MotoGP 2009 - Round Two

MotoGP 2009 - Round Two - Day Two

Heavy lunchtime rain at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit led to the cancellation of all qualifying sessions for the Polini Grand Prix of Japan, leaving grid positions in all three World Championship categories to be decided according to Free Practice positions.

Valentino Rossi will thus start from pole position at Motegi for the first time in his career, courtesy of his late time on Friday afternoon. All MotoGP times were faster in the first free practice session, the only dry run that the riders have had in preparation for the 2009 race.

Rossi will line up alongside series leader Casey Stoner and Fiat Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo on Sunday, the same three riders making up the front row as at the first race of the year in Qatar. The 2008 World Champion is in a prime position to avoid a breakaway by Stoner, the rider who took victory so comprehensively less than two weeks ago.

Rizla Suzuki rider Chris Vermeulen is joined by Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Colin Edwards - the fastest rider in the wet FP2 session on Saturday morning - and three-time Motegi racewinner Loris Capirossi on the second line, whilst the highest placing Honda comes on the third row. Andrea Dovizioso leads the Japanese company’s charge in his first home race for the Repsol Honda factory squad, with Hayate Racing man Marco Melandri and San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Toni Elias by his side.

1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'48.545
2. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 1'48.601
3. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'48.965
4. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'49.382
5. Colin Edwards (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'49.697
6. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'49.980
7. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda 1'50.030
8. Marco Melandri (ITA) Hayate Racing Team 1'50.123
9. Toni Elias (SPA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'50.209
10. James Toseland (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'50.342
11. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda 1'50.391
12. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team 1'50.393
13. Yuki Takahashi (JPN) Scot Racing Team 1'50.404
14. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Grupo Francisco Hernando 1'50.538
15. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'50.601
16. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1'50.669
17. Mika Kallio (FIN) Pramac Racing 1'51.643
18. Niccolo Canepa (ITA) Pramac Racing 1'51.929

-- Ducati Report

Just two weeks on from the postponement of the opening round of the MotoGP World Championship in Qatar due to rain, the series was hit by another freak weather setback in Japan as a torrential downpour led to the cancellation of this afternoon’s qualifying practice.

With this morning’s session having been hit by rain, when Ducati Marlboro riders Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden lapped third and sixth fastest respectively, yesterday afternoon’s cold but dry opening session was decisive, meaning Stoner will start from the front row in second place with his American team-mate back in 12th.

As a result of the reduced track time today, tomorrow’s warm-up has been extended to 40 minutes for the MotoGP class.

CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 2nd (1’48.601)
"It would be strange to go through a whole season and have one session that you can’t ride in, so it’s amazing that we’ve had this situation occur in each of the opening two rounds. It’s unbelievable, the rain we’ve had, and I’d probably be feeling angry and frustrated right now if it wasn’t for the fact we’re on the front row! It is a difficult situation for everybody to have had so little track time here but we’re all, almost literally, in the same boat! With just 45 minutes of dry time and 45 minutes of wet there are obviously plenty of areas we feel with could improve the bike but, like I say, it is the same situation for all the riders. I’m confident we have a set-up to do decent lap times in both the wet and the dry. In any case it’s good to have a longer warm up tomorrow morning and I hope the circuit will be dry".

NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 12th (1’50.393)
“It’s a shame for everybody to have this situation two races in a row. The fans, the teams, the riders… everybody wants to see us line up out there and go into battle so it’s a real shame. This morning was the first chance I’ve really had to ride the bike in the rain – I’ve ridden it in damp conditions but never really in full rain – and I got steadily faster and faster as the session went on. We made some changes that consistently improved the bike and to be honest with you I was looking forward to qualifying in the wet. I liked my chances better in the wet today and I’m not sure what conditions I’d prefer for the race. The forecast is saying it will be dry and after today I think the fans deserve it. For me the circumstances have been unlucky because I need track time with the bike and tyres, especially when we going to tracks for the first time, but it’s race day tomorrow so whatever the weather brings the aim is to just get a good start, go for it and see what happens. Good to know that the warm up will be 40 minutes!”

-- HRC Report

Rain wreaked havoc on the MotoGP World Championship for the second race in a row, washing out qualifying for all three classes for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit and forcing race officials to determine grid positions based on practice times.

A persistent cold rain began falling overnight and continued into the morning, when all classes were able to complete their practice sessions. But as the rain intensified in the afternoon, the 125cc qualifying session was postponed to the end of the day. Track officials made several exploratory laps before deciding that qualifying wasn’t possible and the decision was made to revert to Friday’s lone dry session to fix the grids.

