Stoner to make 100th MotoGP start

Casey Stoner is intended to make his 100th MotoGP start in this Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang.

During his 99 grands prix to date, the recently crowned double world champion has won 32 races, ended on the podium 58 times, taken 33 poles and 27 fastest laps.

Here are some of the highlights and milestones of Stoner's profession in the Moto GP class:

Race 1 2006/Spain/Jerez - 6th place

Finishes 6th in his debut race on a MotoGP machine riding a Honda for the LCR team.

Race 2 2006/Qatar/Losail – 5th place

Qualifies on pole in just his second start in MotoGP to become the second youngest rider of all-time to start from pole in the premier-class; the only rider to start from pole at a younger age is Freddie Spencer.

Race 3 2006/Turkey/Istanbul – 2nd place

Finishes on the podium in his third MotoGP start to happen to the youngest Australian rider to finish on the podium in the premier-class.

Race 6 2006/Italy/Mugello - DNF

Suffers his first race crash riding a MotoGP machine.

Race 17 2007/Qatar/Losail – 1st place

Wins in his first race for Ducati to become the youngest Australian to win in premier-class and also the first Australian rider to win in 125cc, 250cc and premier-class.

Race 22 2007/Italy/Mugello – 4th place

Starts from pole for the first time since joining the Ducati factory team.

Race 23 2007/Catalan/Barcelona – 1st place

With this win in Catalunya Stoner becomes the first rider to win four times in one season on a Ducati.

Race 27 2007/USA/Laguna Seca – 1st place

Wins from pole and topped all 4 practice sessions to become the first non-American rider to win at Laguna Seca in the MotoGP era.

Race 29 2007/San Marino/Misano – 1st place

Wins three successive races for the first time and is the first to do so on a European manufactured bike since Agostini in 1972.

Race 31 2007/Japan/Motegi – 6th place

Becomes the youngest rider to win the premier-class world title since Freddie Spencer in 1983 and the first to win the title on a Ducati.

Race 32 2007/Australia/Phillip Island – 1st place

Wins at home in Australia for the first time.

Race 33 2007/Malaysia/Sepang – 1st place

Takes tenth win of the year.

Race 35 2008/Qatar/Losail – 1st place

Wins the first ever MotoGP race to take place at night under floodlights.

Race 39 2008/France/Le Mans – 16th place

Suffers mechanical problems during the race and fails to score points for first time riding a Ducati.

Race 46 2008/Czech/Brno - DNF

Crashes out of the race on the seventh lap while leading - his first non-finish on a Ducati.

Race 47 2008/San Marino/Misano - DNF

Qualifies on pole for the seventh successive race - the longest sequence of successive poles in the MotoGP era.

Race 53 2009/Qatar/Losail – 1st place

Wins the opening race of year for the third successive season.

Race 57 2009/Italy/Mugello – 1st place

Gives Ducati their first ever premier-class win at the Italian Grand Prix.

Race 78 2010/Aragon – 1st place

Wins the first MotoGP race to be held at the new Aragon circuit.

Race 81 2010/Australia/Phillip Island – 1st place

Wins his home GP at Phillip Island for the fourth successive year. This was Stoner's last win on a Ducati.

Race 83 2010/Valencia/Ricardo Tormo – 2nd place

Qualifies on pole and finishes second on last race for Ducati.

Race 84 2011/Qatar/Losail – 1st place

Qualifies pole and wins first race for the Repsol Honda team.

Race 85 2011/Spain/Jerez - DNF

Is taken out of the race by Rossi – the only non-podium finish since joining the Honda factory team.

Race 89 2011/Great Britain/Silverstone – 1st place

With this win at Silverstone, Stoner is the first Honda rider to win three successive MotoGP races since Rossi in 2003. This win gives him the lead in the world championship classification.

Race 93 2011/USA/Laguna Seca – 1st place

Wins for the 5th time in 2011 – the highest number of wins by a Honda rider during the 800cc era of MotoGP.

Race 98 2011/Japan/Motegi – 3rd place

Starts on pole for the tenth time in 2011 - a new record for most pole positions in a season during the MotoGP era.

Race 99 2011/Australia/Phiilip Island – 1st place

Qualifies on pole for the eleventh time in 2011, wins race and second world title.

