Colin Edwards heads to Losail with the hope of clinching top CRT spot in the Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar, just as he did one year ago.

At the start of 2012, the American’s pleasing result in Qatar proved to be the only time in the year that he would steal CRT honours. Having now traded in his Suter-BMW for an FTR-Kawasaki, the 39-year-old’s optimism has risen.


"I’m looking forward to getting to this first race with a new package," Edwards says. "Qatar is always a little bit special to me, being a night race and having had good results here in the past. I’m looking forward to it and ready to get the year underway."

Edwards is one of just three riders to have competed in all Qatar MotoGP™ races staged since 2004, with the others being compatriot Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi. On the other NGM Mobile Forward Racing bike, Como’s Claudio Corti makes his full-time debut in the top tier of the sport.

"Finally the season begins!" the Italian comments "We have worked very hard from the very first test to the last one and I can’t wait to get on-track and see where we are at in terms of the other CRTs. We know we still have a lot of work head of us, but right now I want to feel the adrenalin rush that you only get during a race!"

At the final pre-season test in Jerez, Corti and Edwards finished 16th and 24th quickest amid generally poor weather conditions. Leading the way for the CRT runners was Frenchman Randy de Puniet, riding an ART for Power Electronics Aspar.

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