Some riders were helped and some hurt, but two of the three riders on the front row weren’t affected. Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) was fastest in the dry and second in the wet. Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro) was second in the dry and third in the wet. Rossi’s teammate Jorge Lorenzo will fill out the front row, while Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso will start seventh.

Dovizioso was one of many riders who could have used an extra session to confirm his dry settings. The team had a number of parts to test following Friday’s practice, but Saturday’s rain washed out any hope of gaining knowledge prior to the Sunday morning warm-up. And the track temperature was only 22 degrees on Friday, with expectations it will be much warmer for Sunday’s race.

San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Toni Elias was better in the dry than the wet and benefitted from race direction’s decision, though he knows there’s more improvement to be found. On Friday there were problems with the electronics, gearbox and chassis that prevented him from finishing the 45-minute session higher than ninth. Elias is hopeful of a sunny race to validate the changes the team needs to make and to increase the rear tire grip.

Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa was 11th in the dry and tenth in the wet, though happy to experience the Bridgestone rain tires. From the fourth row of the grid, Pedrosa knows he’ll have to get a lightning start to mix it up with the front-runners. And the break since the season-opening Grand Prix of Qatar has given the Spaniard time to continue his recovery from pre-season surgery.

Yuki Takahashi (Scot Racing Team MotoGP) qualified 13th in his first home MotoGP race, but was faster in the wet, which was a positive sign since this was his first wet ride on the Honda RC212V. Still, having only two sessions affected the MotoGP rookie more than most, because of his limited experience. On the plus side, Twin Ring Motegi is Takahashi’s home track, which made it the perfect venue to understand the machine.

Of all the Honda riders, San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alex De Angelis was the unluckiest of all when qualifying was cancelled. The rider from San Marino had shown good wet form by finishing seventh in Saturday morning practice, despite a very low speed tip-over that cost him track time.
With the possibility of a dry race, De Angelis thinks the race will be a gamble, since the team has made significant changes to his RC212V based on the lone dry session.

Randy De Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) was ninth in wet, but 16th fastest in the dry. The Frenchman made a front tire change during the lone dry session that cost him valuable dry set-up time. He also made a small tactical error toward the end of the session that cost him several places.

Andrea Dovizioso, 7th fastest at 1m 50.030s said: “We could really have done with a dry session today because we’ve got some new parts to test on the machine which could move us forward - but with the rain that obviously wasn’t possible. So, we’re starting from seventh, which isn’t ideal. If we get a dry warm-up then it’s possible we can improve the settings for the race - and that’s what we’ll be working towards. In the wet session this morning, the feeling on the machine wasn’t great but really it all depends on what the weather does tomorrow. It’s Honda’s home race so I’m really hoping to be able to get a good result for the team and the fans.”

Toni Elias, 9th fastest, said: “It seems like the bad weather is chasing us around the world, but looking on the positive side we’ve had a chance this weekend to test in both the dry and in the wet, so we have some information to work from tomorrow in either condition. It is not an ideal situation but at the end of the day we’re ninth on the grid and it could be worse. We had problems yesterday in three areas – electronics, gearbox and chassis – but we’ve got some ideas we’re looking forward to trying tomorrow and by starting from the third row we know we still have a chance of a good race. Hopefully, the sun will come out for the fans and for us, because there’s no doubt a warm track surface would help us solve some of our problems, particularly in finding some more grip on the harder rear tyre that we’ll have to use over race distance.”

Dani Pedrosa, 11th on the grid, said: “Well, this is definitely a pretty strange situation, especially after what happened in Qatar. In the morning’s wet session I gradually improved my lap times and was able to get a better feeling with the new rain tyres, so that was a useful learning process. I’m starting the race from eleventh on the grid and most of my rivals are on the front row, so this means I’ll have to get a great start and pass a lot of riders to get near the front. Our dry set-up is not perfect so we’ll have to get things right in the warm-up tomorrow.”

Yuki Takahashi, 13th in his home grand prix, said: “I had a chance to test in the wet - it was my first time with a MotoGP bike. And this is good for my data base of information. On the contrary, the fact that we had only two sessions is very bad. I know very well the track, and this was an excellent chance to understand better the bike. About tomorrow, rain or sun will be the same: with the rain I've more chances, but it is more risky. With the dry I've more experience, but not enough yet.”

