Saturday, March 1, 2008

Ducati satisfied with Qatar

From Marlboro Ducati

DOHA, QATAR -- Ducati Marlboro Team pair Casey Stoner and Marco Melandri declared themselves happy with the work done after two nights of testing in Qatar, where they have spent time finalising their preparations for the historic night race that will get the 2008 season underway in just over a week's time.

Both riders have been impressed with the lighting system that illuminates the circuit and can't wait to get back on track for the first race of the championship. Stoner's race pace was hot once again Friday evening and a small crash on the way into turn 2 did nothing to dent his satisfaction with the job done.

Melandri is also confident after making progress with the setting of his GP8.

Stoner and Melandri will be back in Doha for first free practice at the Grand Prix of Qatar on Friday March 7.

"We only had a few things left to test and I'm happy because we've used different configurations on the two bikes and they both worked well," Stoner said. "Next week during practice we'll decide which setting to use in the race. I'm also really happy with the race tires - the qualifiers could be a bit better but I'm not too worried because they're not the most important tires of the weekend."

Times, Friday Feb. 29
1. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha)1:54.552
2. James TOSELAND (Yamaha) 1:54.592
3. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda)1:54.973
4. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha)1:55.464
5. Casey STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1:55.485
6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda) 1:55.550
7. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda)1:55.674
8. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki) 1:56.119
9. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda) 1:56.249
10. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha) 1:56.256
11. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki) 1:56.450
12. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki) 1:56.612
13. Dani PEDROSA (Honda) 1:56.704
14. Shinya NAKANO (Honda) 1:56.792
15. Marco MELANDRI(Ducati Marlboro Team) 1:56.902
16. Toni ELIAS (Ducati) 1:56.986
17. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Ducati) 1:57.055
18. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki) 1:57.459

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