Cycle News Staff | March 1, 2009
Rain wreaked havoc on the first day of the three-day MotoGP test today in Qatar, the night session getting hit by rain that basically kept everyone off the racetrack.The fastest of those who did take to the track ended up being Marlboro Ducati’s Nicky Hayden. Hayden completed a total of 31 laps.”I haven’t seen rain in Qatar in all my life and I never thought I would,” Hayden said in a Dorna press release. “But today we’d barely got the bike on track and it started to come down. We had to spend a long time in the garage because even though a part of the track had dried out there was a section that stayed damp for a while. The track conditions were tricky and there wasn’t much feedback, which meant we couldn’t do the work we had planned. We’ve got a few different things to try so hopefully the weather is better tomorrow so we can get some work done.”Lap Times
1. Nicky Hayden 2:00.717
2. Marco Melandri 2:00.867
3. Mika Kallio 2:01.020
4. Alex De Angelis 2:01.074
5. Niccolo Canepa 2:01.328
6. Chris Vermeulen 2:01.843
7. Yuki Takahashi 2:03.221
8. Andrea Dovizioso 2:03.233
9. James Toseland 2:03.417
10. Randy De Puniet 2:03.580
