Thursday Feb 28 2008
Qatar Testing session - Day 1

MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner needed just 45 minutes to find his bearings around the floodlit circuit of Losail in Qatar, with almost five and a half million watts lighting up the first official test session at 1800h local time, following a spectacular opening ceremony. Within an hour Stoner had clocked a stunning lap of 1'55.368, inside the current lap record and almost three seconds clear of his nearest rival in that moment.

Both Ducati Marlboro Team riders were in positive mood.



CASEY STONER, Ducati Marlboro Team

"The first impression is like playing on the videogame "Need for Speed"! It's definitely a lot different to what we're used to. It's not better or worse, just different. The most interesting thing is that with lower visibility, at least with regard to the imperfections on the track, you have to have more confidence than your instinct tells you to have. It's not a bad start though."

MARCO MELANDRI, Ducati Marlboro Team

"At the start it's quite difficult but then little by little you get used to the visibility, which is good but very different to daylight. They've done a great job and in my view there are only a couple of areas, between turns 5 to 9 and turn 14, which could be improved. Grip is good, it's just the wind that's a problem."

Circuit Record: Casey Stoner (Ducati - 2007), 1'56.528, 166.208 km/h
Best Pole: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha - 2007), 1'55.002

Today final lap times:

1. Casey STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1:55.330 (61 laps)
2. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha)1:56.019 (77)
3. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda) 1:56.062 (88)
4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda) 1:56.121 (81)
5. James TOSELAND (Yamaha) 1:56.251 (90)
6. Alex DE ANGELIS1 (Honda) :56.571 (69)
7. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki) 1:56.614 (71)
8. Dani PEDROSA (Honda) 1:56.621 (72)
9. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha) 1:56.749 (82)
10. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha) 1:56.762 (86)
11. Toni ELIAS (Ducati) 1:57.007 (85)
12. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda) 1:57.010 (91)
13. Shinya NAKANO (Honda) 1:57.223 (79)
14. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki) 1:57.522 (80)
15. Loris CAPIROSSI (Ducati) 1:57.551 (66)
16. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati) 1:57.593 (70)
17. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Ducati) 1:57.644 (66)
18. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki) 1:57.787 (51)