PaddockSpy-Grand Prix Blog

Friday, 27 February 2009

The 2009 MotoGP field head to the Losail International Circuit in Qatar this weekend to commence their second test since the winter break, with three evening sessions awaiting them under the floodlights at the desert track from 1st-3rd March.

World Champion Valentino Rossi will be hoping to further familiarise himself with his 2009 Yamaha M1 machine and the new-generation Bridgestone tyres at a circuit where he found the going tough last year, during MotoGP’s first ever night time Grand Prix.

Rossi qualified seventh and finished fifth in last year’s season-opening Losail race, just one of two non-podium finishes for the Italian in 2008, and is therefore keen to increase his competitiveness around the Middle Eastern circuit. The MotoGP title-holder started 2009 in good form at Malaysia despite stitches in his left hand and foot following a domestic accident.

The man who got closest to Rossi in 2008 and the fastest rider at the aforementioned first test of 2009 at Sepang, Casey Stoner, will be testing the condition of his left wrist which was operated on last November and which caused him discomfort in Malaysia, preventing him from undertaking long runs on the Desmosedici GP9. Stoner is a top performer at Qatar having won the last two MotoGP races there.

Another rider looking to increase test his stamina levels at Losail is Dani Pedrosa, the former 250cc and 125cc World Champion, who left Sepang on the second of the three days of the test, due to pain in his left knee which he hurt in Australia late last season and had surgery on in December.

Pedrosa’s compatriot Jorge Lorenzo aims to up his game too having made improvements on the last day of the Malaysia test. Last season in Qatar Lorenzo sensationally took pole at his very first MotoGP event and rode a brilliant race to finish second, so he will be looking forward to making further improvements to his Fiat Yamaha M1 package there as of Sunday.

Andrea Dovizioso was also impressive in Qatar last year, finishing fourth on his MotoGP debut, and he anticipates the second test of 2009 as a chance to further evolve his new factory Honda RC212V package.

Having impressed in his first two tests with Ducati Marlboro at the end of 2008 in Valencia and Jerez, Stoner’s new team-mate Nicky Hayden was off the pace in Malaysia and will hope for an improved rhythm this time out.

Colin Edwards, meanwhile, was highly satisfied with the test results at Sepang as he finished the last day in fourth place, just 0.370s off pace-setter Stoner’s best, as the Tech 3 Yamaha squad got their first experience of the new M1 prototype. Edwards was more than 2.5 seconds quicker than his colleague James Toseland who had a heavy crash on the first day in Malaysia and now looks to rebuild his confidence.

The opening test of the year was considered a positive outing for Rizla Suzuki colleagues Loris Capirossi (fastest on the first day) and Chris Vermeulen, who now strive to confirm the apparent increased competitiveness of the GSV-R800 at a second track.

Although veteran rider Sete Gibernau misses the test due to a recurrence of a shoulder injury his fellow satellite Ducati riders Mika Kallio and Niccolo Canepa will be present, alongside San Carlo Honda Gresini pair Toni Elias (the fastest Honda rider at Sepang) and Alex de Angelis, LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet and Scot Racing Team rookie Yuki Takahashi.

In addition, Marco Melandri gets back on Kawasaki machinery for the first time since his Valencia and Phillip Island practice runs at the end of 2008, as he returns to MotoGP testing. Although Kawasaki announced the withdrawal of their factory team from the World Championship early in January, they will nonetheless provide material for Melandri to run in MotoGP this season and the Italian star will therefore test the 2009 bike which Olivier Jacque recently debuted in a private test at Eastern Creek.

Sunday, February 22, 2009
Flag Switzerland now leads the championship after scoring 15 points today.

Flag Second was Brazil, then Monaco, Netherlands, Portugal, Lebanon, Great Britain, USA, Indonesia and Italy.

Flag Switzerland wins! Neel Jani matches Nico Hulkenberg's record of all time victories in A1GP with his ninth career victory.

Lap 40 Final lap. Switzerland are nearly there.

