FTR Moto will make its World Championship debut in Qatar on Sunday in the opening round of the inaugural Moto2 Grand Prix Championship.

The FTR Moto 2010 machine will be used by Motor Sport 69 Team rider Alex Debon and the Speed Up Team riders Gabor Talmasci and Andrea Iannone.

“It’s more than a year since this project began for us so to actually see our machines on the grid will definitely offer a sense of achievement,” said FTR director Steve Bones. “We’ve worked very closely with Alex Debon throughout testing and despite the collarbone fracture he suffered in February and subsequent surgery he’s very optimistic.

Perennial 250 rider Alex Debon will make his Moto2 debut on an FTR Moto machine in Qatar

“Alex has worked well with the Ohlins staff and his own technical team and can clearly see a lot of potential in our M210 chassis. With the Speed Up Team the development during testing has been more in their own direction and they’ve also made good progress.

“We know there will be a lot of attention on the results of the first ever Moto2 race in Qatar but we’re also aware that the World Championship is over 17 rounds and over eight months and I’m sure there will be a lot of twists and turns during that period.”

FTR Moto will also have machinery contesting the Spanish CEV Buckler Moto2 Championship in 2010 and is in the final stages of planning for a debut in the Isle of Man TT Races and the Senior TT race on Friday June 11.

Bones concluded: “From an initial plan to initially join the World Championship we’re happy with the growing interest in the FTR Moto brand and from the Grand Prix machine to the trackday machine we’re all pretty positive about 2010.”

The waiting is over as MotoGP kicks off in Qatar

The long winter break draws to a close this weekend as the 2010 MotoGP season gets going under the floodlights of the Losail International Circuit. Fiat Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo are fresh from the recent pre-season test and both last year’s World Champion and the runner-up are aiming to kick off their 2010 campaigns with a successful opening weekend.

Last year saw Rossi take his fourth title for Yamaha and the ninth of his career and, with 103 race wins already under his belt, the Italian hero has nothing left to do to cement his place in the history of the sport. Despite 14 seasons in the World Championship the 31-year-old still has the same hunger and desire for victory as he did when he first started out and he claims that this year will be no different. He has been in intimidating form during pre-season testing, finishing fastest on five out of six days, and he looks to have already found an excellent base setting for the 2010 YZR-M1. Rossi has won only twice before in Qatar, last year he finished second after starting from the same spot. He will be looking to go one better this time and take his first victory in a night race.

Lorenzo gave his more experienced team-mate an exciting run for his money last season but the 22-year-old eventually settled for the runner-up spot, an impressive feat nonetheless in just his second year in the premier-class. This year the Mallorcan’s pre-season has been interrupted by a hand injury sustained in a fall with his motocross bike and he missed the second Sepang test, but he was back on board for the recent Qatar outing. Although still not at 100%, he is well on the way back to full fitness after an intensive physiotherapy routine at home in Barcelona. Qatar will always bring back memories of his thrilling 2008 MotoGP debut, when he burst onto the scene with a fantastic pole position and a second-place finish, while last year saw him make a solid start to the season by finishing third behind his team-mate.

For the third time the opening race of the year will be run under the floodlights at the desert circuit, although hopefully without the torrential rain which saw last year’s race delayed by 24 hours. The infrastructure features 3,600 light fixtures using 250, 1500 and 2500-watt bulbs and the system needs 13 megawatt generators to produce the required 5.4 million watts of power – creating enough light to cover an area equivalent to 70 football pitches. The bulbs are fixed on 1000 poles with mounting heights from 3 to 36 meters, all linked together by almost 500 kilometers of wire and supported by 300,000 kilos of concrete.

Valentino Rossi – “A good pre-season”
“Finally we’re at the start of the season and we are all very excited. The pre-season has gone well for me, our new M1 is good, Yamaha and Bridgestone have done a great job and we have been fast. We have only had six days on track so we still have work to do and things to learn about the new bike, but we are starting in good shape. I expect this season to be a big battle with many riders very strong, and I hope that we will show some good racing to the fans! Qatar hasn’t been one of the best tracks for our bike in the last few years but at the test we went well so I hope this will continue again for the race.”
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Rizla Suzuki MotoGP completed the first day of a two-day night-time test held last night under the floodlights at Losail International Circuit in Qatar.

