Stoner questions Qatar restart

Australia's Casey Stoner has questioned the decision to run the season-opening Qatar MotoGP race a day after it was washed out.

The race, due to have begun on Sunday night, was re-scheduled for 9pm Monday local time (2am Tuesday Perth time) after it was cancelled when torrential rain fell just minutes before the start.

Stoner had dominated all practice and qualifying sessions on his Ducati and had been set to start the race from pole position.

But officials had no choice but to cancel the race, leading to an organisational headache and massive extra costs in a sport desperate to save money.

"It's just unlucky with the weather,'' said Stoner, the 2007 world champion, who was bidding for a third successive win in Qatar.

"It can be a good idea or it can be a bad idea to race on Monday. A lot of money has been spent on keeping people here at a time when we are trying to cut costs.

"It's disappointing it's happened like this.''

"We wait six months for the first race of the season. But when you decide to have a night race, it's risky. No-one expected these conditions in Qatar."

Circuit organisers were preparing to use three special machines to clear the track of excess water throughout the day.

Qatar race live, postponed to Monday night

Grand Prix of Qatar was stopped at Losail International Circuit

A rare rainstorm at the Losail International Circuit on Sunday evening saw the first MotoGP race of the year put back to Monday at 9pm local time.

After the season-opening Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar was interrupted by rain on Sunday evening the MotoGP race had to be postponed and will now be run on Monday evening at 9pm local time, with an additional warm-up session beforehand at 6.30pm.
After shortened 250cc and 125cc races earlier in the evening the heavy rainstorm in the Arabian desert at 11pm on Sunday evening made it unsafe for the MotoGP riders to go out onto the 5.380km floodlit circuit.

FIM, IRTA, Dorna and the QMMF (Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation) have released the following statement on the MotoGP race postponement at the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar.

Due to adverse weather conditions, the MotoGP race at the Commercial bank Grand Prix of Qatar has been postponed.

Following discussions between FIM, IRTA, Dorna and the QMMF, a proposal was put to the MotoGP teams to run the race tomorrow evening. Thanks to a huge effort from all parties concerned, and out of respect to fans of motorsport around the world, it has been decided that the race will take place on Monday 13th April, 2009.

The warm-up will run at 6.30pm local time (GMT+3), with the race scheduled to start at 9pm.

FIM Road-racing Commission President, Mr. Claude Danis stated, “For safety reasons it was not possible to race in the night due to the reflection of the lights on the track. This decision had already been taken a few years ago when we first decided to run a night race in Qatar. On behalf of the FIM I am very happy that we could postpone the race until tomorrow. It is important for the championship, especially at the first race, and I would like to thank Dorna, QMMF, IRTA and the MotoGP teams for helping reach this decision together.”

Dorna Sports CEO, Mr. Carmelo Ezpeleta added, “After the arrival of a large storm we had to cancel the race as it was unsafe. The QMMF offered us the choice to run the race tomorrow, and as it was a very important decision we wanted to consult with all the team managers. The postponement was accepted by a large majority. This has been an extraordinary decision in extraordinary circumstances.”