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Jorge Lorenzo is adamant that he will take part in the final MotoGP winter test in Qatar despite his injuries, but will not be pushing for quick times.

Work on the new grand prix circuit at Silverstone is nearing completion, the British Grand Prix organisers said on Tuesday. The multi-million pound investment in a new track layout for this year’s race, as well as improved spectator facilities, is on schedule to be finished by the end of the month.

Marco Simoncelli has admitted that he has been disappointed with his MotoGP testing form so far, but remains confident that he can get up to speed when the season starts. The 2008 250cc champion has graduated to MotoGP with Gresini Honda this year

DETRIOT — Auto racing legends Dale Armstrong, Joie Chitwood, Alan Kulwicki, Jeremy McGrath, Ken Squier, Jerry Titus and Rich Vogler will be inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of American Aug.

Marco Simoncelli admitted he had an extremely lucky escape after emerging without injury from a violent crash in Sepang MotoGP testing today. The Italian rookie had also fallen at the previous test earlier this month. His latest accident saw him land head first from a huge high-side between Turns 7 and 8.

Nicky Hayden was delighted with the set-up breakthrough that allowed him to set the third fastest time in MotoGP testing at Sepang today. The American has been unable to match his team-mate Casey Stoner so far in his Ducati career, but today the duo took second and third - with Hayden only 0.191 seconds slower than Stoner despite not being at full fitness following recent arm surgery

Valentino Rossi says he heads for Qatar full of optimism and thrilled with his 2010 bike after his commanding performance in MotoGP pre-season testing so far.

Andrea Dovizioso believes Honda is in better shape than current testing results suggest as he is confident that the latest bike is competitive over a race distance. But the Italian admitted that his team needs to improve its qualifying form - while his team-mate Dani Pedrosa said he still had a lot of work to do to get the 2010 bike up to speed. Honda has not been among the frontrunners in the first two winter tests, which have been held at Sepang this month.

Valentino Rossi remained unstoppable at the end of the second pre-season MotoGP test at Sepang, beating his 2009 pole time at the Malaysian Grand Prix venue. The world champion has now been fastest on all four winter test days to date - all of which have taken place at Sepang - and his 2m00.271s lap today was 0.8s quicker than he had managed yesterday. With Rossi’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo sidelined by a hand injury at present, Casey Stoner was unsurprisingly his main rival.

Valentino Rossi continued his domination of pre-season MotoGP testing by setting the fastest time in today’s Sepang session. The reigning champion has now been quickest on all three full-field test days held this winter

The second pre-season MotoGP test got off to a quiet start at Sepang today with only Suzuki and Yamaha taking to the track. Under the 2010 testing restrictions the first day of the three-day winter sessions is reserved for test riders

Julian Simon, Shoya Tomizawa and Yuki Takahashi were credited with a joint fastest time at the end of the first three days of Moto2 testing at Catalunya. With unofficial timing only going down to tenths of a second, 125cc champion Simon (Aspar) and ex-MotoGP rider Takahashi (Tech 3) both set 1m49.3s laps to top today’s session - equalling Tomizawa’s time from Thursday. Forward Racing’s Jules Cluzel shared fourth place with former Kawasaki MotoGP man Anthony West (MZ), with Yonny Hernandez sixth on combined times for Blusens STX, despite falling in the damp early running today.

Shoya Tomizawa was fastest on the first dry day of the inaugural Moto2 group test at Catalunya, while Wednesday pacesetter Roby Rolfo suffered a dislocated shoulder in an early accident.

The Grand Prix Commission has agreed that private MotoGP teams will be allowed additional engines and larger fuel tanks than their factory rivals when the 1000cc rules come into effect in 2012. The Commission approved further details of the 1000cc regulations in a meeting in Barcelona today, including minimum weights of 150kg for bikes up to 800cc, and 153kg for 800-1000cc bikes. Engine life restrictions have been introduced over the past season, and will remain in place for the new rules, with factory team riders limited to six engines per year

Jorge Lorenzo could yet miss the final pre-season test in Qatar as well as next week’s Sepang sessions due to his hand injury. The Yamaha rider suffered a fracture in his right hand and a displaced thumb when he fell while training on a motocross bike last Thursday

Jorge Lorenzo will miss the next MotoGP test after suffering hand injuries in a training accident on Thursday. The Spaniard was riding a motocross bike as part of his pre-season preparations when he fell while travelling at approximately 30 km/h.

Nicky Hayden has undergone surgery on his right arm ahead of the next MotoGP test at Sepang later this month. The American has an on-going issue with the arm known as arm-pump, or compartmental syndrome, which is common in riders.

Silverstone has announced that it will use its new ‘Arena’ layout for this year’s Formula 1 British Grand Prix. The revised track had originally been designed with MotoGP in mind, but when Silverstone regained its F1 date following the collapse of Donington Park’s grand prix bid, the Northamptonshire track began considering whether to switch F1 to the new circuit as well

Marco Simoncelli feels he was lucky to escape serious injury in his crash in testing at Sepang today.

Casey Stoner believes Ducati’s form in this week’s Sepang MotoGP test bodes well for the 2010 season, although he admitted there was still a lot of work to do to get the latest bike fully up to speed. The 2007 champion was second to Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi on both days in Malaysia, with a gap of 0.5s on Thursday and 0.4s today. “We are quite happy with the test,” said Stoner.