Tech 3 Yamaha’s Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow said the fact they were both running well and challenging for a podium finish at Le Mans provided some form of consolation following their crashes.

As has been the case for much of the season the pair proved almost inseparable, locked in battle not only with each other but also with Ducati’s Valentino Rossi and Honda’s Casey Stoner during an early four-way fight for second.

As the race progressed both found it harder to stay with Rossi however, and in trying to stick on the Italian’s tail both fell – Crutchlow 10 laps from the finish and Dovizioso seven laps later.

Dovizioso said the conditions meant that mistakes were easy to make, and that despite his fall he could still take comfort from his race pace.

“Although the conditions were far from ideal, it was a fantastic race and I really enjoyed it,” he said. It was easy to make a mistake on such a wet track but I am really satisfied that I could make such a high pace.

“The battle with Cal and Valentino was hard but a lot of fun and it is a shame that I crashed while I still had a very good chance of my first podium for Tech 3 and Yamaha.

“The last 12 laps my front tyre kept closing but Valentino couldn’t escape from me and I could see we were catching Casey. I knew that I was pushing right on the limit with the tyres but I wanted to try and go with Valentino.

“It is a pity to crash but I’m really happy with my feeling with the Yamaha now. I was fast all weekend in the wet and dry and my team did a great job, so we can look forward to the next races with a lot of confidence.”

Crutchlow echoed Dovizioso’s sentiments, saying fighting for the podium provided some form of consolation for his crash.

“I’m not happy to have crashed while I was fighting for the podium, but the consolation is that at least I was battling for the top three again. Being quickest in the warm-up this morning meant I was confident going into the race but I wasn’t really aggressive at the start,” he said.

“I seemed to miss out on a bit of speed on the straight compared to [Rossi and Dovizioso, which] meant I had to make up all my time in the corners. It was a shame I crashed because I was fighting with Valentino and he finished second.

“There was a chance of the podium today but at least I was there and I lost so much time after the crash that to still finish eighth is a bonus really.”

Both riders were able to return to the circuit following their crashes and finished seventh and eighth respectively, Dovizioso leading Crutchlow home.

Ben Spies says visibility issues caused by water leaking into his helmet were the chief culprit behind his struggles at Le Mans.

In contrast to Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who dominated from the front, Spies fared miserably, dropping down the grid after the rear of his bike got loose at the start.

He fought back to get as high as 13th, but could not break free of the surrounding CRT bikes and eventually brought his race to an effective close – even though he was able to return – by heading into the pits.

The Texan said visibility issues were to blame for his slump. He has just one top 10 finish to his credit this season, an eighth in the previous race at Estoril.

“That was a rough race,” Spies conceded. “We actually got off to a good start at the beginning then had a very big moment on the line.

“Something happened because then I had quite a lot of water coming in through my helmet and couldn’t see much on the first five laps. I hoped it would get better but I couldn’t see anything and decided to come in because I need to see where I am going.

“I knew the race was gone by then so went back out to try and get some data and get better working with the bike in the rain. Circumstances meant it wasn’t a good day.”

After hailing Lorenzo’s ‘incredible’ ride, team director Massimo Meregalli said he expected Spies to bounce back at Barcelona.

“We were expecting a different race but unfortunately this bad luck doesn’t want to disappear,” Meregalli said. “We’re looking forward to Barcelona, we won’t give up and we will get back up to where we belong with Ben.”

Jorge Lorenzo labelled his French Grand Prix triumph ‘very sweet’ after delivering a faultless ride in difficult wet conditions.

Despite missing out on the front row for the second straight race, Lorenzo was in aggressive mood from the outset and had moved into the lead before the end of the first lap.

He rapidly extended his advantage in the early stages, when no-one could live with his pace, and was ultimately untroubled en route to a victory which earned him an eight-point lead over Honda’s Casey Stoner in the 2012 championship standings.

“The flavour of this victory is very sweet. In the dry it is complicated but in the wet it’s even more,” Lorenzo said. “The race feels much longer and it’s really difficult to hold concentration.

“You have to remember where the corners are slippery every lap, and if you forget one you can crash very easily.”

Lorenzo’s lead only ever looked in jeopardy when Stoner began closing around the sixth lap, but the moment proved fleeting and he was soon extending his advantage again over his main points rival.

“When I saw Casey was catching me I didn’t lose it, I kept calm and didn’t force it too much,” Lorenzo said. “It would have been easy to push a bit more and make a mistake at that moment but I waited for a few more laps to see what happened then opened the gap again to win this fantastic race.

“A big thank you to my team who worked very hard in difficult conditions to make a set up that worked for me.”

Casey Stoner said he was happy to have simply picked up a podium finish on a sodden Le Mans circuit after struggling badly with tyre issues.

The reigning MotoGP world champion admitted Honda had struggled to get on top of the conditions, afflicted by issues switching the tyres on at the start and with heavy degradation at the end.

“That was a tough race, not the best day for us,” Stoner said after finishing third behind Jorge Lorenzo’s Yamaha and Valentino Rossi’s Ducati. “The bikes weren’t working, and both myself and Dani [Pedrosa] had the same problems: from the start we couldn’t get heat into the tyres and get the rear to work.

“Jorge used that opportunity perfectly to pull a huge lead, and then I was just trying to stay in second, getting pressure from behind [while] just waiting to get grip.

“Then I got grip I started to push and close [on Lorenzo], and everything was looking good, and then the rain stopped, the water levels went away and we just overheated the rear tyre. We couldn’t get any traction and were spinning the rear in every gear, from first to sixth.”

As a result, Stoner said it had been almost impossible to hold Rossi at bay as the seven-time champion closed rapidly and surged into second on the final lap.

“Valentino had the pace over us at the end. I tried to hold on, to do everything I could, but he had a much higher pace and I couldn’t even stay with him on the last lap, I think he pulled 1.5 seconds on me.

“It was nice just to be on the podium, it wasn’t looking so good for us halfway through the race.”

Valentino Rossi says he and Ducati were aware they had a special chance to finish on the podium at Le Mans given the race’s wet conditions.

Rossi, who said after qualifying that he was hoping for a wet race, explained that he rode at the maximum under the knowledge that the GP12 could fare better in the adverse conditions than it would have in the dry.

“I’m so happy, this result is so important for us,” Rossi said following his second-place finish, his best MotoGP result with Ducati.

“I know we have a better chance in these conditions for the podium so I tried to ride in a better way to stay concentrated. We knew we had a special chance for [a top three], so it was very important to ride at the maximum.”

The seven-time world champion explained he dropped back in the early stages of the race – when he was passed by Tech 3′s Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso – due to his visor fogging up, but was able to start pushing again once it had cleared.

“I was behind [Casey] Stoner and I could keep up with him, but then my visor steamed up because we are using a new helmet,” he told Italia1.

“I managed to open it and little by little air came through: when I was again able to see I started pushed again and overtook the two Yamahas. I saw I was going quick and that I was closing up to Stoner, but Cal and Dovizioso came with me so I had to push at the maximum.

“Then I arrived with Stoner and it was a great battle as always. I’m happy for myself, for all the Ducati boys who work for me and my team. We needed this. Now let’s hope we can be more competitive in the dry too.”

Jorge Lorenzo moved into the MotoGP championship lead with a masterful victory at Le Mans, while Valentino Rossi defeated Casey Stoner in a thrilling last-lap duel to take his best ever finish with Ducati in second.

As Lorenzo’s Yamaha dominated from the front, a resurgent Rossi thrived in the adverse conditions and was always in the fight for the podium.

Having finally broken clear of Tech 3′s Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow, Rossi began to rapidly close down Stoner and spent the final five laps swarming over the back of the reigning world champion’s Honda. Twice he got through only for Stoner to immediately repass him, but on the final lap he dived down the inside at the first chicane and made the move stick, pulling away over the remainder of the lap to seal second.

Stoner’s loss boosted Lorenzo yet further: trailing the Australian by one point coming into Le Mans, he now leads by eight.

Lorenzo was effectively in a race of his own from the very start, as an aggressive opening lap gave him a near-two second advantage. He pulled away further as the race progressed, and – save for a small rally from Stoner, when the gap began to fall – was never troubled.

With poleman Dani Pedrosa (Honda) falling back, Stoner initially occupied second ahead of Rossi, Dovizioso and Crutchlow.

The Australian managed to edge away as the three behind him began fighting, with Crutchlow moving into third seven laps in. Dovizioso followed him through, but after biding his time for a few laps Rossi moved back into third and began hunting down Stoner.

Both Dovizioso and Crutchlow fell while trying to stay with Rossi, but were able to get back up and finished seventh and eighth respectively.

Their falls promoted Pedrosa to fourth, LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl into fifth and Rossi’s Ducati team-mate Nicky Hayden into sixth.

Behind the Pramac Ducati of Hector Barbera and the Gresini Honda of Alvaro Bautista, Paul Bird’s James Ellison triumphed from a three-way battle with Danilo Petrucci (Ioda-Aprilia) and Mattia Pasini (Speed Master Aprilia) to finish top of the CRT pile in 11th.

As Lorenzo dominated out front, the second works Yamaha of Ben Spies endured a torrid race. A wobble at the start dropped him down the field and he never recovered, even pulling into the garage at the halfway mark before returning at the back of the pack.

Results – 28 laps:

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike                    Time/Gap

 1.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                     49m39.743s

 2.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati                       + 9.905s

 3.  Casey Stoner      Honda                       + 11.298s

 4.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                       + 29.361s

 5.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda                   + 32.477s

 6.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                      + 32.842s

 7.  Andrea Dovizioso  Tech 3 Yamaha               + 59.759s

 8.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha             + 1m05.152s

 9.  Hector Barbera    Pramac Ducati             + 1m07.846s

10.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda             + 1m13.193s

11.  James Ellison     Paul Bird Aprilia         + 1m26.663s

12.  Mattia Pasini     Speed Master Aprilia      + 1m27.633s

13.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia                 + 1 lap

14.  Michele Pirro     Gresini FTR-Honda             + 1 lap

15.  Yonny Hernandez   Avintia FTR-Kawasaki          + 1 lap

16.  Ben Spies         Yamaha                        + 1 lap

17.  Chris Vermeulen   Forward Suter-BMW            + 2 laps

18.  Ivan Silva        Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki     + 2 laps
Retirements:
     Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Aprilia                  24 laps

     Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia                 22 laps

     Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati                11 laps

Thomas Luthi scored his first win of the 2012 Moto2 championship with a masterful ride in wet conditions at Le Mans, moving to within three points of the championship lead in the process.

Erstwhile points leader Marc Marquez suffered his first retirement since Silverstone last year, crashing out while running fifth 10 laps into the race. A spate of late incidents allowed Pol Espargaro to finish sixth and move one point clear of Marquez.

Starting from second, Luthi (Paddock Suter) stayed near the front during the early chaos and then moved into the lead seven laps in.

The chasing pack initially stayed with him, but as the race progressed so did Luthi’s gap, extending past the three-second mark at the halfway stage.

Last year’s 125cc runner-up Johann Zarco had threatened to turn the race into a grandstand finish, closing steadily on Luthi in the final laps, but with just four to run the JIR Motobi rider high-sided out at Turn 10.

The weather kept things tense, worsening in the final laps, but with Zarco’s exit Luthi was able to come home untroubled and collect his third victory across all categories at Le Mans.

Claudio Corti (Italtrans Kalex) claimed his first grand prix podium in second, while Marc VDS’s Scott Redding claimed his first of the year in third.

Difficult conditions did not translate into the multitude of crashes seen in Moto3′s earlier race, but incidents nonetheless played their part in determining the outcome of the race – not least in Marquez’s early exit.

Tech 3′s Bradley Smith was another to suffer. Up to fourth in the opening stages, he ran wide and lost huge ground on lap eight. He fought his way back and was set to finish sixth, but lost the bike on the final turn and eventually dragged it to 10th.

His woe was Espargaro’s gain, as the Pons Kalex rider – who had been running near the front early on – claimed sixth, and with it the points lead, in his stead.

Andrea Iannone (Speed Master) and Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Kalex) finished ahead of Espargaro in fourth and fifth.

Anthony West (QMMF Moriwaki), Max Neukirchner (Kiefer Kalex) and Gresini’s Ratthapark Wilairot occupied seventh through to ninth, ahead of the returning Smith.

Results – 26 laps:

Pos  Rider                Team/Bike                 Time/Gap

 1.  Thomas Luthi         Paddock Suter           50m02.816s

 2.  Claudio Corti        Italtrans Kalex           + 6.354s

 3.  Scott Redding        Marc VDS Kalex           + 12.162s

 4.  Andrea Iannone       Speed Master Speed Up    + 16.338s

 5.  Mika Kallio          Marc VDS Kalex           + 19.278s

 6.  Pol Espargaro        Pons Kalex               + 20.874s

 7.  Anthony West         QMMF Moriwaki            + 21.705s

 8.  Max Neukirchner      Kiefer Kalex             + 28.117s

 9.  Ratthapark Wilairot  Gresini Suter            + 38.317s

10.  Bradley Smith        Tech 3                   + 40.940s

11.  Esteve Rabat         Pons Kalex               + 44.077s

12.  Toni Elias           Aspar Suter              + 59.583s

13.  Julian Simon         Avintia Suter          + 1m01.785s

14.  Nico Terol           Aspar Suter            + 1m03.430s

15.  Dominique Aegerter   Technomag-CIP Suter    + 1m10.341s

16.  Roberto Rolfo        Technomag-CIP Suter    + 1m22.145s

17.  Axel Pons            Pons Kalex             + 1m46.994s

18.  Yuki Takahashi       Forward Suter              + 1 lap

19.  Marco Colandrea      SAG FTR                    + 1 lap
Retirements:
     Johann Zarco         JIR Motobi                 21 laps

     Elena Rosell         QMMF Moriwaki              18 laps

     Takaaki Nakagami     Italtrans Kalex            17 laps

     Mike di Meglio       Speed Master Speed Up      16 laps

     Ricard Cardus        Arguinano AJR              13 laps

     Marc Marquez         Monlau Suter               11 laps

     Gino Rea             Gresini Suter               7 laps

     Alexander Lundh      MZ                          7 laps

     Alex de Angelis      Forward Suter               3 laps

     Angel Rodriguez      SAG Bimota                  2 laps

     Simone Corsi         Ioda FTR                    2 laps

     Randy Krummenacher   Switzerland Kalex            1 lap

Andrea Dovizioso says a small problem in the final five minutes of qualifying at Le Mans prevented him from challenging for a pole position he believes was a realistic goal for his Tech 3 Yamaha.

The Italian had risen to the top of the timesheets as qualifying neared its conclusion, but as Honda’s Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa improved their times he instead headed into the pits and sat out the final five minutes.

Dovizioso said his early finish had been caused by a ‘small problem’, and insisted he was therefore happy to have therefore finished third, his first front row start since moving from the works Honda squad to Tech 3 for the start of 2012.

“I am really happy to be on the front row for the first time with Tech 3 and Yamaha,” Dovizioso said. “At the home race for the team it is beautiful.

“I have been fast in every session and even in the tricky conditions at the start of qualifying I was very competitive and strong and the times were coming really easily.

“I am particularly happy to be on the front row because a small problem meant I was not able to be on track for the final five minutes of the session. That is the period when you improve your time and it was a pity that I couldn’t battle in the final stages because I’m sure I had a chance of getting pole position.

“So to be on the front row despite not riding in the last five minutes is fantastic and I am very confident for the race tomorrow. I’m sure I have the pace to stay at the front.”

Dovizioso’s team-mate Cal Crutchlow said he too had the potential to fight for pole, but struggled with set-up and a few small errors on his final laps.

“I can’t be disappointed to have qualified in fifth position but I think I could have challenged for pole position had things gone my way,” Crutchlow insisted. “I made a couple of small mistakes on my fast laps right at the end and that cost me a little bit of time.

“We didn’t have the best set-up with the bike: we made some modifications for qualifying but with the conditions wet and damp at the start, we couldn’t tell if it was an improvement and in hindsight it would have been better to stay with the setting I ran this morning.”

Valentino Rossi reckons the wet weather which is forecast for tomorrow’s French Grand Prix could favour Ducati.

Having qualified a year-best seventh at Le Mans, Rossi said he was happy with both his showing and the competitiveness of the Ducati – but said he could potentially fare even better if Sunday’s race runs, as expected, in the wet.

“Today was a bit more positive: we put together yesterday’s settings with a few modifications and I improved,” Rossi explained. “I’m a bit sorry not to have made the second row, which was pretty close, but the fact remains that seventh place is not so bad, and that this is our best qualifying session of the season.

“The session was very difficult because the condition of the track changed so quickly, but for me we were more competitive on the wet at the beginning.

“Now the conditions are very bad, [it is] raining very hard and the forecast for tomorrow is wet. I think on the wet we can be a bit more competitive so maybe try to do a better position in the race. But anyway we have to try and I hope if it is wet it will be wet in the morning to get some laps in the warm up and better understand our potential.”

Rossi said the inclement conditions seemed to work in Ducati’s favour because it helped improve the feel of the GP12 and also eased ongoing concerns about acceleration on corner exits.

“In the wet, the bike gives a better feel, and you can ride it in a better way,” he explained. “And with less power used in the wet, we have less problem putting the horsepower on the ground.”

Rossi said that working on the settings of the GP12 had allowed the team to take another step forward in France even if major performance upgrades are still some time away.

“I think we are able to do another small step from Portugal because we can work more on the setting of the bike,” he said.

“This afternoon we did a good job of adapting to the track conditions, which changed quite quickly, and every exit I found myself on the track at the right time. We made another small step forward compared to Estoril, and we worked well.”

Casey Stoner says heavy traffic on his final two flying laps cost him the chance to seal a second straight MotoGP pole position at Le Mans.

The Australian had been top heading into the final two minutes of the session, only for works Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa to move three tenths clear and seal provisional pole.

Stoner was still out on circuit and had the benefit of fresh rubber, but said being held up by traffic had prevented him from taking full advantage and responding to Pedrosa’s late effort.

“We’re really happy to be on front row, but qualifying definitely didn’t go to plan,” the reigning champion said. “We felt we were fast enough to be on pole position but every time I was on a good lap or building up to one, I got held up.

“There was always someone in the way or a bunch of riders in the way waiting for someone or waiting for a tow. And then last two laps completely screwed me: I slowed down quite a lot to get clear laps – I thought I gave a CRT rider maybe six seconds gap – but I caught him before the end of the lap and that ruined my start onto the next lap, and then I saw it was starting to rain so I backed out of it completely.

“The rain wasn’t heavy enough to upset my lap and I could have continued it, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”

Stoner elected not to head out at the start of qualifying when the track was at its wettest, but says he is confident about his race prospects whatever the weather.

“If you went out you just destroyed another set of wet tyres, so we opted to wait for the slicks to come in,” Stoner explained.

“I think we’re looking good for the race, we’re pretty comfortable in dry conditions but we still have warm up and a chance for the others to find something extra, so we’re going to have to improve our bike a little also and wait for the race as the weather conditions are still unpredictable.”

Dani Pedrosa says the possibility of a wet French Grand Prix means that being fast in any conditions is more important than his securing of pole position for the first time in 2012.

The Spaniard said a well-timed strategy, and pushing in the right places out on track, had helped him edge out works team-mate Casey Stoner for pole.

He insists however that rather than celebrate, the unpredictable weather meant Honda must now work on its wet set-up in order to be ready for any eventuality.

“I’m not usually a pole guy, [so] it is great,” Pedrosa said. “I’m happy to be on pole, but really we must work hard to get the best bike on the grid tomorrow.

“Here at Le Mans the race is always a kind of mix, so I hope to get some good settings for dry and wet. We have to be ready to go fast in any conditions.

“It was a tough session because at the beginning you didn’t know if it was going to rain again, so it was key to choose the right moment to push and to not get out of the line.

“Let’s see what the weather does tomorrow, but the race is very long here, 28 laps, and everything can change. I hope to have a good start and to be able to keep a good pace until the end.”

Jorge Lorenzo admits he is not happy to have qualified on the second row for MotoGP’s French Grand Prix, but says victory is still not beyond his reach.

Having qualified on pole for the opening two races in 2012, the Spaniard has now missed out on the front row in the past two straights races – the first time he has done so since June last year.

Lorenzo said Andrea Dovizioso’s pace on board the satellite Tech 3 Yamaha meant the front row was not possible, even if he had the potential to push harder and find time in the difficult conditions.

“I’m not happy, I wanted to be at least on the front row but it was not possible,” the 2010 champion said. “Andrea was very fast today.

“I didn’t make one perfect lap, [and] maybe three or four tenths could be improved with a perfect lap but the track conditions were very difficult today and it was very easy to crash and get injured.

“We are in fourth position and tomorrow I think we can fight for the podium and the victory. I will try to make a very good start.”

Lorenzo’s Yamaha team-mate Ben Spies said those at the top of the timesheets had simply been braver than the others, explaining that his own difficult in pushing to the absolute maximum meant sixth was a good result.

“Today was a tricky session for everybody, [and] kind of risky,” Spies explained. “Finally the track started to come good but the guys who did the better lap times were a little bit more brave than others.

“With this tarmac it’s hard to see if it’s wet or dry in some places. We did the best we could and put together a decent lap to get on the second row. It was pretty hard to commit to 110 per cent when the track is like that so the result is good.”

Marc Marquez claimed his third consecutive Moto2 pole position despite falling as rain effectively brought qualifying at Le Mans to an early conclusion.

The Spaniard, yet to start lower than second in 2012, rose to the top almost immediately after the session began, and soon dropped down to a 1m37.710s.

