Qatar Testing 2015

The most interest will be in Ducati and Suzuki performance. I suspect both will start out a little slow but will be pushing the front by the end of second day.

I will be closely watching for improvement by Miller. He needs to have adapted to the electronics and start using them to produce lap times. I expect him to be top of his version of the Honda list by end of test.

is any of the testing going to be live on motogp.com ?

if there is I cant find it im thinking they are not live filming unfortunately

1. = Andrea Iannone ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP15) 1m 55.265s [Lap 30/50]
2. = Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP15) 1m 55.363s +0.098s [36/48]
3. = Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 55.554s +0.289s [23/44]
4. = Aleix Espargaro ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 1m 55.698s +0.433s [33/44]
5. = Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 55.813s +0.548s [31/33]
6. = Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 1m 55.828s +0.563s [42/43]
7. = Cal Crutchlow GBR CWM LCR Honda (RC213V) 1m 55.837s +0.572s [26/38]
8. = Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 1m 55.938s +0.673s [27/48]
9. ˄ Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 1m 55.954s +0.689s [41/43]
10. ˅ Scott Redding GBR Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 1m 56.112s +0.847s [43/47]
11. ˅ Maverick Viñales ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)* 1m 56.130s +0.865s [42/42]
12. ˄ Danilo Petrucci ITA Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP14.1) 1m 56.132s +0.867s [44/44]
13. ˅ Yonny Hernandez COL Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP14.2) 1m 56.301s +1.036s [26/38]
14. ˅ Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 1m 56.615s +1.350s [31/50]
15. ˅ Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing (RC213V-RS) 1m 56.638s +1.373s [29/34]
16. ˅ Mike Di Meglio FRA Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP14 Open) 1m 56.719s +1.454s [32/45]
17. ˄ Nicky Hayden USA Drive M7 Aspar (RC213V-RS) 1m 57.099s +1.834s [40/47]
18. ˅ Stefan Bradl GER Athina Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) 1m 57.146s +1.881s [16/27]
19. ˄ Jack Miller AUS CWM LCR Honda (RC213V-RS)* 1m 57.228s +1.963s [43/49]
20. ˅ Loris Baz FRA Athina Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha)* 1m 57.376s +2.111s [34/40]
21. ˅ Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP14 Open) 1m 57.405s +2.140s [4/18]
22. ˅ Eugene Laverty IRL Drive M7 Aspar Honda (RC213V-RS)* 1m 57.500s +2.235s [36/44]
23. ˅ Michele Pirro ITA Ducati Test Rider (Desmosedici) 1m 57.664s +2.399s [31/53]
24. ˅ Alex De Angelis RSM Octo IodaRacing (ART) 1m 58.026s +2.761s [26/45]
25. = Alvaro Bautista ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 1m 58.459s +3.194s [24/34]
26. = Marco Melandri ITA Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 1m 58.990s +3.725s [19/19]

Ducati dominated the day. Well my prediction of taking to day 2 to get near the front was way off.

If this was the real situation, it would be too good for Ducati... Ducati's performance however is significant because they made the lap times without using the soft tire. The times themselves are not bad at all, considering the track couldn't be in optimal conditions... But I'm sure Marquez has quite a few tenths up his sleeve, and the Yamahas must have been busy tuning their new gearbox. Rossi's crash was due to a technical failure but surely that didn't encourage him going faster. Let's see how the top dogs will stretch their legs tomorrow, to get a better idea....

No soft rubber confirmed.

MotoGP, Ducati: siamo veloci senza gomma morbida

Take on that Krop, you ....... ........

This guy sucks:

"With the extra soft tire at their disposal, it was easier to set fast times."

...... You'll have to swallow your Marc Matters / Rossi Matters .....

gui22a said:

No soft rubber confirmed.

MotoGP, Ducati: siamo veloci senza gomma morbida

Take on that Krop, you ....... ........

This guy sucks:

"With the extra soft tire at their disposal, it was easier to set fast times."

...... You'll have to swallow your Marc Matters / Rossi Matters .....

Click to expand...

Did I accidentally .... your girlfriend or something?

Kropotkin said:

Did I accidentally .... your girlfriend or something?

Click to expand...

