"This is the only GP of the year that I go to, because it's so easy to get to see anyone,” said Paul Gurney, a butcher from Gloucestershire. He proved it by chatting casually to Toseland about that amazing qualifying lap that secured the Brit a front-row start on a bike 8.76mph slower through the speed trap than the fastest Ducati.
Martyn Perry, a project engineer, was there to greet Toseland, too, and 20-year-old Christy Grayson, who lives and works in Qatar, organising events. "I'm a big fan of his - I've seen James ride here in World Superbikes for the last two years," she said.
These super-fans will be loitering outside the Tech 3 box again tonight after the
MotoGP finishes at midnight, but whether they'll be congratulating Toseland on a podium position is hard to predict.
"The race will be more difficult than the qualifying," team chief Hervé Poncharal ruminated after seeing both his Tech 3 guys qualify for the front row,
Colin Edwards taking third place.
"In the race you may need to take different lines, and the riders will be bunched up," he said. In other words, blokes with faster bikes but inferior riding techniques could get in the way of the Tech 3 guys.
"We need a perfect race," James said between signing the handful of programmes and posters offered to him. "If we can get a good start and get a tow from the faster bikes in the first few laps we could be in there."
Then he wandered off across the paddock in search of that hotel room, though how anyone could come off an adrenalin high like tonight's for several weeks is hard to imagine.
Sunday am - Even at 1am on a Bad Night, Rossi Keeps the Show Rolling
I know there are some who will claim that he's paid millions to do it and that it all comes with the job, but the way
Valentino Rossi has just handled himself outside the Fiat Yamaha portakabin at 1am in the chill desert night was, to my mind, as cool as if he'd just qualified for the front row.
