Losail, 7 March: The 800cc riders got on track today for the first day of practice of Qatar opening-season GP. The premier class riders came out at 7 pm for the first session thanks to the new lightning system at the “desert” circuit whilst the second session started at 22.55 with Stoner on the top of the timesheets in both occasions.

The air temperature reached a maximum of 15° but the track conditions were a bit worse compared with last week testing days because of the dust brought by the wind. The LCR Honda MotoGP rider Randy De Puniet set a fastest lap of 1’56.234 aboard his Michelin-shod Honda RC212V completing a total of 23 laps. The Frenchman was only 0.792s off the fastest lap off Stoner.

De Puniet: “This first day was not easy because the track was more slippery than last week. In the first session we worked on the engine map but the performance was a bit lazy and I struggled with the rear. We solved the problem for the second night test but, when I came out, I started to lose confidence with the front. The surface was very dirty and I risked to crash twice. Anyway it seems that we found the solution to improve my feeling for tomorrow”.

Free Practice Nr. 2:

1 Casey STONER (1'55.442)
2 Jorge LORENZO (1'55.453)
3 James TOSELAND (1'55.812)
4 Colin EDWARDS (1'55.942)
5 Andrea DOVIZIOSO (1'55.963)
6 Alex DE ANGELIS (1'56.120)
7 Randy DE PUNIET (1'56.234)
8 Chris VERMEULEN (1'56.279)
9 Valentino ROSSI (1'56.395)
10 Loris CAPIROSSI (1'56.922)
11 Dani PEDROSA (1'56.962)
12 Shinya NAKANO (1'57.011)
13 Nicky HAYDEN (1'57.045)
14 Marco MELANDRI (1'57.091)
15 Toni ELIAS (1'57.311)
16 John HOPKINS (1'57.416)
17 Anthony WEST (1'57.934)
18 Sylvain GUINTOLI (1'58.500)