Certainly a bit harsh. I enjoy your site. I also happen to enjoy Jumkie. Perhaps you should ignore my opinions...

Kropotkin said:

Did I accidentally .... your girlfriend or something?

Click to expand...

My girl?

I don't think so, apparently your great passion is being ...... by Valentino Rossi plus Marc Marquez on a Yamaha.

gui22a said:

My girl?

I don't think so, apparently your great passion is being ...... by Valentino Rossi plus Marc Marquez on a Yamaha.

Click to expand...

I'll give it 5 out of a possible 10. I'm sure you can do better than that if you put a bit of effort into it.

gui22a said:

No soft rubber confirmed.

MotoGP, Ducati: siamo veloci senza gomma morbida

Take on that Krop, you ....... ........

This guy sucks:

"With the extra soft tire at their disposal, it was easier to set fast times."

...... You'll have to swallow your Marc Matters / Rossi Matters .....

Click to expand...

Hey Man, we already had one Jumkie. When he was great - he was really great. When he was being a vindictive jerk - not so much. Good folks are migrating back here and nobody should be made to feel unwelcome because their opinion is different than yours. I'm not a moderator or a net nanny - but like others - I would like to see this site flourish again.

Keshav said:

Hey Man, we already had one Jumkie. When he was great - he was really great. When he was being a vindictive jerk - not so much. Good folks are migrating back here and nobody should be made to feel unwelcome because their opinion is different than yours. I'm not a moderator or a net nanny - but like others - I would like to see this site flourish again.

Click to expand...

Wait a minute. I quite like it when some people are being made to feel unwelcome. This place went soft and when that happened everyone left. The mouthy types get what mouthy types deserve and that's part of the fun. I'll text Jum and see if I can get him over here to insult someone...

Keshav said:

Hey Man, we already had one Jumkie. When he was great - he was really great. When he was being a vindictive jerk - not so much. Good folks are migrating back here and nobody should be made to feel unwelcome because their opinion is different than yours. I'm not a moderator or a net nanny - but like others - I would like to see this site flourish again.

Click to expand...

My theory is not that it was the insults. They were quite funny. To me, it seemed like groupthink took over, that MotoGP was rigged in every detail, every achievement questioned, and it was all one great big conspiracy. Anyone who questioned that narrative was attacked mercilessly, and any facts which did not fit the accepted dogma were conveniently ignored. That created an air of negativity: MotoGP was rigged, and it sucked. When building a discussion forum around a particular sport, having the main topic of conversation being that the sport in question sucks makes for a deeply unappealing vibe to anyone but the most wide-eyed conspiracy nuts. PS became too much like the David Icke forums: hilarious, but deeply, deeply depressing.

To me, it felt like the narrative got hijacked by the inner circle. Having such voices as part of the narrative can be interesting, but having them dominate the conversation is just miserable.

Hopefully, this place will cheer up a little now, and become more active. But that does require some guidance, and positive input from the people who frequent the forum.


What intrigues me is just why gui22a is so obsessed with what I get right and wrong. I think he may have a crush on me...

From today:

"Because of the speed shown by the Andreas, there has been much grumbling they shouldn’t be allowed to use the soft tyre but the team’s press man Julian Thomas has confirmed to bikesportnews.com this evening that the soft tyre has gone nowhere near either of the bikes and all times have been set on the hardest tyre in their allocation - medium overall."



Crapotkin, get out and go write .... about Ducati in your site.

I hope you have found a buyer for your cracked Ducati for it seems to me you hate the Italians more than the normal.

gui22a said:

From today:

"Because of the speed shown by the Andreas, there has been much grumbling they shouldn’t be allowed to use the soft tyre but the team’s press man Julian Thomas has confirmed to bikesportnews.com this evening that the soft tyre has gone nowhere near either of the bikes and all times have been set on the hardest tyre in their allocation - medium overall."



Crapotkin, get out and go write .... about Ducati in your site.

I hope you have found a buyer for your cracked Ducati for it seems to me you hate the Italians more than the normal.

Click to expand...

Funny that I was the only English speaking journalist actually present at the Ducati launch. And I've decided to hang about here for a while, as it seems to irritate you. This is fun.

Oh, and can you guess who explained Ducati's tire allocation to David Miller?