2011 final run in to commence at Motegi

The Grand Prix of Japan starts a succession of three races in the space of three weeks in which Casey Stoner will attempt to safe his second premier class title, whilst Jorge Lorenzo tries to hold onto his crown.

The Grand Prix of Japan takes place this weekend as the 2011 Moto GP World Championship heads into a swift termination which will see three of the final four rounds – starting at Motegi – take place in the space of three weeks.

Taking a 44-point lead into this weekend’s 15th round is Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner, who with conquest last time out at Aragón – his eighth of the season – extended his advantage at the top over defending World Champion Jorge Lorenzo. Stoner won last year’s race at Motegi and a repeat of that result would put him in a place to be able to secure the 2011 title in the following round, his home race at Phillip Island.

The Australian knows that is purely imaginary at the moment however and remains fully focused on taking each race as it comes. Likewise Lorenzo knows that whilst his chances of retaining his title are now slim, there is still everything to play for. The Yamaha Factory Racing rider was fourth in last year’s Motegi race on his way to the 2010 title, but won the previous year so knows his way about the Japanese track well.

Reliability has been the cornerstone of Andrea Dovizioso’s 2011 season and is the reason for the Repsol Honda rider’s current position of third in the Championship, but the rarity of a DNF at Aragón – the first time he has failed to score points in a race this season – will have infuriated the Italian. He will be keen to put that right at a circuit at which he ended second in last year’s race.

Dovizioso closes on Lorenzo with fifth podium

Andrea Dovizioso's hopes of challenging for the runners-up spot in the 2011 MotoGP World Championship were known a boost at Brno with a strong run to second, a result that closes the gap to Jorge Lorenzo.

The Repsol Honda rider has been an instance of consistency this year, finishing all but one race inside the top five, performances that place him a comfortable third heading into the second-half of the year.

Although he is yet to taste the winners' champagne this season, Dovizioso's second place – from seventh on the grid - marks his fifth trip to the podium and puts him 23 points at the back Lorenzo in the overall standings.

“I'm really happy to be back on the podium, it's a good result after a hard weekend and second position is so important for the Championship,” the Italian said. “In the warm-up we made some small changes and my feeling improved. I arrived at the race very strong-minded and I made a very good start from seventh position.

“In the first laps I was riding carefully to save the tyres. I had good pace and when Dani pedrosa crashed I tried to stay with Casey but I made a mistake at turn 13 and I approximately went off the track. I lost contact and from that moment Casey stoner built a gap that was not possible to catch. I'm happy of how I managed the race first with Lorenzo and then with Simoncelli to uphold second position.

“In the final five laps I pushed harder, lapping under 1'58 to uphold the margin from Marco. I didn't want to fight with him in the last corners. I want to thank Honda and the team for the good work, in spite of the fact that we struggled slightly over the weekend, we have established one more time that in the race we are there and I'm really looking forward to Indy in two weeks' time.”

Rossi to create 250th grand prix start

This Sunday's German Grand Prix will see Valentino Rossi make his 250th grand prix start, across all classes.

Up to crashing and breaking his leg in practice for last year's Italian Grand Prix, Rossi had made 230 consecutive starts; an all-time record.

Rossi will become just the sixth rider in the history of motorcycle grand prix racing to reach the 250-starts milestone, as exposed in the following table.

The nine-time world champion is at present enduring his longest losing streak in grand prix racing, having gone eleven consecutive races without a victory.

Rossi's first ever grand prix, at the 1996 125cc Brno race, came in his eleventh start.

Loris Capirossi, who holds the all-time record for GP starts, is due to come back from injury this weekend.

Rossi, Capirossi and Randy de Puniet are the only riders in the top 15 start list to still be opposing in grand prix.

Carlos Checa, Max Biaggi and Marco Melandri are also unmoving racing at world championship level and now battling for the World Superbike title.

Stoner on 1000cc expansion and riding style

Casey Stoner is the most victorious rider of the 800cc era. Since the 800cc motors were introduced at Qatar in 2007, where Stoner celebrated his first premier class victory, through last weekend's Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, Stoner had won 27 races. The greater part came in 2007, when he collected ten race victories en route to the 2007 MotoGP World Championship.

With a brilliant start to this season, the 25-year-old Australian has sustained to add to his tally. Through the first eight races Stoner has four wins, a second, and two thirds. The only time he's unsuccessful to finish on the podium was at the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez when he was knocked out of second place early in the race.