Lap 38 Three laps to go. Lebanon's Daniel Morad gets past Great Britain's Danny Watts for sixth.

Lap 37 There is just one second between Portugal and the Netherlands in the fight for fourth. Filipe Albuquerque has got to be thinking about the championship with Ireland already out of the race.

Lap 35 He does. It could give Malaysia a point after a nightmare race.

Lap 34 Australia currenly has the fastest lap, but Malaysia is back out on track and is using PowerBoost to try and get it.

Lap 33 India's Narain Karthikeyan dives down the inside of Italy's Edoardo Piscopo, but overcooks it and is immediately relapped.

Lap 31 India and Italy are battling for the final point in tenth place. India is not giving up.

Lap 30 Jani's lead is nearly 10 seconds. With Ireland out, it looks like Switzerland will move into the championship lead if they can stay in the lead of this race.

Lap 29 All the major runners have made their stops now. Switzerland, Brazil, Monaco, Netherlands, Portugal, Great Britain, Lebanon is the order at the front.

Lap 28 Now the USA has set the fastest lap. Marco Andretti has had a poor weekend, looks like he's finally finding some speed at last.

Lap 28 China retire.

Lap 28 Danny Watts sets the fastest lap for Great Britain now. He's finally showing speed.

Lap 27 No. It retains third place.

Lap 26 Monaco comes in to make its stop. Can it beat Brazil back out?

Lap 26 Portugal makes its stop. Another good one.

Lap 26 Switzerland makes its stop - it's good and clean, and they will retain the lead.

Lap 25 India has a slow stop.

Lap 25 After taking second place, Brazil's Felipe Guimaraes pulls the car into the pits for its second mandatory pit stop. It's clean.

Lap 23 Brazil is gifted second place after pressuring Monaco's Clivio Piccione into a mistake.

Lap 22 Germany's Michael Ammermuller has gone off into the gravel, but manages to get back going.

Lap 22 China is going slowly all of a sudden.

Lap 21 The gap between them is 0.5 seconds. These two collided twice in Monaco - they can't seem to keep away from each other!

Lap 20 Monaco and Brazil are having a good battle for second.

Lap 19 As we get to half distance, the order is Switzerland, Monaco, Brazil, Netherlands, Great Britain, Portugal, Lebanon, Germany, Indonesia (in Zahir Ali's first race!).

Lap 18 Daniel Morad is having a great race in the Lebanese car. He passes Germany's Michael Ammermuller. He's up to seventh from 19th on the grid.

Lap 17 Oh no! You can almost hear the hearts brake as Adrain Zaugg slows in the South Africa car. He pulls into the pits into retirement.

Lap 16 Something now seems wrong with the USA. Marco Andretti has dropped from seventh to 11th in one lap with cars passing him around the track.

Lap 15 Malaysia are in the pits again. Something is broken with the team's car.

Lap 14 So the order is Switzerland, USA, Monaco, Brazil, Netherlands, Great Britain, Portugal.

Lap 12 Switzerland's Neel Jani uses PowerBoost to sweep past the USA on the start/finish straight.

Lap 12 Switzerland is losing time behind the USA car of Marco Andretti, who has yet to pit.

Lap 11 Monaco doesn't have a great stop, but it's a disaster for Australia. It's a good stop but then Martin stuggles to get past the car infront, and then the car stalls and can't going again. And it looked like they were in with a chance of getting a medal too.

Lap 10 People start coming in the pits.

Lap 9 Malaysia spins at Turn 4. It's not a good day for the yellow team.

Lap 8 Pit stop window is about to open.

Lap 6 Malaysia limps into the pits.

Lap 6 Monaco has a 2.8-second lead over Switzerland.

Lap 6 TV replays show Mexico and France collided, which is why they both retired.

Lap 6 Malaysia, New Zealand, Ireland, Mexico and France are under investigation. No surprise there they were going to look into all that!

Lap 6 Malaysia are coming into the pits.

Lap 5 Mexico are retiring and so are France. It's all happening in Kyalami!

