Qatar impresses sole night debutant Canepa

Qatar impresses sole night debutant Canepa



Monday, 02 March 2009
Pramac Racing rider makes brief first appearance at Losail track


Sunday night in Qatar was one of firsts for the MotoGP World Championship. Unprecedented in the series’ history, MotoGP action on track at the Losail International Circuit was cut short by the appearance of rain (in 2007 a daytime test for the 125cc and 250cc riders was cancelled due to a sandstorm). The adverse conditions brought the end to another first –Niccolo Canepa’s opening night ride under the Musco floodlights.
The Pramac Racing rookie was not able to put in the expected amount of laps due to the meteorological conditions, but was able to get acquainted with the new feeling –literally as different as day and night to what he is accustomed.
”This was the first time for me on this track under this impressive floodlights system. It was beautiful, but a pity that the rain has limited our work,” said Canepa after his maiden run, in which he clocked the fifth fastest time of the night with a 2’01.328 lap.
”I am anyway satisfied thanks to the good lap time registered. I need to ride for as many laps as possible and I hope that in the next two days we will find optimal weather condition. It has been a good start for me, surely better compared to the last test in Malaysia.”
Canepa’s teammate Mika Kallio was third fastest in the curtailed first of three nights in Qatar. Full results can be found here.