The 2010 season continues its march towards the decisive part of the season with round 11 of 18 taking place at Indianapolis this weekend, and all eyes will once more be on Jorge Lorenzo as the Fiat Yamaha rider aims to maintain his phenomenal form this season. Victory last time out at Brno made the Spaniard only the third premier class rider in history to have placed inside the top two in all ten opening races of a season, and few would bet against him extending his win count this season to eight at a track he was victorious on last season.
With a 77-point advantage over Dani Pedrosa in the standings the Repsol Honda man will be eager not only to halt his rival’s run, but also to make up for last year’s Indy outing. Pedrosa dominated the weekend and started from pole, but crashed early in the race and eventually placed tenth. Fresh from second place in the Czech Republic he will be targeting a third win of the season, which would be a first treble of premier class wins in one year for the 24 year-old.
Casey Stoner’s consistent podium finishing over the past five rounds has lifted the Ducati Team rider to third overall, and still in search of a first win of the season the Australian will also be looking to make up for last year’s absence from this race due to illness. He will also be expecting a front-end improvement on his Desmosedici after testing new forks at Brno. Just four points behind him in the standings is Andrea Dovizioso, and the Repsol Honda man will want a solid result after his first DNF of 2010 in the last round. The Italian has finished fifth and fourth in his two rides at Indy, and will expect to go one better in the battle for third with Stoner.
Reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi continues to go from strength to strength as he regains full fitness, and has winning form on the track from 2008. Two points off the Italian in the standings is his prospective team-mate for 2011, Ducati’s Nicky Hayden. The American – still in search of a first podium of the campaign – will be desperate for a strong home display and will hope the injured left hand he sustained in Brno does not hinder those aspirations.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rookie Ben Spies will have identical aims to compatriot Hayden on home soil, whilst Randy de Puniet’s incredible return to action at Brno just four weeks after a broken leg will take its next step as the LCR Honda rider attempts to regain the highest privateer honour. Italian Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and another proud American Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) complete the top ten as it stands.
Rookies Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini), Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) and Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) will all want positive first premier class runs at the circuit, whilst those with previous Indy experience in Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) and Pramac Racing pair Aleix Espargaró and Mika Kallio will look to pull on their knowledge in search of good results.
Having ridden at the Brno test for the first time in two months Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team) could make his return to action, but is waiting to make a decision. In the case the Japanese rookie does not Alex de Angelis will continue as his stand-in on the satellite RC212V.
After a fourth win of the campaign at Brno stretched his lead at the top of the Moto2 standings to 55 points, Toni Elías will attempt to make it three victories in a row for the first time in his World Championship career at Indianapolis this weekend. The Spaniard of the Gresini Racing team is well placed at the summit of the Championship, but has a rider more than capable of closing the gap on his tail in the shape of Andrea Iannone.
The Italian of the Fimmco Speed Up team has displayed his blistering pace on numerous occasions this season and finished third behind Elías in the previous round, a result that pushed him into second position in the overall standings. Iannone will however have to consider the threat of Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki) who will be determined to regain second spot having finished 11th at Brno. The Swiss rider had a top-ten finish at Indianapolis last year in the 250cc class, but will want a return to the podium having experienced it four times already this year.
Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar) and Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP) have their sights locked on Lüthi and third spot, whilst just two points separate Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing), Simone Corsi (JiR Moto2) and Yuki Takahashi (Tech 3 Racing) from positions six to eight.
The American presence on the grid will be trebled as joining regular rider Kenny Noyes (Jack&Jones by Antonio Banderas) will be Jason di Salvo (GP Tech) riding an FTR chassis. Roger Lee Hayden (American Honda) will also be riding as a wild card on a Moriwaki, having competed in the premier class at Laguna Seca just five weeks earlier as a stand-in for Randy de Puniet.
The race for the 2010 125cc title took another twist at Brno where Marc Márquez dislocated a shoulder in practice and then bravely rode to seventh, whilst Nico Terol announced his return to action – and the Championship fight – with a win in his first race back from injury.