Stoner has been called the fastest rider by a number of his peers, counting team-mate Andrea Dovizioso. His five poles in eight races bear that out. But now that the 800cc era is drawing to a close, we thought we'd get Stoner's opinion on the move to the 1000cc era.

Lorenzo fastest in morning test session at Estoril

Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo (Yahama Factory Racing) led at the midway point of the MotoGP official test session held at the Portuguese circuit, subsequent yesterday’s race. The test is split into two parts: 10.00 -13.00 and 14.00-18.00 local time. Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) were second and third quickest correspondingly.

On a gloriously warm day in Estoril, Lorenzo was the first rider to emerge on track in the morning session. The reigning MotoGP World Champion’s quickest lap of the morning sitting was 1’37.170 which was 0.240s ahead of Edwards. The Spaniard was absorbed on new electronic components and working on the suspension of his factory M1 machine. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider worked on the race setting from yesterday, as did Stoner. Edwards and his team were also trying to find more grip from modifications on the chassis.

Estoril race winner Dani Pedrosa called an early halt to his test session after only carrying out a few laps. The Spaniard tried a new clutch and worked on the race setting of his factory RC212V, but was in too much pain to carry on and will now rest in the lead up to the next MotoGP race in Le Mans. Pedrosa was fifth fastest, just over half a second slower than Lorenzo’s fastest lap.

Rossi: We are quite worried

Valentino Rossi couldn't hide his dissatisfaction at concluding the second Sepang MotoGP test in eleventh place, almost two-seconds from the top.

After feeling 'quite confident' following Tuesday's opening day, when he was ninth (on hard tyres) and one-second from the front, Rossi was then forced to miss the whole second day due to fever.

The seven time MotoGP world champion returned today eager to try and make up for lost time - and rode for 59 laps in the very tiring Malaysian heat. But there was to be small reward.

Rossi struggled with cornering and lost a further 0.8sec relative to fastest man Casey Stoner. There are now just two more days of difficult, at Qatar, before his first race as a Ducati rider.

“The first day was not so bad, because I was previously on the lap time of the first test [earlier this month] and we were one-second from the top,” said Rossi.

“We were quite certain for day two because we had a lot of things to try, like a dissimilar setting for the rear, some swingarm link, different suspension.

“I was quite hopeful to improve our lap time, then unluckily yesterday I could not ride so we lost one day and that made things more difficult.

“Anyway today I felt okay. I made nearly 60 laps and worked a lot on the bike, but unluckily we didn't fix our problem.

“We are not fast enough in the corners. We have a problem for rotating the bike, so I always have to slow down too much to make the first-class line. I cannot ride the Desmosedici in the right way.

Rossi tests fitness at Misano

The Ducati rider completed a private test at the World Championship circuit on Wednesday, ahead of the Sepang Test next week. Watch footage of the day's events in the attached exclusive video.

Valentino Rossi rode a Ducati 1198 at the Misano circuit today (Wednesday) to test his physical condition ahead of the first official MotoGP Test at Sepang, which takes place next week from February 1st-3rd.

Riding the non-MotoGP machine to comply with the Testing restrictions, the Italian took to the track at around 1pm local time in cool conditions, with a maximum air temperature of 10ºC and a peak track temperature of 15ºC.

Still reporting pain in his shoulder, Rossi was accompanied at the track by Ducati Team Manager Vittoriano Guareschi and two of his crew engineers Matteo Flamigni and Gabriele Conti as he took the latest step in his continuing recovery from shoulder surgery which he underwent last November.

“First of all, thanks to Filippo (Preziosi) and to Ducati, who organised this test,” said Rossi. “Misano Circuit let us use the track on a day when Mattia (Pasini) was planning to ride in order to confirm his own condition. The track more or less confirmed what we expected: the shoulder is painful, especially under braking, when the front area hurts, where they stitched the tendon. Movement is stable enough, and we’re also doing not so bad with endurance, but apart from that, it hurts a lot and isn’t very strong. Let’s hope it gets a little better in these next few days before the test in Malaysia.”

MotoGP 2011: The new season

In less than one month’s time the first representative MotoGP Test of the year takes place at Sepang as the clash for the final 800cc title gets underway.

