Casey Stoner against extended Qatar MotoGP weekend

Casey Stoner says he is against the new format for the season opening night race in Qatar, with the schedule extended to four days for 2011.

Five pratice sessions will take place on Thursday night including two for the 125 and Moto2 classes and one for MotoGP.

MotoGP will then have its second and third practice sessions run over 45-minutes on Friday night with all qualifying sessions taking place on Saturday evening.

The other notable change is that the 125 and Moto2 field will have their pre-race Warm-Up session on Saturday night, nearly 24 hours before they will race.

The changes are to ensure that the showcase MotoGP race takes places earlier on Sunday night after a series of complaints that conditions are too cold for the tyres.

The race has been moved forward to March 20, further increasing worries about the cold temperatures in the evening and subsequent moisture in the air that led to several crashes during testing at the spectacular Losail International Circuit last year.

But Repsol Honda rider Stoner, who crashed out of the lead in last year’s race, said: “I don’t like it. It is very difficult because at the time that we have to ride, late in the evening, the track conditions are very bad, cold and unpredictable. I would be better if we could ride a little earlier. But for a Grand Prix to last four days is too long. For me that’s not the ideal, but everyone would be in the same situation, so we will go on as we have”.