Fifteen minutes into the session he lost the front at Turn 8, sliding into the gravel, but was able to rejoin with help from marshals and returned to the pits for repairs.

With Marquez in the pits the session seemed to be building to a final shoot-out, especially when Paddock Suter’s Thomas Luthi – the only other rider to have been on pole this year – got to within 0.029 seconds of Marquez.

Any prospect of a final flurry was spoiled however as rain fell with five minutes of the session remaining, effectively freezing the order and handing Marquez his third pole in the opening four races.

“It was so difficult – we knew at the end of practice it might start raining so we tried to push in the beginning,” Marquez said. “When I crashed I braked too late, tried to go in anyway but it was too hard. I have a good feeling after going out again, and lapping well, so I think I can do a good race.”

Luthi ended second, ahead of Marquez’s nearest championship challenger Pol Espargaro (Pons Kalex) and Scott Redding (Marc VDS Kalex), the latter of whom also fell in the final minute.

Redding’s stable-mate Mika Kallio was another to have a moment as conditions around the French circuit remained tricky, but he did enough to end sixth fastest behind Andrea Iannone (Speed Master).

Forward Suter’s Alex de Angelis claimed seventh ahead of Johann Zarco (JIR Motobi) and Claudio Corti (Italtrans Kalex), with the latter pair finishing just over one second down on Marquez’s best.

Toni Elias (Aspar Suter), a Moto2 racewinner at Le Mans in 2010, rounded out the top 10.

Pos  Rider                  Team/Bike              Time       Gap

 1.  Marc Marquez           Monlau Suter           1m37.710s

 2.  Thomas Luthi           Paddock Suter          1m37.739s  + 0.029s

 3.  Pol Espargaro          Pons Kalex             1m38.190s  + 0.480s

 4.  Scott Redding          Marc VDS Kalex         1m38.369s  + 0.659s

 5.  Mika Kallio            Marc VDS Kalex         1m38.399s  + 0.689s

 6.  Andrea Iannone         Speed Master Speed Up  1m38.574s  + 0.864s

 7.  Alex de Angelis        Forward Suter          1m38.662s  + 0.952s

 8.  Johann Zarco           JIR Motobi             1m38.752s  + 1.042s

 9.  Claudio Corti          Italtrans Kalex        1m38.795s  + 1.085s

10.  Toni Elias             Aspar Suter            1m38.826s  + 1.116s

11.  Julian Simon           Avintia FTR            1m38.827s  + 1.117s

12.  Dominique Aegerter     Technomag-CIP Suter    1m38.863s  + 1.153s

13.  Randy Krummenacher     Switzerland Kalex      1m38.880s  + 1.170s

14.  Simone Corsi           Ioda FTR               1m38.961s  + 1.251s

15.  Ricard Cardus          Arguinano AJR          1m39.061s  + 1.351s

16.  Axel Pons              Pons Kalex             1m39.105s  + 1.395s

17.  Nicolas Terol          Aspar Suter            1m39.229s  + 1.519s

18.  Esteve Rabat           Pons Kalex             1m39.258s  + 1.548s

19.  Bradley Smith          Tech 3                 1m39.301s  + 1.591s

20.  Yuki Takahashi         Forward Suter          1m39.315s  + 1.605s

21.  Xavier Simeon          Tech 3                 1m39.353s  + 1.643s

22.  Roberto Rolfo          Technomag-CIP Suter    1m39.414s  + 1.704s

23.  Mike di Meglio         Speed Master Speed Up  1m39.520s  + 1.810s

24.  Gino Rea               Gresini Moriwaki       1m39.796s  + 2.086s

25.  Takaaki Nakagami       Italtrans Kalex        1m39.797s  + 2.087s

26.  Alexander Lundh        MZ FTR                 1m39.924s  + 2.214s

27.  Max Neukirchner        Kiefer Kalex           1m40.120s  + 2.410s

28.  Anthony West           QMMF Moriwaki          1m40.573s  + 2.863s

29.  Ratthapark Wilairot    Gresini Moriwaki       1m40.784s  + 3.074s

30.  Angel Rodriguez        SAG FTR                1m41.443s  + 3.733s

31.  Elena Rosell           QMMF Moriwaki          1m41.634s  + 3.924s

32.  Marco Colandrea        SAG FTR                1m42.182s  + 4.472s

Dani Pedrosa secured his first MotoGP pole position of 2012 at Le Mans as a drying track produced an ever-changing session which built into a spectacular last-gasp shoot-out.

Few ventured out in the early stages when the track was at its wettest, but after Mattia Pasini served notice that slicks had become the best option by going fifth, times began to tumble rapidly.

Honda’s Casey Stoner was the first to make his move, going almost two seconds clear at the top, but within five minutes he had been relegated to 11th as Tech 3′s Andrea Dovizioso led a spate of improvements.

Eight minutes from the end Dovizioso had once again displaced Stoner at the top of the timesheets, but with the track now ostensibly dry it came down to a final shoot-out in the closing five minutes.

Dovizioso improved his own benchmark and dipped into the 1m33s, but his lead was fleeting as Stoner shaved off three hundredths of a second to go top.

With Dovizioso pulling into the pits, Stoner’s main competition then came from Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo and the second works Honda of Pedrosa.

Lorenzo ultimately fell short, the final sector his chief downfall as he ended the session fourth, just over one tenth down on Dovizioso.

Pedrosa however found a significant chunk in the final minute, his 1m33.638s enough to earn him pole by more than three tenths of a second.

Cal Crutchlow and Ben Spies finished fifth and sixth fastest to complete an all-Yamaha second row, while behind them the Ducatis of Valentino Rossi and Hector Barbera (Pramac) were split by Alvaro Bautista’s Gresini Honda.

The satellite Cardion Ducati of Karel Abraham then edged out Nicky Hayden’s works counterpart for 10th, while Aspar’s Randy de Puniet put his CRT machine above the LCR Honda of Stefan Bradl, who suffered a high side at Museum 25 minutes into the session.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike                 Time       Gap

 1.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                     1m33.638s

 2.  Casey Stoner      Honda                     1m33.941s  + 0.303s

 3.  Andrea Dovizioso  Tech 3 Yamaha             1m33.976s  + 0.338s

 4.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                    1m34.104s  + 0.466s

 5.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha             1m34.178s  + 0.540s

 6.  Ben Spies         Yamaha                    1m34.669s  + 1.031s

 7.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati                    1m34.907s  + 1.269s

 8.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda             1m34.922s  + 1.284s

 9.  Hector Barbera    Pramac Ducati             1m34.950s  + 1.312s

10.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati            1m35.250s  + 1.612s

11.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                    1m35.291s  + 1.653s

12.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia             1m35.694s  + 2.056s

13.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda                 1m35.862s  + 2.224s

14.  Michele Pirro     Gresini FTR-Honda         1m36.646s  + 3.008s

15.  Yonny Hernandez   Avintia FTR-Kawasaki      1m37.202s  + 3.564s

16.  James Ellison     Paul Bird Aprilia         1m37.666s  + 4.028s

17.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia             1m37.760s  + 4.122s

18.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Aprilia              1m37.767s  + 4.129s

19.  Ivan Silva        Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki  1m38.198s  + 4.560s

20.  Mattia Pasini     Speed Master Aprilia      1m38.511s  + 4.873s

21.  Chris Vermeulen   Forward Suter-BMW         1m38.658s  + 5.020s

Carmelo Ezpeleta, chief of MotoGP’s rights holder Dorna, has shrugged off Casey Stoner’s criticism that the championship has gone backwards.

Ezpeleta said he was yet to speak directly to Stoner, but insisted the reigning champion’s view that MotoGP is no longer “the championship I fell in love with” provided no reason to rethink the sport’s future.

“We try to do the best we can, but there will always be someone who doesn’t agree,” Ezpeleta told Gazzetta dello Sport.

“In any case, that’s no reason to change. I don’t regret anything I’ve done. If Stoner has become a protagonist of this series he owes it to us too. When Alberto Puig indicated him to me after he took part in the Movistar Cup in Spain, we tried to give him a hand.

“If I was asked to do it again for a boy who will then turn out to be a protagonist and in the end he will decide to quit and even say what Casey said on the series, I would do it again anyway.”

Ezpeleta thanked Stoner for his achievements in MotoGP, but said the sport would cope with his impending departure.

“I was warned of his retirement a few days ago, even though I haven’t spoken with him directly. I can only say I thank Stoner for everything he has done,” Ezpeleta said.

“But we’ve also seen the retirements of [Mick] Doohan, [Kevin] Schwantz, yet the world championship has gone on. Many ask me what I will do when Valentino [Rossi] retires… but it’s the same for him too: it will happen sooner or later.

“The series loses a fine rider, but it has happened before and it will happen again. I have maximum respect for his decision, and I hope it’s the right one for his life.”

Casey Stoner bounced back from a crash at the halfway stage to go fastest in MotoGP’s final practice session at Le Mans.

The Australian lost the front of his bike through the second part of the Turn 10 chicane. He was unhurt and able to return to the pits for his second bike, on which he then proceeded to pull clear in the final five minutes.

As was the case in second practice, the reigning champion ended as the only man to dip under the 1m34s mark, giving him an advantage of almost half a second at the head of the field.

Until his late charge, the session had been incredibly close with the top eight riders covered by less than six tenths of a second.

Cal Crutchlow eventually claimed second fastest, fractions ahead of his Tech 3 Yamaha team-mate Andrea Dovizioso.

Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo, Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista, Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and Ducati’s Valentino Rossi all ended within 0.4s of the Tech 3 duo.

Hector Barbera’s satellite Pramac Ducati beat Nicky Hayden’s works counterpart to eighth, while Karel Abraham on the Cardion Ducati beat Yamaha’s Ben Spies and LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl to 10th.

Aspar’s Randy de Puniet occupied his seemingly customary position as top CRT rider in 13th.

The cold conditions which contributed to Stoner’s fall also caught out Ioda’s Danilo Petrucci and Speed Master’s Mattia Pasini early on. Pasini was able to walk away from a heavy high side, but did not return to the track.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike                 Time             Gap

 1.  Casey Stoner      Honda                     1m33.945s

 2.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha             1m34.425s   + 0.480s

 3.  Andrea Dovizioso  Tech 3 Yamaha             1m34.429s   + 0.484s

 4.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                    1m34.456s   + 0.511s

 5.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda             1m34.471s   + 0.526s

 6.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda                     1m34.636s   + 0.691s

 7.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati                    1m34.757s   + 0.812s

 8.  Hector Barbera    Pramac Ducati             1m35.081s   + 1.136s

 9.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                    1m35.261s   + 1.316s

10.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati            1m35.328s   + 1.383s

11.  Ben Spies         Yamaha                    1m35.423s   + 1.478s

12.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda                 1m35.468s   + 1.523s

13.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia             1m36.389s   + 2.444s

14.  Michele Pirro     Gresini FTR-Honda         1m36.666s   + 2.721s

15.  Yonni Hernandez   Avintia FTR-Kawasaki      1m37.138s   + 3.193s

16.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Aprilia              1m37.666s   + 3.721s

17.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia             1m37.692s   + 3.747s

18.  James Ellison     Forward Suter-BMW         1m37.940s   + 3.995s

19.  Ivan Silva        Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki  1m38.344s   + 4.399s

20.  Chris Vermeulen   Forward Suter-BMW         1m39.507s   + 5.562s

21.  Mattia Pasini     Speed Master Aprilia      1m46.663s  + 12.718s

Chris Vermeulen says he hopes he can at least help Forward Racing with its development programme on his return to MotoGP in this weekend’s French Grand Prix.

The Australian is substituting for Colin Edwards at the leading CRT squad while the latter recovers from the broken collarbone he sustained in a qualifying crash at Estoril a fortnight ago.

Vermeulen has not raced in MotoGP since losing his Suzuki seat at the end of the 2009 season, and his subsequent World Superbike career was disrupted by a knee injury.

Although he was slowest in both Friday practice sessions at Le Mans, where he won for Suzuki in 2007, Vermeulen said he was enjoying being back on a MotoGP bike and hoping to provide the team with some valuable information.

“They’re pure race bikes. I was racing Superbikes for a couple of years in between, and they’re fun but these are full-on race bikes,” he told the official MotoGP website.

“So I enjoyed it from that point of view, but on the other side, there’s a hell of a lot of work to do.

“This bike is quite un-developed at the moment and they need information. It’s not going to be an easy weekend, but hopefully I’m going to help them in the right direction.”

Vermeulen said he was not surprised that he had been off the pace on his first day back.

“They’re not easy, and I haven’t ridden a race bike in about seven or eight months,” he said. “These brakes, the tyres, the type of bike they are, they’re not easy on the body, but it was fun.

“It took me a few laps to get up to speed, which I expected, but they’re a great bunch of guys and it’s a really good motorbike. It’s definitely a race bike underneath me and I’m enjoying it so far.”

Gresini Racing believes it made a breakthrough in its so far disappointing 2012 MotoGP campaign in practice for the French Grand Prix at Le Mans on Friday.

Although the team’s new rider Alvaro Bautista sits sixth in the MotoGP standings and took top-six finishes in Spain and Portugal, he has yet to emulate the frontrunning form of his predecessor on the factory-spec Gresini Honda, the late Marco Simoncelli.

But after set-up changes helped him to fourth in the second Le Mans practice session, ex-Suzuki rider Bautista said he felt things were starting to come together.

“We tried some things with the setting to improve the bike from Estoril and initially they didn’t work that well but with a few tweaks to the suspension we found some interesting solutions,” he said.

“We continued to work in the same direction in the afternoon and I felt a lot better on the bike than I did at Estoril and Jerez.

“Obviously there are still some little details to work on but for now I am happy because we have taken a step forward.”

Team boss Fausto Gresini believes Bautista’s progress could allow him to challenge the Tech 3 Yamahas of Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso – who have been ‘best of the rest’ behind the works Hondas and Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo so far in 2012.

“I’d say we have started out on the right foot even though Alvaro is not a big fan of this track,” Gresini said. “The team have worked hard along with the Honda engineers to improve under braking and corner entry. Alvaro liked the new solutions and we have taken an important step forward.

“Our main objective is to fight with Dovizioso and Crutchlow and I think we are on the right path.”

Valentino Rossi warned that Ducati seemed to be losing ground again at Le Mans following a difficult Friday practice ahead of the French Grand Prix.

The Italian legend felt his struggling team was starting to move in the right direction after he finished seventh at the last MotoGP round in Portugal, but he was only ninth quickest at Le Mans on Friday, admitting that Ducati was having particular issues on worn tyres.

“This afternoon we tried some bike settings that were quite varied, and we’re trying to understand what the right direction is for finding more grip on corner exits,” said Rossi. “So far, particularly when the tyre starts to wear, we’re losing a lot compared to the others.

“Our gap to the front is pretty large, and although the gaps in our group are quite small, there’s more time between us and seventh place than there was in Portugal. We’ll have to try to do better. We’re trying some different things and we’re working hard, so we’ll see how we do tomorrow.”

Rossi’s team-mate Nicky Hayden was one place further back and experiencing similar problems.

“I struggled a little bit everywhere,” said the American. “Grip on the edge wasn’t very good, and any time I would get going OK, I would have a hard time stopping the bike and would run wide on entry.

“I haven’t had that problem much this year, and when you push wide, it also hurts the exit. We tried a couple of things but never really found a really good direction.

“We tried the hard tyre a little this afternoon just to check, because the soft tyre definitely feels like it’s going off a bit, but I wasn’t able to make it work that well. We’ll sit down tonight and have a good think about it and see what to do tomorrow.”

Casey Stoner said he felt relieved going into Friday practice for the French Grand Prix at Le Mans having made his decision to retire from MotoGP at the end of the 2012 season.

The reigning world champion and current points leader stunned the motorcycle racing fraternity on Thursday when he announced that this would be his final year in the sport.

Stoner then went on to set the pace in both Friday practice sessions at Le Mans, ahead of Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa.

“After yesterday’s announcement, I definitely felt a weight off my shoulders when I got on the bike this morning,” said Stoner.

“The last two races I’ve had a lot of thoughts running through my mind and this weekend I already feel better knowing it’s off my chest and we can now focus on the rest of the season, and try to enjoy it.”

Although Stoner has won the last two races in Portugal and Spain, Honda has continued to have issues with chatter in races this year, and focused on resolving this in Le Mans practice.

“Believe it or not, today we were trying to create chatter, so we can make the most use of this dry time on track to understand it a little better and make some improvements for the rest of the season,” Stoner explained.

“We are happy to use some of the sessions to focus on fixing the chatter issue, and not worry about the set-up immediately.

“We started to find some chatter at the end of the day when we switched to the hard front tyre and hopefully it will stay dry tomorrow so we can continue to work on this.”

Ben Spies ended Friday practice for the French Grand Prix encouraged with his form, despite crashing in the afternoon.

The American has had a poor start to his 2012 MotoGP campaign, with just two 11th places and an eighth to show from the first three rounds.

But after taking fifth place for Yamaha in Le Mans practice, Spies reckons he is getting back on course – particularly given that he was able to shrug off his fall and show strong pace on his spare bike and with old tyres.

“Today was OK, to be top five both sessions is good after Estoril, especially here where I’ve struggled in the past,” he said.

“I made a small mistake this afternoon, got into Turn 1 pretty fast and was too fast into Turn 2 so couldn’t make the corner.

“I got on the second bike and was pleased we were still able to go fast as we had a lot of laps on the front tyre. The bike seems to be working pretty well here so we’ll keep going and see what we can do tomorrow.”

Spies’ team-mate Jorge Lorenzo recovered from struggling in morning practice to go third in the afternoon, but fears it will all go to waste if the predicted rain arrives for the rest of the weekend.

“This morning we had some difficulty entering the corners, I didn’t trust the bike so much,” Lorenzo said. “This afternoon we made some changes to the rear and it improved the feeling and the lap time a lot. I did a half race simulation and we had a good pace.

“We are now ready for a dry race but everyone says it is going to rain which will completely change the conditions.”

Valentino Rossi thinks Casey Stoner’s criticism that MotoGP should focus only on being a prototype championship is unrealistic – because the economic situation in the world makes that no longer a realistic proposition.

After announcing his retirement at the end of this season, Stoner told the media at Le Mans on Thursday that he believed MotoGP was going ‘backwards’ in considering more production-based regulations.

However, although conceding that the field was no longer as competitive at the front as it once was, Rossi said that modern realities meant MotoGP could not simply chase rules without consideration for costs.

When asked about Stoner’s feelings, Rossi said: “I agree in the sense that that’s his opinion, but unfortunately you need to keep up with the times.

“It would be nicer for everyone to race with 25 prototype bikes in the field, but nobody has the money anymore.

“For me, riding the bike is still very enjoyable, like coming here and working with my team in order to do as well as possible. Lately the races are a bit less enjoyable compared to a few years ago, but I don’t think it’s down to the riders: I think it’s more of a technical matter.”

Stoner said in a frank explanation of his feelings that he had lost his passion for MotoGP because of the direction that the series was taking.

“It is not starting again from the beginning, it is going backwards,” said Stoner, referring to the arrival of the production-based CRTs.

“For me it is not the championship I fell in love in. It is not the championship I always wanted to race in and, except for my competitors around me, they are the only ones who give respect for each other.

“Nobody else has enough respect for the people that do their jobs, working at the teams, working in the trucks, and putting this show on every week. It is not easy.”

Casey Stoner proved his surprise decision to retire at the end of the 2012 MotoGP season had done little to dim his pace or hunger by going fastest in the opening practice session at Le Mans.

Stoner went clear early on and rarely looked troubled thereafter, and for half the session was almost one second clear of the field.

When others, chiefly his Honda stable-mate Dani Pedrosa, did close in, the Australian went back out and lowered his benchmark further, ending the session 0.587 seconds clear of Pedrosa.

There was a flurry of improvements as the flag fell. Tech 3 Yamaha’s Andrea Dovizioso claimed third, while his team-mate Cal Crutchlow simultaneously moved into seventh.

Little more than a quarter of a second separated the pair, but that gap was still enough for three other riders: the two works Yamahas of Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo, fourth and sixth respectively, and the Pramac Ducati of Hector Barbera.

Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista finished eighth ahead of the two works Ducatis, both of which had run within the top six for much of the session before being bumped down by the late improvements.

Valentino Rossi, who scored his last MotoGP podium at the French circuit last year, finished more than 1.5s down on Stoner but did complete the most laps of any rider.

Aspar’s Randy de Puniet was once again the fastest CRT rider in 13th, while Chris Vermeulen – replacing the man de Puniet hit at Estoril, Colin Edwards – made an understandably cautious start, finishing last and outside the 107 per cent marker.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike                 Time       Gap

 1.  Casey Stoner      Honda                     1m34.321s

 2.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                     1m34.908s  + 0.587s

 3.  Andrea Dovizioso  Tech 3 Yamaha             1m35.065s  + 0.744s

 4.  Ben Spies         Yamaha                    1m35.202s  + 0.881s

 5.  Hector Barbera    Pramac Ducati             1m35.213s  + 0.892s

 6.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                    1m35.239s  + 0.918s

 7.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha             1m35.318s  + 0.997s

 8.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda             1m35.336s  + 1.015s

 9.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                    1m35.403s  + 1.082s

10.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati                    1m35.829s  + 1.508s

11.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati            1m36.291s  + 1.970s

12.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda                 1m36.500s  + 2.179s

13.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia             1m36.935s  + 2.614s

14.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia             1m37.916s  + 3.595s

15.  Mattia Pasini     Speed Master Aprilia      1m38.140s  + 3.819s

16.  Yonny Hernandez   Avintia FTR-Kawasaki      1m38.209s  + 3.888s

17.  Michele Pirro     Gresini FTR-Honda         1m38.255s  + 3.934s

18.  James Ellison     Paul Bird Aprilia         1m38.943s  + 4.622s

19.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Aprilia              1m39.110s  + 4.789s

20.  Ivan Silva        Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki  1m39.729s  + 5.408s

21.  Chris Vermeulen   Forward Suter-BMW         1m41.398s  + 7.077s

Three-time V8 Supercars champion Craig Lowndes reckons Casey Stoner could make a successful transition to the Australian touring car series if he chose to do so.

