| 2010 MotoGP Championship – Round Two – Jerez – Day Two Dani Pedrosa went fastest in a thrilling qualifying session at the Jerez circuit today to take pole position for the Gran Premio bwin de España. The 24 year-old’s time of 1’39.202 led a competitive MotoGP field in which the top ten riders were separated by less than 0.9s. It was the Repsol Honda rider’s 23rd of 25 laps on board his factory RC212V that placed him at the head of the grid and sent the Spanish crowd into enthusiastic raptures, with the front row completed by fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) and Ducati Marlboro rider Casey Stoner. Lorenzo had actually set a quicker time during the morning’s free practice but was unable to replicate with his best qualifying time eventually 0.285s off the pace of Pedrosa, with Stoner a further two-hundredths down the timesheet as he secured third spot. World Champion Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) rode through the pain in his injured right shoulder to lead the second row, whilst Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro) bravely bounced back from a big crash in free practice to qualify in fifth position, just two-thousandths behind Rossi. LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet completed the second row, as the top six all finished within 0.4s of one another. Monster Yamaha Tech3 duo Colin Edwards and Ben Spies set the seventh and eighth quickest times respectively, with Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) also inside the tightly packed top ten. |
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| — Yamaha Report Jorge Lorenzo put his Fiat Yamaha M1 on to the second spot on the grid in Jerez this afternoon, in an exceedingly close qualifying session which saw the first ten riders all within a second of one another. His team-mate Valentino Rossi will start from the front of the second row tomorrow, with Spaniard Dani Pedrosa heading the field for the 2pm race. Lorenzo had looked in menacing form in the morning practice session, turning out laps in the low 1’39s with meticulous consistency. This afternoon was much warmer however and the Mallorcan found he was a couple of tenths slower in the sweltering heat, as he battled to extend his run of four consecutive poles at this track. With twenty minutes left he moved to the top of the standings but his lead was short-lived as his Spanish rival Pedrosa took over soon after. Lorenzo improved his time twi ce more but it was not enough to overhaul his compatriot and he eventually finished 0.285 seconds off pole position. The Yamaha man is feeling confident for tomorrow however and the Spanish fans have high hopes for an exciting battle between their two home favourites. The World Champion found he was in much better shape today and in the end detained from taking any painkillers for his recovering shoulder. Instead he and his crew turned their attentions to improving the set-up of his M1, having lacked rear traction yesterday. Rossi definitely looked much happier this afternoon and indeed led the standings for the first forty minutes of the session before surrendering the lead to his team-mate and then slipping down to as low as sixth at one point. The Italian lost time on a fast penultimate lap when he had to pass another rider but his final push saw him improve significantly and haul himself up to fourth, just 0.047 off Stoner in third position. Lorenzo – Position: 2nd Time: 1’39.487 Laps: 27 Rossi – Position: 4th Time: 1’39.558 Laps: 28 Team Manager Team Manager — Ducati Report Casey Stoner will start tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Spain from the front row of the grid in third place with his team-mate Nicky Hayden just two positions behind him in fifth after another highly-competitive display at Jerez this afternoon. This morning the American escaped unhurt from high-speed crash and his team worked hard to repair his bike in time for an intense afternoon session that saw him lap just 0.049 seconds off the pace of Stoner. Both riders are targeting a podium challenge tomorrow as they look to ruin the party for local favourites Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo, who occupy the front two positions on the grid. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 3rd (1’39.511) NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 5th (1’39.560) — HRC Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) produced a sublime display of riding at sun-drenched Jerez this afternoon to claim his first pole position of the year, ahead of fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha). This was the 24-year-old’s 14th premier-class pole and his first at Jerez since 2007. Pedrosa – who is making the most of a revised RCV chassis – has an enviable Jerez record to build on tomorrow. Since graduating to MotoGP in 2006 he has never finished lower than second here. Race winner in 2008, the former 125 and 250 World Champion was Jerez runner-up in 2006, 2007 and 2009. He also won the 250 GP here in 2005. Pedrosa’s best lap – cheered all the way by a massive and patriotic crowd – was a stunning 0.285 seconds faster than the rest, an impressive advantage in modern-day MotoGP racing. But the next five riders were covered by just 0.104 seconds, suggesting that tomorrow’s second round of the 2010 MotoGP series should be a close and thrilling race. Privateer Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) rode another dazzling qualifying session to claim a second-row start at the tail end of that five-strong group, despite sliding off at Turn Ten this morning. The Frenchman – who finished fourth at Jerez last year – will be gunning for a podium tomorrow. Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V) had expected great things this afternoon after lapping within four tenths of the fastest time this morning. But in the quest for an even better pace, Dovi tried some modifications this afternoon which actually took him back a step. Nonetheless, while his grid position isn’t what he would have wanted, Dovizioso’s pace is fast enough for him to be in the hunt for a podium, so long as he gets away with the front-runners. His best lap was less than half a second off fourth-quickest Valentino Rossi (Yamaha). Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) was a morale-boosting tenth fastest, sixth thousands of a second behind Dovizioso. Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V) was second best rookie of the day in 12th place, just behind Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) who will start his 301st GP tomorrow. The reigning 250 World Champion continuing his intelligent, step-by-step progress of acclimatisation into MotoGP, improving today from 14th this morning to make the top dozen this afternoon. Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) had another tough day, ending the hour-long session in 16th place, but the Italian rookie already proved in Qatar that he can find plenty more speed when it comes to the race. Weather conditions for tomorrow are expected to be slightly cooler than today, which should add an interesting twist to today’s performances in both MotoGP and Moto2. The new Honda-powered Moto2 World Championship produced a breathtakingly close qualifying session today; the fastest 20 riders separated by just 0.811 seconds! The pack was headed by Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP, Suter), the man who made history in Qatar by winning the inaugural Moto2 race. The 19-year-old Japanese rider set the fastest lap with 22 minutes to go, then slid off his Suter MMX machine two minutes later. Despite that hiccup, the 19-year-old held onto pole position by just two thousands of a second from reigning 125 World Champion Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, RSV). Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) made it two Spaniards on the front row by recording the third fastest time, a further five hundredths of a second behind his compatriot. Elias – winner of the 2003 250 GP here and Moto2 pole position man in Qatar three weeks ago – is still riding in some discomfort, suffering from a nasty left-hand injury he sustained during a hefty crash at Jerez during preseason testing. Last man on the front row was Yuki Takahashi (Tech 3 Racing, Tech 3), who was less than three hundredths of a second behind Elias and only one hundredth in front of second-row leader Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2, Moriwaki). Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V), pole position at 1m 39.202s, said: “It’s always nice to get pole position and especially here because it is my home race and the support from the fans is amazing, so I’m very happy for them. I really didn’t expect this pole to be honest, but I was pushing very hard so I’m very happy about it. Actually though, it’s not so significant for me because the important thing is the performance in the race and we still need to work very hard on this area. The new frame is delivering some improvements but we’re still not all the way there and we must continue to work on the stability because this is very important in order to be competitive over race distance. Our rivals are also showing a lot of potential so we can’t relax in any way because this will be a long, tough race. Obviously I will start the race thinking about the win, and I know there will be a lot of fans out there cheering for me so I hope we can give them something special.” Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V), sixth at 1m 39.591s, said: “I am very happy because it has been a very good qualifying session. I am just eight hundredths off the front row and the adjustments we have made to the bike work well especially in race trim. This afternoon we concentrated to obtain the second row and we are delighted with this result as we are the first independent team on the grid for the second time after Qatar GP. My target is to keep this placement in tomorrow’s race to repeat the positive result we gained in Qatar, but I know it won’t be so easy.” Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V), ninth at 1m 40.021s, said: “I actually think we could have made it onto the second row today so I’m a little disappointed with the result this afternoon because it can be very important to start from the first two rows. We showed our full potential in the morning session where we were four tenths behind the fastest rider, so it’s a shame we couldn’t repeat that in qualifying. For the afternoon we made some adjustments to the electronics and machine set-up and this actually took us back a step, so tomorrow we will return to this morning’s set-up and I’m confident that will give us an improvement. Starting from the third row it will be important to make a good getaway and stay glued to the front riders because this is key to having a good race – as we saw in Qatar.” Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V), tenth at 1m 40.027s, said: “We had a great session today, setting an excellent race pace and I’m really confident about the race. We’re struggling a bit for rear grip but we’re working to improve and I think with a small step forward we can make a big improvement. It is a shame about the qualifying lap because I made a small mistake on my last effort and it cost me a lot of time in the final sector. Anyway, I think that with a good start we can have a fun race tomorrow. I’m happy because we’ve done a good job together, everybody in the team is highly motivated and I think we have created the right atmosphere to improve.” Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V), 12th at 1m 40.322s, said: “My lap times in the qualifying session were not bad today, but the starting position for the race could have been better and therefore I am not 100 per cent satisfied. I am not happy that we are not closer to the front. In general we worked a lot on the setup and it worked out. Tomorrow we want to improve the setup in the warm-up and then I hope we will have a good race.” Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V), 16th at 1m 40.586s, said: “After this morning’s session I was hoping for better this afternoon but we’re still struggling a little and I can’t ride how I want. The reality is that we’re not that far off the top guys – 1.3 seconds isn’t a big gap but I am still in sixteenth. All we can do is try to improve a little more before tomorrow and then do our best to make up positions in the race.” — Suzuki Report Rizla Suzuki racers Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista have a tough afternoon ahead of them at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday after a difficult qualifying session today. Capirossi and Bautista started promisingly in the hour-long session this afternoon and were both running in the top-10 during the first half-hour, when most riders were using the harder compound race tyre. Capirossi recorded a fastest lap of 1’40.206, just one second behind pole-setter Dani Pedrosa, but with the closeness of MotoGP qualifying, Suzuki’s Italian star finds himself on the fourth row of the grid in 11th place for the race. Tomorrow’s 27-lap race is the second round of the 2010 MotoGP World Championship and with