Winter testing ends with Repsol Honda Team 1-2 finish

The Official Winter Tests came to a close today at the Losail circuit in Qatar after a sandstorm blew through the circuit hours before testing commenced.

Once the winds had settled, the riders took to the track and conditions started to improve. Casey Stoner continued his program from yesterday and found the ideal rider position on his RC212V, the remainder of the session was spent alternating between the softer and harder compound tires. Stoner topped the timing sheets for the final day of testing with a time of 1'55.681 which he set on lap 40 of 46.

Pedrosa finishing second for the evening with a time of 1'55.745, he tested the 2011 front fork and also completed a half-race distance run of 10 laps – testing the softer compound tire and finished the session working on set-up ahead of this weekends season opening Grand Prix. Andrea Dovizioso made a race simulation and continued set-up work to be in the best possible shape for the coming weekend.

CASEY STONER

"I'm really happy, I didn't think we would get any laps in tonight judging from the weather earlier in the day, it was a little tough but the wind seemed to settle and the track conditions improved a lot and we got some good test time in tonight. By the look of the lap times everyone seems to have taken a big step forward, but we're happy with what we've achieved again here and we can enter the race weekend with confidence but at the same time everyone else will be improving their set-up so we can't relax. We found a good rider position which I'm really happy with, having moved my position more towards the rear in Sepang – to try and find more grip, here we can run a more neutral set-up and everything seems to be working well. We did some more work on electronics tonight and also on the tires, but generally worked in preparation for the weekend".