Red Bull Ajo Motorsport rider Márquez saw his title lead cut to 15 points as Pol Espargaró (Tuenti Racing) placed second in the Czech Republic, and the Spaniard will have his sights firmly set on victory at Indianapolis, especially at it is the track where he secured his first ever World Championship win last year.
Terol’s win at Brno pulled him back into the contest and the Bancaja Aspar rider looked very strong in his first race back after fracturing vertebrae at Catalunya. The Spaniard placed fourth at Indy last year and will also be aiming to capitalise on Márquez’s reduced physical condition.
Bradley Smith is still maintaining contact with the leading group, but the British rider knows he needs a first win of 2010 to ensure his title hopes stay alive – he placed second at Indy last season. Smith is in fourth in the overall standings, 28 points behind team-mate Terol and 31 ahead of fifth-placed Tomoyoshi Koyama (Racing Team Germany).
Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX) and Sandro Cortese (Avant Mitsubishi Ajo) are separated by only three points, and will also fancy their chances of podium finishes at the U.S. circuit. There will be a single wild card entry as American youngster Kris Turner rides an Aprilia machine for Veloce Racing.
— Yamaha Preview
This week sees the MotoGP paddock land on US soil for the second time this season for the Indianapolis Grand Prix, at the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Fiat Yamaha Team have already enjoyed success in the States once this season and both Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi will be hoping for a top result at the world’s largest spectator sporting facility.
Lorenzo is flying high after enjoying an incredible seven wins from ten races so far this season. The 23-year-old has a championship lead of 77 points over Dani Pedrosa and the Mallorcan knows he simply has to continue in the same consistent way to ensure a first premier-class championship later this year. After another comfortable win last time out in Brno and a useful one-day test afterwards he is feeling confident of another good result in Indiana. He has a good record with the track having taken a commanding win there last year and his first ever wet podium in 2008, the first year that MotoGP visited Indianapolis.
Rossi’s injury-hit season suffered a low point in Brno when he could only finish fifth after being hopeful of something much better, but he and his team worked hard to understand what had gone wrong during the test and they are satisfied that they won’t see a repeat this week. The reigning World Champion always enjoys racing in America and he was thrilled to take a brilliant podium in Laguna Seca last month, at just his second race back after breaking his leg. Rossi took a memorable win at the Inaugural Indianapolis Grand Prix in 2008, when the race was battered by Hurricane Ike, but last year he slid out when sparring with his team-mate, something he will be looking to make up for this time around.
With 257,000 permanent seats the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the largest spectator sporting facility in the world and fills to capacity for its flagship events, the Indy 500 and Allstate 400 car races. Originally constructed in 1909 with a 2.5-mile oval, an exciting 16-turn motorcycle road circuit, which includes part of the historic oval, was purpose-built for MotoGP.
LORENZO – “JUST GOOD MEMORIES IN AMERICA”
“The first back-to-back races in the second half of the season are coming, and this first one after a few days of holiday in the US for me. This weekend will be the second race in this country in 2010 and I am looking forward to it because I would like to repeat the same result as I got in Laguna! I just have good memories from America, last month in Laguna and last year in Indy. Last year was amazing, but this time I don’t need to take too many risks. We can avoid it! Indy is a track that I like a lot and it has amazing history. The team and I are planning to continue our great season there this weekend.”
ROSSI – “A SPECIAL PLACE”
“Indianapolis is a special place, an amazing track and as always it’s fun to race in America. I have great memories from 2009 when I won in the hurricane, even if it’s not something I want to repeat! This year we arrive in a different situation to last year, fifth in the championship and not at 100% in physical condition, but I am feeling stronger all the time. Brno was disappointing but the test helped us to understand what went wrong and so we are hopeful that we can be back on good form in Indy.”
ZEELENBERG – “FINISHING RACES IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING”
“I’ve never been to Indianapolis so I’m excited! As for Jorge, he loves Indy and he knows that it’s important to get three or four more good finishes and then see where we are. He has a big lead and he doesn’t need to stick his neck out or take too many risks, he knows that finishing races and taking points is the most important thing.”
