Valentino Rossi woes continue at Qatar MotoGP

LOSAIL (Doha): Valentino Rossi, once the undisputed king on two wheels, became a commoner last year, with Aussie Casey Stoner taking over the race-winning habit on his Honda, while an under-performing Ducati never made things easier for the Italian. The seven-time MotoGP champion might have lost his 'immortal' tag in 2011,after failing to win even a single race the whole season. ButRossi's bright red paddock wall here at the Losail International Circuit, withthe Ducati livery and his No. 46 in prominent display, still attracts fans innumbers as they pose for pictures, filled with awe and reverence.But Rossi is struggling, 'The Doctor' using the three practice sessions and qualifying run of the 2012 MotoGP season opener - The Grand Prix of Qatar - to cure his Ducati and get it up to pace with defending champ Stoner and the rest of the high-fliers on the grid. "In the first practice session,I used the hard tyres, trying to do a lot of laps in order to understand it(nature). The new tyres are much better for warming up but it started to slide alot after some laps and made the already existing understeer worse. We have towork with the setting and also the electronics," said Rossi after the practicesessions. The tinkering work Rossi and crew did on the bike, however, didn't translate into a front-row grid position for the Italian after the qualifying run on Saturday. He will start Sunday's race from 12th spot, after recording a time which was 2.179 seconds off pole-setter Jorge Lorenzo on Yamaha. The former Spanish world champ edged out Stoner in the quest for pole with British rider Cal Crutchlow third. It will be a long shot forRossi's Ducatti to feature at the podium here on Sunday but seven world titlesin the top flight is no fluke and with the Italian anything is possible.Indian team Mahindra Racing, who are busy with their struggles in the newMoto3 category, would be wishing they had a factor like Rossi to push them upthe order. But they don't, and their riders Marcel Schrotter and Danny Webb are fighting with the KTMs and Hondas for survival, while themselves getting to grips with the challenge of rider the bigger 250cc four-stroke bikes. Mahindra Racing has a mountain to climb as far as performanceof the new bikes is concerned if they have to make a mark in the coming roundsof the season. German Schrotter and Brit Webb struggled hard to try to break into the top-20 during qualifying and eventually managed a 23rd and 25th position on a grid of 32 bikes for Sunday's race. Themanagement was quick to point out the positives from the outing on the new bikesand have set their mind on taking on the might of big players like KTM andHonda. Like last year in the 125cc category, Mahindra think-tank is confident ofgetting things quicker as the season progresses.