Fifteenth-fastest Alex De Angelis said: “Luck certainly wasn’t on our side today because as I showed this morning I was competitive in wet conditions. I’m disappointed because I don’t think the grid is a fair reflection of our potential today, but this is racing and that is the way it goes sometimes. If it rains tomorrow it will be a long, difficult race and there will be plenty of time and opportunity to make up positions. However, if it is dry we’ll be going into it with our eyes closed in a way because we made drastic changes to the bike based on the data from yesterday and we’ll have to wait until the warm-up to see if they work. It’s a tricky one but it’s fair to say we’ll be more confident if it’s wet.”

Randy de Puniet in 16th place said: “Of course I’m not happy about this cancellation in these conditions. Like this I will start from the 16th and it won’t be easy to catch the leaders. I was pretty fast in the wet this morning and fixed many adjustments with the team to improve the setting for this afternoon’s session. I could get a good place in the wet, but I agree with the safety procedure.”

-- Suzuki Report

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi will start tomorrow's Japanese Grand Prix from fourth and sixth places on the grid respectively, after today's qualifying session was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions.

For the second successive Grand Prix the rain intervened to cause the cancellation of part of the Grand Prix weekend. The race at Qatar was delayed for a day due to heavy rain and similar weather conditions at Motegi today gave the organisers no choice when the decision was made to cancel the session.

Vermeulen and Capirossi did manage to get out on track in the morning session when the rain was not as heavy and were able to get some wet setting information for the 4,801m circuit. Vermeulen clocked the fifth quickest time as he completed 14 laps, with Capirossi in 13th also after 14 laps. Vermeulen is in confident mood after having the fourth and fifth fastest time in the respective dry and wet conditions.
Today's cancellation of the qualifying session meant that the grid was decided on the best times from the two free practice sessions that had been run over the weekend. This left Vermeulen in fourth with Capirossi sixth and reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi on pole.
Tomorrow's 24-lap race will get underway at 15.00hrs local time (06.00hrs GMT) with both Rizla Suzuki men hoping for better weather.

Chris Vermeulen:
"Obviously it has been really difficult conditions this afternoon for everyone involved in the championship. I feel like we've been very unlucky to have the rain in the desert and now in Japan! From a personal point of view I am really happy to have qualified on the second row in fourth position. It's always the goal to be on the front row, but this gives us a good opportunity to get a good start and be right up the front from the beginning of the race. The bike worked well in the dry yesterday and not too bad in the wet this morning. We were fourth and fifth in the two sessions so we have something to look forward to whatever the weather. I hope it is dry though because this is better for everyone and makes for a better race. We will still try our best and the goal is certainly to be on the podium and if we can do that it will be a great weekend!"

Loris Capirossi:
"I am not too happy really as we still had some problems with the setting and tyre selection from yesterday, and we didn't get a chance to sort it out today. We worked well in the wet and never really pushed too hard to get a good lap-time, but I believe we will be competitive so we will need to see what happens with the weather tomorrow. The conditions this afternoon were just too bad to go out in and it was better that we didn't try to ride as it could have been very dangerous. I really love this track and want it to be nice tomorrow so I can see the true potential of our bike at a race. It has been good in testing and we need to see how it performs in race conditions. We try to improve every time we go out on the track, but we have done nearly nothing this weekend and now it will be hard to make the correct choice for tomorrow, but I think we will do alright and will be quick whatever the weather!"

Paul Denning - Team Manager:
"It has been a frustrating day for everybody involved in MotoGP, but there is nothing that could have been done to change the situation. Obviously we're fortunate that both the guys did a good job yesterday afternoon which has put us on the second row and given us a chance to go for it from the start - whatever the conditions. After this, our Japanese colleagues are now banned from complaining about the weather in England ever again!"

-- Yamaha Report

For the second race in a row MotoGP was a victim of severe weather conditions today, when Qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix was cancelled amidst torrential rain at the Motegi Twin Ring. The decision to abandon the session meant that the grid for tomorrow's race was decided on the fastest times from all free practices, leaving Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi on pole and Jorge Lorenzo in third.

This morning's session was the first wet practice of the season and offered the riders their first chance to try out the new generation of Bridgestone rain tyres. Rossi and Lorenzo were happy to find their wet settings working well from the off and the Italian finished the session second with his Spanish team-mate in fourth. Tech 3 Yamaha rider Colin Edwards made it a good morning for Yamaha by topping the time sheets.