Spaniards Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo filling the first two grid positions, the huge crowd that will be trackside can expect an exciting event when the race gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (12.00GMT). Loris Capirossi: “I am very disappointed with today because everybody has tried so hard. We tried to find the best setting for the bike and in this afternoon’s session it just didn’t work like it had done this morning. I just didn’t have the right feel from the front and I struggled a lot. We tried to modify things but we didn’t find a solution. For tomorrow we will need to do something because we are not so far from the front guys – even with this problem – and I am sure we can be competitive. It is not the position I want on the grid, but tomorrow is another day and I will be trying really hard in the race to make things better.” Álvaro Bautista: “I have improved on my best time here and we have done quite a good job today. This morning I tried some different settings between the two bikes and in the afternoon we chose one of the set-ups and I am sure it is the right one. With the hard tyre I did a long ride and was quite happy with my time in the mid 1’40s – this is quite positive for me. I still have a few issues after a few laps because I am feeling that the tyre is moving too much, but we will work on that in the warm-up and see what we can do. On the softer rear tyre I tried to push to the maximum, but this is not like 250s, in 250 you can brake much later and with the MotoGP bike it is more difficult to do one fast lap, but I am learning! I am quite happy and want to have a good home race and get into a fight with a group further up the grid. I t is very important to do my best and give a good race for Suzuki, the sponsors and all my family and fans.” Paul Denning – Team Manager: “It’s not been one of the best days today, especially for Loris who has won at Jerez before and always goes well at this circuit. The fast corners are where the time is won or lost here and he suffered from a significant lack of front grip this afternoon – despite the bike being set up the same as this morning’s session. 27 laps around here with that problem won’t be much fun at all, so we are going to have to try some decent changes for the warm-up and hope that they translate to the race. “Álvaro did a very good 14-lap run at the start of qualifying using race tyres and with a few adjustments his pace looks promising. He’s bunched in a start group with the other 250 guys from last year, so keep your eyes peeled, because I think there will be fireworks on both ends of the grid tomorrow afternoon!” — Bridgestone Report Dani Pedrosa marked his fourth pole position on Bridgestone tyres with the Repsol Honda Team in Jerez today, utilising the hard compound front and soft compound rear slicks. Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo finished second and teammate Valentino Rossi was fourth, either side of Ducati Team rider Casey Stoner in third. Nicky Hayden finished fifth for Ducati and Randy de Puniet was sixth fastest, the top six split by just 0.4seconds and all setting a best lap faster than the existing lap record, set last year by Rossi. Every rider with the exception of Hector Barbera set their fastest lap using the hard front and soft rear slicks. Barbera recorded his best on a harder rear. Whilst the gaps at the front were small, competition in the midfield was also close with just 0.6 seconds separating Colin Edwards in seventh from Marco Simoncelli in sixteenth. The track temperature was markedly hotter during the qualifying session than it was for the morning’s free practice which really tested the temperature operating range of the Bridgestone slick tyres. Tohru Ubukata – Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department “The fastest time from qualifying was just over a tenth slower than the best from free practice this morning, but looking at the times we can see that every rider except Jorge and Andrea went faster in qualifying despite the extra heat. We can also see that the gaps separating the field are smaller than they were from qualifying last year and I am also pleased to see this.” |
| Moto2 Shoya Tomizawa will continue his early season charge from pole position in tomorrow’s Moto2 race, after his lap of 1’44.372 secured him the top time in qualifying by just two-thousandths of a second from Julián Simón. The Japanese rider could count himself fortunate to have set his time shortly before he crashed with 20 minutes of the session remaining, but his hot lap remained intact. Hot on his trail was Mapfre Aspar rider Simón, with Toni Elías (Gresini Racing Moto2) and Yuki Takahashi (Tech3 Racing) completing a front row for Sunday’s race separated by less than a tenth of a second. Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Racing) secured fifth place at the head of the second row, which was also very tightly grouped, as Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing), Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up) and Sergio Gadea (Tenerife 40 Pons) all set times inside the top eight. 125cc Marc Márquez (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) will start the 125cc race from pole position on Sunday, after breaking a five-year-old 125cc pole position record at the track. The young Spaniard’s hot lap of 1’46.829 took over a tenth off Mattia Pasini’s 2006 record, and secured him his second consecutive pole of the new season. Joining him on the front row of an all-Spanish grid will be Pol Espargaró, who dominated both practice sessions but was unable to better Márquez’s stunning time in QP. His Tuenti Racing team-mate Efrén Vázquez and Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX), who was just over half a second off Márquez’s time, occupied the remaining top-four spots. The second row of the grid will be made up of early Championship leader Nico Terol (Bancaja Aspar) and Sandro Cortese (Avant Mitsubishi Ajo), with British duo Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar) and Danny Webb (Andalucia Cajasol) securing top-eight times too. Webb’s team-mate Alberto Moncayo and Swiss rider Randy Krummenacher (Stipa-Molenaar Racing) complete the top ten. |
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Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup – Jerez Race 1 – May 1st
Danny Kent won a stunning season opener from Daijiro Hiura and Daniel Ruiz. The Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup podium was only decided at the last corner as 9 riders had started the last lap with a chance of winning.
