The waiting is over as MotoGP kicks off in Qatar
The long winter break draws to a close this weekend as the 2010 MotoGP season gets going under the floodlights of the Losail International Circuit. Fiat Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo are fresh from the recent pre-season test and both last year's World Champion and the runner-up are aiming to kick off their 2010 campaigns with a successful opening weekend.Last year saw Rossi take his fourth title for Yamaha and the ninth of his career and, with 103 race wins already under his belt, the Italian hero has nothing left to do to cement his place in the history of the sport. Despite 14 seasons in the World Championship the 31-year-old still has the same hunger and desire for victory as he did when he first started out and he claims that this year will be no different. He has been in intimidating form during pre-season testing, finishing fastest on five out of six days, and he looks to have already found an excellent base setting for the 2010 Yamaha YZR-M1. Rossi has won only twice before in Qatar, last year he finished second after starting from the same spot. He will be looking to go one better this time and take his first victory in a night race.
Lorenzo gave his more experienced team-mate an exciting run for his money last season but the 22-year-old eventually settled for the runner-up spot, an impressive feat nonetheless in just his second year in the premier-class. This year the Mallorcan's pre-season has been interrupted by a hand injury sustained in a fall with his motocross bike and he missed the second Sepang test, but he was back on board for the recent Qatar outing. Although still not at 100%, he is well on the way back to full fitness after an intensive physiotherapy routine at home in Barcelona. Qatar will always bring back memories of his thrilling 2008 MotoGP debut, when he burst onto the scene with a fantastic pole position and a second-place finish, while last year saw him make a solid start to the season by finishing third behind his team-mate.For the third time the opening race of the year will be run under the floodlights at the desert circuit, although hopefully without the torrential rain which saw last year's race delayed by 24 hours. The infrastructure features 3,600 light fixtures using 250, 1500 and 2500-watt bulbs and the system needs 13 megawatt generators to produce the required 5.4 million watts of power - creating enough light to cover an area equivalent to 70 football pitches. The bulbs are fixed on 1000 poles with mounting heights from 3 to 36 metres, all linked together by almost 500 kilometres of wire and supported by 300,000 kilos of concrete.
