practice at Qatar
 
Go Lorenzo, win it again this year to prove all of your doubters wrong and that you are the best out there
 
Lorenzo clinches first pole position of 2013:

[url]http://www.motogp.com/en/news/MotoGP

[/URL]





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Hmmm.... 11pm Sydney time. I'd rather be in CM, but that's a more civilised time to watch a race eh?

I wish Stoner was still in it, but such is life.
 
A couple of surprises in qualifying although early days in the season.

Dovi right up there o the bike Rossi struggled with for 2 years and Rossi down in 7th similar to his Ducati efforts.
Rossi isn`t a great qualifier these days and always does better in the races.....will be interesting.
 
Well, I don't know if we are being dicked around or not, but in Sydney, they are showing the coverage from 2am to 6am.
 
[h=1]COMMERCIAL BANK GRAND PRIX OF QATARMotoGP Race Classification 2013
[/h]Doha, Sunday, April 07, 2013
Pos.PointsNum.RiderNationTeamBikeKm/hTime/Gap
12599Jorge LORENZOSPAYamaha Factory RacingYamaha166.442'39.802
22046Valentino ROSSIITAYamaha Factory RacingYamaha166.0+5.990
31693Marc MARQUEZSPARepsol Honda TeamHonda166.0+6.201
41326Dani PEDROSASPARepsol Honda TeamHonda165.8+9.473
51135Cal CRUTCHLOWGBRMonster Yamaha Tech 3Yamaha165.2+18.764
61019Alvaro BAUTISTASPAGO&FUN Honda GresiniHonda165.0+22.148
794Andrea DOVIZIOSOITADucati TeamDucati164.8+24.355
8869Nicky HAYDENUSADucati TeamDucati164.8+24.920
9729Andrea IANNONEITAEnergy T.I. Pramac RacingDucati164.0+37.124
10611Ben SPIESUSAIgnite Pramac RacingDucati163.5+44.908
11541Aleix ESPARGAROSPAPower Electronics AsparART163.2+49.809
12414Randy DE PUNIETFRAPower Electronics AsparART162.8+56.495
1338Hector BARBERASPAAvintia BlusensFTR162.0+1'09.599
14268Yonny HERNANDEZCOLPaul Bird MotorsportART161.9+1'10.742
1517Hiroshi AOYAMAJPNAvintia BlusensFTR161.8+1'13.600
1671Claudio CORTIITANGM Mobile Forward RacingFTR Kawasaki160.8+1'29.444
1770Michael LAVERTYGBRPaul Bird MotorsportPBM160.5+1'34.341
1852Lukas PESEKCZECame IodaRacing ProjectIoda-Suter160.5+1'34.683
Not Classified
 
[h=1]Lorenzo wins in Qatar from Rossi and Márquez[/h] Qatar 2013 - MotoGP - RACE - Highlights

Sunday, 7 April 2013
[h=2] Jorge Lorenzo has started his MotoGP™ title defence in the best possible way, winning Sunday’s Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar. Valentino Rossi charged back from a mistake to second place as Marc Márquez picked up a podium on his debut.
[/h]


The much-awaited start to the 2013 campaign came under lights as the Losail International Circuit celebrated its tenth MotoGP™ event. World Champion Lorenzo aimed to repeat his performance of last year by taking victory from pole position. Márquez’s much-awaited first race would begin from sixth on the grid.
As the lights went out, a scorching start by Dani Pedrosa saw the Repsol Honda Team rider shoot up into second place by Turn 1, hoping to challenge Lorenzo who began to pull away on his Yamaha Factory Racing bike. The same could not be said for Pedrosa’s teammate Márquez, who endured a slow getaway and dropped to eighth.
On Lap 2, Cardion AB Motoracing’s Karel Abraham became the first retirement of 2013 as Márquez looked to recover. By Lap 4, the 20-year-old Spaniard and youngest rider in the field had already passed Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso and then pulled a move on Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow, at Turn 1. Lorenzo already led Pedrosa by 1.6 seconds and would eventually stretch his advantage by half a second per lap as those behind him became engaged in a dramatic battle.
By the halfway point on Lap 11, Márquez was very much involved in a duel with teammate Pedrosa, as Crutchlow looked to take advantage; it was at this point that Rossi’s charge took off. In his first race back with Yamaha, the Italian had run wide on the second lap and plummeted back to where he started - seventh place. Moves came on Dovizioso and LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl, who proceeded to crash while chasing down the seven-time premier class title winner.
Also failing to make the finish were GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Bryan Staring, Tech 3’s Bradley Smith, Came IodaRacing Project’s Danilo Petrucci and NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards, who had been the lead CRT runner at Losail last year.
Márquez overtook Pedrosa on the 17[SUP]th[/SUP] tour of the 22, leaving the latter to deal with Crutchlow as Rossi joined combat. The Italian stormed past the Englishman in a brave move between Crutchlow and the pit wall, only for the Tech 3 man to misjudge his braking point and run off-track at Turn 1. Rossi’s charge continued with maneuvers on Pedrosa and Márquez on Laps 19 and 20 respectively, only for the debutant to fight back as the pair went head-to-head.
Rossi would come out on top by just two tenths of a second, with Márquez becoming the first MotoGP™ rookie to seal a rostrum result in his first race since Lorenzo finished second position at Losail five years ago. Tonight, Lorenzo’s eventually winning margin was 5.9 seconds.
Pedrosa and Crutchlow completed the top five from Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista, Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden on the pair of Ducati Team machines, Pramac Racing newcomer Andrea Iannone and his teammate Ben Spies. Power Electronics Aspar won CRT honours, with reigning class Champion Aleix Espargaró finishing 11[SUP]th[/SUP] overall and leading home teammate Randy de Puniet by 6.6 seconds.
Avintia Blusens’ Héctor Barberá rose from 22[SUP]nd[/SUP] on the grid to 13[SUP]th[/SUP], having suffered electrical problems in qualifying, as rounding up the 18 finishers were PBM’s Yonny Hernández, Avintia’s Hiroshi Aoyama, Forward’s Claudio Corti, PBM’s Michael Laverty and Ioda’s Lukáš Pešek who on Saturday had qualified 15[SUP]th[/SUP] for his debut.
In two weeks’ time MotoGP™ will head to pastures new, as the 18-round World Championship travels to Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
 
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