Loris Capirossi recorded a best time of 1’57.100 from his 40 laps of the Losail track to give him 11th place overall. He worked through only a small amount of his scheduled test program today because, unfortunately for Capirossi and the whole team, he had to finish the session early due to sickness.

Motourage favorite Alvaro Bautista found himself at the bottom of the time sheets after day one of testing at Losail

Alvaro Bautista (P17, 1’57.960, 56 laps), used the first day to acclimatize himself to riding a MotoGP bike at the 5,380m Qatari track under the strange atmosphere of artificial lighting. He started to find a rhythm with his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R as the test rolled on and is sure he can improve dramatically today.

The cooler track conditions were exactly what the team wanted, as it gave them a chance to evaluate the steps that have been taken this winter to improve the performance of the GSV-R in changeable conditions.
Rizla Suzuki has one final day at Qatar on Friday, which will then signal the end of pre-season testing for the MotoGP class, before the season begins – also at Qatar – early next month.

Loris Capirossi:
“I think that the bike is a bit better compared to last year’s, but I didn’t make many laps today because I don’t feel so good. This will now make tomorrow very important because we have some big things to try and some other bits to fix. I am really optimistic and think that the new bike is a step in the right direction and we have an opportunity to make an improved performance in the championship.”

Alvaro Bautista:
“The first day here has not had the same feel for me as I had on the last day in Sepang, this is because it is a new track for me on a MotoGP bike with new reference points and I don’t feel 100% yet. The problem I have is in the exit of corners, I can keep a good line and go out through them, but it is difficult to get it right every time and enjoy it. We’ve tried different solutions, but I don’t have a good feeling. We decided to stop a bit early because it has been a long day and my body is not feeling the changes we are making to the bike. Tomorrow we have another day and I hope to be 100% and to enjoy riding the bike and to go much better.”

Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden ended the first of two nights of testing in Qatar with the second and eighth fastest times respectively, the Ducati MotoGP Team riders working throughout a sticky evening to get their GP10 machines to grips with a particularly slippery track surface. The high levels of humidity experienced tonight are also expected for the first race of the season, which takes place here on the 11th April.

Casey Stoner (Ducati MotoGP Team) 2nd fastest:  1’55.717 (48 laps)
“We tried a few different set-up solutions but the main focus tonight was the tires. I used the same set for thirty laps and set some of my best lap times towards the end, so we are satisfied with that. We have also worked on the balance of the bike because the conditions here are very different to Malaysia and I prefer the bike to be more rigid. So far so good.”

Nicky Hayden (Ducati MotoGP Team) 8th fastest:  1’56.855 (77 laps)
“Things went well for the first half of the session then we kind of got stuck. The general feeling of the bike is quite good but I would like to be a step closer to the top guys. The biggest problem is that we’re not able to get the most out of the soft tire – we can’t seem to get it working at the right temperature so I have to keep using the harder compound. It happened in Malaysia and we’ve struggled with it again today at a circuit where the conditions are very different, so it is important we work out the reason.”

Circuit Record:
Casey Stoner (Ducati – 2008), 1’55.153, 168.193 Km/h

Best Pole:
Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha – 2008), 1’53.927, 170.003 Km/h

Unofficial lap times – Thursday, March 18
1. V. Rossi (Yamaha) 1’55.402
2. C. Stoner (Ducati) 1’55.717
3. B. Spies (Yamaha) 1’55.954
4. C. Edwards (Yamaha) 1’56.540
5. R. De Puniet (Honda) 1′56.588
6. A. Dovizioso (Honda) 1’56.811
7. J. Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1’56.838
8. N. Hayden (Ducati) 1’56.855
9. M. Kallio (Ducati) 1’56.923
10. D. Pedrosa (Honda) 1’57.047
11. L. Capirossi (Suzuki) 1’57.099
12. M. Melandri (Honda) 1’57.605
13. H. Barbera (Ducati) 1’57.822
14. H. Aoyama (Honda) 1’57.888
15. M. Simoncelli (Honda) 1’57.891
16. A. Espargaro (Ducati) 1’57898
17. A. Bautista (Suzuki) 1’57.960