Kent, the 16 year old Briton who also won at Jerez last year, just managed to deny pole man Hiura, the 15 year old Japanese and Spanish 18 year old Ruiz, the chance to pass him at the final turn. “I just pushed as hard I could through the last half a lap and was absolutely as late on the brakes as I could be at the last corner because I knew they would be right on me,” said Kent.
After 16 laps where the lead changed at almost every corner and sometimes several times within a few metres, where there were 11 teenagers all with a chance of victory for much of the race it was Kent’s cool head that gave him the win. A race so hard to win but very easy to lose with riders frequently clashing fairings and elbows.
Unluckiest was Harry Stafford, the 16 year old Briton who was right in the midst of the battle for the lead until he and Mathew Scholtz bumped with 5 laps to go and Stafford ended up in the gravel. “It was just one of those racing things,” said Stafford. “I went inside and he didn’t see me, half my fault and half his. The pace wasn’t fast though, you would try to be smooth and get away but the others would just push past and slow us down.”
The only man who ever looked like getting truly clear at the front was Hiura. Mid race he managed to get an advantage of 6 tenths of a second but that all disappeared with one mistake. “I also made a mistake at the end when I was trying to win, just small mistakes but that was enough,” said the 2nd place finisher.
Ruiz was happy to be third having been pushed from lead trio back to 11th in one of the mid race clashes. “I thought it was going to be hard then. I just settled down and started to push forward, I didn’t know how far I would get but on the last lap I was trying to win! That wasn’t possible but I think tomorrow I can do it.”
It was 17 year old Scholtz who led more than anyone else only to finally cross the line 8th. “It was pretty mad, I got ‘T’-boned at least three times. On the last lap I got bumped and lost a lot of places, then going into the last corner I out-braked 3 people but then got pushed wide again. At least I know I can run the pace so the second race should be better.”
Fellow South African Brad Binder had a great race and finished 4th. “That was a lot of fun, it was tough, the guys were all riding hard, I really enjoyed it and can’t wait for tomorrow’s race,” said the 14 year old now starting his 2nd Rookies season.
Just behind Binder in 5th was Jake Gagne, the 16 year old Californian who suffered in practice because he had missed most of the pre season Valencia test after crashing and wrenching his ankle on the first day. “That wasn’t bad considering starting from 12th on the grid. The bike still needs work, on the brakes the forks were bottomed out so I hope we can fix that for tomorrow and get a bit higher up.”
Best of the first time Rookies was 14 year old German Florian Alt in 6th. “That was so much fun, I can’t believe it. It was the first race and I never thought I could make it to the top 6, I was really just thinking about scoring a point. I learnt so much from the first race and I learnt respect for the other riders, there are a lot of fast Rookies!”
Just behind him another newcomer, the 14 year old Niccolo Antonelli who had done so well to qualify 5th. “I let the clutch out too fast and the others shot away at the start,” said the Italian who completed the first lap back in 14th. “Then I just had to try as hard as I could, I think I did most of the passing on the brakes. I hope I can make a better start tomorrow and get a good result.”
Alejandro Pardo ended the day with no points after a crash on lap 10. The 16 year old Italian had led the race briefly after a superb charge where he dragged a group with him and caught the initial lead bunch of 5 thus creating the 11 man epic clash.
Tomas Vavrous was one of those 11 and the 16 year old Czech looked set for a top 6 finish until a tangle at the last corner left him on the floor. He remounted to take 11th.