The rain became heavier throughout the morning and by the early afternoon there was plenty of standing water on the track. MotoGP practice was delayed until 1500 but by then it was clear that the rain was not stopping and the decision was taken to cancel the session for safety reasons. With the grid being formed on free practice times, Rossi and Lorenzo's strong showing in the only dry session yesterday stands them in good stead for tomorrow's race, which is expected to be dry.

Rossi - Position: 1st Time: 1'48.545
"We've been very unlucky in these two races and last year as well, because we've just had so much rain! This year has been worse though because first we had to delay the race in Qatar and now we've had to cancel qualifying here. I don't think it was such a good idea to come to Motegi in April! So now we're going into a race after just 45 minutes in the dry and 45 minutes in the wet, and I think maybe it will be one of the most uncertain races ever! We're lucky because we had a good session in the dry yesterday and so we're on pole, which is very important for the race here but it's still impossible to be at 100% after such a short time and with so little data. In the dry this morning our setting worked well also so I think we can fight whether it's dry or wet, and after all it's the same for everybody. Of course I would prefer it to be dry but above all I hope it's not half and half, I hope it's either fully wet or fully dry otherwise it will be even more difficult."

Lorenzo - Position: 3rd Time: 1'48.965
"I am relieved to be on the front row and very happy we were able to do such a good time yesterday. Today is a pity but anyway I am fast in the dry and in the wet so I feel good for the race tomorrow. My bike is working well in both types of conditions and it feels good in the braking and through the chassis. Of course we don't have so much data but we have options for a wet or a dry race so now we just have to wait and see how it is tomorrow morning."

-- Bridgestone Report

It seems MotoGP is unable to escape the weather so far this season as the qualifying session in Motegi was cancelled after heavy rain left the Twin Ring Motegi circuit submerged in places.

The rain hit in time for this morning’s practice session, meaning that all riders used Bridgestone’s wet tyres in their first competitive outing this season.

Whilst it was wet for a time during the Qatar test in March, and it rained again during the official IRTA pre-season test in Jerez, today is the first time that all riders took to the track with a wet setup.

The Bridgestone wets performed well in the morning’s session, but several hours of rain left the track submerged in places, resulting in the afternoon’s qualifying session being cancelled for MotoGP, 250cc and 125cc classes.

As a result, tomorrow’s race will start based on the fastest times from both practice sessions, which means the order will be taken from yesterday’s dry first practice.

Tohru Ubukata - Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development

“I am quite happy with our wet tyre performance today, as even in the cold conditions our soft compound wet tyre worked from the beginning to the end of the session. There was a reasonable amount of water standing on the circuit and it was also quite cold, at 11 degrees Celsius, so these were very tough conditions for the tyre.

“It is the first real wet test we have had this year, and before this we were basically only going from the Jerez test result. There was constant rain all through the session, but our wet tyre worked quite well so about this I am quite happy.”

-- Minor Categories

Grid positions in the 250cc class were, prior to this season, decided on the basis of combined times from two qualifying sessions. On Saturday at Motegi the starting places for the category were once again based on Friday times, as their crucial session was cancelled due to excessive rain.

With the time schedules for the day only useful for origami practice, Marco Simoncelli was awarded pole position for his full race return. The Metis Gilera rider had been fastest in the dry on Friday afternoon, some six-tenths of a second quicker than any other rider. The quarter-litre category’s reigning titlist missed the opening round of the season with a hand injury.

Hiroshi Aoyama starts from the front row at his and Honda’s home race, placing second ahead of Mapfre Aspar’s Álvaro Bautista and Team Toth rider Mattia Pasini.

Andrea Iannone was the principal beneficiary of rain for the third time in his 125cc career, as the heavy downfalls led to him being awarded the pole position spot. Having won his first race in a restarted Chinese round in 2008, and most recently taking victory in the rain-affected opening round of the 2009 season in Qatar, the Ongetta I.S.PA. Team rider reaped the rewards of the regulations and a speedy Friday time.

With all times in the opening session quicker than a wet second run, Iannone’s 2’00.685 lap was enough to take him to his second Grand Prix pole.

The series leader will be racing against Bancaja Aspar rival Julián Simon, 2008 racewinner Stefan Bradl and Blusens Aprilia’s Esteve Rabat - on the front row for the first time - to take the Motegi 125cc holeshot.

The Sunday warm-up sessions will be extended for all three classes, with 125cc running from 8.35-9.05am local time, 250cc from 9.15-9.45am, and MotoGP from 9.55-10.35am.

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