Rossi dominates testing in Qatar
Added on Friday, March 19th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor
Rossi dominates testing in Qatar
World Champion Valentino Rossi once again set the pace in the first day of the final pre-season test in Qatar.
The Yamaha man, who has dominated testing throughout the off-season, was a massive three tenths of a second faster than Ducati’s Casey Stoner, although the Ducati man did complete 16 laps fewer in the opening day of testing.
Nevertheless, the result will be a massive dent to Stoner and Ducati, who have traditionally held the upper hand at the Losail International Circuit after winning the last three Qatar Grand Prix’s.
It was another promising day for Tech 3 Yamaha, with rookie Ben Spies and his American compatriot Colin Edwards finishing with the third and fourth fastest times respectively under the floodlights, although Edwards was more than half a second slower than his new teammate.
Randy de Puniet made up the top five, becoming the fastest Honda rider in the process, beating factory rider Andrea Dovizioso.
Jorge Lorenzo, who was initially expected to miss the test with a broken hand, was seventh fastest, 1.436 seconds slower than Rossi.
The second day of testing will continue today, between 6pm and 12am local time on Doha (3pm and 9pm UK time).
Qatar Test, Day One:
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Time |
| 1 | Valentino Rossi | ITA | Fiat Yamaha | 1:55.402 |
| 2 | Casey Stoner | AUS | Ducati Marlboro | +0.315 |
| 3 | Ben Spies | USA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | +0.552 |
| 4 | Colin Edwards | USA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | +1.138 |
| 5 | Randy de Puniet | FRA | LCR Honda MotoGP | +1.186 |
| 6 | Andrea Dovizioso | ITA | Repsol Honda Team | +1.409 |
| 7 | Jorge Lorenzo | SPA | Fiat Yamaha | +1.436 |
| 8 | Nicky Hayden | USA | Ducati Marlboro | +1.453 |
| 9 | Mika Kallio | FIN | Pramac Ducati | +1.521 |
| 10 | Dani Pedrosa | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | +1.645 |
| 11 | Loris Capirossi | ITA | Rizla Suzuki | +1.697 |
| 12 | Marco Melandri | ITA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | +2.203 |
| 13 | Hector Barbera | SPA | Aspar Ducati | +2.420 |
| 14 | Hiroshi Aoyama | JAP | Interwetten-Honda | +2.486 |
| 15 | Marco Simoncelli | ITA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | +2.489 |
| 16 | Aleix Espargaro | SPA | Pramac Ducati | +2.496 |
| 17 | Alvaro Bautista | SPA | Rizla Suzuki | +2.558 |