Stoner announced on Thursday that he would retire from MotoGP at the end of the 2012 season, after just seven years at the sport’s top level. The 2007 and ’11 MotoGP title-winner tested Lowndes’ V8 series Triple Eight Holden last winter, impressing Lowndes, and acknowledged during his MotoGP retirement announcement that he was open to racing in V8s in the longer-term future.

Asked about Stoner’s V8 potential, Lowndes replied: “When he drove the car he was very good in a lot of areas. His focus and determination on trying to be fast was really good.

“In the slow sections of the track he was on par with Jamie [Whincup] and I from the outset. On the high-speed sections he took a little longer to get to grips with but eventually got to that point. His feel and his ability, knowledge and what he wants from the car is very good.

“He would crossover pretty well, it’s just a matter of what he wants to do.”

Lowndes added that Stoner’s enthusiasm for V8s was also very clear.

“If you look at his twitter he follows what we are doing every race weekend no matter where we are or he is around the world,” said Lowndes. “He follows V8s very seriously and tells Jamie and I what he thinks is wrong with the car. He is very passionate about racing and the V8 Supercars.”

In light of the rumours connecting Stoner with a V8 drive, the championship said it would welcome him with ‘open arms’.

“His unexpected retirement has brought with it increased media speculation that he will compete in Australia’s pinnacle motor sport category,” V8 Supercars said in a statement.

“V8 Supercars would welcome Stoner with open arms should he choose to make the switch from two wheels to four, following the likes of Wayne Gardner into touring car racing.”

Casey Stoner believes MotoGP is ‘going backwards’ in moving away from being a prototype-only championship, after saying the series no longer holds his interest.

After announcing his plans for retirement at the end of this season, Stoner explained that there were a number of factors that had dimmed his passion for the category – one of which included the future direction of the sport.

“It is not starting again from the beginning, it is going backwards,” said Stoner, referring to the arrival of the production-based CRTs and consideration given to a more production-based future.

“For me it is not the championship I fell in love in. It is not the championship I always wanted to race in and, except for my competitors around me, they are the only ones who give respect for each other.

“Nobody else has enough respect for the people that do their jobs, working at the teams, working in the trucks, and putting this show on every week. It is not easy.

“There are many, many different reasons but it is basically me losing my patience with the racing and my enjoyment of this sport. For sure I am going to enjoy this year but if I continue [beyond that] it will be a mistake on my half. It would not be correct to Honda and everyone at the team if I did not give 110 per cent.”

Stoner also hit out of the way the media had been so critical of the racing recently – and reckons that such a stance will only serve to hurt its chances of recovering.

“My passion has slowly ebbed away from this championship,” said the Australian, who also expressed frustration at the cynicism that greeted his lactose intolerance problems that kept him away from some races in 2009.

“You yourselves, the media, have not exactly been friendly to this championship and criticised me many times, especially recently.

“[But] people don’t realise that everybody is bringing it down themselves, they are saying the racing is boring, that is boring – but if you go back some years you will find the same number of races that were close or not.

“I think people just need to appreciate what they have in front of them, and I think everybody in this room needs to realise what sort of championship they have, before it is gone.

“I think it will be really nice to see some fantastic racing again at the front. But, with only a few factory bikes out there, it is not going to happen soon.

“There needs to be more high quality bikes out there so people like Randy [de Puniet] can run where he deserves to be and not so far behind 12th position. There is no way for them to get anywhere near the factory bikes.”

Speaking about his lactose intolerance situation, Stoner said: “Everyone still to this day says it was a mystery illness – the fact that no one understands that I have a lactose intolerance, that is really critical to me.”

Former champion Valentino Rossi believes Casey Stoner’s exit from MotoGP is a big loss for the sport.

Stoner, a two-time champion, announced on Thursday ahead of the French Grand Prix that he will leave the championship at the end of the 2012 season.

The Honda rider, 26, is the reigning champion and the current points’ leader.

Ducati rival Rossi believes Stoner’s loss is a big shame for MotoGP.

“I think it’s most of all a negative thing for MotoGP, because we are losing the reigning world champion and current points leader, so from a technical point of view the series is losing out a lot,” Rossi told reporters at Le Mans.

Rossi, enduring one of his worst starts to a season with Ducati, denied he himself was thinking about quitting the sport, although he admitted he had thought about the possibility in the past.

“Yes, but I will tell you I’m not retiring, and then I’ll retire without doing this, because I don’t love goodbyes much,” he added.

“You will know when I’m at home already! Joking apart, for a rider it can be an unforgettable moment, but perhaps more for the wrong reasons rather than the good ones.

“It’s sad, because you’ll have to think about changing your lifestyle and to abandon what you have been doing for perhaps 15 years, so it’s something you surely won’t forget.”

Casey Stoner says racing in the V8 Supercar series is something he will consider in the future after announcing his retirement from MotoGP.

The 26-year-old Australian confirmed in a press conference at Le Mans on Thursday that the 2012 season will be his last in MotoGP after two titles with Ducati and Honda.

Stoner said he had lost his passion for MotoGP and admitted he will consider a future in V8 Supercars, but not right away.

“It is something I am definitely interested to do in the future, but whether I will be fast enough or not is another thing,” said Stoner.

“That will be not in the near future, the immediate future. There are many things that I would like to do with my life, and to be honest I don’t want to keep racing bikes to the point where I lose completely my passion.

“I don’t want to finish racing and then not want to ride a bike for the next five or 10 years, I love bikes, it has been my whole life and if I keep doing it I am afraid I will lose completely my passion for it and not want to go near a bike for the next 10 years and that would scare me, for many, many reasons.”

Stoner denied, however, that racing in the Supercar series had anything to do with his decision to retire from the world championship.

The Australian impressed when he drove Triple Eight’s Holden V8 Supercar in a test in December last year.

“It is by no means any reason for my decision,” he said. “This has been coming for a long time, it is not something that has just happened.

“I have tested the V8 car, and that is something we have been trying to do for the last two or three years, to be honest, and finally it happened. So there is no coincidence to it whatsoever.

“Also the birth of my little girl had nothing to do with this. It had a small part in making the decision easier but by no means is it the reason why I made this decision.”

The news comes after the the Australian, a two-time MotoGP champion, had denied speculation about his exit from the sport in the previous race.

He confirmed at Le Mans on Thursday however, that this will be his last season in MotoGP.

“After a long time thinking, a lot of time talking with my family and my wife, this has been coming for a couple of years now but at the end of this 2012 season I will be not racing in the 2013 championship,” said Stoner.

“I will be finishing my career at the end of this season in MotoGP, and go forward in different things in my life.

“After so many years of doing this sport which I love, and which myself and my family made so many sacrifices for, after so many years of trying to get to where we have gotten to at this point, this sport has changed a lot and it has changed to the point where I am not enjoying it. I don’t have the passion for it and so at this time it’s better if I retire now.

“There are a lot of things that have disappointed me, and also a lot of things I have loved about this sport, but unfortunately the balance has gone in the wrong direction. And so, basically, we won’t be continuing any more.

“It would be nice if I could say I would stay one more year, but then where does it stop? So we decided to finish everything as we are now.”

In the previous race, the Australian had said speculation about his exit was unfounded.

“Everyone seems quite good at stories and making them up,” said Stoner at Estoril earlier this month. “I’ve said many times in the past that my career’s not going to go on much longer, I’m not going to keep going and riding until I’m in my 30s and things like this.

“For me at the moment, I haven’t decided what I’m going to be doing, and certainly no one else is going to know what I’m doing.”

The 26-year-old from New South Wales had made his MotoGP debut in 2006, after finishing runner-up in the 250cc championship the previous year.

He moved to Ducati in 2007, taking the title with 10 wins, before switching to Honda at the start of the 2011 season. Stoner won his second championship last year, also with 10 victories.

Stoner has scored a total of 35 wins in the top category.

He is currently leading the championship after having won two of the first three races.

Valentino Rossi says the top six, rather than a repeat of his 2011 podium, will be Ducati’s main target at MotoGP’s forthcoming French Grand Prix.

The Italian scored his only rostrum of the season at the Le Mans circuit last year, but he insists this year’s focus is on making incremental progress – and therefore seeking only to better his seventh-place finish at Estoril.

“Le Mans is another place where the weather can be challenging, particularly at this time of year, but it’s also the track where I had my best result with the Ducati last year,” Rossi said. “We’ll see how it goes, but we’d like to do a little better than we did in Portugal.

“We’ll prepare for the race by working on the bike like we did at Estoril, starting from the base setup that we’re now a bit more familiar with and trying to continue with the settings one step at a time, in such a way that we reach Sunday at the maximum of our current potential.”

Rossi added that the rain-cancelled Estoril test had hindered Ducati’s ongoing development work, but said that Le Mans would have come too early for any changes to be implemented anyway.

“It’s a shame that we lost the post-race test in Portugal because we would have continued our development work, and as we had very recent data from the race, we could have made some interesting comparisons,” he explained.

“Still, this won’t influence us much from a technical point of view at Le Mans, as any updates would have arrived later anyway.”

Rossi’s stable-mate Nicky Hayden said he expected the Le Mans circuit to suit Ducati, even if the low grip levels could cause problems.

“I certainly wouldn’t say Le Mans is my favourite track on the calendar, but there are some things that I like about it. Sometimes it lacks grip somewhat, which I don’t like so much; on the other hand, it has a fair amount of hard braking, and I think some of those parts should suit our bike well,” Hayden said.

“We’ll get to France, see what kind of weather we get, and try to get a good result.”

Ducati team manager Vittoriano Guareschi added that Le Mans will “give us an opportunity to check the work that we’re doing on the GP12′s setup: Valentino used it all weekend at the last GP, so we’ll continue like that in an effort to also make progress.”

Casey Stoner says Honda still needs to smooth out the chatter issues that threatened to upset his bid for victory in MotoGP’s previous race at Estoril.

The Australian’s apparent ease at the front of the field belied severe chattering problem, which Stoner said forced him to ease off and allowed Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo to close in.

With the planned post-race test at Estoril cancelled due to rain, Stoner says the team needs to hope for dry weather at Le Mans in order to work on the problem before Sunday’s French Grand Prix.

“It was disappointing that the weather in Estoril on Monday prevented us from testing,” Stoner said. “We need to work on the chatter issue we have on the bike so let’s hope we have some dry sessions from day one in Le Mans so we can get out on track and work on it.”

The phenomenon of chatter aside, Stoner said he was confident heading into Le Mans, particularly after winning at Jerez and Estoril – circuits he has not traditionally thrived at.

“The past two tracks have not historically been my best but I’ve managed wins at both of them so I’m hoping we can go to Le Mans and be competitive again,” Stoner said.

“I’ve had some mixed results there in the past, the track layout is unique, it’s a little stop-start with a lot of braking and I think this year both the Hondas and Yamahas will be competitive there.”

Honda stable-mate Dani Pedrosa said he needed to improve his pace in the opening phase of the grand prix, having fallen away from both Stoner and Lorenzo in the opening laps at Estoril.

“In the past I felt comfortable riding [at] Le Mans, [and] had good results in 125cc and 250cc but not really in MotoGP, so I have something small inside me I want to achieve,” the Spaniard explained.

“We’ve had three good races so far, I’m riding well, but I missed something in all of them, especially on the first laps, where I’ve been stronger in the past. I need to put everything together and if we get better starts, we will start wining races.”

Ben Spies says Le Mans will be another chance to rebuild his confidence and improve his performance after a torrid start to his 2012 MotoGP campaign.

The Texan has struggled for pace since the championship began, finishing a distant 11th in both Qatar and Spain – races in which his Yamaha stable-mate Jorge Lorenzo finished first and second respectively.

Estoril was at least an improvement, with Spies qualifying fifth and finishing eighth despite admitting to several major mistakes.

The 26-year-old said the performance had been important in rebuilding his confidence after the poor opening, and is aiming to continue the progression this weekend in France.

“I’m looking forward to getting back on the bike again this week,” Spies said. “My confidence has been rebuilding well now we’ve found a good set-up that works so I think we can make another step and improve our performance again at Le Mans.

“It’s not my favourite track but I’m going to give it 100 per cent as always to achieve a good result on Sunday.”

Team boss Massimo Meregalli said he is confident Spies will be fighting with the front of the pack this weekend in France.

“Last year was not a perfect weekend for Yamaha at Le Mans, a track where traditionally we have been very strong. This year we arrive with a very competitive package so we are confident that we can perform well,” Meregalli said.

“Ben has not had an easy start to the year but has been working hard with the team to have a competitive set-up and to rebuild his confidence. I am sure we will see him fighting with the front pack this weekend.”

Spies’s team-mate Lorenzo, who arrives at Le Mans just one point behind Honda’s reigning champion Casey Stoner, said he would have one eye on the championship fight.

“We arrive in good shape having always been in the first two positions in the three races of the year so far, I want to keep this going in Le Mans,” the Spaniard said.

“Last year we struggled, especially in acceleration but I feel that this year is going to be a little different. It’s a good track for my riding style so we will try to fight for the win again, but [we're] always thinking about the championship.”

Australia’s Chris Vermeulen will stand in for the injured Colin Edwards for the Forward Racing Squad in the forthcoming French Grand Prix at Le Mans.

Vermeulen, who has more than year’s worth of experience in MotoGP, scored Suzuki’s only four-stroke win in the class at the French circuit back in 2007.

Edwards, who has now left hospital following the successful surgery on his broken collarbone, has been advised by regular MotoGP surgeon Dr Javier Mir not to race until the Spanish Grand Prix, a fortnight after Le Mans.

Vermeulen said he was grateful for the opportunity to once again compete in the sport’s premier class, particularly at a circuit at which he has such fond memories.

“First of all I would like to wish Colin a speedy recovery,” the 29-year-old said. “I am grateful to have the opportunity to race back in MotoGP with the Forward Racing team.

“I am looking forward to my first time on the bike being at Le Mans, a circuit that holds great memories for me including a victory in 2007. I am excited to be racing at the top level of motorcycling again and look forward to working with the team.”

Forward Racing’s managing director Marco Curioni said he expected Vermeulen to immediately find a good feeling with the team.

“In this unfortunate situation that sees Colin Edwards unable to race until the Catalunya GP, we take the opportunity to involve Chris Vermeulen in the team for Le Mans,” Curioni said.

“Several members of the team have previously worked with him and I believe that Chris will immediately find a good feeling with the team. [He] has previously won at Le Mans and knows the track well. I would like to wish Chris good luck and send all my best wishes for a quick recovery to Colin, who is on his way back home.”

Ducati technical chief Filippo Preziosi says the team still has complete faith in rider Valentino Rossi and his crew chief Jeremy Burgess, despite the Italian squad losing further ground at the start of the 2012 MotoGP campaign.

Rossi and Burgess have yet to come close to replicating the success they achieved at Honda and Yamaha in Ducati colours, with the seven-time MotoGP champion only taking a single podium finish in 2011.

This year Rossi has so far appeared even less competitive than at the end of last season, but Preziosi said Ducati remained confident that making its bike suit Rossi’s style was the best route to success.

“For sure this challenge is being done because we want to build a bike for Valentino, because we believe that a bike that Valentino likes, is a good bike for all the riders,” Preziosi told journalists at the abandoned Estoril test.

“We are following the direction of what Valentino suggests. Of course we are trying to do that at the best of our capability, which is not enough right now to be faster than Honda. But for sure we will try in the direction that Valentino shows us.”

Preziosi also said Ducati was still taking Burgess’ lead on set-up.

“We give Jeremy 100 per cent freedom to define, with Valentino, what the best set-up is,” he said. “So as Ducati, our duty is just to supply material, and we believe that the crew chief is imperative in the box.

“The way of working is to put the right person in the right position and allow that person to do what he thinks is best. We can suggest what our ideas are, but the final decision, day by day, practice by practice, is made by Jeremy speaking with Valentino.”

Rossi started using team-mate Hayden’s set-up from the Jerez race, which Preziosi felt was both a sign of Rossi’s willingness to try different solutions, and helpful for the team’s development.

“The fact that he’s gone back with the set-up seems to me like a sign of open-mindedness,” Preziosi said. “Valentino, since the first Sepang test, has had a series of tools that, together with his team – which is fully autonomous on the track – he steered in a certain direction.

“But he also had this ‘basic’ set-up solution, which is anyway the same we had at the beginning of last year. Now, with both riders on similar choices, we can try to share the workload among them.”

Ducati expects to introduce a complete new engine package for the United States Grand Prix at Laguna Seca in July, as it bids to tackle the driveability issues that its riders believe are at the heart of its tough start to the 2012 MotoGP season.

Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden have suggested that the Ducati is currently incapable of making use of all the power its 1000cc engine delivers, and that a reduction in power would actually make the bike easier to handle and therefore more competitive.

In a press conference at Estoril on Monday, Ducati technical chief Filippo Preziosi said that to fit with the right timing for the six engines per season rule, it would not be possible to introduce the total package before round 10 in California.

“We have different items we think will be good, so we are optimistic,” Preziosi explained. “We have three tests at Mugello in May, June and July and we will test this package in order to be ready for Laguna.

“We are working in two different areas. One is to improve engine driveability. We have a lot of steps planned. We think that we will end up supplying a complete package for the Laguna race.”

Preziosi is optimistic that driveability changes will give the riders more confidence. Ducati has yet to finish in the top five this season.

“We believe that the engine driveability will help when you are at full lean and you open the throttle,” said Preziosi.

“To have a smoother response could help in avoiding that, when you are on the edge, you start to spin up and the bike starts moving and to understeer. But we are doing some other different activities on the chassis side in order to reduce the understeer.”

But he added a note of caution, suggesting that Ducati was trusting the riders that making the engine more driveability was the right way forward.

“For the engine we have now, we have a lot of torque even at low rpm, and in fact we are not opening the throttle body at low rpm, because the torque is more than what the chassis is able to use,” Preziosi said.

“So for that reason there is a question mark that only our riders can answer – if it makes sense to add more torque and less top power, even with this kind of engine? So we are very interested to test this engine and have a final answer to this question.”

Colin Edwards underwent successful surgery on his broken left collarbone in Barcelona’s Insitituto Universitario DEXEUS hospital on Monday afternoon following his crash in qualifying for the Portuguese Grand Prix.

The American had a plate and screws fitted by regular MotoGP surgeon Dr Javier Mir, who also operated on Edwards when he broke his other collarbone in a crash at Catalunya last June.

“Doctor Mir and his team have done a great job,” said Edwards. “They were the ones that took care of me the last time. The surgery was really quick. I’m feeling great, still a little dizzy from the anaesthesia but feeling all right. They put a block on the side of my neck so it’s feeling a little numb.

“I’m here watching TV and tweeting. Just want to let everyone know I’m OK!”

Edwards’ collarbone was broken in multiple places in the crash, which happened when Randy de Puniet fell while passing him and slid into the American’s Suter-BMW at speed.

“The bone was broken in five pieces and required the insertion of a titanium plate with 10 screws,” Dr Mir explained. “The surgery performed was successful and he will be able to begin rehabilitation/physical therapy within a week.”

The next round of the 2012 MotoGP season takes place at Le Mans on 20 May.

Valentino Rossi says rumours that he is set to retire from MotoGP at the end of the year are not true.

Fevered speculation has surrounded the Italian’s position at Ducati and within MotoGP since his outspoken criticism of the Desmosedici following a disappointing opening round in Qatar. Rossi, 10th on the road, said at the time: “I can’t ride this bike, I can’t make the difference… What can I say?”

Such rumours intensified when the Daily Telegraph ran an article claiming Rossi had told his inner circle that he would not race past the 2012 season.

The seven-time champion has come out to refute such talk however, insisting that it is without foundation.

He tweeted AUTOSPORT’s Toby Moody: “Ciao guys, the rumours about my retirement at the end of the year are not true! See you in Le Mans.”

Rossi’s comments are unlikely to completely end the speculation, with many viewing his manifest desire to win again as evidence he cannot be wholly fulfilled riding for Ducati.

“I came here at the end of 2010 with the idea of racing for two years and try to win with Ducati. But it’s hard. Besides, I’d like to stay two more years,” Rossi told Motosprint last month.

“If we work well we are able to fight for fifth or sixth place. I’m not excited by that: if you must fight for fifth place then little by little you lose enthusiasm.”

Ben Spies said his eighth-place finish in the Portuguese Grand Prix was a confidence boost after his poor start to the 2012 MotoGP season, but admitted he made several major mistakes in the race.

The Yamaha rider has struggled for race pace since this year’s championship began – though eighth at Estoril was at least an improvement over his 11th places in Qatar and Spain.

“Very mixed emotions today, this is actually the first time in three years that I’ve finished a race here,” said Spies. “As I told the team, I made four or five big mistakes during the race, they cost me time and places.”

Spies added that given his results so far in 2012, he had work to do to rebuild his confidence.

“It was a rough race but I’m continuing to build my confidence, I don’t enjoy Estoril so I’m happy to have finished,” he said.