The 2010 crusade is still fresh in the memory but already the focus has turned to 2011. With the first Official Test in training for the new season coming right away after the final round of the year in Valencia back in November, the enthusiasm at the final 800cc season before the opening of a 1000c engine capacity limit in 2012 is merely adding to the expectation that the 2011 season will be one to savour.

Looking at the foremost contenders for the 2011 MotoGP title the defending World Champion Jorge Lorenzo will be at the front position, as he aims to underline his status as the new dominant force. Having been so consistent in 2010 and finishing 16 of the 18 rounds on the podium on his M1, the factory Yamaha rider displayed a level of adulthood that was very much improved in contrast to his previous premier class campaigns.

As Lorenzo opts for stability with Yamaha two of his chief rivals ride with new teams in 2011. Casey Stoner becomes a factory HRC rider and his show in the Valencia Test hinted at what was an instant similarity with the RC212V, whilst Valentino Rossi has filled the Australian’s seat at Ducati as an all-Italian match-up adds to the charming grid. Rossi may not have enjoyed as contented an introduction to his new machine as Stoner did to the Honda, but such is the nine-time World Champion’s established track record he can be predictable to be pushing hard on the Desmosedici come March 20th at Losail.

Along with Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa will hope to benefit from the constancy of residual with the same set-up in 2011, and for the 2010 runner-up it will be his sixth season on the factory Honda team. Having been Lorenzo’s longest contestant until injury struck towards the end of 2010, Pedrosa’s sights will be resolutely set on a first premier class title.

As much as the ‘top four’ carry on to be spoken of in one bracket, the gap at the back them is being closed all the time and there are a number of riders who will not only be sure of breaking into that elite, but who have proven they have the aptitude to run at the front.

Jorge Lorenzo’s perspective on 2010

The MotoGP World Champion talks about his first premier class title in a feature interview, discussing the moments of his campaign which stood out for him and also looking ahead to defending his crown in the 2011…

MotoGP World Champion at the relatively tender age of 23, Jorge Lorenzo has already accomplished one of his lifelong ambitions. The Spanish rider broke a number of records on his way to the 2010 title, amassing nine victories and a total of 16 podiums, and in the attached video feature interview he talks about his achievement in the depth.

The first of Lorenzo’s wins came in Round 2 at the Jerez, his first premier class victory on home soil and one which holds special significance for him. “We were highly motivated when we got to Jerez but the race didn’t start in the best manner, as I dropped to fourth or fifth. But then suddenly my mind just changed and I started to go much quicker, recovering seconds on the leaders. My adrenaline was so high and I wanted the win whatever happened. I took risks and fortunately it happened,” said Lorenzo.

Lorenzo receives a memorable welcome in Mallorca

Some 5,000 people cheered the rider in the tributes organized in the Palma, after he returned from securing the MotoGP World Champion crown.

This Wednesday Jorge Lorenzo was welcomed by an enthusiastic reception, on his return home from the triple Asiatic where he secured his first MotoGP crown. Yesterday was a day to party and the celebrations for the new world champion in the premier class saw him surrounded by a huge crowd in his hometown of the Palma de Mallorca.

The first surprise was at the airport of the Palma where the President of the Air Europa, one of Lorenzo’s main sponsors, showed him one of the hangars where the Spaniard discovered that one of the company’s Boeings had been renamed “Lorenzo's Land” in his honor. Lorenzo then christened the hanger with a bottle of champagne.

The rider was then driven from Son Sant Joan to Palma in an open carriage, escorted by hundreds of motorists. The delegation toured the main streets of the city and the rider, accompanied by his parents, was able to see and feel the affection of his countrymen. Upon arrival at Consolat Sea (home of the Balearic Government), Lorenzo was received by President Francesc Antich and other local authorities who gave him a commemorative plaque, and then the pilot appeared on the balcony of the Government headquarters, where the crowd cheered his name.

"This is yours. We are already champions. I am proud to be a representative of Mallorca" exclaimed the emotional 23 year old motorcyclist, who ended by joined in with chants of 'We Are The Champions' sung enthusiastically by the thousands gathered.

Before continuing the party, the Fiat Yamaha rider held a small press conference in which he commented on his 2010 championship victory - "I have achieved my dream and this title should be celebrated to the max" –remembering the people that had helped him to achieve it, starting with his father, Chicho, and his mother, Maria, and expressing his hopes to return to his island and the home of the government on future occasions to celebrate more successes in the World Championship.