BRIVIO – “ALWAYS A PLEASURE TO GO RACING THERE”
“We go to Indy, where we had a bad race last year, coming from not such a good race in Brno so we really need a good result this weekend! The test after Brno was useful however and we hope to be in good shape this weekend. It’s always a pleasure to go racing in such an amazing place and we just need to keep working to put Valentino in the best possible position to start fighting for victories again as soon as possible.”
— Ducati Preview
Team Ducati returns to the United States of America this week for the eleventh round of the MotoGP World Championship, which takes place at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It is the second home race of the season for Nicky Hayden, who was born, raised and still lives in Owensboro, Kentucky, not far from the border with the neighboring State of Indiana.
Hayden finished third at Indy last year, his best result of the season, and he would love to repeat it this Sunday. His left wrist, injured during qualifying at Brno, is in better shape and should not hinder him this weekend.
Casey Stoner is also looking forward to racing at Indy for the first time since he took fourth place in the rain-interrupted inaugural race in 2008. The Australian is also keen to confirm whether technical updates introduced at the post-race test at Brno have a positive effect at the famous old circuit.
CASEY STONER, Ducati Team
“I’m really looking forward to going back to Indy because it’s a circuit where we were in good shape in 2008 despite the crazy weather. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to race last year but hopefully this time around we can make the most of the work we did in the Brno test, even though we didn’t have much time. We’ll start out on Friday with the new front fork because our first impressions of it were good although we still have to decide whether we’ll use it for the race. We’ll also try some settings on the rear that we managed to get a few laps on at Brno but that also need checking out.”
NICKY HAYDEN, Ducati Team
“I really can not wait to get to Indy for the race. It’s such a famous track with so much history and being so close to my home I got a big crew making the trip to support me and my brother. The event has really grown a lot in just a few years with the Indy mile dirt track, enduro cross, the stunt shows and all the downtown events, which really gives the fans a chance to make the trip worthwhile. My broken wrist is better than last week in Brno, which I am very happy about, so we’ll see on Friday just how much better. The weather looks good so I hope to come out strong from the gun on Friday and have a weekend worth remembering. Let’s get it!”
VITTORIANO GUARESCHI, Team Manager
“We go to Indy with some things to try that we hope can give Casey those two tenths he’s missing. Over the past few months he’s been happy with the engine and the handling of the GP10 but never really able to get a good feeling for the front. The new fork we tried in the Czech Republic seems to have given him a little confidence so we’ll fit it to one of his two bikes on Friday afternoon. If his feeling is as good as it was at Brno we’ll use it in the race. Also Nicky, of course, can use it if he wants to. This is one of the most important races of the year for him and definitely the one he looks forward to the most. He finished third last year and considering the big steps forward he has made this season, coming close to the podium on several occasions, we hope he can be celebrating a similar result.”
THE TRACK
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was added to the MotoGP calendar in 2008 but the circuit used for the event features only a part of the famous Nascar track, namely a large section of the start-finish straight and part of the south-eastern corner of the oval. The rest of the track is on the infield, a tight and twisty anti-clockwise layout. The most demanding aspect of Indy is not the layout, however, but the surface, which the riders find to be a challenge. With three different kinds of ashpalt offering different levels of grip, the riders and their teams have to work hard to find a set-up to cope. Extreme weather conditions that are commonplace in this part of the USA can also be a factor, as was seen in the first visit for MotoGP to Indianapolis, and also make grip even more critical on the three different sections of track.
— HRC Preview
The MotoGP World Championship returns to the U.S. for the second time in five weeks for the third annual Indianapolis Grand Prix in the American heartland.
The 11th round of the MotoGP World Championship comes two weeks after the Czech Grand Prix, a race in which Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) started from his third pole position of the year and raced to a second place finish.
