A beaming Jorge Lorenzo took the pole position for the season opener in Qatar from the World Champion Casey Stoner in a dramatic qualifying session. But as is usually the case the grid doesn't tell the story of what happened under the lights in Qatar.Casey Stoner lambasted his crew for not understanding the problems he is having with chatter, the 26 year old publicly stated that the crew don't appreciate the difficulty he is having with this problem. He said he has no chance of competing with the bike in the current state, and nobody is realizing how big the issue is, Honda are saying you are fast anyway, whats the problem? But there is a massive problem.
Contrast this with Jorge Lorenzo who in an effort to find something he doesn't like about the new 1000cc Yamaha could barely muster that the straight line speed could be better. (its a MotoGP bike, it can always go faster)
The unknown for the curtain opener is the tires, they heat up quicker - fantastic, will they last the race - nobody knows. Nicky Hayden has said the Ducati is unrideable when the tires degrade heavily. This must be music to Valentino Rossi' ears (not!), who had a nightmare session. The rumors of sandbagging in pre season testing and warm ups we're rubbished as he ended up last of the factory riders on the grid. Valentino is laughing his head off, in a if you don't laugh you'll cry attitude. His manager Davide Brivio has more or less said his patience is wearing thin with Ducati and they have till mid season to give him a winning bike or the midnight meetings may begin.
Happy Yamahas, angrys Hondas, frustrated Ducatis, new riders, new teams, new tires, CRTs - GP 2012 is on.
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