Overnight in Qatar, Casey Stoner who, by his own admission is riding at about 80% at the moment, led a Honda/HRC 1,2,3 in the final practice session. Sure looking ominous for the rest.
FP3 Results
01- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – 1’55.035
02- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 0.158
03- Andrea Dovizioso – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 0.705
04- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.779
05- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.968
06- Hector Barbera – Mapfre Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.231
07- Colin Edwards – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.267
08- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.271
09- Randy De Puniet – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.327
10- Loris Capirossi – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.399
11- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.402
12- Hiroshi Aoyama – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 1.482
13- Marco Simoncelli – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 1.505
14- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.551
15- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 2.240
16- Alvaro Bautista – Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – Suzuki GSV-R – + 2.566
17- Toni Elias – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 3.088
And it gets worse for Suzuki with their only rider, Alvaro Bautista, suffering a broken femur in a huge highside near the end of the session. There is talk of rushing John Hopkins back from Britain to sub for the Spaniard, but I hope they don’t.
Financial issues seem to be dogging the sport at the moment with the latest victim being the Czech circuit of Brno which is deeply in debt. The 2011 event is secure, but the circuit owners are desperately seeking support from the local government in order to ensure the staging of the 2012 event and the FIM already saying that they are actively seeking other venues who can guarantee financial continuity in the future.
On another completely different matter, I caught the end of the V8 race from Adelaide today. What a farce! With just a few laps to go and in a position to win, Whincup rolled out of the battle with Tander to ensure points for the championship. Mind you, this IS round 3 of the championship, and every driver must be thinking about the end of the season already… Pardon me, but I thought that racing drivers are hired and paid to RACE, not to turn an event into a boring, contrived finish.