“I’m happy with the bike and its performance so we’ll continue to build my confidence and improve the results.”

Team boss Massimo Meregalli agreed that Estoril could be the start of Spies getting his season on course.

“Ben had some difficulties during the race, he made a few mistakes, I think the first one put a lot of pressure on him so he was trying to push harder and was unable to,” Meregalli said.

“The most important thing is he got back his feeling and was quite satisfied with the set up which gives us good confidence for the coming races.”

Nicky Hayden says a defective electronics system was the cause of his struggles in MotoGP’s third round of the season at Estoril.

In contrast to Ducati stablemate Valentino Rossi, who took his year’s best finish of seventh, Hayden was rarely in contention for the top 10 and ended up a distant 11th, more than one minute behind race-winner Casey Stoner.

Having beaten Rossi in the previous two races, Hayden explained that an electrical glitch had sometimes left him without effective engine braking or power, resulting in a ruined and uncomfortable race.

“It was really impossible to ride – just impossible,” Hayden said. “On the straight sometimes I had no power: I was opening the throttle and nothing happened.

“Perhaps the biggest problem was the engine braking, this weekend I was using a lot for the downhill stuff and I just didn’t have it.

“I didn’t know what was wrong at the start, but in sixth gear it felt like I wasn’t running and when I noticed the lap-time I knew immediately.

“It wasn’t easy, [it was] quite dangerous as all of a sudden I would lose power sometimes. Not an enjoyable race at all.”

Hayden said his race was made all the more disappointing by the fact he and Ducati had run so well in the morning warm-up.

“It was a shame because, while I wasn’t going to fight for the podium, this morning was the first time all weekend I felt near qualifying pace. I did that twice and was very steady, and the team really did a good job because all weekend we had been making changes and not finding a lot and then this morning the bike was better from the first lap.

“It was a tough race, but I just tried to ride around and get some points.”

Valentino Rossi says his seventh-place finish at Estoril is representative of Ducati’s current potential, although he remains optimistic the team also knows where it can make further gains.

Rossi said his performance at the Portuguese circuit, only his second top-eight finish in the past nine months, was down to starting the weekend with a stronger baseline.

“Today is for sure a better race compared to the previous,” Rossi said. “In the race I was able to convert the good job during practice, because we started from a better base on Friday and I can prepare in a normal way.

“Today I was faster from the beginning, I could take some positions and stay constantly at the lap-time we expected – this is now our potential.

“This race also gave us better feeling, information and optimism for improving performance at Le Mans.”

Rossi said Ducati’s problems centre around its issues with acceleration and traction out of corners, and said a new engine solution was ready to be tested in the coming week.

“From now we need to fix some problems to make better positions,” he said. “The problems are quite clear: I lose a lot in the centre of the track, because [under] acceleration it is hard to put all the horsepower on the ground like the other guys.

“We will start to work from tomorrow: we have some new parts [and] a different engine to try which is maybe a little smoother in acceleration. If we are able to do one small step we know we are on the right way.

“The test for tomorrow will not be crucial but quite important. If we understand this is the way I think maybe for Silverstone we can make some more modifications.”

Jorge Lorenzo reckons beating Casey Stoner to victory in the Portuguese Grand Prix was an impossible task despite shadowing him for much of the race.

Having lost ground to the rapid-starting Stoner on the first couple of laps, Lorenzo (Yamaha) began to haul the Australian in and finished the race tucked right in behind the Honda.

He says however that Stoner had too much energy and pace for him to ever mount a challenge, and that after a ‘nightmare’ weekend he was delighted with second.

“The bike was very good, a lot better in the race than in practice, but the only problem was Casey,” Lorenzo said. “He was very strong, so for me it was impossible to beat him.

“We had a nightmare during the weekend so to be honest we didn’t even expect second, but we solved a lot of our problems [overnight before the race].

“I had a problem at the start because I banged the clutch, so that was losing me time on the straight for the first laps and Casey went.

“After that the bike worked well, but the problem was Casey had something more. At the end I didn’t have the energy to pass, and my only opportunity was in the chicane but it was too risky. I wanted the points from second.”

Casey Stoner says he was lucky to hang on to MotoGP victory at Estoril as huge pressure from Jorge Lorenzo exacerbated his own struggles with chattering.

Honda rider Stoner blazed away from the field in the opening stages, opening up a lead of 1.4 seconds after just three laps, but was then gradually reeled in by Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo.

Stoner attributed that pattern to huge chattering woes suffered during the race, but said changing his riding style helped ease the issue and allowed him to keep Lorenzo behind him for the final laps.

“There was huge pressure throughout. Jorge caught me and I was just holding on,” Stoner said after collecting his 35th MotoGP victory.

“It felt really good on the first lap with fresh tyres, but as soon as that wore off we had the most severe chattering, which we also found yesterday in qualifying.

“We always struggle a bit more in warmer conditions, we can’t get the tyres to work properly – not in terms of wear, but in terms of chatter. We had that in the beginning and I lost the front a couple of times so I had to back off, and then Jorge caught up and I was lucky to hang on.

“From that moment I was trying to keep Jorge behind me. There was huge pressure and I was trying different lines. I found a certain way to ride, started to feel bit better and pushed a bit more, and was able to open up enough of a gap.”

Casey Stoner moved into the lead of the 2012 MotoGP world championship for the first time after holding off Jorge Lorenzo to win at Estoril.

The Australian did just enough to keep his lead from the start, and was then able to stretch away rapidly over the opening laps.

Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo found himself 1.4 seconds down after just three laps, but as his tyres began to warm he gradually closed the gap – breaking the lap record in the process – until he was right on Stoner’s tail with 16 laps still to go.

At that point it seemed the Spaniard would be a real victory threat, but Stoner (Honda) managed to pick up his pace, control the gap and ultimately seal his second straight win.

Lorenzo followed him home, just a couple of bike-lengths behind, with the second works Honda of Dani Pedrosa a similarly small margin back in third.

Pedrosa had taken the lead momentarily at the start, but a big wobble allowed Stoner and Lorenzo to slip by on the run down to the second turn.

From there the Spaniard never fell away from the lead battle but was equally never able to asset himself as a serious threat.

Fourth was collected by Tech 3 Yamaha’s Andrea Dovizioso following a race-long battle with stablemate Cal Crutchlow.

The Briton shadowed Dovizioso for much of the race, but after running wide four laps from the end he was not quite able to get back in touch and finished fifth.

Behind him Alvaro Bautista (Gresini Honda) and Valentino Rossi (Ducati) had relatively quiet rides to sixth and seventh.

Both were originally part of a five-bike fight for fourth, but as the field separated they found themselves in increasingly comfortable positions. It is only the second time in the past nine months that Rossi has finished inside the top eight.

There was no such joy for his works Ducati team-mate Nicky Hayden, who came home 11th.

Yamaha’s Ben Spies was another struggling on factory machinery. He originally ran as high as fourth but slipped back alarmingly and ended up duelling with LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl for eighth.

Results – 28 laps:

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike                    Time/Gap

 1.  Casey Stoner      Honda                      45m37.513s

 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                       + 1.421s

 3.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                        + 3.621s

 4.  Andrea Dovizioso  Tech 3 Yamaha               + 13.846s

 5.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha               + 16.690s

 6.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda               + 21.884s

 7.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati                      + 26.797s

 8.  Ben Spies         Yamaha                      + 33.262s

 9.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda                   + 35.867s

10.  Hector Barbera    Pramac Ducati               + 53.363s

11.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                    + 1m02.630s

12.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia             + 1m20.736s

13.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia             + 1m23.483s

14.  Michele Pirro     Gresini FTR/Honda         + 1m37.905s

15.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Aprilia                  + 1 lap
Retirements:
     Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati                23 laps

     James Ellison     Paul Bird Aprilia             18 laps

     Yonny Hernandez   Avintia FTR-Kawasaki          16 laps

     Mattia Pasini     Speed Master Aprilia          11 laps

     Ivan Silva        Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki      11 laps

Marc Marquez denied Pol Espargaro victory as Moto2′s race at Estoril came down to a thrilling last-lap conclusion.

Having trailed Marquez for the final seven laps, Espargaro (Pons Kalex) launched his attack as the pair headed into Turn 1 for the final time.

Espargaro took the lead on the inside but ran deep, allowing Marquez (Monlau Suter) to cut-back and steal ahead.

Two turns later the sequence was repeated: Espargaro diving down the inside at Turn 3, only to lose out once again to Marquez on the exit. He had the inside line though for Turn 4 and was again into the lead, only for Marquez to once again beat him on the exit.

Still not defeated, Espargaro barrelled down the inside at the Turn 10 hairpin but this time went too deep and almost lost the bike. He was able to recover, but Marquez slipped through and was able to cruise the final corners and collect his second victory of the season.

“It was so difficult,” Marquez said. “I tried to save my tyres, and step by step got more comfortable but then last laps were so difficult, Pol was so strong. On the last lap I tried to close the door, give 100 per cent and I think it was a great race. You enjoy victories like this a little bit more.”

Thomas Luthi (Paddock Suter) finished third, having led for the majority of the race before Marquez and Espargaro picked him off eight laps from the end.

Johann Zarco (JIR Motobi) was a relatively quiet fourth ahead of Andrea Iannone (Speed Master Speed Up), who had been part of an early lead quintet until running too deep into Turn 10 in the first half of the race.

Scott Redding (Marc VDS Kalex) was the fifth part of that battle, only to drop rapidly as he struggled for pace late on.

Alex de Angelis (Forward Suter) triumphed in a tight battle for sixth, edging out Toni Elias (Aspar Suter) and Julian Simon (Avintia FTR).

Pos  Rider                  Team/Bike                 Time/Gap

 1.  Marc Marquez           Monlau Suter            44m04.086s

 2.  Pol Espargaro          Pons Kalex                + 1.987s

 3.  Thomas Luthi           Paddock Suter             + 2.071s

 4.  Johann Zarco           JIR Motobi                + 9.227s

 5.  Andrea Iannone         Speed Master Speed Up    + 10.481s

 6.  Alex de Angelis        Forward Suter            + 21.180s

 7.  Toni Elias             Aspar Suter              + 21.394s

 8.  Julian Simon           Avintia FTR              + 21.504s

 9.  Mika Kallio            Marc VDS Kalex           + 21.581s

10.  Bradley Smith          Tech 3                   + 24.100s

11.  Scott Redding          Marc VDS Kalex           + 27.248s

12.  Dominique Aegerter     Technomag-CIP Suter      + 30.087s

13.  Xavier Simeon          Tech 3                   + 30.132s

14.  Claudio Corti          Italtrans Kalex          + 30.257s

15.  Ricard Cardus          Arguinano AJR            + 30.879s

16.  Nicolas Terol          Aspar Suter              + 31.097s

17.  Anthony West           QMMF Moriwaki            + 43.099s

18.  Takaaki Nakagami       Italtrans Kalex          + 47.282s

19.  Randy Krummenacher     Switzerland Kalex        + 47.399s

20.  Max Neukirchner        Kiefer Kalex             + 48.143s

21.  Roberto Rolfo          Technomag-CIP Suter      + 53.563s

22.  Angel Rodriguez        SAG FTR                  + 54.530s

23.  Ratthapark Wilairot    Gresini Moriwaki         + 55.666s

24.  Esteve Rabat           Pons Kalex             + 1m24.889s

25.  Alexander Lundh        MZ FTR                 + 1m32.467s

26.  Elena Rosell           QMMF Moriwaki          + 1m40.748s

27.  Marco Colandrea        SAG FTR                    + 1 lap

28.  Gino Rea               Gresini Moriwaki           + 1 lap

Retirements:
     Mike di Meglio         Speed Master Speed Up    + 20 laps

     Simone Corsi           Ioda FTR                 + 19 laps

     Axel Pons              Pons Kalex               + 11 laps

     Yuki Takahashi         Forward Suter             + 5 laps

Valentino Rossi says Ducati’s improving form has opened up the chance of fighting with the MotoGP midfield in Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix.

The Italian is yet to finish higher than ninth in 2012, but he said securing his first third-row start of the season was indicative of set-up gains which he believes have boosted his race prospects.

“The day wasn’t bad in the end: we’re on the third row, 0.8 seconds behind pole position, and we’re matching the pace of the group after the top four,” Rossi said.

“We’ve worked better this weekend, steadily making small improvements, and now I’m able to ride closer to the limit and push harder on the bike.

“We loaded the rear of the bike to improve grip, which worked. I’m also doing better on the brakes. We have a lot of other riders who have more or less the same rhythm so tomorrow we can fight during battles.”

Rossi said Ducati’s main issue was now its acceleration out of every corner, an area in which he is optimistic the Desmosedici can improve.

“Where we lose is acceleration and the tendency to understeer,” Rossi explained. “About the acceleration problem I am quite optimistic; about the understeer maybe we need more time

“Tyres will be important, because the soft is difficult to manage to the end, whereas with the hard, it’s very difficult to push in the beginning. We’re leaning toward the soft, but we’ll wait for tomorrow to decide.”

In contrast to Rossi, Nicky Hayden – fifth and third in the year’s first two qualifying sessions – was downbeat about his weekend work.

“Obviously, this isn’t where we wanted to be,” Hayden said after qualifying behind Rossi for the first time this year.

“I’m one second from the top, which sometimes isn’t that far off, but here I’m in tenth place. All weekend, we just haven’t been able to find that last little bit, as I’ve had a lot of little problems.

“Some of my used tyres still look like new, but they’re just spinning. We’ve got to sort that out and improve change of direction. We’ve only got 20 minutes in the morning, but we’ll see what we can come up with. It’s going to be difficult.”

Casey Stoner said concerns over the set-up of his RC213V have given his side of the Honda garage a headache for Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix despite him sealing a first pole position of 2012.

The Australian said attempts to improve the set-up between final practice session and qualifying had the reverse effect, to the extent that he doubted he would be able to fight for pole.

While those fears ultimately proved unfounded – Stoner claiming his first pole of the year – the Australian says Honda still has to find the optimal balance heading into tomorrow’s grand prix.

“This morning we were probably a little more confident, the bike was working so well in FP3,” Stoner said. “Then we tried to improve and actually made the morning strong points the weak ones. We weren’t going in the right direction and I wasn’t confident [of pole].

“We did find a little better feeling in the rear but we couldn’t get the bike to turn and do what we wanted it to. We didn’t really feel we had the pace to be on pole today, but after the red flag came out with 10 minutes remaining we were able to get out there and put together a good enough lap to take pole.

“We’ve been pretty fast in every session and our race pace gives us confidence but we’ll have to have a think about which set up direction we go for in warm up and hope this is the best for the race.

“Hopefully we can do [that] and make having this pole worthwhile because it has been a good weekend for us and it would be lovely if we can finish it off.”

Stoner’s Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa said he too had been pleasantly surprised by his qualifying pace after being beset by brake issues early in the session.

“I couldn’t put too many good laps together because I had some problems on the bike, first with the brakes, then with the electronics,” Pedrosa said.

“After all the issues we had I think [being] on the front row is a great thing. I honestly think that in the last minutes of the session I could have taken the pole but there was a lot of traffic and I missed it by just 0.013.”

Jorge Lorenzo admitted that fourth on the Portuguese Grand Prix grid was the best he could do, as he struggled with his Yamaha’s handling in Estoril qualifying.

The 2010 world champion had taken pole on all four previous Estoril MotoGP appearances prior to Saturday, but could not make it onto the front row this year.

“The main problem for me today was that in Turn 1 and 2 I couldn’t enter aggressively so I lost a lot of time in this section,” said Lorenzo. “In general the bike is not giving me a good feeling so this lap time was the maximum I could get today.”

Lorenzo is also concerned that it will be difficult to get past third-place qualifier Cal Crutchlow’s Tech 3 Yamaha on Sunday.

“We are in fourth but tomorrow is going to be hard as I have to try to pass Cal who is a hard braker!” said Lorenzo. “I will keep thinking positive and see what we can do.”

Ben Spies, who had been quickest on Friday morning, put the second works Yamaha fifth on the grid – and said his big issue had been traffic.

“It was a tough session for everybody, the annoying thing was that three of my best laps were blocked but that’s just the way it goes,” Spies said. “Two of them I think could have been avoided but one of them was just a racing incident.

“We’re on the second row in the middle and we’re a lot better than we were in Jerez. I feel good on the bike and I just need to keep building the confidence now. Being three tenths behind Jorge at this track is pretty good.”

Marc Marquez survived a late charge from Thomas Luthi to claim his second straight Moto2 pole position at Estoril.

Marquez (Monlau Suter) was on top for almost the entire session, but his position at the top of the timesheets finally came under threat when Luthi (Paddock Suter) put together his best lap two minutes from the session’s end.

Luthi missed out by just one hundredth of a second however, a gap which proved academic when Marquez extended his advantage on his final tour, breaking into the 1m40s bracket for the first time.

Scott Redding (Marc VDS Kalex) was a quarter of a second down on the pole fight but did enough to claim third ahead of Johann Zarco (JIR Motobi) and Pol Espargaro (Pons Kalex), the man currently closest to Marquez in the championship.

Like Marquez, Andrea Iannone (Speed Master Speed Up) improved on his final tour to jump into sixth, in the process demoting Julian Simon (Avintia FTR) to the third row.

The Spaniard will start alongside the Aspar Suter of compatriot Toni Elias – winner at Estoril in MotoGP back in 2006 – and Alex de Angelis’s Forward Suter.

Pos  Rider                  Team/Bike              Time       Gap

 1.  Marc Marquez           Monlau Suter           1m40.934s

 2.  Thomas Luthi           Paddock Suter          1m41.054s  + 0.120s

 3.  Scott Redding          Marc VDS Kalex         1m41.278s  + 0.344s

 4.  Johann Zarco           JIR Motobi             1m41.311s  + 0.377s

 5.  Pol Espargaro          Pons Kalex             1m41.424s  + 0.490s

 6.  Andrea Iannone         Speed Master Speed Up  1m41.461s  + 0.527s

 7.  Julian Simon           Avintia FTR            1m41.469s  + 0.535s

 8.  Toni Elias             Aspar Suter            1m41.504s  + 0.570s

 9.  Alex de Angelis        Forward Suter          1m41.536s  + 0.602s

10.  Dominique Aegerter     Technomag-CIP Suter    1m41.539s  + 0.605s

11.  Takaaki Nakagami       Italtrans Kalex        1m41.636s  + 0.702s

12.  Ricard Cardus          Arguinano AJR          1m41.671s  + 0.737s

13.  Bradley Smith          Tech 3                 1m41.733s  + 0.799s

14.  Mike di Meglio         Speed Master Speed Up  1m41.815s  + 0.881s

15.  Nicolas Terol          Aspar Suter            1m41.841s  + 0.907s

16.  Esteve Rabat           Pons Kalex             1m41.954s  + 1.020s

17.  Mika Kallio            Marc VDS Kalex         1m41.990s  + 1.056s

18.  Simone Corsi           Ioda FTR               1m42.130s  + 1.196s

19.  Randy Krummenacher     Switzerland Kalex      1m42.138s  + 1.204s

20.  Yuki Takahashi         Forward Suter          1m42.319s  + 1.385s

21.  Claudio Corti          Italtrans Kalex        1m42.359s  + 1.425s

22.  Xavier Simeon          Tech 3                 1m42.377s  + 1.443s

23.  Axel Pons              Pons Kalex             1m42.527s  + 1.593s

24.  Roberto Rolfo          Technomag-CIP Suter    1m42.947s  + 2.013s

25.  Gino Rea               Gresini Moriwaki       1m43.032s  + 2.098s

26.  Anthony West           QMMF Moriwaki          1m43.134s  + 2.200s

27.  Max Neukirchner        Kiefer Kalex           1m43.205s  + 2.271s

28.  Ratthapark Wilairot    Gresini Moriwaki       1m43.450s  + 2.516s

29.  Alexander Lundh        MZ FTR                 1m44.105s  + 3.171s

30.  Angel Rodriguez        SAG FTR                1m44.253s  + 3.319s

31.  Elena Rosell           QMMF Moriwaki          1m45.154s  + 4.220s

32.  Marco Colandrea        SAG FTR                1m45.845s  + 4.911s

Cal Crutchlow says he was close to abandoning the lap which put on him provisional pole and eventually gave him a front row slot for MotoGP’s Portuguese race at Estoril.

The Tech 3 Yamaha rider sprang a huge shock as he moved to the top of the timesheets in the final five minutes of qualifying, moments after Casey Stoner looked like he had secured the position.

Though Crutchlow was eventually bumped down to third by the two works Hondas, he was able to beat Jorge Lorenzo and finish as the top Yamaha rider for the first time in 2012.

Crutchlow has now qualified on the front row twice in three MotoGP races so far this year, taking fourth on the grid for the remaining race, and says claiming a maiden MotoGP podium will be the goal in Sunday’s race.

“I was just trying to go faster and do my best,” Crutchlow said of the run which sent him top. “I knew I had made two big mistakes in the first two sectors though, so I was actually going to scrap the lap.

“I’m really pleased. We were just trying to make time in the last sector, which is where we were all struggling compared to Jorge.

“It’s nice to be the top Yamaha, as we’ve been working very hard. We’re coming closer to the podium at every race as well, but Jorge will be there in the race so it will be very difficult.”

Colin Edwards has suffered a fractured collarbone in a qualifying crash at MotoGP’s Portuguese Grand Prix.

The American, who sustained a similar injury at Catalunya last year, was involved in a collision with Randy de Puniet.

Edwards was on a slow lap and had pulled his Forward Racing Suter-BMW off the racing line as Aspar Aprilia rider de Puniet came past him into Turn 4 at Estoril.

