MotoGP™ prepared for final pre-season Test - Printable Version +- TT Website Forum (https://www.ttwebsite.com/forums) +-- Forum: Isle of Man TT Website (https://www.ttwebsite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=3) +--- Forum: Other Race Meetings - MotoGP, WSB & BSB, Irish Roads etc - (https://www.ttwebsite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=13) +--- Thread: MotoGP™ prepared for final pre-season Test (/showthread.php?tid=12939)

MotoGP™ prepared for final pre-season Test - Malcolm - 23-03-2012 Friday, Saturday and Sunday present the final opportunity for the premier class to fine-tune its pre-season preparations at Jerez ahead of the 2012 season opener in Qatar less than two weeks later. For the first time during the 2012 pre-season the entire MotoGP™ field of 21 riders will all share a track together, when they convene at the Jerez circuit in southern Spain for the final Test before the campaign gets underway in Qatar less than a fortnight later. An extremely strong display at the two preceding Sepang Tests from reigning World Champion Casey Stoner, who was fastest at both meetings, has signalled the Repsol Honda rider's level going into the new campaign, and both the Australian and his Spanish team-mate Dani Pedrosa will aim to continue their pre-season form to date. Likewise the Yamaha Factory Racing pair of Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies have both enjoyed a productive testing programme to date, and will hope to continue their progress on board the YZR-M1 with electronics and stability under acceleration the main focus. The duo's 2012 liveries will be unveiled in a presentation on Thursday. Ducati Team's Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden will also be great areas of interest for all those reading into pre-season form, as the pair seek to further tune the set-ups of their respective Desmosedici GP12 prototypes. Along with the factory teams the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 pairing of Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow, LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl, San Carlo Honda Gresini's Álvaro Bautista, Pramac Racing's Héctor Barberá and Cardion ab Motoracing's Karel Abraham will all also look to set themselves up in the best possible manner for Qatar. The presence of the CRT machines on track will also offer the chance to measure the new bikes against one another, as well as their performance against the MotoGP™ prototypes. Randy de Puniet and Aleix Espargaró (Power Electronics Aspar) will both be out on their ART machines, the Frenchman having already ridden a second-and-a-half off of Casey Stoner's 2011 pole lap time at Jerez in a recent run out. Nine CRT bikes in total will be on track, with Colin Edwards (NGM Mobile Forward Racing), Danilo Petrucci (Ioda Racing Project), Mattia Pasini (Speed Master), James Ellison (Paul Bird Racing), Iván Silva and Yonny Hernández (both Avintia Racing) and Michele Pirro (San Carlo Honda Gresini) all in attendance as well. The Test schedule will see the track from 10am to 6pm local time on each of the three days. .