Pedrosa has been the dominant rider of the six strong Honda contingent, with two wins and six podiums, a record which puts him second in the title chase, albeit at a gap of 77 points as the season approaches the two-thirds mark. But if there’s a track where Pedrosa can begin the process of closing the gap, it’s Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
A simple scan of the Spaniard’s results at the Brickyard don’t tell the entire story. In 2008 he finished second in the race which was run in, and finally stopped by, the torrential rains and howling winds of Hurricane Ike. Last year the 24-year-old from Sabadell was the fastest rider from the minute he rolled out onto the track. He was fastest in the opening practice, fastest by a second in the second practice, and rode a record lap in qualifying that was best by over half a second. Starting from pole position, Pedrosa was in the lead when his front end slid away on the fourth lap. Undeterred, Pedrosa lifted up his Honda RC212V and rejoined the fight. Racing with a damaged handlebar and foot peg, Pedrosa gradually picked up his pace and raced from dead last, 17th place, to finish 10th, making his last pass for position on the final lap. He finished with the second fastest lap time.
Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) wants to put the disappointment of the Czech Grand Prix behind him as soon as possible. Dovizioso had a strong race pace and was a fighting fourth early in the race when he slid off. Now, less than two weeks and an ocean away, Dovizioso has a chance for redemption on a track where he made progress over the first two years.
The Italian improved from the first to the second year of the Indy GP. Fifth the first year, Dovizioso finished half a second off the podium in 2009, having closed the gap on third place right up until the final lap. Dovi arrives in Indianapolis within four points of third place in the championship.
No one was looking forward to the weekend off after Brno more than Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda). The Frenchman finished a creditable tenth after making a miraculous recovery from a broken left leg suffered four weeks earlier in Germany. Still, he wasn’t at full strength and won’t be for some time, but just making it through the race was an exercise in courage.
The Indianapolis road course is predominantly left-biased, which will tax de Puniet’s still mending left leg. Of the track’s 16 corners, ten are left-handed, to go with six rights. Unlike Brno, which features near constant elevation changes, the Indy track is completely flat, with a number of 90 degree corners and relatively few that demand a quick side-to-side transition.
San Carlo Honda Gresini team-mates Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli will both be racing in Honda colors for the first time at IMS. Melandri raced a different brand each of the past two years, which means the 2010 race will be his third in a row on a different motorcycle. Melandri is fortunate to be aboard the satellite Honda RC212V this year. This season the team has enjoyed the benefit of a revised chassis, swingarm, and, most recently, electronics.
The Brickyard has been good to Simoncelli the past two years. In 2008, the tall, lanky Italian was on the pole in the 250cc race. But the same hurricane that shortened the MotoGP race to 20 laps from the scheduled 28 made the track unfit for racing, and the 250 final was canceled. The following year Simoncelli qualified second, jetted into the lead on the fourth of 26 laps and sped to victory.
The rider who finished second to Simoncelli last year was Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP). Aoyama hounded Simoncelli much of the race before the Italian stretched his lead to over a second three laps from the end. The 2010 Indianapolis Grand Prix will not only be Aoyama’s first on a MotoGP bike at the famed Speedway, but it will also mark his return to racing.
The Japanese rider has been mostly out of action since breaking the T12 vertebra in his back in a violent high-side during morning warm-up for the June 20 British Grand Prix. Aoyama returned to the track last week when he tested his RC212V on the Brno Circuit the day after the Czech Grand Prix. Following the rain-abbreviated test, Aoyama didn’t want to commit to racing in Indianapolis. But a week on he and his doctors decided his fitness level was such that he felt confident in returning.
Aoyama knows that, even though he’s been cleared to race, he doesn’t know how he’ll feel after riding the Honda RC212V and that he’ll still have to be cautious. Having missed six races, he doesn’t want to do anything that would risk re-aggravating the injury or suffering a setback as the championship heads towards its climax.
Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) won the previous Moto2 race in Brno and carries the momentum of that fourth win of the season, and second in a row, into this weekend’s inaugural Moto2 race at IMS. Elias, who twice raced in the MotoGP class at Indianapolis, has been the standout in the Moto2 category. In addition to his four wins, a class record, Elias has been on the front row in six of nine races.