But de Puniet lost control of his bike and fell, crashing into Edwards and knocking the American to the ground as well. Edwards landed landed on his shoulder, and had to be taken away from the scene on a stretcher.

De Puniet also visited the medical centre for precautionary checks, and is believed to have escaped injury.

Casey Stoner captured his first pole position of his 2012 MotoGP title defence as a late red flag produced a frantic finish to qualifying at Estoril.

Five riders were in contention in what became a thrilling pole battle, fought out between the works Hondas and Yamahas and Tech 3 Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow, who played a starring role.

For a long while it had seemed that Jorge Lorenzo’s early benchmark might just be enough for pole, the Spaniard surviving repeated attempts from the other quartet to best his time.

With 12 minutes to run the complexion of the session changed as Randy de Puniet lost the front of his Aspar Aprilia at Turn 4 and slid into Colin Edwards, who fell heavily. Qualifying was red-flagged as medical crews attended to both riders.

After a short break the session was restarted and Stoner made an emphatic start, claiming pole position on his very first flyer.

Still there a surprise in store as Crutchlow guided his satellite Yamaha to the top with a 1m37.289s.

Stoner had two laps to respond however: on the first he was under for much of the lap but fell away, while on the second he did enough to pip Crutchlow by just 0.101 seconds.

Pedrosa too was out and on his final tour managed to jump into second behind Honda team-mate Stoner, with Crutchlow therefore third. It is the second time in three races he has started on the front row.

Lorenzo was unable to improve in the final minutes and will therefore line up fourth for the Portuguese Grand Prix, ahead of Yamaha team-mate Spies.

The Texan was plagued by bad luck, hitting traffic on at least two occasions when he was inside the pole time. He eventually had to settle for fifth.

Alvaro Bautista claimed the final spot on the second row for Gresini Honda, less than three hundredths of a second ahead of Andrea Dovisioso’s Tech 3 Yamaha.

Hector Barbera finished as the fastest Ducati in eighth for Pramac, a similarly tiny margin ahead of Valentino Rossi on the works machine.

Aleix Espargaro (Aspar) not only claimed top CRT honours in 12th but also outqualified Karel Abraham on the satellite Cardion Ducati of Karel Abraham.

Espargaro’s team-mate de Puniet did enough to qualify 14th despite his accident, while Edwards – whose participation in the race is in doubt after he landed heavily on his collarbone – was 18th fastest.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike                 Time      Gap

 1.  Casey Stoner      Honda                     1m37.188s

 2.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                     1m37.201s  + 0.013s

 3.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha             1m37.289s  + 0.101s

 4.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                    1m37.466s  + 0.278s

 5.  Ben Spies         Yamaha                    1m37.723s  + 0.535s

 6.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda             1m37.917s  + 0.729s

 7.  Andrea Dovizioso  Tech 3 Yamaha             1m37.943s  + 0.755s

 8.  Hector Barbera    Pramac Ducati             1m38.006s  + 0.818s

 9.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati                    1m38.059s  + 0.871s

10.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                    1m38.253s  + 1.065s

11.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda                 1m38.265s  + 1.077s

12.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia             1m39.353s  + 2.165s

13.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati            1m39.398s  + 2.210s

14.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia             1m39.586s  + 2.398s

15.  Yonny Hernandez   Avintia FTR-Kawasaki      1m40.029s  + 2.841s

16.  Michele Pirro     Gresini FTR-Honda         1m40.225s  + 3.037s

17.  Mattia Pasini     Speed Master Aprilia      1m40.387s  + 3.199s

18.  Colin Edwards     Forward Suter-BMW         1m40.964s  + 3.776s

19.  James Ellison     Paul Bird Aprilia         1m41.394s  + 4.206s

20.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Aprilia              1m41.486s  + 4.298s

21.  Ivan Silva        Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki  1m41.490s  + 4.302s

Dani Pedrosa edged Honda works team-mate Casey Stoner by just 12 hundredths of a second in the final MotoGP practice session at Estoril.

The fight for top spot came down to the two Honda riders, with the lead changing hands several times over the session before Pedrosa eventually sealed the issue with a 1m37.325s.

For a long while no-one else was able to join Honda in dipping under the 1m38s mark, but with 12 minutes to run Jorge Lorenzo got in on the act to go third fastest, just over three tenths down on Pedrosa.

Tech 3 Yamaha duo Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso were next up in fourth and fifth. Dovizioso had led the inter-team battle in the early stages, but was demoted to fifth by Crutchlow with 18 minutes to run.

Late improvements sent Ducati’s Valentino Rossi and then Gresini Honda’s Alvaro Bautista into sixth.

Rossi had elected to run the harder compound tyre for much of the session – in contrast to the majority of the field – and ran around 10th as a consequence.

He jumped up to sixth in the final minute however, although Bautista, who was still on circuit, managed to then push the Italian down to seventh.

The second works Yamahas and Ducatis of Ben Spies and Nicky Hayden beat LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl to eighth and ninth.

Randy de Puniet once again finished top of the CRT pile. For a long time he was faster than the satellite bikes of Hector Barbera and Karel Abraham, although Barbera was able to find late improvements to move ahead of the Frenchman and into 11th.

Results to follow…

Cal Crutchlow described track conditions on the final corner of the Estoril circuit in MotoGP practice as a ‘joke’ – and hopes the issue of the surface retaining water can be resolved before the race.

Tech 3 Yamaha rider Crutchlow was third quickest in Portugal on Friday, but led criticism of the surface at the final turn.

“I think it was a bit of a nightmare for everyone,” Crutchlow told the official MotoGP website. “The last corner is a joke. There are wet patches all the way around it. It hasn’t rained since four o’clock in the morning, and it’s still wet now.

“We need to go to the safety commission now and see if we can get something done about it, because the Tarmac’s just holding the water. We need to see if we can dry it, because if it rains in the middle of Saturday night, it will still be wet for the race, which is not good.

“The problem is you can’t see it because it’s so black, the Tarmac, that you can’t even see if it’s got water on it.”

Crutchlow acknowledged that the whole field was equally disadvantaged, but said his concern was simply the safety aspect.

“It’s the same conditions for everyone, but it’s just risks that we don’t really need,” he said.

Honda rider Dani Pedrosa agreed that the track surface, particularly at the last bend, had been a significant issue on Friday.

“In the first session we were almost unable to ride and in the afternoon it was difficult because the track conditions were poor, it was very slippery, we had no grip in the front or rear and it was kind of hard to get feedback from the bike because the tyres were just sliding,” said Pedrosa.

“Water is holding on the new asphalt, so it’s necessary to change the line. It would be good if it doesn’t rain anymore and if they could dry this area up in some way because in the last corner especially, it’s very damp.

“I hope the track gets better tomorrow on the grip level, so we can start working hard on the suspension.”

Ben Spies is optimistic that he can put his tough start to the 2012 MotoGP campaign behind him at Estoril after taking a step forward in practice.

The Yamaha rider struggled badly for race pace in Qatar and Spain, finishing the first two rounds of the season in distant 11th places.

But in Portugal on Friday, Spies was quickest in the damp first practice session, then second to Casey Stoner in the afternoon.

“It’s a good feeling today but it’s still early, it’s Friday,” said Spies.

“The most important thing is I have to thank my crew, they made a huge change to the bike, not only to the front but we also changed some rider position settings that I asked for and the bike seems good. Not only are the lap-times fast, it’s much easier to ride at that speed than the slower times at Jerez.

“Right now the bike is quick and easy to ride, we need to make some more improvements to it. To be in the top three on the first day after two difficult weekends is a positive start.”

Spies’ championship-leading team-mate Jorge Lorenzo was only fifth quickest, and less happy with his Yamaha.

“Today was so-so because we didn’t find a good set-up or a good feeling with the bike,” said Lorenzo. “Also the new asphalt is not the best, I think it’s worse than last year in some places and also the weather doesn’t help with some wet patches in corners.

“I expect a lot of things to improve tomorrow, especially the rear of the bike which is not right in some corners.”

Valentino Rossi believes that he and Ducati just need to improve their pace in two or three sections of the Estoril track to close in on the MotoGP frontrunners.

Having struggled both overall and relative to team-mate Nicky Hayden in the first two grands prix of 2012, the Italian arrived in Portugal with renewed optimism after following Hayden’s lead on set-up for last weekend’s Jerez race.

Rossi says the changes have paid dividends after finishing within one second of Casey Stoner’s overall benchmark in second practice, and believes specific improvements in two or three points will lead to further gains.

“The first day was not so bad,” Rossi said. “I am not very far from the top, but also in some sections I am very fast and quite close to the top guys.

“Unfortunately I lose too much in two or three points and for this reason I am [further away], but now we try to understand why and improve the bike to be fast in the rest of the track.

“[We] continued with the setting from Jerez and the feeling is not so bad; I ride quite close to the limit [and] have good grip in the rear.

“In the fast section I lose too much, so we just need to understand how I can be faster in those two or three places. For sure the lap times are still not fantastic, but I’m good in the first and third section, the bike is good in braking and stable on the exits, and that’s where I am close to the top guys.”

Rossi was ninth quickest in practice, two places behind Hayden.

Casey Stoner edged MotoGP’s Friday morning pacesetter Ben Spies in second practice ahead of this weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril.

The pair traded fastest times in the final 10 minutes of a dry second session, before Stoner (Honda) eventually settled the issue with a 1m38.396s – putting him more than three tenths clear of the field.

Spies did enough to claim second, in the process outpacing his Yamaha stable-mate Jorge Lorenzo for the first time this year.

The pair were separated by Tech 3 Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow and the second works Honda of Dani Pedrosa.

Alvaro Bautista put his satellite Gresini Honda sixth, ahead of the two works Ducatis and Hector Barbera’s satellite Pramac entry.

Of the trio it was Hayden who emerged on top, with Barbera pipping Rossi to eighth late on.

Rossi finished just over three tenths down on Hayden, but was within 1s of Stoner.

Andrea Dovizioso on the second Tech 3 Yamaha ended 10th, while Aspar’s Randy de Puniet was once again the fastest CRT rider in 13th.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike                 Time       Gap

 1.  Casey Stoner      Honda                     1m38.396s

 2.  Ben Spies         Yamaha                    1m38.717s  + 0.321s

 3.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha             1m38.742s  + 0.346s

 4.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                     1m38.797s  + 0.401s

 5.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                    1m38.930s  + 0.534s

 6.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda             1m38.959s  + 0.563s

 7.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                    1m39.029s  + 0.633s

 8.  Hector Barbera    Pramac Ducati             1m39.193s  + 0.797s

 9.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati                    1m39.357s  + 0.961s

10.  Andrea Dovizioso  Yamaha                    1m39.615s  + 1.219s

11.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati            1m40.207s  + 1.811s

12.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda                 1m40.898s  + 2.502s

13.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia             1m41.088s  + 2.692s

14.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia             1m41.634s  + 3.238s

15.  Yonny Hernandez   Avintia FTR-Kawasaki      1m41.638s  + 3.242s

16.  Mattia Pasini     Speed Master Aprilia      1m41.973s  + 3.577s

17.  Michele Pirro     Gresini FTR-Honda         1m42.252s  + 3.856s

18.  Colin Edwards     Forward Suter-BMW         1m42.587s  + 4.191s

19.  Ivan Silva        Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki  1m42.804s  + 4.408s

20.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Aprilia              1m42.984s  + 4.588s

21.  James Ellison     Paul Bird Aprilia         1m43.665s  + 5.269s

Ben Spies was quickest for Yamaha in a damp first practice session for MotoGP’s Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril.

For the second week in succession, Friday morning practice saw little activity as Jerez’s tricky conditions were replicated in Portugal.

With the track never fully wet but too tricky for slicks until the closing minutes, for most of the morning the spectators just had a handful of CRT bikes to watch.

Spies was among the first of the big names to emerge, and by the end of the session 19 riders had been out to at least assess the conditions.

Nicky Hayden was quickest ahead of Valentino Rossi as the chequered flag fell, but Spies was still out on a quicker lap and came through with a 1m40.813s to deny Ducati a one-two.

Casey Stoner was fourth on the fastest Honda, followed by Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista and the Tech 3 Yamahas.

Spies’ championship leading team-mate Jorge Lorenzo was among those who chose to stay in the pits.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike                 Time       Gap

 1.  Ben Spies         Yamaha                    1m40.813s

 2.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                    1m41.086s  + 0.273s

 3.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati                    1m41.502s  + 0.689s

 4.  Casey Stoner      Honda                     1m41.943s  + 1.130s

 5.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda             1m42.230s  + 1.417s

 6.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha             1m42.291s  + 1.478s

 7.  Andrea Dovizioso  Tech 3 Yamaha             1m42.343s  + 1.530s

 8.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                     1m43.078s  + 2.265s

 9.  Yonny Hernandez   Avintia FTR-Kawasaki      1m43.256s  + 2.443s

10.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati            1m43.265s  + 2.452s

11.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia             1m43.277s  + 2.464s

12.  Michele Pirro     Gresini FTR-Honda         1m43.511s  + 2.698s

13.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda                 1m43.527s  + 2.714s

14.  Colin Edwards     Forward Suter-BMW         1m44.909s  + 4.096s

15.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Aprilia              1m45.148s  + 4.335s

16.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia             1m45.636s  + 4.823s

17.  Mattia Pasini     Speed Master Aprilia      1m46.004s  + 5.191s

18.  Ivan Silva        Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki  1m46.271s  + 5.458s

19.  James Ellison     Paul Bird Aprilia         1m52.429s  + 11.616s

20.  Hector Barbera    Pramac Ducati

21.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha

Valentino Rossi says he is optimistic that he will be able to extract more performance from the Ducati at Estoril this weekend, after taking team-mate Nicky Hayden’s lead on set-up.

Despite only finishing in ninth position at Jerez, the Italian said he felt more confident in the latter stages of last weekend’s race, providing a better basis for him to get the most from his bike at in Portugal.

“We have to start this weekend from the last laps of Jerez, because at the end of the race my rhythm was not so bad and I did some good lap-times,” he said.

“The target here is to work on the same settings tomorrow, to try and arrive at Saturday afternoon with better speed and try and improve our position in qualifying. This is the target for this weekend and to understand how to arrive at 100 per cent with this bike and these settings.”

Rossi switched to Hayden’s set-up during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend. The American has outpaced Rossi so far this season.

“Generally speaking the bike of Nicky is a bit more low and long, mine is a bit more high and short. This is the difference, speaking in an easy way,” said Rossi.

“The performances of Nicky have been better than us in these two races, so it means that maybe that setting is better. Also, that setting is close to what Ducati usually needs to be fast.”

Hayden confirmed that Rossi is keen on his set-up.

“Talking to the engineers it is clear that he likes my set-up and he might follow our direction, which confirms the work we have done, especially at the Jerez test,” said Hayden.

Casey Stoner has dismissed suggestions that he is likely to retire at the end of the 2012 MotoGP season – but says he has not yet made any decisions at all about his future.

The reigning champion’s contract with Honda ends after the current campaign, and a report in the Spanish press this week suggested that retirement from racing was a realistic option for the 26-year-old Australian, who recently became a father for the first time.

Stoner underlined that this story was incorrect, but acknowledged that he was likely to make a relatively early exit from the sport.

“Everyone seems quite good at stories and making them up,” said Stoner. “I’ve said many times in the past that my career’s not going to go on much longer, I’m not going to keep going and riding until I’m in my 30s and things like this.

“For me at the moment, I haven’t decided what I’m going to be doing, and certainly no one else is going to know what I’m doing.

“So as usual, the rumour mill starts up and everybody starts believing everything they read. Until you hear it out of my mouth, don’t believe everything you read.”

There is expected to be plenty of movement in the rider market this winter as most of the top riders’ contracts come to an end once 2012 is complete, but Stoner said that this has no bearing on his future planning.

“A few people’s contracts are going to end at the end of the year. But there’s nothing [happening] to do with retirement at this point,” he insisted.

“It’s definitely something that I’ve got to think about – my future and how many years I want to race. But it’s not for me to make up right now.”

Valentino Rossi insisted there were reasons for optimism for Ducati even though he only finished ninth in the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez.

The MotoGP legend had qualified a disastrous 13th and did not make dramatic progress in the race, but was confident that what he had learned in Spain would help Ducati in future rounds. His team-mate Nicky Hayden started on the front row before slipping to eighth in the race.

“The positive thing from today’s race is that I think it might help us to do a bit better in the coming events, starting next week in Portugal,” said Rossi. “Today we used a set-up that’s new for us, and it gave some positive signs.

“First we tried some solutions to give me a feeling similar to what I’ve had in the past, but it doesn’t work. Today’s setting was very similar to what Nicky has used for a while, though not exactly the same.

“I must get used to riding the bike a bit differently than I’m used to, and today that caused me to lose some ground in the early laps because I was basically starting blind.

“I wasn’t going bad once I found my rhythm, in the sense that I was matching the times of those who were fighting for sixth place, and I was able to push until the end, doing a 1m41.0s on the penultimate lap. This helps me to be a little more optimistic as I look ahead to the next races because if I’m able to ride a bit better, it could be a place for us to start from. In fact, we’ll use this setting when we start on Friday.”

Hayden said his slump had been due to using up his tyres too early.

“It was fun for a couple of laps,” said the American. “We know our bike is great at generating heat in the tyres, and for the first few laps, I was able do what I wanted. Then about the time it looked like the other guys’ tyres came up to temperature, mine had already started losing grip, especially in the front.”

Casey Stoner says winning at Jerez for the first time in his MotoGP career was a ‘very special’ moment in light of changing conditions and a return of the arm pump that plagued him in Qatar.

Stoner had only qualified fifth on Saturday, more than one second down on Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa, but with improved feeling on the RC213V he was able to move into the lead within the opening three laps.

He was never able to break free of Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo – winner at Jerez for the past two seasons – but hung on even as arm pump problems returned to collect his first victory of 2012.

“Considering the weekend in general and how fast Dani and Jorge are at this track, to win here is something very special for me,” Stoner said.

“We managed the race for the conditions of the circuit and as they improved I pushed a little more, the bike on a whole felt much better than in qualifying. I did get some arm pump again but thankfully not to the extent I had it in Qatar.

“[At the] start I tried to stay out of trouble, there were people outbraking each other, touching and it was important just to keep out of the way. Then I managed to gain a lot of positions in a short space of time and reached the front.

“I didn’t try to pull a gap, as I knew Jorge and Dani were very fast, but I just wanted to stay in front with them and pull away from the others. Then I saw that Jorge and I had slightly better pace and we could make a gap.”

Pedrosa was initially a feature in the fight for victory, but a brief slump – which he explained was borne out of excessive caution – resulted in him losing touch with the leaders.

“It’s been a strange race for me,” Pedrosa said. “On the grid I thought it might not be a completely dry race so I was very cautious at the beginning, also after we saw so many crashes in the first laps of Moto3 and Moto2. So I started well but I was passed and then I lost too much time with [Andrea] Dovizioso and [Nicky] Hayden.

“When I managed to overtake them and take the third position, Casey and Jorge were already too far in front, four seconds ahead. So I put my head down and started increasing my pace but at the same time it was difficult to keep the concentration because [Cal] Crutchlow was on a hard front tyre and he was pushing me a lot, braking harder in the last laps.

“In general, I feel happy with my performance on a really tricky weekend. A second and a third position finish is not the best, but it’s a good start to the season.”

Ben Spies says he has apologised to his Yamaha team but has little explanation for what he labelled a ‘pathetic’ Spanish Grand Prix.

In contrast to his works Yamaha stable-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who challenged for the lead and finished second, Spies cut a disconsolate figure as he dropped out of the top 10 early on.

He eventually finished 11th, having been shadowed by Randy de Puniet’s CRT Aspar Aprilia in the latter stages of the race.

Spies said he was puzzled by his slump, which followed a similarly weak display in the season-opener in Qatar.

“I don’t really know what happened, I got off to a pretty good start from the line but after that I didn’t have a good feeling with the bike,” the Texan said. “It was a pretty pathetic race really for me.

“I’ve apologised to the team and we’ve had a long meeting about what I was feeling with the bike. I just wasn’t comfortable.

“I rode as hard as I could but the speed just wasn’t there. We need to find something because we can see the Yamahas are working well but my feeling with the bike is not great. It was a bad day at the office today.”

Jorge Lorenzo says choosing the soft front tyre compound proved costly as it disrupted his bid to claim his third straight MotoGP victory at Jerez.

Having qualified on pole, Lorenzo lost out at the start to Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and then later to the Spaniard’s stablemate Casey Stoner. From there he trailed Stoner for the duration of the race but was never truly able to mount an attack and finished second, less than one second behind the Australian.

Like Stoner, Lorenzo had selected the soft compound for the race – a decision he said proved wrong as it led to a reduced feel and less confidence on the bike.

“Today I knew it would be a very important decision on the grid to choose the right front tyre,” the Spaniard explained.

“Finally we chose the soft one: unfortunately we were wrong and had a lot of problems during the race, I wasn’t as confident as in practice.

“Without good feelings, to finish second is not so bad. We are still leading the championship and have good motivation for Estoril.”

Casey Stoner held off the attentions of Jorge Lorenzo to win at Jerez for the first time in his MotoGP career.

The Australian and Spaniard were locked together for the duration of the race, at first in a lead group of four and then, as the field separated, in a lone duel for victory in the second round.

In a mirror of the Qatar opener Lorenzo’s Yamaha shadowed the lead Honda of Stoner, which had worked its way up from fifth on the grid, but this time there was no arm pump issue to trouble the Australian.

