Strong start for Bautista at Misano

Friday, 2 September 2011

Álvaro Bautista got Rizla Suzuki’s San Marino Grand Prix weekend off to a strong start today in Misano as he recorded the seventh fastest time.

Bautista continued where he left off at Indianapolis last weekend and produced another positive two sessions, this time at the Misano World Circuit in Italy. Suzuki’s Spanish racer tried a new swing arm this afternoon on his GSV-R and immediately noticed an improvement in the cornering ability of his machine. Bautista and the crew will work further on the set-up tomorrow to obtain the best setting for Sunday’s race.

Bautista has another practice session tomorrow morning, followed by an hour of qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s 28-lap race is round 13 of this season’s championship and it will also see the Spaniard and the Suzuki GSV-R sport a fantastic one-off limited edition ‘Rizla Micron’ livery that will be launched at Misano on Sunday morning.

Álvaro Bautista:

“I think we did a good job today! This morning we started at the same sort of pace that we had in qualifying last year, so that gave us a good base to begin with for the weekend. The feeling with the bike was quite good, but I did not feel well because I had been a bit ill yesterday – I think it was an upset stomach from something I ate. Thanks to the guys at Clinica Mobile because in the afternoon session I was feeling much better. We wanted to test a new swing arm in the second session and I started on the bike with the standard setting, but after three laps my engine said ‘stop!’ and I couldn’t continue with that bike, so I jumped on the other machine- the one with the new swing arm. The feeling was good and we were able to turn a little bit better in the corners. I think we made a step forward and now I’m sure we can improve the lap times. We’re not so far from first place and I’m quite happy about that. Thanks to all the crew for their hard work today after the long trip straight back from Indianapolis.”

Paul Denning, Team Manager:

“I think we can be happy with the performances today of both Álvaro and the Suzuki GSV-R. We made some further changes compared to the Indianapolis weekend and so far everything we have done has taken the bike forward a little bit each time. Unfortunately we lost our first engine of the year – there was definitely no hiding from that! But it was very much a Friday engine that had already covered a lot of miles so it wasn’t completely unexpected. We’ll just keep pushing and try to improve tomorrow, and then something special in qualifying.”

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Strong start for Bautista at Misano

Friday, 2 September 2011

Álvaro Bautista got Rizla Suzuki’s San Marino Grand Prix weekend off to a strong start today in Misano as he recorded the seventh fastest time.

Bautista continued where he left off at Indianapolis last weekend and produced another positive two sessions, this time at the Misano World Circuit in Italy. Suzuki’s Spanish racer tried a new swing arm this afternoon on his GSV-R and immediately noticed an improvement in the cornering ability of his machine. Bautista and the crew will work further on the set-up tomorrow to obtain the best setting for Sunday’s race.

Bautista has another practice session tomorrow morning, followed by an hour of qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s 28-lap race is round 13 of this season’s championship and it will also see the Spaniard and the Suzuki GSV-R sport a fantastic one-off limited edition ‘Rizla Micron’ livery that will be launched at Misano on Sunday morning.

Álvaro Bautista:

“I think we did a good job today! This morning we started at the same sort of pace that we had in qualifying last year, so that gave us a good base to begin with for the weekend. The feeling with the bike was quite good, but I did not feel well because I had been a bit ill yesterday – I think it was an upset stomach from something I ate. Thanks to the guys at Clinica Mobile because in the afternoon session I was feeling much better. We wanted to test a new swing arm in the second session and I started on the bike with the standard setting, but after three laps my engine said ‘stop!’ and I couldn’t continue with that bike, so I jumped on the other machine- the one with the new swing arm. The feeling was good and we were able to turn a little bit better in the corners. I think we made a step forward and now I’m sure we can improve the lap times. We’re not so far from first place and I’m quite happy about that. Thanks to all the crew for their hard work today after the long trip straight back from Indianapolis.”

Paul Denning, Team Manager:

“I think we can be happy with the performances today of both Álvaro and the Suzuki GSV-R. We made some further changes compared to the Indianapolis weekend and so far everything we have done has taken the bike forward a little bit each time. Unfortunately we lost our first engine of the year – there was definitely no hiding from that! But it was very much a Friday engine that had already covered a lot of miles so it wasn’t completely unexpected. We’ll just keep pushing and try to improve tomorrow, and then something special in qualifying.”

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Fastest Ducati

Friday, 2 September 2011

Seventh in the morning and eighth in the afternoon, MAPFRE Aspar rider Héctor Barberá started his San Marino GP weekend stronger than ever.

The Spaniard is just one second off the fastest time, and also was the fastest Ducati rider on track today. Barberá indicated earlier in the week that this was a good circuit for him and he is keen to make the most of the opportunity to finish with a good result. Having improved his pace and consistency throughout today, he is looking forward to continuing the job tomorrow.

Héctor Barberá:

"We are doing a good job and it is showing. Practice has been going well for us at the last few rounds and we have just been missing that extra step in the races. Our pace has been consistent though and I think sooner or later we are going to spring a surprise. It could be here because this is a good circuit for me. The fastest Ducati on the first day is a good start for us. We were fighting to be the first Ducati to the finish line at the last race so that is what we will try for again this Sunday. My team is helping me a lot and gradually we are improving in certain areas. I always ride my hardest but there are things we can do better and we are finding them so that is the most important thing. We have a base set-up that we try to get the best out of at each track and the best way forward has proven to be making small changes to a setting we know works."

