Rain arrives as forecast at Shanghai

Early morning rain falls on Shanghai circuit

MotoGP

After wet weather arrived overnight the Sunday morning warm-up sessions in the three respective MotoGP World Championship classes will see some frantic work from the teams at the Shanghai International circuit, as they try to get their riders as comfortable as possible on wet tires at the fourth round of season.

Having worked exclusively on dry set-ups throughout the weekend thus far in China, the teams now have to switch focus to dealing with the tricky conditions, with little relevant data and only the experience of previous visits to Shanghai in the rain – such as the inaugural visit to the track in 2005 – to go by.

Casey Stoner recorded the best MotoGP time of the morning warm-up session, recording a time of 2´13.055 at the Shanghai International Circuit. The Australian will start from the front row for the first time this season, and proved to be equally comfortable in the wet as he maneuvered his way around the soaking Chinese track.

Fellow front row starter Valentino Rossi –the winner of the only previous wet weather race in Shanghai, was second quickest, nearly nine-tenths of a second behind his rival. Another past winner, Dani Pedrosa, was third onboard his Repsol Honda RC212V.