There was however the issue of tyre wear, with both Stoner and Lorenzo having big moments as the race drew to a close. Lorenzo was never truly able to mount a challenge, and Stoner managed an emphatic final lap to pull clear of the Yamaha and close out his first win of the season.

His works Honda stable-mate Dani Pedrosa had also been involved early on, stealing a march on Lorenzo away from the start and leading the opening laps.

Ducati’s Nicky Hayden and the two Tech 3 Yamahas of Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso were also involved at first, before Stoner and Lorenzo began to stretch away.

Pedrosa’s bid for victory was effectively ended on lap three as he dropped from first to fourth in a single corner – Stoner and Lorenzo passing him on the inside and Hayden on the outside.

That put him into a four-way battle for third with Hayden and the two Tech 3s, a group from which he and Crutchlow were eventually able to escape, creating a second two-bike duel just behind the leaders.

Dovizioso came home a relatively quiet fifth ahead of Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista and the LCR Honda of Stefan Bradl.

Hayden’s pace tailed off and he eventually finished ninth, one place ahead of team-mate Valentino Rossi – though in truth their races were wild opposites, Rossi never able to break higher than the fringes of the top 10.

Pramac’s Hector Barbera claimed 10th ahead of Ben Spies, the Texan again cutting a disconsolate figure on the second works Yamaha.

Randy de Puniet had been tucked up close to Spies on his Aspar CRT bike, but ran out of fuel on the final lap.

Team-mate Aleix Espargaro therefore finished top of the CRT pile, coming home in 12th.

Results – 27 laps:


Pos  Rider             Team/Bike                     Time/Gap

 1.  Casey Stoner      Honda                       45m33.897s

 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                        + 0.947s

 3.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda                         + 2.063s

 4.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha                 + 2.465s

 5.  Andrea Dovizioso  Tech 3 Yamaha                + 18.100s

 6.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda                + 21.395s

 7.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda                    + 28.637s

 8.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                       + 28.869s

 9.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati                       + 34.852s

10.  Hector Barbera    Pramac Ducati                + 35.103s

11.  Ben Spies         Yamaha                       + 38.041s

12.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia              + 1m12.728s

13.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Aprilia               + 1m18.669s

14.  Mattia Pasini     Speed Master Aprilia       + 1m29.142s

15.  Ivan Silva        Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki   + 1m32.478s

16.  Colin Edwards     Forward Suter-BMW          + 1m40.577s

17.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati                 + 1 lap

Retirements:
     Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia                  25 laps

     James Ellison     Forward Suter-BMW              24 laps

     Michele Pirro     Gresini FTR-Honda              18 laps

     Yonni Hernandez   Avintia FTR-Kawasaki            0 laps

Pol Espargaro beat Marc Marquez and claimed his maiden Moto2 victory in a rain-shortened thriller at Jerez.

The race was stopped with eight laps to go as rain arrived. Marquez had passed Espargaro and rapidly built a lead when the red flags flew, but with the race being reset one lap it was the Pons man who was handed victory.

Espargaro had only come to the fore late on in a race in which the leader was never able to build a clear advantage as Thomas Luthi (Paddock Suter), Marquez (Monlau Suter), Scott Redding (Marc VDS Kalex) and Espargaro all took turns at the front.

Redding was the star early on, working his way through from 12th on the grid to capture the lead from Luthi when the Swiss rider made a mistake on lap seven.

His spell at the front lasted just four laps – during which he was passed by and then repassed Marquez – before Luthi outdragged him down into Turn 1. Redding then dropped back, eventually finishing fourth – like Espargaro gaining one position on countback.

Out front Luthi fell victim to a decisive but fair pass by Marquez going into the final turn of lap 15, which forced him wide and allowed Espargaro to come through into second.

Espargaro then shadowed Marquez for two more laps before diving past on lap 17. His lead lasted all of one lap – Marquez coming through at the start of the 19th – but his timing was impeccable as the race was called early, handing him victory.

Luthi finished third ahead of Redding and Kalex’s Takaaki Nakagami, who had been closing on the lead quartet until rain started to fall.

Claudio Corti finished seventh, ahead of Mika Kallio – the latter having been part of the lead battle until running wide and through the gravel on lap 13.

Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP Suter), Toni Elias (Aspar Suter) and Johann Zarco (JIR Motobi) rounded out the top 10.

Valentino Rossi says corner entry speed is the fundamental reason for his continued struggles on the Ducati GP12.

Rossi cast a downbeat figure after the season opener in Qatar, conceding that he could not get to grips with his 2012 bike after finishing a lowly 10th.

His woes continued in a dry qualifying at Jerez, the Italian qualifying 13th – behind both satellite Ducatis and more than two seconds down on team-mate Nicky Hayden, who was third.

Rossi said that, while conditions had proved tricky, the real issue remained with his turn-in feel and speed on the GP12.

“The conditions were quite difficult because it was cold and the asphalt was dry, but not completely; anyway it was like that for everyone, so that wasn’t the problem,” Rossi said.

“Unfortunately, I’m still having a very hard time riding and entering corners, both on the brakes and off. I’m slow to achieve maximum lean angle and don’t carry the necessary corner speed, so when it’s time to accelerate, I’ve already lost too much ground.

“We’ve been trying to solve this situation for a while, but we haven’t managed it yet.”

Rossi said comparison with Hayden had pin-pointed corner entry as the area responsible for his deficit.

“We have to keep working on the setup because Nicky had a nice session today and really did a good job,” he added. “Comparing the data, we’ve confirmed that we’re losing all our time on corner entry. Anyway, we went a bit better in the wet, so we’ll see what conditions we have for the race.”

Hayden said he and Ducati had been able to take advantage of the strange conditions on their way to the squad’s first front row since Stoner’s pole performance at Valencia in 2010.

“To be on the front row is really good for us,” Hayden said. “The track conditions were quite strange, different compared to what we’ve had the whole weekend, [and]. It certainly helped that we tested here in the dry not too long ago as we had a relatively good base setup.

“In the end, we took advantage of the strange situation and made the front row, so I’m really happy for my team. Now we’ll try to make it happen when it counts tomorrow.”

Casey Stoner says he must take a share of the blame after qualifying just fifth for the Jerez Grand Prix – his worst starting slot since Malaysia 2010.

After ending almost one second down on works Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa in qualifying, Stoner blamed both himself and the inclement conditions which hampered set-up work throughout practice.

After qualifying fifth fastest, and almost one second down on works Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa, Stoner blamed both himself and the inclement conditions which hampered set-up work throughout practice.

Fifth is Stoner’s worst qualifying performance since Malaysia 2010.

“Qualifying didn’t go so well, conditions have been terrible all weekend, from half dry tracks to fully wet so we haven’t really been able to get any form of set up on the bike,” he explained.

“It’s a little bit disappointing, we had hoped to be on the front row but with conditions like this I wasn’t really willing to push.

“There were a lot of people falling off and the wet patches that were there were incredibly slippery. With this said, there is still half a second that I am accountable for and can’t blame the track, we’re just a little bit off with our settings so we have some work to do tonight.

“We’re not really sure what to expect until we see the weather tomorrow and this makes things pretty difficult”.

Pedrosa too admitted that conditions had hurt set-up work, but in contrast to Stoner was able to thrive and was a constant threat for pole.

The Spaniard added: “It was very difficult to know how much to push because there were some wet spots and it was easy to make mistakes.

“Also after so many laps with wet tyres in the free practices, when you put on the slicks it’s like another bike but you have no time to waste to find a good lap time. So I’m quite impressed with the chrono and very happy to be on the front row.

“Tomorrow we have to be ready for a tough race in any conditions and I want to have a good race here in front of my fans”.

Qatar Moto2 race-winner Marc Marquez maintained his strong start to the season by securing pole position at Jerez.

The Spaniard broke clear of a group of six riders, all of whom had been trading fastest times, with a 1m43.355s just under 20 minutes from the session’s end.

It was always likely that would be bettered, and so it proved as Marquez twice went faster, shaving more than three tenths off his benchmark.

That proved instrumental in securing pole, as moments later Takaaki Nakagami (Italtrans Kalex) got within eight hundredths of Marquez’s new best, earning himself second in the process.

Thomas Luthi – who beat Marquez to pole in Qatar – was also in contention until losing the front end of his bike mid-way through his flying lap.

He ended fourth as a result, Pol Espargaro (Pons Kalex) taking the final spot on the front row.

Marc VDS’s Mika Kallio and Claudio Corti (Italtrans Kalex) took a share of the second row, ahead of Esteve Rabat (Pons Kalex), Mike di Meglio (Speed Master) and Randy Krummenacher (Switzerland Kalex).

Johann Zarco, pacesetter for much of practice, ended up 10th fastest.

Scott Redding, like Luthi a late faller in qualifying, was 12th fastest ahead of Qatar runner-up Andrea Iannone.

Pos  Rider                  Team/Bike              Time       Gap

 1.  Marc Marquez           Monlau Suter           1m43.005s

 2.  Takaaki Nakagami       Italtrans Kalex        1m43.085s  + 0.080s

 3.  Pol Espargaro          Pons Kalex             1m43.273s  + 0.268s

 4.  Thomas Luthi           Paddock Suter          1m43.310s  + 0.305s

 5.  Mika Kallio            Marc VDS Kalex         1m43.367s  + 0.362s

 6.  Claudio Corti          Italtrans Kalex        1m43.396s  + 0.391s

 7.  Esteve Rabat           Pons Kalex             1m43.651s  + 0.646s

 8.  Mike di Meglio         Speed Master Speed Up  1m43.778s  + 0.773s

 9.  Randy Krummenacher     Switzerland Kalex      1m43.858s  + 0.853s

10.  Johann Zarco           JIR Motobi             1m43.959s  + 0.954s

11.  Alex de Angelis        Forward Suter          1m44.052s  + 1.047s

12.  Scott Redding          Marc VDS Kalex         1m44.144s  + 1.139s

13.  Andrea Iannone         Speed Master Speed Up  1m44.204s  + 1.199s

14.  Max Neukirchner        Kiefer Kalex           1m44.212s  + 1.207s

15.  Dominique Aegerter     Technomag-CIP Suter    1m44.223s  + 1.218s

16.  Toni Elias             Aspar Suter            1m44.254s  + 1.249s

17.  Xavier Simeon          Tech 3                 1m44.308s  + 1.303s

18.  Simone Corsi           Ioda FTR               1m44.354s  + 1.349s

19.  Bradley Smith          Tech 3                 1m44.406s  + 1.401s

20.  Ricard Cardus          Arguinano AJR          1m44.532s  + 1.527s

21.  Roberto Rolfo          Technomag-CIP Suter    1m44.640s  + 1.635s

22.  Yuki Takahashi         Forward Suter          1m44.719s  + 1.714s

23.  Gino Rea               Gresini Moriwaki       1m45.095s  + 2.090s

24.  Angel Rodriguez        SAG FTR                1m45.309s  + 2.304s

25.  Julian Simon           Avintia FTR            1m45.538s  + 2.533s

26.  Axel Pons              Pons Kalex             1m45.607s  + 2.602s

27.  Alexander Lundh        MZ FTR                 1m45.834s  + 2.829s

28.  Nicolas Terol          Aspar Suter            1m45.961s  + 2.956s

29.  Anthony West           QMMF Moriwaki          1m46.117s  + 3.112s

30.  Ratthapark Wilairot    Gresini Moriwaki       1m46.211s  + 3.206s

31.  Elena Rosell           QMMF Moriwaki          1m47.284s  + 4.279s

32.  Marco Colandrea        SAG FTR                1m47.304s  + 4.299s

Jorge Lorenzo edged fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa in an extremely tight battle for MotoGP pole position at Jerez.

With the expected rain never truly materialising, the track was able to dry throughout the hour-long session, leading to a flurry of improvements in the final minutes.

Pole turned out to be a straight fight between the Yamaha of Lorenzo and the Honda of Pedrosa, both of whom lowered the benchmark and traded places on an almost lap-by-lap basis in the final five minutes.

Lorenzo’s penultimate effort, a 1m39.532s, ultimately proved enough, putting him just over one tenth clear of Pedrosa.

No other rider was able to get within one second of Lorenzo, with Ducati’s Nicky Hayden 1.031s down in third.

“We are very happy with this pole,” Lorenzo said. “It was a strange session because of the water so you had to pay a lot of attention and not crash. I was patient and started late, and now we see what happens in the race.”

Hayden’s late effort served to deprive Tech 3 Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow of a front row start, the Briton having been fastest at the halfway mark. A fall disrupted his rhythm, but on the second chassis and worn slicks he was able to do enough to secure fourth, ahead of the second works Honda of reigning champion Casey Stoner.

The Australian was never able to match his team-mate’s pace, and had to abandon his final tour when he ran wide at Turn 1.

Ben Spies (Yamaha) completes the second row, ahead of Crutchlow’s Tech 3 team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista and LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl.

It was another disastrous session for Valentino Rossi. Despite going out in the final minutes – prime conditions – he wound up 13th fastest, 2.3s down on his team-mate Hayden.

That means he starts behind the lead CRT bike of Randy de Puniet, who was 10th for Aspar, and both satellite Ducati bikes.

Colin Edwards finished bottom of the pile after crashing heavily at the halfway mark.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike                 Time      Gap

 1.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                    1m39.532s

 2.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda                     1m39.667s  + 0.135s

 3.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                    1m40.563s  + 1.031s

 4.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha             1m40.570s  + 1.038s

 5.  Casey Stoner      Honda                     1m40.577s  + 1.045s

 6.  Ben Spies         Yamaha                    1m41.090s  + 1.558s

 7.  Andrea Dovizioso  Tech 3 Yamaha             1m41.180s  + 1.648s

 8.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda             1m41.447s  + 1.915s

 9.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda                 1m41.550s  + 2.018s

10.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia             1m41.700s  + 2.168s

11.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati            1m41.724s  + 2.192s

12.  Hector Barbera    Pramac Ducati             1m41.871s  + 2.339s

13.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati                    1m42.961s  + 3.429s

14.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia             1m43.135s  + 3.603s

15.  Michele Pirro     Gresini FTR-Honda         1m43.363s  + 3.831s

16.  Mattia Pasini     Speed Master Aprilia      1m44.308s  + 4.776s

17.  Yonni Hernandez   Avintia FTR-Kawasaki      1m44.467s  + 4.935s

18.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Aprilia              1m44.645s  + 5.113s

19.  Ivan Silva        Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki  1m44.717s  + 5.185s

20.  James Ellison     Forward Suter-BMW         1m45.724s  + 6.192s

21.  Colin Edwards     Forward Suter-BMW         1m46.200s  + 6.668s

Dani Pedrosa kept Honda at the top of the MotoGP timesheets as wet conditions once again restricted running in practice at Jerez.

As was the case on Friday a wet circuit meant few riders opted to run long stints and, with track conditions not improving after the halfway mark, there was little in the way of late improvements.

That meant that Pedrosa’s benchmark of 1m50.121s, set with 26 minutes remaining, was never beaten, earning the Spaniard the top spot for a second straight session.

The rest of the lead order also set their best times in the opening 30 minutes.

Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo finished second, just over one tenth down on Pedrosa, while the second works Honda of reigning champion Casey Stoner was third.

The works Ducatis of Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi were then fourth and sixth respectively, split by Cal Crutchlow’s Tech 3 Yamaha.

The Briton’s team-mate Andrea Dovizioso finished seventh fastest ahead of LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl, Karel Abraham on the Pramac Ducati and the top CRT rider, Aspar’s Randy de Puniet.

Ben Spies on the second works Yamaha finished 11th fastest.

Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista was one of the few casualties of the conditions, dropping his Honda at Turn 1 in the closing stages of the session.

Jorge Lorenzo said his Yamaha suffered from tyre degradation in practice for MotoGP’s Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez.

Lorenzo leads the championship after passing Honda’s Casey Stoner for the lead in the latter stages of this season’s opening round in Qatar, but he has concerns in Spain after he and team-mate Ben Spies suffered from tyre problems in the mixed conditions of practice.

Lorenzo says the team needs to work on the tyre issues before the race on Sunday.

“In these conditions we are not so good because the middle of the tyre is dropping a lot, after eight or 10 laps we don’t have any more grip so we have to slow the pace,” he said.

Lorenzo said he may struggle through the weekend if the conditions are changeable again.

“If it rains with a lot of water then that’s one story but if it’s like today we are not the fastest so we need to gain some grip on the rear.”

Spies, who took second place in Qatar, says that he was able to make some changes to improve his bike but was also hampered by tyre wear.

“We started with a wet track and we had to fiddle round with some tyre pressures for a while. We got that sorted and made some changes to the bike to the point where I was comfortable. The tyres had got quite bad by that point,” said Spies.

Team director Massimo Meregalli said Spies had found a better balance with his bike than team leader Lorenzo.

“We found a balance that Ben liked and he seems quite satisfied with the set-up so we’ll see for tomorrow. On Jorge’s side we are still hunting for some more grip from the rear in the difficult condition but we should make a step tomorrow.”

Valentino Rossi said he ‘felt good immediately’ as he and Ducati prospered in mixed conditions during MotoGP practice at Jerez.

In contrast to an acrimonious opener in Qatar, Rossi said he and Ducati had enjoyed a far more harmonious start to the second round, and were able to commence the day with a good feeling from the outset.

The Italian said the GP12 also proved well suited to the adverse conditions and, rather than be hampered like the other frontrunners, was able to push the limit of the bike.

Last year’s Spanish Grand Prix, held in similarly mixed conditions, was one of Rossi’s strongest races, as he came through the field to challenge for the lead before colliding with Casey Stoner. Rossi was able to recover to fifth, while Stoner suffered his only retirement of the year.

“I felt good immediately today,” Rossi said. “We worked on the setting a bit but because we had already started with a good feeling, I was able to immediately ride at the limit and do some good times.

“We go pretty well in the wet. We’re happy to be second this afternoon because it confirms that the GP12 has the same good feeling in the wet that last year’s bike did, and that’s important.

“Now we have to wait to see what the weather does tomorrow, and especially on Sunday.”

Rossi’s team-mate Nicky Hayden also reported a good feeling in the wet, but said he had been careful to preserve tyres for the weekend.

“The bike felt decent in the wet, especially the geometry and turning, but it lacked some grip on the edge, which is where we’re we’ll focus tomorrow,” he explained.

“If we had unlimited rain tyres, I probably would have gone out and had a look, but with rain forecast for the whole weekend, I didn’t want to waste any. We did some laps in the afternoon and checked a couple things.”

Casey Stoner said that the wet conditions in MotoGP’s first and second practice sessions at Jerez prevented him from assessing the arm pump problems he suffered in Qatar.

Stoner was leading in Qatar when he developed an arm pump issue that allowed Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo and his Honda team-mate Dani Pedroza through to claim first and second.

The Honda rider has been treated since the Losail race using similar methods to those used in 2010 when he had the same issue at Silverstone.

“At the moment the arm feels OK, but it’s difficult to know when the conditions are like this and you are not stressing it like in the dry,” Stoner said.

The Australian finished fourth in second practice, as team-mate Pedrosa set the pace, and said he struggled to understand the bike in the fast-changing conditions.

“We came back in to try and change the bike and give it more rear grip but by the time we went back out it was already starting to dry off a little and we couldn’t get a good understanding of the bike,” said Stoner.

Pedrosa said his bike felt good and is hoping for more consistent weather for qualifying.

“The first feeling on the bike was good for me, the bike felt good and I am riding well but I hope for better weather tomorrow, full dry or full wet. Let’s keep focused and do a good job.”

Cal Crutchlow says he needs to improve his pace in the damp at Jerez after struggling in changeable conditions in the second MotoGP practice session and posting only the ninth fastest time of the session.

The Tech 3 Yamaha rider had made a strong start to the season in Qatar with a maiden front row start and fourth place in the race, but struggled with rear tyre grip as MotoGP moved to Europe.

Crutchlow and team-mate Andrea Dovizioso both elected not to run in first practice as the track was too dry for wet tyres but not dry enough for slicks. Both riders chose to evaluate wet tyres in the afternoon despite similar conditions.

“If we get more of the same conditions for the rest of the weekend then we have a lot of work to do. We struggled a little bit with a lack of rear grip and that is where we are going to have to work because we could be racing in similar conditions on Sunday,” said Crutchlow.

Despite his issues, Crutchlow was satisfied with ninth position and still optimistic he can have another strong race.

“I am really happy with my position on the timesheets considering the problems and that makes me really confident that if we make the setting better I will be very competitive.”

Dovizioso finished the session in seventh place, but said he had not been able to learn much from the day.

“It has been a day of pretty much constantly changing weather and track conditions and unfortunately that meant we were not able to try anything on the set-up of the bike,” he said.

Dani Pedrosa denied Valentino Rossi the top spot in a wet second MotoGP practice session at Jerez.

Conditions had improved little from the morning’s running – when all the factory teams opted not to venture out – but the reticence was not repeated as riders seized the opportunity to sample the damp track.

Rossi was one of the first to get down to a respectable time and with 30 minutes remaining it was the Italian, who suffered a disastrous opener in Qatar, who led the way with a 1m51.440s on his Ducati.

For a long while it looked like that would be enough to earn him first place, but with 10 minutes on the clock Pedrosa went out for only his third run of the session and managed to shave six tenths off the benchmark, putting Honda top.

Rossi rejoined on the second Ducati chassis but did not improve and stayed second, while team-mate Nicky Hayden completed a positive day for the Desmosedici by finishing fifth fastest.

The pair were split by Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo and the second factory Honda of Casey Stoner, both of whom finished more than one second down on Pedrosa.