Elias’s serial success has given him a 55-point lead after nine of 17 races and the Spaniard and his Gresini Racing team can now begin to think about winning the first ever Moto2 World Championship.
The rider with the second most wins is Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up), the Italian who was inconsistent early on, but has since been a front of the pack fixture. The Italian broke through with his first win in his home grand prix at Mugello, the fourth race of the year. That was followed by a 12th in Great Britain, then a win from the pole in Assen. The next finish was a 13th with an asterisk: He was penalized for passing under a waving yellow while well in control of the race. Following Catalunya he finished second in Germany and third in the Czech Republic.
Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2, Moriwaki) has cooled slightly after a mid-season burst that landed him on the podium in three races in a row. Then came a crash in German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring, followed by an 11th place finish in the team’s home grand prix in the Czech Republic, where electronics problem stunted his charge. The Swiss rider believes his team can sort through these
Interwetten Honda 125cc Team’s Marcel Schrotter will get his first taste of the Brickyard in his rookie grand prix season. The 17-year-old German is a quick study and the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway isn’t terribly technical.
The two American venues couldn’t be more different. The late-July U.S. Grand Prix was held at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the shortest and tightest GP venue, a rollicking, yet intimate, 3.610k natural road course draped over the hills of Monterey, California. By contrast, the Indianapolis Grand Prix is held on a 4.218k road course which is mostly built within, and utilizes stretches of, the famed 2.5-mile/4.02k Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval. The road course was originally conceived for Formula One, with a few fixes added to accommodate motorcycles. Because of the mixture the new and the old, the track has several different surfaces, and therefore varying degrees of grip, though the differences become less noticeable with each passing year.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway is epic in scale, the world’s largest spectator sporting facility with more than 250,000 permanent seats. Home to the famed Indianapolis 500, the more than 100-year-old facility sprawls over an area so vast that you could fit Wembley Stadium, San Siro, Camp Nou, the Roman Colosseum, and Vatican City inside. The first ever motorized competition at the venue was a motorcycle race held in 1909 on a crushed stone surface sprayed with tar. Just a few days later the first car race was held, but the track surface produced so many accidents that a decision was made to cover the crushed rock and tar surface with 3.2 million paving bricks.
The track was covered by macadam in phases, but the “Yard of Bricks” at the finish line have remained intact since late in 1961 when all but that one meter of bricks was replaced. The race winner has a tradition of kissing the bricks, a tradition the Honda riders would like to enjoy this year.
From Indianapolis, the teams immediately return to the Continent for the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano the following weekend.
Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa says: “I’m going to Indianapolis in a very good mood and I’m feeling ready to finish the job we weren’t able to complete in the race there last time. I felt really comfortable riding in Indy last year. I was on top of the timesheets from the first practice, I took pole position and the only mistake I made was in the race. So I hope this time we can put together a strong weekend and take another good result. We were fast and consistent at the last race in Brno and we’ll be aiming to get straight back on that pace again this weekend. It will be important, as always, to establish a good machine setting quickly on Friday, and I think we have a useful base from last year that will help us to find the right direction straight away. We were ready to win again in Brno and this will be our goal in Indianapolis too. Riding in America is different, the Indianapolis circuit is very impressive and I feel very good racing in the States because the support I get from the fans is always very positive. So I’m really looking forward to get out there.”
Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso says: “I always look forward to racing in the U.S.A. and this time is no different. I like visiting America, and the Indianapolis race track is a typical American venue with great facilities and huge grandstands. The MotoGP track is not particularly interesting but the atmosphere is always special. The circuit has many different surface types and last year this was a bit difficult for us, but I think that with this year’s machine package – and especially with the current weight distribution – the variety of asphalt and different levels of grip won’t be an issue. If I look back to the Brno GP I have to say that – except for the final result – it was a good weekend. We were competitive, our race pace was good but the result did not come. So we go to Indy determined to transform this good performance into a result. We need strong results for the team and for the championship position. Last year I was fourth at Indy in the race, but we weren’t as fast as the front runners – Dani especially was very fast. But this means that we have the potential to do well and this is an extra motivation for the weekend.”
LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet says: “Indianapolis is almost a new track for us and we do not have so many data to check. The grip level is different in every part of the surface. I do not like this track so much and in my opinion it is not safe enough. Last year I was there despite the injury of my left ankle and once again this year I am not at 100%, but I am not worried about it. Indy has a lot of left corners which is not helpful for my leg but in the last 10 days I made a lot of sport to reinforce the muscles so I feel confident ahead the American GP. I will try to finish in the top eight this time.”
San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Melandri says: “After disappointing performances on Friday and Saturday at Brno, the race in the Czech Republic restored some faith. In the second part I managed to find the right feeling with the bike, which gave me more enthusiasm and conviction to tackle the Monday tests, during which we made small but significant progress. We found some things with the suspension that bode well for the rest of the season. If we work with the same determination from Friday in Indianapolis we can score a good result in the race. The circuit is quite difficult to ride, but if I can find a good feeling with my Honda RC212V I can be close to the lead group.”
San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli says: I came away from Brno feeling somewhat disappointed by the final result but quite happy with the first part of the race. Unfortunately the drop in engine power in the second part did not allow me to be as fast and aggressive and it left a sour taste in my mouth. In any case we did not lose heart and we went into the test on Monday with great determination and managed to make some important steps forward. We gained more confidence with the electronics and were able to better interpret the engine management system. It was a shame that the rain brought it to a premature end because it was a very important test for me and my team and we still have some work to do on the chassis, which we didn’t get time for. I still go to Indianapolis in the right spirit, I like the track and I won the first and only 250 race to take place here. I expect to have a good race and aim to finish inside the top six.”
Interwetten Honda MotoGP rider Hiroshi Aoyama says: “Today I had another x-ray after nine weeks since the crash. The damaged vertebra is still in the same shape, so it means that the bone is stable and the doctor gave me the okay for riding the bike in Indianapolis. Normally this state after an injury like mine is quite delicate, as the shape of the bone can change and lose some of its heights, but my bone looks good and is stable. I am so happy to come back and ride my bike again, but still I have to be careful. I want to be fast, but it will not be easy after this long time, because I will have to gain strength again first. First I want to get the feeling back with the bike, then I can concentrate on being fast. I missed six races-that is a lot-and I am so happy that finally I am back with my team and with my bike. In Indianapolis I have to see how much I will be capable of riding the bike and how much pain I will have. I am confident that I will have the feeling back quick, but we will have to see my physical condition once I am in action again. I can`t wait to come back.”
— Suzuki Preview
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP has headed back across the Atlantic for the second American Grand Prix of the season this time at the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Following a positive post-race test at Brno, both Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista are eager to get back on-track and carry on with the improvements they found at the Czech Republic circuit.
This will be the third time that MotoGP has visited Indianapolis and Capirossi will certainly looking to improve on his results there, that has seen him score a personal best of seventh place at the 4,216m track in 2009. Bautista has a podium position to show from his only race at the circuit. He finished third last year after the 250cc class race was cancelled in 2008 due to a hurricane hitting the Indianapolis area.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway or ‘The Brickyard’, as it is also known, was built in 1909 and has become one of the most famous sporting venues in the world since its inception. The vast race-track has a permanent seating capacity of over 250,000, with the facility to raise that to over 400,000 for the ‘Indy 500’ and the ‘Brickyard 400’, both of which are major sporting events on the American calendar and feature IndyCar and NASCAR respectively. On the grounds of the circuit are also the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum and the Brickyard Crossing Golf Resort, making this impressive venue even more amazing.
Rizla Suzuki takes to the track on Friday 27th August for the first of two free practice sessions, the second scheduled for the following morning. Saturday afternoon sees an hour of qualifying for all riders to establish their grid positions in readiness for Sunday’s 28-lap race that gets underway at 15.00hrs local time (19.00hrs GMT).
