Another podium for Nicky Hayden after an intense race in Losail.
His team-mate Max Biaggi retires in MotoGP, and in the 250cc Dani Pedrosa is fourth and Sebastián Porto fifth.
Good and bad for the Repsol Honda Team in the lively MotoGP race staged today at the Losail Circuit in Qatar. Four names set the differences from the first lap, opening a gap to the rest of the pack. Despite Capirossi making a very strong start leading the race, he fell back to the sixth place in only two laps, unable to follow the pace of Gibernau, Melandri, Hayden and Rossi, who escaped in this order from the rest of the riders. And while they were getting ready to offer a superb recital in Qatar, Biaggi who was eleventh after the first lap, dropped back until the eighteenth place before being forced to get back to his garage on the seventh lap.
Mechanical problems hindered the Repsol rider from finishing the Qatar Grand Prix. Meanwhile Gibernau had managed to open a little gap leaving his travel mates behind, although the advantage was never bigger than one second. Five laps before the end of the race and with the four riders together again, the first stroke came when Gibernau went off track will being pursued by his team-mate Melandri. Nicky Hayden made good use of this situation, and despite not entering the fight for the victory, he got a well-deserved place on the podium, after finishing third. The victory was again for Rossi and the second place for a well-recovered Marco Melandri.
Dani Pedrosa had to suffer today in the 250cc race, on a bike that didn’t work as well as it should during the whole weekend. His highest rival, Casey Stoner, scored the 25 points of the Grand Prix winner after an impeccable race: he started in the lead, escaped from the rest until opening a gap of 3 seconds and won the race comfortably and convincingly. Dani, who had been second after the first lap, was quickly caught but the group of followers and suffered a lot to keep the pace of those who were fighting for the third step of the podium, because the second place was quickly taken by Jorge Lorenzo, leaving the fight for the third place to Dovizioso, Pedrosa and Porto. It hasn’t been a good weekend for the riders of the Aspar Repsol Team. Randy De Puniet, suffered several mechanical problems throughout the weekend and had to get back to his garage on the thirteenth lap due to a problem with the engine of his Aprilia. And whilst the French rider was retiring, his team-mate was trying unsuccessfully to escape from Dovizioso and Pedrosa to clinch the third place. Something similar happened to Pedrosa who failed in his attempt to escape and get closer to Lorenzo. In the end, Stoner took a comfortable first place, followed by Lorenzo, second and Dovizioso overtaking Pedrosa on the straight. Sebastián Porto, finished fifth behind Pedrosa.
The 125cc race started with the three KTMs of Kallio, Talmacsi and Simón in the lead, setting a fast pace and braking up the group from the very first lap. Behind the escaped riders, Héctor Faubel was 11th after the first lap, Sergio Gadea 15th, and Joan Olivé, who had a problem at the start after the engine of his Aprilia stalled, dropped back to the twenty-sixth place. After several laps, Faubel managed to catch-up with the group of followers, made-up by Simoncelli, Di Meglio, Luthi, Poggiali, Passini, Lai and Simón, who had been left behind by the top two. This group spent the race trying to get the two escaped riders -Kallio and Talmacsi-, while Gadea was leading the third group of the race and Joan Olivé was fighting hard to make up positions with a similar pace to that of the leading pack. The fight for the victory was finally a duel between both KTM riders, won by Talmacsi. Simoncelli opened a gap enough to get a comfortable third final place and Faubel managed to finish fifth in a contended and lively group. Joan Olivé, who finally managed to get the third group of riders, was eleventh and the other Repsol rider Sergio Gadea, finished twelfth.
Rider´s comments:
MotoGP.Nicky Hayden
3rd, 43’39.295:
‘I’m so happy to be here. Before the race things weren’t going to plan. In the morning warm-up we were so slow and were in real trouble. My guys made some changes and I have to be real grateful to them as they got it right and that’s why I’m here. The bike was so much better in the race than it had been all weekend. So much faster. The Michelins were brilliant. So much grip! I got an awesome start. In turn 1 my buddy Sete ran into the back of me again but I stayed on. In the race I just hung on in there. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it back but I’m here. I was pushing so hard to stay with the lead group there were some pretty scary moments. It wasn’t pretty with Sete running off but I’ll take the result the way the weekend was going.’
MotoGP. Max Biaggi,
retired:
The weekend started in a bad situation like in Sepang. After Motegi we’ve never been competitive at all. This is not just the set-up of the machine it’s something bigger than that. With the set-up you can improve. It’s more than just an engine-breaking problem. After Motegi it’s over – it’s impossible to go into the corner. The bike doesn’t turn. Nothing’s working at all. Here again – all weekend. In the race the machine stopped. Some electronic problem. I don’t know exactly yet. The team are looking closely. It’s unbelievable. My hope is gone. For this race for sure I couldn’t fight for the podium. It frustrates me so much because I know I should be fighting for the podium at every track and I know I could. We haven’t changed the set-up from Brno and Motegi. I just don’t understand what’s happening here.’