Tech 3 Yamaha pair Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow claimed sixth and eighth, split by Alvaro Bautista on the satellite Gresini Honda.

Ben Spies (Yamaha) was the last of the factory riders in ninth, ahead of LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl.

Randy de Puniet finished as the fastest CRT rider in 11th, more than three seconds down on Pedrosa.

Aspar Aprilia rider de Puniet was however able to finish ahead of Karel Abraham on the satellite Pramac Ducati, which ended the session in 13th.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike                 Time       Gap

 1.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                     1m50.780s

 2.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati                    1m51.440s  + 0.660s

 3.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                    1m51.873s  + 1.093s

 4.  Casey Stoner      Honda                     1m52.106s  + 1.326s

 5.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                    1m52.254s  + 1.474s

 6.  Andrea Dovizioso  Tech 3 Yamaha             1m53.070s  + 2.290s

 7.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda             1m53.166s  + 2.386s

 8.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha             1m53.352s  + 2.572s

 9.  Ben Spies         Yamaha                    1m53.409s  + 2.629s

10.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda                 1m53.409s  + 2.629s

11.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia             1m54.155s  + 3.375s

12.  Mattia Pasini     Speed Master Aprilia      1m54.370s  + 3.590s

13.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati            1m54.378s  + 3.598s

14.  Hector Barbera    Pramac Ducati             1m54.581s  + 3.801s

15.  Colin Edwards     Forward Suter-BMW         1m54.707s  + 3.927s

16.  Ivan Silva        Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki  1m54.748s  + 3.968s

17.  Yonny Hernandez   Avintia FTR-Kawasaki      1m54.915s  + 4.135s

18.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Aprilia              1m55.752s  + 4.972s

19.  Michele Pirro     Gresini FTR-Honda         1m56.067s  + 5.287s

20.  James Ellison     Paul Bird Aprilia         1m57.475s  + 6.695s

21.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia             1m57.789s  + 7.009s

Ivan Silva was the unlikely pacesetter in MotoGP’s first Jerez practice session, as adverse conditions meant all the typical frontrunners opted not to set a time.

In truth there was next to no value to be had from the morning, which was neither fully wet nor fully dry.

In such greasy conditions the works Honda, Yamaha and Ducati squads all elected to sit out the session in its entirety.

Of the eight riders who did venture out, only Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda) and Alvaro Bautista (Gresini Honda) were not on CRT machinery.

Bradl ended the session second fastest, but he could do little to deprive Silva of top spot – the Avintia man, who has a new Inmotec chassis to try this weekend, almost six seconds clear at the front.

Aspar Aprilia’s Randy de Puniet beat Bautista to third, with Mattia Pasini (Speed Master ART), Michele Pirro (Gresini FTR-Honda) and Yonny Hernandez on the second Avintia machine rounding out the top seven.

Forward’s Colin Edwards was the last rider to set a time, but his 2m05.991s – almost 20s down on Silva – served to emphasise not only how tricky the conditions were, but also how meaningless the session was in general.

The second MotoGP practice session at Jerez starts at 14.10 local time.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike                 Time       Gap

 1.  Ivan Silva        Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki  1m48.674s

 2.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda                 1m54.641s  + 5.967s

 3.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia             1m55.214s  + 6.540s

 4.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda             1m56.398s  + 7.724s

 5.  Mattia Pasini     Speed Master Aprilia      1m56.853s  + 8.179s

 6.  Michele Pirro     Gresini FTR-Honda         1m59.239s  + 10.565s

 7.  Yonny Hernandez   Avintia FTR-Kawasaki      2m02.868s  + 14.194s

 8.  Colin Edwards     Forward Suter-BMW         2m05.991s  + 17.317s

 9.  Casey Stoner      Honda

10.  Andrea Dovizioso  Tech 3 Yamaha

11.  Hector Barbera    Pramac Ducati

12.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Aprilia

13.  Ben Spies         Yamaha

14.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati

15.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda

16.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha

17.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia

18.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati

19.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati

20.  James Ellison     Paul Bird Aprilia

21.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha

Valentino Rossi hopes pre-season testing work at Jerez will provide Ducati with a better baseline set-up and prove key to reversing its fortunes in MotoGP’s Spanish Grand Prix after a disastrous opening weekend in Qatar.

Following a disappointing first year with the Desmosedici, Rossi and Ducati started 2012 with fresh hope – only for that to be promptly dashed as he struggled home in 10th at Qatar, behind works team-mate Nicky Hayden and Pramac satellite rider Hector Barbera.

With the handling of the GP12 still Rossi’s main issue, he says Ducati’s pre-season work at Jerez could pay dividends during Friday and Saturday’s crucial practice sessions.

“By the end of the three-day test in March, we had found a decent setup for the GP12, so we have a base to start from for this track as we prepare the bike for the race,” Rossi said.

“It will be very important to work well during the Friday and Saturday practice sessions, focusing particularly on maintaining a good direction and on taking advantage of what we currently have to work with.

“I’ve always liked the Jerez track a lot, and we certainly must try to do better than in Qatar.”

Ducati team manager Vittoriano Guareschi echoed Rossi’s sentiments, saying the goal would be to take advantage of testing work in order to provide the seven-time champion with a better starting point.

“We’re returning to Jerez a month after the winter test there, so we should find very similar conditions,” he explained. “The first race, in Qatar, was very difficult for Valentino, as we didn’t find a good set-up that would let him feel comfortable on the bike.

“In Spain, by taking advantage of the work we did there in March, we’ll focus on helping him once again find a good feeling.”

Casey Stoner is confident that he and Honda can overcome the chatter and arm pump issues which blighted his defence of his MotoGP crown in the 2012 season opener in Qatar.

The Australian led most of the race, only to develop an arm pump problem which slowed his pace and allowed both Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo and his team-mate Dani Pedrosa to slip past into first and second.

Having suffered and rectified similar problems in 2010, Stoner says he is confident the work done since Qatar will ensure there is no repeat of the arm issue this weekend at Jerez.

“Since Qatar I’ve been working on the arm pump issue I experienced in the race and it’s definitely feeling better,” Stoner explained.

“We’ve treated it the same way as when I had it in 2010 at Silverstone so I’m hoping it won’t be a problem for us this weekend.”

The reigning world champion said he was also hoping Honda could improve its chatter issues at the Spanish circuit.

“We still have some issues that we really need to resolve with the bike, especially the chattering in the entrance and exit of the corner,” he added. “When we solve these we believe we will have a very competitive package.

“After a difficult race in Qatar, I’m looking forward to Jerez. We had a very good pre-season test there, it’s a track that hasn’t been so good for me in the past so the fact we were able to hold a good pace there in testing has given us a lot of confidence.”

Stoner’s team-mate Dani Pedrosa said he would be targeting an improved qualifying performance at Jerez, having lined up on the third row in Qatar.

“We need to be very focused and have a good qualifying session in order to start the race in a good position,” he said.

“We had a great race in Qatar and to start the season on the podium is important, but we cannot relax, we will be aiming for another strong race this weekend.”

Ben Spies says his 2012 MotoGP campaign starts at Jerez after a disastrous opening weekend in Qatar.

The American had qualified a strong fourth in Qatar, eight tenths of a second down on team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, but faded dramatically as the race wore on.

He eventually finished down in 11th, in stark contrast to Lorenzo, who claimed victory almost 60 seconds up the road.

Spies says his underlying faith in the bike and himself has not been shaken, and that he therefore wants to write off Qatar and start his season afresh in Spain.

“After a tough start at Qatar my goal at Jerez is starting the season again,” Spies explained. “I’m going to do the best I can to deliver.

“We had a good Qatar weekend except for the race, we know our pace is strong, the bike is competitive and I’m riding well so we should have a successful weekend.

“I’m feeling good, I haven’t had great results at Jerez yet but we had a really positive test there so I’m confident.”

Spies’s stable-mate Lorenzo, who leads the riders’ standings as a result of his Qatar win, said he was expecting Honda’s Dani Pedrosa to be his main threat in Jerez.

“We were very strong [at Jerez] in our test and I have always had good results,” Lorenzo said. “Qatar was a perfect start to our season; we worked very hard for that incredible victory.

“The competition will be tough; I expect Casey and especially Dani to be very fast.”

Nicky Hayden’s attempt to regain lost testing time at Mugello this week was spoiled by heavy rain at the Italian track.

The Ducati rider was given two days of running alongside test rider Franco Battaini.

As Hayden’s pre-season testing had been limited by the after-effects of injuries sustained in the 2011 season finale and in a training accident, Ducati was keen for him to get a chance to do more set-up work, but repeated heavy showers and strong winds meant he achieved little.

“We came here looking to make up time lost due to my missing the Valencia test and having limited time at the Malaysia and Jerez tests, but it was pretty much a wash,” said Hayden. “It’s a shame because Ducati gave me the opportunity to come and had a race-spec GP12 here, along with my whole team.

“[On Wednesday] we made two exits with slicks and also did a bit of riding in the wet, but [on Thursday] the conditions were wet but also cold and windy, completely unmanageable.

“With two back-to-back races coming up, there wasn’t much to be gained by risking testing in the wet. I’ve learned during my career that you can’t control the weather, so there’s no need to complain. We’ll just look forward to the race at Jerez.”

Hayden finished sixth in the MotoGP season-opener in Qatar.

Audi has completed its long-rumoured acquisition of Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A..

Audi AG chairman Rupert Stadler said Ducati was an excellent fit as a ‘sporty, global premium brand’, as the supervisory boards of both companies signed off the acquisition.

Ducati is the third Italian company now under Audi’s jurisdiction, following similar deals for Lamborghini and Italdesign.

“Ducati is known worldwide as a premium brand among motorcycle manufacturers and has a long tradition of building sporty motorcycles,” Stadler said.

“It has great expertise in high-performance engines and lightweight construction, and is one of the world’s most profitable motorcycle manufacturers. That makes Ducati an excellent fit for Audi.”

In 2011, Ducati sold around 42,000 motorcycles and generated revenue of some €480 million, employing around 1,100 people.

On-track, Ducati has suffered a miserable start to its 2012 MotoGP campaign, with Nicky Hayden sixth and Valentino Rossi 10th in the season-opener at Qatar – a result which prompted Rossi to bemoan the handling and performance of the GP12.

In contrast to such trials, Ducati currently leads the World Superbikes constructors’ championship, with Carlos Checa at the head of the riders’ standings.

Cal Crutchlow believes that his strong start to the 2012 MotoGP campaign has come from regaining self-confidence as well as finding the new 1000cc bikes more suited to his style.

After an often difficult rookie campaign in 2011, Crutchlow began the new season with a maiden MotoGP front row start at the Qatar Grand Prix and a fourth placed finish – beaten only by Jorge Lorenzo and the two works Hondas of Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner.

“I think last year was a tough year because I started the year so well, especially the second and third races. And then obviously I crashed and had a few bad races, and then in the middle of the year it was just a disaster,” Crutchlow told the official MotoGP website.

“So I think I needed to regroup myself and get my confidence back as well because I know that when I’m at the top of my game, when I won World Supersport, was winning World Superbike races and was the fastest guy out there, I felt it was all about confidence and I never had it at the end of last year and I’ve never had that so it was a big wake up call for me.

“Not confidence in a cocky or arrogant way, just confidence as in knowing that I can do it and I feel that I’ve got that back again now. Not to say it went away, I just think I needed a little bit of time. And maybe I needed that result at Valencia to know that it’s still there, I’m not far away.

“Then obviously we tested the 1000cc after and I tested well on the 1000 as well. I think we just need to keep building on what we’ve started this year. I think this year with a little bit of a different attitude there’s no reason why we can’t be challenging up near the front for a lot of the year.”

With the Tech 3 team having already promised its Moto2 rider Bradley Smith a MotoGP seat for 2013, Crutchlow and his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso already know they cannot both stay on beyond this season.

Crutchlow believes he is channelling that pressure well, though he said it was not just the situation with Smith that led to this, as there is the possibility of a much larger shake up in the rider market at the end of 2012.

“I also think it’s my second year, I want to be in MotoGP next year and my contract is up at the end of this year,” he said. “I feel that I’m riding better because of that as well. I’d like to not necessarily prove people wrong, but I’d like to show what I can do if I really need to as well.”

The Briton added: “At the end of the day, it’s not just me out of contract this year, there’s a lot of riders out of contract, nearly every single one of them. So I’ve just got to do the best job I can and hopefully something will come. It’s a long way off yet and I’m just concentrating on doing my job, which is to finish as high as I can finish.”

Nicky Hayden will get an additional MotoGP test later this week to make up for time he lost to injury during the winter.

Ducati test rider Franco Battaini is doing three days of running at Mugello with the team’s GP12 bike, and will be joined by Hayden on Wednesday and Thursday.

Hayden’s 2012 build-up was disrupted by injuries sustained in a crash at the 2011 season finale at Valencia, a fall in training at Christmas, and surgery on lingering damage from the latter between the first and second winter tests.

A Ducati statement said the extra running this week would let Hayden “carry out set-up tests that he wasn’t able to complete prior to the start of the 2012 season.”

Hayden was Ducati’s top rider in the first round of the 2012 championship in Qatar earlier this month, qualifying fifth and finishing sixth on a weekend when his factory team-mate Valentino Rossi struggled at the back of the prototype pack.

Bridgestone will introduce a new specification front tyre for this season’s MotoGP championship, after plans to do so were ratified by a meeting of the FIM Grand Prix Commission.

The latest evolution tyre features a revised construction in order to enhance rider feel and warm-up performance, and has already received positive feedback.

Bridgestone will introduce the new compound as an additional option at select rounds, on top of the existing tyre allocation. Each rider’s allocation will therefore be increased to 11 front tyres.

The Japanese tyre supplier will not offer the third specification compound at seven rounds however: Estoril, Le Mans, Silverstone, Assen, Phillip Island, Sepang and Valencia. At these races the front tyre shortfall will be made up with the standard two compounds.

In addition, Bridgestone will revise its wet tyre allocation.

Where riders currently only have access to one compound option of wet tyre at each race, Bridgestone will offer riders the chance to select up to two sets of an alternative compound – in place of the standard allocation – following the first wet session of a weekend.

Bridgestone’s Hiroshi Yamada said the new compounds came as a result of ongoing efforts to improve its MotoGP control compounds.

“Though rider comments on our original 2012 specification front tyre were positive, we haven’t rested on our laurels and brought new specification front tyres to the pre-season tests as part of our ongoing tyre development programme,” Yamada explained.

“One of these new front tyres was met with such an encouraging appraisal from the riders that we proposed to make it available as soon as possible. Due to logistical constraints, we are unable to supply a full allocation of this new specification front tyre until Silverstone, but we have changed our production schedule and made every effort to provide a limited allocation of the new front tyre to riders from the next race.”

Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of Dorna Sports added: “During the regular meetings during pre-season testing between Bridgestone and Safety Advisor to Dorna Loris Capirossi, it became apparent that this new specification tyre provided even greater levels of front-end feel to the riders and so we welcome the decision to make the tyre available as soon as possible.”

Valentino Rossi says it is up to Ducati to rectify problems with its 2012 challenger, and that his confidence in his own abilities has not been diminished by his struggles on the Desmosedici.

Ducati made a multitude of changes to the GP12 in the wake of a first win-less season in 15 years for Rossi in 2011, but the Italian still struggled and could only finish 10th in the season-opening Qatar Grand Prix.

Team-mate Nicky Hayden finished sixth, while the satellite Pramac Ducati of Hector Barbera edged Rossi out late on to capture ninth.

While such a slump has led to widespread questioning in his native Italy, Rossi says he is confident he can still perform – and that his problems lie instead with the handling of the Ducati.

“Age penalises you, it’s true, but a difficult year doesn’t make you forget how to stay with the leading pack. In my opinion, I still know how to do it,” Rossi told Motosprint.

“It’s very clear who makes our bike: [Filippo] Preziosi is the boss and the thinking brain behind everything. It’s up to him to help us.

“Our problems are very clear: what doesn’t work at the rear, under acceleration, in my opinion comes from the front, and the cause is understeering.

“At turn-entry, because of something we don’t know, the front doesn’t allow you to tighten the turn. This understeering is the biggest problem.

“The incredible thing is that this characteristic is similar to all the Ducatis I’ve ridden since 2010: whether it’s the version with no chassis, or the one with the carbon-fibre front, of the one with the aluminium front, or the one with the full chassis… it doesn’t ever change, that’s incredible.

“The engine is another very important problem. We need a more manageable engine: ours is very aggressive, more than Honda’s and a lot more than Yamaha’s.

“By looking for top performance you might end up neglecting rideability a bit. That’s a mistake. What do you need all that power for if you can’t take advantage of it?”

Asked about comparisons to Casey Stoner, who collected 23 wins and one championship with Ducati, Rossi said the Australian had adapted because he had evolved with the team.

“He [Stoner] has a very peculiar riding style and he was also young in 2007, so it was easier for him to adapt to Ducati,” Rossi explained.

“He evolved with Ducati, so he should thank Ducati because if he has learned to ride in the way he rides today it’s because he grew up with this bike, which if you don’t ride it in that particular way you are screwed.”

Rossi said he had hoped to stay with Ducati for two more years, but said his current form puts that ambition into question.

“I came here at the end of 2010 with the idea of racing for two years and try to win with Ducati. But it’s hard. Besides, I’d like to stay two more years,” he added.

“If we work well we are able to fight for fifth or sixth place. I’m not excited by that: if you must fight for fifth place then little by little you lose enthusiasm.

“By racing this way, you lose the joy of riding. Besides the ego, when you know you get on the track and you will regularly get beaten, it gets hard. And if you don’t enjoy yourself on the track, everything else gets even heavier.

“We need to try, all together, to do the best we can to arrive at the end of the year with a vastly improved bike. It would be the best thing because it would solve many problems.”

Cal Crutchlow declared himself content with fourth in the Qatar Grand Prix, even though he had fallen back from his front row starting position.

The Briton had qualified a MotoGP career-best third, but lost a lot of places off the line and then spent most of the race battling with Tech 3 Yamaha team-mate Andrea Dovizioso before passing the Italian for fourth.

“I think we’ve made a big improvement over the winter and coming into this season,” Crutchlow told the official MotoGP website. “If someone would’ve said you’re going to have a front row and a fourth position at the first race, I would’ve taken it. We’ll work from here and see where we can go.”

Although Crutchlow did not overtake Dovizioso until lap 17, he said he could have done so sooner if he felt it was worthwhile, but he could see leaders Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa were already out of reach.

“I should’ve got past Andrea a little bit earlier, but once the gap was there to the front guys, it was pointless going past early because you never would’ve caught them and probably would’ve wrecked the tyres,” said Crutchlow.

He conceded that there was an unusual reason for his bad start.

“I couldn’t touch the floor, because we’d moved the tank spacer back, and with my midget legs… my throttle was on 100 per cent so I completely fluffed the start,” said Crutchlow. “My own fault.”

A downbeat Valentino Rossi conceded that at present he simply cannot get to grips with the 2012 Ducati after struggling to 10th place in the Qatar Grand Prix.

The seven-time MotoGP champion was a long way off the pace throughout the Losail weekend, and could not match team-mate Nicky Hayden’s pace.

While Rossi said an earlier clash with Hector Barbera was a factor in his Qatar result, he admitted that the biggest problem was that the bike did not suit him at all.

“I had big problems at the beginning of the race: when we are on new tyres I struggle under braking,” he told Italian broadcaster Mediaset. “On top of that, I lost four or five seconds after coming together with Barbera. I then managed to improve a bit and on the last lap I even managed to set my quickest lap on worn tyres. But it’s useless, we struggle to be competitive.

“I can’t ride this bike, I can’t make the difference, I can’t even keep up with Hayden’s pace, who I used to go quick against in comparison. In theory, with new tyres I should go quicker. Nicky managed to do a good race with the other works Ducati, but he still ended up only sixth.”

Rossi fears that 2012 could end up being even harder than last year, when he took just one podium finish.

“In Jerez testing it went better, sixth with the quicker tyres,” he said. “But that’s our pace, it’s not an attractive objective to be fighting for sixth place. We are used to better objectives.

“Probably we are going worse than last year because we managed to be seventh back then… What can I say? I want to be frank. I can’t ride this bike well, even in comparison with my fellow Ducati riders.

“This Ducati has problems: I gave indications over where to intervene, but we didn’t solve our problems. Unfortunately I’m no engineer and can’t do anything about it. At least the positive aspect is that I don’t crash with this chassis. That’s something at least.”

The Italian added that he was finding it hard to be optimistic as Ducati had failed to progress from a disappointing start in 2011.

“We ran out of hope last year. More than hope we need a better bike,” Rossi said. “But I wouldn’t want to expose myself like I did last year, by thinking and hoping that the second chassis development would be an improvement.

“I tried to be a professional. When Barbera pushed me out I even considered returning to the pits, but then I stayed out in order to give our technicians some data to study so as to improve things.”

Yamaha said Ben Spies’ poor performance in the Qatar Grand Prix was caused by a severe chatter issue on his bike.

The American tumbled from fourth on the grid to 11th at the finish – just 1.1 seconds ahead of Colin Edwards’ CRT Forward Suter-BMW, while Jorge Lorenzo took the sister works Yamaha to victory.

Team director Massimo Meregalli said the problem had manifested itself without warning in the warm-up.

“The chatter suddenly appeared on Ben’s bike in warm-up and we couldn’t solve it before the race,” said Meregalli.

“We’re not sure why it was yet but the engineers will work on it and we will try to ensure we have the problem solved by Jerez.”