Loris Capirossi: “The Brno test was a lot better than the race, but the bike did feel the best it has done all year during the short time I was on-track in the race and we made some improvements on the Monday so these should be good for us when we get to Indy. I finished seventh last year and that was a big improvement on 2008 so I am determined to make another step forward this year. It is very important that we keep focussed and keep trying as hard as we can to get the results to show what we are capable of.”
Álvaro Bautista: “I’m still a bit stiff from my crash at Brno, but I have rested and let the injury heal properly so I will be ready for Indianapolis. I really need to finish a whole weekend and get a full practice, qualifying and race in my account. It seems a long time since I crossed the finish line and I am positive about visiting America and making that happen. We made some steps at the Brno test, but we still need to work on those at Indianapolis – and the races that follow – to find out what the true potential of the bike is. That is something we are determined to do and to keep on learning as much as possible about all things to do with the GSV-R and how it behaves on different tracks and in varying conditions and also about myself and how I can ride it to get the best from it.”
— Bridgestone Preview
Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Medium, Hard. Rear: Hard, Extra Hard (Asymmetric)
The Brickyard plays host to the second American grand prix of the season as MotoGP travels to Indianapolis, five weeks after the last North American visit to Laguna Seca. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a relatively new venue for motorcycling’s premier class, with the inaugural event being held in only 2008, but it was a motorcycle race that provided the circuit’s first competition proper back in 1909. Since then much has changed, and again this year Bridgestone will provide tyres to machines that will reach over 200mph around the 2.6 mile course.
Indianapolis is one of the circuit’s at which Bridgestone has the largest breadth of tyre information having been involved in MotoGP, Formula One and IndyCar competition there over the years. The track is formed of three distinct component parts; the famous oval, the infield road circuit built for Formula One in 1999, and the complex built specifically for MotoGP in 2007. This mix of parts presents the challenge of different surface types each with differing levels of abrasion and grip, making it tricky to attain a consistent balance and feeling throughout a lap. Indianapolis’ asymmetric layout places much higher demands on the left shoulders of the tyres as it is run anti-clockwise, in the same direction as the circuit’s oval races.
There is a big difference in tyre temperature between each shoulder of the rear tyres, so Bridgestone’s asymmetric rear slicks aim to provide durability in the left shoulder by using the hard and extra hard compound options alongside good warm-up performance in the right shoulders by using soft compound rubber. Indy is one of the four hardest circuits of the season for the left shoulders of the rear tyres because of the number, length and speed of the left-handers and the abrasiveness of the tarmac. It is on a par with Catalunya (although here the greater stress is on the right shoulder), Sachsenring and Phillip Island.
Hiroshi Yamada – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department
“Indianapolis is an historic place and one that we look forward to going back to, even if just to marvel at the scale of it! In the middle of their centennial era celebrations, I would like to say congratulations for this milestone and I’m happy that we can be involved in marking the history of such a famous circuit. America is an important market for Bridgestone therefore many people will visit Indianapolis during the GP from Bridgestone USA including some top management. We have a lot of experience at Indianapolis, even though only two years in MotoGP, because of our past Formula One activities there and especially our continuing IndyCar involvement through our Firestone brand.”
Tohru Ubukata – Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department
“Indianapolis is quite unique in that it features three kinds of track surface during a lap, from the oval track to the Formula One section and the MotoGP complex. The characteristics of these surfaces range from grippy and abrasive to quite slippery, so the diversity of track conditions makes it difficult for riders and tyres.
“The circuit is very hard on the left side of the rear tyres, which require good performance at high temperature and high wear resistance through the high speed left corners especially around the section of oval banking. The right side by contrast needs good warm-up performance to rapidly generate tyre temperature and provide riders with a good consistent feeling through the fewer right-hand corners. The rear tyres we have selected are the inverse of those we brought to Catalunya; that is to say the same asymmetric compounds but with the harder compound on the left side.”