Lap 4 Contact! Malasyia and New Zealand collide and Earl Bamber spins into the gravel. New Zealand retires, but Malaysia keeps going.

Lap 2 New Zealand and Malaysia are having a great battle for third place, Fairuz Fauzy is all over the back of Malaysia.

Lap 1 So the order is Monaco, Swtizerland, New Zealand, Malaysia, Australia, Brazil, Great Britain.

Lap 1 Ireland has spun! The championship leader's Feature race is already over with Adam Carroll beached in the gravel.

Lap 1 Switzerland has made a great start and is up to second!

Lap 1 Potugal has a terrible start and drops to the back.

Lap 1 Monaco makes a great start and takes the lead.

15:00 Here we go. The cars are on their formation lap ready for the feature race.

14:47 It's still really hot out there... but there are clouds in the distance. Is there rain in the air?

14:46 It's going to be very exciting this afternoon. With yesterday's qualifying, we've quite a different grid today for the Feature race. Expect drama!

14:45 Welcome back to a hot and steamy South Africa. We had a great Sprint race this morning, with A1 Team Netherlands taking its first win in 45 races.

source: www.a1gp.com

A1 Team Indonesia celebrated their first points of the season in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport event at Kyalami circuit, South Africa, today. Zahir Ali, on his debut for the team, produced a superb drive to finish ninth in the Feature race after an 18^th place in the earlier Sprint race.

Zahir lined up on the grid of the Sprint race for his debut in A1GP. The young Indonesian was at the back of the field after a disastrous day yesterday when they were unable to take part in the qualifying session. A problem with the car was identified as a faulty part and the team did not have the time to make the changes needed before the qualifying session.

The team put their day behind them and Zahir, although not having had a chance to run on new tyres or practice a pitstop, was ready for the Sprint race. The 21 year old driver made a good start and was running well, gaining valuable race experience, but initially struggled to select gear. There was also a fuel pump problem for us, which slowed Indonesia’s pace. In his first A1GP race Zahir finished in 18^th position, a commendable effort, especially considering the lack of running he had prior to the race.

“It was a nightmare in the Sprint”, said Zahir. “In the first few laps I couldn’t select the gear. Then there was a fuel pump problem and this slowed me down, I just had to continue on so that we could finish the race and gain the experience.”

The Feature race was only the second A1GP start for Zahir. He was off the line well from the ninth row of the grid and moved up to 17^th by the end of the opening lap. Over the next few laps he moved up to 13^th place and then further forward as other cars pitted. Zahir made a clean pitstop and rejoined the race, lying in tenth place after all the cars had completed their stops. He was up to ninth when China slowed, a position he would keep until the chequered flag. The team worked quickly in the second pitstop to maintain position and the team’s first A1GP World Cup of Motorsport points of this season were welcome reward for their efforts. Zahir’s performance was even more impressive as he battled intermittent fuel pump problems throughout the race.

Zahir said after the Feature race, “The first few laps were good, I was on the pace and I was quite happy. I passed the USA car through the hairpin but then the fuel pump problems returned and I was fighting it throughout the race. I thought I would stop on two occasions but I kept going. I’m delighted to get points for the team and I loved racing for my country. I’m very happy.”

Team Manager, Bobby Issazadhe added, “I’m overjoyed. It was such a difficult start to the weekend, but when you get results like this you forget about all these problems. I have to dedicate this to the boys who have been working flat out with all the problems. Never give up – it doesn’t matter where you start on the grid you could be in the points. Zahir drove exceptionally well. He’d had so little track time, he’d never done a pitstop, never entered the pits at full speed, never run on new tyres – it was such a steep learning curve for him yet he didn’t make any mistakes.”

Bagoes Hermanto “I’m very relieved after all the problems we’ve had that we have our best result of the season. Zahir showed that he is a very talented driver, not making any mistakes, coping very well with the pitstops and the pressure. He has become a world class driver from Indonesia.”

The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport will visit the Algarve for the sixth round of racing, with the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve hosting the series for the first time.

source: www.a1gp.com