Spies had crashed twice in the build-up to the race, and admitted there was little comfort he could take from the Losail weekend – describing his grand prix performance as “pathetic” in an interview with the official MotoGP website.

“I tested my airbag twice this weekend; good to know it works well…” Spies joked. “We’ll go back to Jerez now and hopefully have the bike issue sorted.

“It was good that Jorge won, we can see the Yamaha is going well, we just had a big problem with chatter so we have to work out what it was.”

Casey Stoner said an arm issue caused his slump from first to third in the Qatar Grand Prix – but still felt he had proved he would be the man to beat in MotoGP this year.

The defending champion led most of the Losail race until an arm pump problem slowed his pace and allowed Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa to come past.

Stoner said the physical issue had been present for most of the distance, even though it was only in the final few laps that it became unmanageable.

“It started really early on in the race – about a lap before I got in the lead, I already started feeling my arm going numb and my right arm tightening up,” said the Honda rider.

“Once I got in the lead and I had the lead for a couple of laps, I really started to have problems with arm pump. I lost all my grip, I lost all the pressure.

“So I started just to smooth things down and not ride so aggressively as I normally do.

“This helped for a long time and we were still able to run a pace to pull away from everyone – which was really good for us considering the last two sessions we had were a little difficult, in qualifying and free practice three.”

Stoner admitted his late-race slump had been no fun.

“It was a little bit disappointing,” he said. “I felt like a backmarker at the end there, getting in everybody’s way and going that slowly.

“I didn’t have any pace whatsoever. I couldn’t hold on to the bike and couldn’t do anything.”

But he remained bullish about his Qatar performance and the rest of the season, pointing out that had he not struggled with arm pump, victory seemed guaranteed.

“We’re very, very happy with third,” said Stoner. “The way our pace and everything was in the race, it was just myself and my right arm that couldn’t do the job today.

“We’ve shown that we’re the fastest out there, so as long as we sort my right hand out then we’ll be very confident for the rest of the season.”

Dani Pedrosa hailed second place in the Qatar Grand Prix as an amazing turnaround after a difficult build-up to the race at Losail.

Mistakes, mechanical issues and a loss of confidence during practice and qualifying left the Spaniard only seventh on the grid, five places behind his Honda team-mate Casey Stoner.

But a rapid start saw Pedrosa surge up to second, and although he lost that place to Stoner after a few laps, he stayed in a three-way lead group with the Australian and eventual winner Jorge Lorenzo, and was ultimately able to reclaim second from his team-mate.

“This weekend we had many, many issues on the bike for myself. Finally yesterday we had a horrible qualifying,” said Pedrosa.

“This morning already in the warm-up everything went back to normal and we were able to do a good race and good lap times.

“The start was key for me, I could start well. Then I was doing the race in third position, trying not to give away too much of a gap [to the leaders].”

Long-time leader Stoner fell off the pace with an arm issue in the closing laps and came under attack from Lorenzo and Pedrosa. The latter reckoned that if he had timed his pass on Stoner better, it would have been him, not Lorenzo, celebrating victory.

“At the end there was some problem with Casey – he started to slow down a bit and Jorge and I started to catch up,” Pedrosa said.

“At the end Jorge was a little smarter when he decided to pass Casey. I got stuck there with Casey for one lap.

“But second place is unbelievable after all the problems. Unfortunately it was not the win – it was there for me. But I have to thank the team.”

Jorge Lorenzo admitted that he thought he was beaten in the Qatar Grand Prix as Casey Stoner pulled away from him in the middle of the race.

Yamaha rider Lorenzo trailed Stoner’s Honda until the closing laps, when he hunted down and passed the reigning champion as Stoner began to struggle with an arm issue.

Lorenzo said he had always hoped there might be a chance to snatch victory if he could keep Stoner – who had hit the front on lap three – in sight, but had little expectation of winning.

“It was a race similar to Jerez 2010 for me,” said Lorenzo. “In the middle of the race, I thought it was impossible to win this race.

“But this victory is because I never gave up, was always pushing, always trying – and also because Casey lost the pace a little bit. So I kept pushing.”

Lorenzo had taken pole position on Saturday, when second-place qualifier Stoner feared a chattering issue would compromise his race. But Lorenzo reckoned Honda took a big step forward on Sunday.

“I think the Hondas found a little bit in the warm-up so it was very difficult to beat them in the race, but I put everything I had, all my energy, onto the track and in the end I won this race,” he said. “It’s wonderful.”

Jorge Lorenzo overcame the Hondas to take victory in a hard-fought MotoGP season-opener in Qatar.

Reigning champion Casey Stoner looked like he had a fifth Losail victory in the bag for most of the distance, until Lorenzo attacked in the closing stages – fighting off Stoner’s Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa, before battling past Stoner to take a lead he would not lose.

Pedrosa then shuffled Stoner back to the final step of the podium.

Lorenzo had kept his Yamaha at the front at the start, as a typically lightning launch by Pedrosa saw the Spaniard shoot from seventh to second.

Stoner made it past Pedrosa on lap three after a string of unsuccessful attacks, and then squeezed through a narrowing gap on the pits straight to depose Lorenzo from the head of the order a lap later.

At first Stoner was able to pull away, inching into a two-second lead and then maintaining a slight cushion.

All looked to be under control for Stoner until his pace abruptly faded in the final laps, allowing both Lorenzo and Pedrosa to close right in.

Before Lorenzo could attack Stoner, Pedrosa shot past the Yamaha for second – but he only held it briefly as Lorenzo quickly sliced back through in a tight move.

Lorenzo then pounced on Stoner with three laps to go, and although the Australian drafted back ahead when they next hit the pits straight, Lorenzo retaliated under braking for Turn 1, reclaimed the lead, and then pulled away.

Pedrosa took second from Stoner soon after and chased down Lorenzo, but could not quite catch the Yamaha. Lorenzo’s win was his first Losail victory at MotoGP level, and came in his first race back after suffering a nasty hand injury in Australia last October.

Front row qualifier Cal Crutchlow tumbled down the order off the line, then spent 17 laps trying ever harder to overtake his Tech 3 Yamaha team-mate Andrea Dovizioso for fourth. By the time the Briton made it through, the top three were long gone.

Moto2 champion Stefan Bradl charged up to sixth for LCR Honda in the early laps, before being pushed back by Nicky Hayden (Ducati) and Alvaro Bautista (Gresini Honda), as they and Hector Barbera (Pramac Ducati) hunted him down in a spectacular pack.

Ducati’s Valentino Rossi and Yamaha’s Ben Spies both endured terrible races – rapidly losing pace and finding themselves at the tail of the prototype pack in 10th and 11th, which is where they would finish, with Spies only a few seconds clear of top CRT runner Colin Edwards (Forward Suter-BMW).

Results – 22 laps:

Pos  Rider             Team/Car                 Time/Gap

 1.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                 42m44.214s

 2.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                    + 0.852s

 3.  Casey Stoner      Honda                    + 2.908s

 4.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha           + 17.114s

 5.  Andrea Dovizioso  Tech 3 Yamaha           + 17.420s

 6.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                  + 28.413s

 7.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda           + 28.446s

 8.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda               + 29.464s

 9.  Hector Barbera    Pramac Ducati           + 31.384s

10.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati                  + 33.665s

11.  Ben Spies         Yamaha                  + 56.907s

12.  Colin Edwards     Forward Suter-BMW       + 58.088s

13.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia         + 1m10.650s

14.  Yonny Hernandez   Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  + 1m15.943s

15.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia         + 1m26.733s

16.  Ivan Silva        Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  + 1m43.327s

17.  Mattia Pasini     Speed Master Aprilia  + 1m47.419s

18.  James Ellison     Paul Bird Aprilia     + 1m51.882s

19.  Michele Pirro     Gresini FTR-Honda        + 7 laps
Retirements:
     Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Aprilia              15 laps

     Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati             7 laps

Marc Marquez took victory on his return to Moto2 after last year’s injury, winning a spectacular race in Qatar.

The season-opener was action-packed from the outset, with a huge train of bikes fighting for the lead throughout, before a final-lap showdown between Marquez, Thomas Luthi and Andrea Iannone.

Poleman Luthi had led at first, before being attacked by Pol Espargaro starting lap two. Both ran a little wide, allowing Marquez to slip through into the lead, as Luthi started a temporary slump down the order.

Espargaro, Iannone and Marquez then swapped the lead for a while, although the latter pair made life harder for themselves by running wide at Turn 1 on consecutive laps around half-distance and losing several places.

That gave Espargaro another shot at leading, until Luthi worked his way back to the front on lap 14.

Marquez was soon back on Luthi’s tail, with Iannone right behind them. It seemed as though Marquez was biding his time, and sure enough he attacked starting the final lap, edging Luthi onto the kerb and sending him very wide.

Iannone capitalised and briefly claimed the lead, but Marquez was able to slipstream back past on the run to the finish line, claiming victory in his comeback race by just 0.061 seconds.

Espargaro beat Esteve Rabat to the final podium position, with Luthi only able to salvage fifth.

Scott Redding battled through to sixth, just ahead of Mike di Meglio and Simone Corsi.

Results – 20 laps:

Pos  Rider                  Team/Bike                 Time/Gap

 1.  Marc Marquez           Monlau Suter            40m34.225s

 2.  Andrea Iannone         Speed Master Speed Up     + 0.061s

 3.  Pol Espargaro          Pons Kalex                + 1.412s

 4.  Esteve Rabat           Pons Kalex                + 1.639s

 5.  Thomas Luthi           Interwetten Suter         + 3.981s

 6.  Scott Redding          Marc VDS Kalex            + 6.768s

 7.  Mike di Meglio         Speed Master Speed Up     + 6.794s

 8.  Simone Corsi           Ioda FTR                  + 6.986s

 9.  Bradley Smith          Tech 3                   + 10.828s

10.  Mika Kallio            Marc VDS Kalex           + 11.379s

11.  Randy Krummenacher     Switzerland Kalex        + 12.750s

12.  Johann Zarco           JIR Motobi               + 14.121s

13.  Toni Elias             Aspar Suter              + 17.634s

14.  Takaaki Nakagami       Italtrans Kalex          + 17.875s

15.  Julian Simon           Avintia FTR              + 17.894s

16.  Claudio Corti          Italtrans Kalex          + 19.014s

17.  Xavier Simeon          Tech 3                   + 19.114s

18.  Dominique Aegerter     Technomag-CIP Suter      + 28.802s

19.  Yuki Takahashi         Forward Suter            + 36.598s

20.  Angel Rodriguez        SAG FTR                  + 36.738s

21.  Ratthapark Wilairot    Gresini Moriwaki         + 37.147s

22.  Axel Pons              Pons Kalex               + 37.443s

23.  Nicolas Terol          Aspar Suter              + 39.523s

24.  Ricard Cardus          Arguinano AJR            + 45.260s

25.  Anthony West           QMMF Moriwaki            + 53.786s

26.  Gino Rea               Gresini Moriwaki         + 54.008s

27.  Marco Colandrea        SAG FTR                + 1m19.054s

28.  Alexander Lundh        MZ FTR                 + 1m19.071s

29.  Elena Rosell           QMMF Moriwaki          + 1m35.150s

30.  Max Neukirchner        Kiefer Kalex               + 1 lap
Retirements:
     Alex de Angelis        Forward Suter              18 laps

     Nasser Hasan Al Malki  QMMF Moriwaki              10 laps

     Roberto Rolfo          Technomag-CIP Suter         3 laps

Valentino Rossi said he and Ducati took a step backwards in Qatar Grand Prix qualifying, as he ended the session slowest among the MotoGP prototype riders.

Despite lacking pace in practice, Rossi had still been optimistic that he could qualify on row two. Instead he will start from 12th – ahead of only the CRT runners, and 1.2 seconds slower than his team-mate Nicky Hayden.

“Yesterday was nothing fantastic but a lot better, especially with the used tyre, so my goal was to qualify on the second row,” Rossi said. “I’m very far from that target though, as the problems that we had before were worse.

“It’s very strange because we only made some small changes from yesterday, but the feeling was very different. After that we returned to yesterday’s setting and I went a little bit faster, but it wasn’t enough to significantly improve the result.”

Rossi conceded he will have to try and learn from Hayden’s settings after seeing the American qualify fifth.

“I’m not sure what to expect for the race, but obviously, I hope to do better,” said the seven-time MotoGP champion. “Nicky made a different set-up choice than ours and did a good session with both tyres, so now we’ll also look at his data and try to do better.”

Hayden is unsure whether he can maintain his qualifying pace in race trim given potential tyre wear – but pledged to do his utmost to mix it with the leaders.

“Tyre life is going to be important, and since we’re using up the tyre a lot, we need to work on that,” he said. “I still struggled a bit with chatter and understeer, especially in the fourth sector, where the corners are flat, but the GP12 is certainly the fastest Ducati I’ve ever ridden, which could come in handy in the race.

“I think it will be a hard race, but I’m really looking forward to it. There’s a big gap to the top two, but we’ll try our best to get a good start, get into that second group and fight like dogs to hold on.

“Hopefully we can leave here with something positive.”

Dani Pedrosa blamed electrical problems and handling issues for his low-key seventh on the grid for the Qatar Grand Prix, but also confessed to losing concentration in qualifying as his troubles mounted.

While the Spaniard’s Honda team-mate Casey Stoner topped two practice sessions and qualified second, Pedrosa has not been a factor at the front all weekend.

“We solved a little the issues we had yesterday with the electronics, but we had other problems today,” he said. “I stopped in the garage to change the bike and it didn’t start, twice. I lost a lot of time there and I had to take the other bike which I didn’t feel comfortable with either.”

Pedrosa admitted that the problems caused him to lose focus.

“It’s a shame. The team couldn’t do any better and nor me; from this point I lost the concentration a little and we couldn’t get a better position,” he said.

But he does not believe that his problems so far this weekend preclude him from being more competitive in the race on Sunday.

“Seventh on the grid is not a good place to start the race, but I hope that we don’t have any issues tomorrow and I can have a good race,” he said.

Ben Spies is confident he will be able to join Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo at the front in Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix, despite his crashes so far this weekend.

The American fell in both practice and qualifying, but still put in a lap good enough for fourth on the grid. Lorenzo took pole, with Cal Crutchlow’s satellite Tech 3 Yamaha in third.

“We were on a good lap until the crash, I just lost the front,” said Spies. “I’ve been complaining the last couple of days that the front end just didn’t have the right feeling that I wanted.”

Spies was dragged along with his bike for a while in the incident before being able to release himself.

“As I was trying to get away from the bike when I was sliding something got caught up and I went with it,” Spies said.

“I was looking at the front wheel for a while and thought about trying to get back on when I couldn’t get away from it!”

He now hopes that the team can hit upon a solution for his front-end feel issue in the race morning warm-up.

“We’ll try to make the bike better now, I know if we can fix it we can be up front,” Spies said. “The M1 is clearly going round the track fast and I feel good on it apart from that. We’ve got some good ideas to try in warm up so we’ll see.”

Jorge Lorenzo says the results of Qatar Grand Prix qualifying prove that Yamaha is ready to fight for the MotoGP world title again in 2012.

Yamaha could only occasionally match the dominant Hondas in 2011, as its run of three straight title triumphs came to an end.

But at Losail on Saturday Lorenzo beat Honda’s Casey Stoner to pole, while Tech 3 Yamaha rider Cal Crutchlow secured a career-best third on the grid, and Ben Spies put the second factory bike fourth, despite a late crash. Andrea Dovizioso qualified sixth for his Tech 3 Yamaha debut.

“It’s clear that something changed this year,” said Lorenzo. “We are more competitive – not only me, also Cal is in third position, very close to me and very close to the pole position. Ben is there, and Andrea. So Yamaha is working really well.”

Lorenzo still feels that Yamaha lacks the straightline performance of its main rivals, but believes its cornering speed is making up for this.

“We have some problems with maximum speed that we have to solve in the future but anyway, in the corners – and especially at the end of the corners – the bike is working well and I feel very confident and very comfortable riding it,” he said.

Casey Stoner fears he will not be quick enough to fight for race victory in Qatar after chattering issues afflicted his Honda in qualifying.

The Australian has four wins and three poles to his name at Losail, and was quickest in this weekend’s first two practice sessions, but saw Jorge Lorenzo’s Yamaha beat him to pole on Saturday night.

Stoner said it was not just a case of Lorenzo being slightly faster in the session, but a sign of a worrying problem for Honda, which has grappled with chattering in winter testing.

“To be honest, I’m disappointed,” said Stoner. “We started the weekend in a bit of a bad situation. We’ve basically gone full circle and come back to it.

“The first part of this session and last night’s session, we were pretty happy with where the bike was. We had a couple of issues last night, but I got the bike working pretty well and was quite happy with it.

“In the early part of this session, everything seemed to be going quite well, and then every time we tried to improve the bike we just made it worse and worse.

“We’ve got the shattering issue back in huge amounts, and as soon as we put the soft tyre in it just doubled what [problems] we had because of the extra grip.

“It’s something we’ve found whenever we’ve put new tyres on – the chattering would get a little bit worse, then we’d slowly try to weed it out, and we got to a point where we were happy, but we’ve gone full circle and come back round to where we were.”

The reigning MotoGP champion is concerned that it will not be possible to fully resolve the problem before Sunday night’s race.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do tonight,” said Stoner. “We’re going to have to go across everything that we did over these last few days and try and come up with something.

“We need something for the warm-up before the race tomorrow, otherwise it’s going to be a long hard slog with this bike.”

Cal Crutchlow says his maiden MotoGP front row start in Qatar is a reward for a winter of hard work to address the issues of his rookie campaign in 2011.

The Briton qualified third at Losail on Saturday after also flying in practice.

Last year his best grid slots were sixth places, and Crutchlow said that while part of his improvement was simply down to the 2012 rules package suiting his style better, he had also made concerted efforts to improve in weak areas.

“It’s nice to be here. It’s been a long time coming,” he said of his first appearance on a MotoGP front row.

“I feel it was a tough season last season, riding the 800cc and the [2011] Bridgestone tyre was difficult.

“But the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha team have done a great job over the winter, and have also been working a lot with me, making me learn the GP bike a bit more. 1000cc seems good and it’s enjoyable.

“I think we’ve been rewarded for working hard over the off-season.”

Crutchlow will share the front row with Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner on Sunday, while his Tech 3 team-mate Andrea Dovizioso qualified sixth.

Jorge Lorenzo claimed pole position for the MotoGP season-opening Qatar Grand Prix, denying Casey Stoner a fourth straight Losail pole.

It was reigning champion Stoner who led the way for Honda for most of the hour, as he both topped the part of the session devoted to practice, then improved to a 1m55.149s on his first concerted pole shot with 11 minutes left.

That was beaten by Lorenzo’s 1m54.993s for Yamaha just afterwards, and although four-time Qatar winner Stoner fought back with a 1m54.855s, it put him on top for less than a minute before the Yamaha lapped 0.221 seconds quicker. Neither man could get any more pace out of their last sets of soft tyres, so Lorenzo’s 19th MotoGP pole was secured.

Cal Crutchlow turned his practice promise into a career-best MotoGP starting position and first front row grid slot in third place for Tech 3 Yamaha, three places ahead of team-mate Andrea Dovizioso.

The second works Yamaha of Ben Spies was left fourth on the grid after crashing with four minutes to go. It looked like the American might regain balance and stay upright, but eventually the bike got away from him.

Nicky Hayden grabbed fifth for Ducati in the closing seconds, but his team-mate Valentino Rossi was the slowest of the prototype riders in a lowly 12th place.

It was a quiet session for Dani Pedrosa (Honda) as well. The Spaniard will line up seventh, ahead of Hector Barbera’s Pramac Ducati, top rookie Stefan Bradl on the LCR Honda and late crasher Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Ducati).

Spies and Abraham aside, the session saw five other crashes – all among CRT runners. Danilo Petrucci (Ioda), Ivan Silva (Avintia), Mattia Pasini (Speed Master), Randy de Puniet (Aspar) and James Ellison (Paul Bird Motorsport) were all uninjured in their tumbles, unlike their bikes.

Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards was the fastest CRT rider, less than a second off his sometime Yamaha team-mate Rossi’s pace on the works MotoGP Ducati.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike             Time       Gap

 1.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                1m54.634s

 2.  Casey Stoner      Honda                 1m54.855s  + 0.221s

 3.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha         1m55.022s  + 0.388s

 4.  Ben Spies         Yamaha                1m55.512s  + 0.878s

 5.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                1m55.637s  + 1.003s

 6.  Andrea Dovizioso  Tech 3 Yamaha         1m55.858s  + 1.224s

 7.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                 1m55.905s  + 1.271s

 8.  Hector Barbera    Pramac Ducati         1m55.983s  + 1.349s

 9.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda             1m56.063s  + 1.429s

10.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati        1m56.198s  + 1.564s

11.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda         1m56.521s  + 1.887s

12.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati                1m56.813s  + 2.179s

13.  Colin Edwards     Forward Suter-BMW     1m57.644s  + 3.010s

14.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia         1m58.266s  + 3.632s

15.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia         1m58.520s  + 3.886s

16.  Yonny Hernandez   Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m58.795s  + 4.161s

17.  Michele Pirro     Gresini FTR-Honda     1m59.085s  + 4.451s

18.  Mattia Pasini     Speed Master Aprilia  1m59.195s  + 4.561s

19.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Aprilia          1m59.664s  + 5.030s

20.  Ivan Silva        Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  2m00.493s  + 5.859s

21.  James Ellison     Paul Bird Aprilia     2m00.757s  + 6.123s