Ducati rider Casey Stoner saw off the challenge of world champion Valentino Rossi to claim victory in the reconvened first MotoGP race of the season in Qatar.
The curtain-raiser had been postponed after heavy wind and rain on Sunday but Stoner was undeterred as he completed his third victory at Losail International circuit, just outside Doha.
The 23-year-old Australian finished ahead of defending world champion Valentino Rossi of Italy and Jorge Lorenzo of Spain. Yamaha rider Rossi crossed the finish line 7.771 seconds behind Stoner…. Details & Pictures
Ever since designer John Barnard built the 1981 F1 McLaren MP4-1 chassis from carbon fibre, the world has become increasingly aware of this novel composite material that is very stiff, three times stronger and more than four times lighter than steel! Within a year or two, carbon fibre became the construction material of choice for F1 designers. Strangely, it has taken nearly three decades for a carbon fibre-framed motorcycle to take a race win at the highest level. The World MotoGP Championship kicked off this evening in Qatar, with Casey Stoner taking the first win on the carbon fibre-framed Ducati Desmosedici GP9. His emphatic win indicates yet another competitive-edge Ducati technology to back up its landmark desmodromic valve-train and traction control technologies.
Unlike its four-wheeled equivalent (F1), … Details & Pictures
With the 2009 Formula One season less than one month old, the world championship could be on the brink of chaos, depending on this week’s outcome of the FIA’s International Court of Appeal hearing over a controversial car part used by three teams in the recent Australian and Malaysian Grand Prix.
Prior to the start of the Australian GP, Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and Renault filed an appeal after stewards rejected their protests that the cars from Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams used an illegal diffuser. BMW Sauber and McLaren later followed suit. The appeal will be heard Tuesday in Paris, with a decision expected the next day.
Diffusers are devices that help …Â Details
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