250. Dani Pedrosa
4th, 41’25.287:
‘Stoner started very had and I had a fright already in the first lap. They overtook me on the straight and the bike had no speed, it had carburetion problems when opening the throttle in the corners and on the straight, once I lost the slipstream, there was nothing I could do. In the end I tried to finish ahead of Dovizioso, because even if I left his slipstream I couldn’t pass him on the straight. There was nothing more I could do, the shoulder was hurting a lot especially on one section of the track and the bike hasn’t worked the way I would have liked. The gap in the overall standings is shorter now, everything is still open, but we have to go for all in the next races. I’m looking forward to getting back home, have a good look at my shoulder and reach Australia in the best possible shape’.
250. Sebastián Porto
5th, 41’27.495:
‘It was a very hard race for everybody because of the heat. I am happy with fifth place because I gave everything I had. The bike worked well until the halfway point when it began to lose a bit of performance and I noticed when I accelerated that the riders in front of me were pulling away. What’s more, I had problems with the front tyre which meant I could not maintain the 2’03 pace. It was a shame because I could have fought with the leaders on the last laps, but I am still happy and am just thinking about the next races now. It’s good to be up towards the front again, but we still have to improve the bike a bit to be at 100 percent.’
250. Hiroshi Aoyama
6th, 41’52.599:
‘It’s been a very difficult race. The engine wasn’t fast enough and the track was really slippery due to the high temperatures. I tried to follow the group but from the second half of the race it was impossible to stand the pace. I made some mistakes and they escaped. I want to say sorry to the team because they worked very hard to let me have the best possible bike this weekend, but I just couldn’t do more’.
250. Randy De Puniet,
retired:
‘I am very unhappy as this was a terrible end to the weekend for us. We had a lot of problems yesterday with the bike and were very unfortunate. This is a result to forget and now I’m just thinking about the race in Australia where I want to get back on the podium.’
125. Héctor Faubel
5th, 39’35.417:
‘It was a very demanding race and in the end I could only manage fifth. I started well but the KTMs got away very quickly and I was left a bit the second group. I managed to get back to the second group and then made up positions steadily and eventually finished fifth. I have a lot of positives to take from these three races and now I am looking forward to Australia.’
125. Joan Olivé
11th, 39’45.285:
‘It’s really been a shame, because I had the pace to finish in the front. We made good practice sessions and we had the right pace on used tyres to be in the front. The engine stalled at the start, I managed to turn it on again but all the others were already gone. From then on I had to pass a lot of people. I started to remount and was riding at the same pace as the riders in the lead. When I caught the third group, I also passed them and started to lap alone. Without the front group to make me push harder, t was very complicated, because the straights are very long and it was really windy. I’m sure that if I did not have the problem at the start I could have finished on the podium.’
125. Sergio Gadea
12th, 39’47.453:
‘My position on the grid cost me dear as, despite getting a good start and finding a good rhythm, I could not make up many positions as I was in a group of some stubborn riders who I could just not shake off.’
Track conditions:
- Weather: Sunny
- Air: 36º-39º
- Asphalt: 45º-48º
- Humidity: 10%-11%
- Wind: 20 Km/h
Tyre´s choice
- Max Biaggi: Medium – Medium
- Nicky Hayden: Medium – Medium
- Sebastián Porto: Hard – Medium
- Randy De Puniet: Hard – Hard
- Dani Pedrosa: Hard – Medium
- Hiroshi Aoyama: Hard – Medium
- Héctor Faubel: Medium- Hard – Soft
- Sergio Gadea: Medium – Hard – Soft
- Joan Olivé: Medium – Soft
Standings:
125cc.
- G. Talmacsi 39’23.248
- M. Kallio +0.017
- M. Simoncelli +9.571
- M. Di Meglio +11.815
- H. Faubel +12.169
11. J. Olive +22’037
12. S. Gadea +24.205
24. M. Túnez +56.956
25. J. Carchano +57.020
250cc.
- C. Stoner 41’22.628
- J. Lorenzo +1.566
- A. Dovizioso +2.603
- D. Pedrosa +2.659
- S. Porto +4.867
- H. Aoyama +29.971
R. De Puniet Retirado
MotoGP
- V. Rossi 43’33.759
- M. Melandri +1.670
- N. Hayden +5.536
- C. Edwards +14.737
- S. Gibernau +20.431
M. Biaggi retirado