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De Puniet confident ahead of qualifying

Friday, 2 September 2011

Randy de Puniet finished day one of the Gran Premio Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini with the twelfth best time, just a few hundredths behind the factory Ducati of Valentino Rossi.

The French rider is confident heading into tomorrow’s qualifying session, having dropped his time by more than a second following today’s first practice outing. Loris Capirossi, who is still dealing with pain in his shoulder, finished in sixteenth place.

Randy De Puniet:

"This afternoon went much better; this morning I had a problem with corner entry—it was impossible to ride the bike. In the afternoon we made some changes and I was much faster, thanks mainly to the tyres. I finished the first day in twelfth place, but more importantly, I’m very close to the top positions. Tomorrow we’ll try to improve. I’ll have to push a bit harder in the corners and take a few more chances."

Loris Capirossi:

"Despite the progress made compared to the first free-practice session, it’s still not enough. I found it very difficult to make right-hand corners, as my shoulder still bothers me and is very painful. Maybe rain would help us in our current conditions, but I’m still convinced that we can do well. We’re all close, so just finding a few tenths would move us up several positions."

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Ducati Team

Friday, 2 September 2011

Day one in Misano did not open in the best way for the Ducati Team, with Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden finishing the first day of practice just below the top ten.

The first day of practice at the Gran Premio di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini featured high temperatures and humidity levels making quite conditions very challenging for all the riders. Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden worked to find a setup that will work with the fairly slippery asphalt and, toward the end of the second session, the Italian managed to have a decent run with the soft tyre. Tomorrow, both riders will work to improve their setups for the qualifying session.

Valentino Rossi:

“Fortunately, I managed to do two or three good laps at the end of the session, and to make up a few positions. We struggled because we wanted to ride with the hard tyre in order to work for the race, but unfortunately, following a promising start, I found it more difficult as the pace steadily improved. We lacked rear grip, especially with the bike leaned over, so we mounted the softer tyre at the end of the session. Today I did a ’35.3, but tomorrow we’ll try to cut at least half a second, working to also improve the feeling with the front under braking. We’ll start with the base setting from Brno and Laguna, and we’ll try some difference changes on the second bike.”

Nicky Hayden:

“This obviously isn’t how we hoped to come out of the gate here. I like this track okay, but it seems like every time I come here, it’s very hard to get up to speed. Basically, I’m pushing the front on corner entry and can’t get it stopped. My ideal time is ’35.0, but I can’t be consistent and put laps together. The track isn’t bad, but it’s hot and slippery and a little bit bumpy, and those things really don’t favor me on this bike. We’re definitely up against it but we’ll try a different solution for tomorrow.”

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MotoGP effort in 2012

Friday, 2 September 2011

Forward Racing presented Colin Edwards as their rider for their 2012 CRT entry on Friday evening in Misano.

Edwards, currently riding for Monster Yamaha Tech 3 in the premier class, was joined in the presentation by Dorna Sports CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, Forward Racing CEO Giovanni Cuzari and CEO of NGM Italia, Stefano Nesi, one of the main sponsors for the Forward Racing team.

Edwards, widely recognised as an important development rider, said "I've always been a good test rider and I'm happy that this will be my next challenge."

Though Cuzari said there was no official confirmation of the technical set up of the bike, Edwards revealed to the press that he was hoping for a Yamaha R1 engine with a chassis built by Tech 3, saying in response to probing questions: "We will be riding a Yamaha engine. As far as a chassis, Hervé (Poncharal, his current Tech 3 Team Manager) you want to answer this?" before revealing that they were in negotiations with Poncharal and Guy Coulon, his current crew chief and designer of Tech 3's Moto2 chassis.

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Wayne Rainey returns to Misano

Friday, 2 September 2011

The three-time World Champion was back at the circuit on Friday evening for the first time since 1993.

Eighteen years after the crash that ended his career Wayne Rainey returned to the Misano World Circuit for this weekend’s San Marino GP, and on Friday evening the American took part in a special event to mark his visit.

In a special presentation organised by Yamaha the three-time 500cc World Champion (1990, 1991 and 1992) was joined on stage by Yamaha Motor Racing Managing Director Lin Jarvis, Dorna Sports CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, and current factory team riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies.

“It’s pretty crazy, my emotions are much higher than I thought they would be,” said Rainey, who was back at the track for the first time since the career-ending crash he suffered on September 5th 1993. “This is Yamaha’s 50th year of Grand Prix racing and just to have been a part of that for six years is very special.”

Rainey continued: “My first Grand Prix in Europe was in 1984 and was at this race track – I finished in third place – and this is where I finished my career. I can tell you that I never enjoyed a race track more than I did here. I’m just very happy to be back again and I want to thank Yamaha for bringing me back. It’s been 18 years since I’ve been here and I’ve got to thank the fans and a lot of my friends and my family. It looks like Yamaha’s going to be okay with these current guys, so I’ll be a spectator on the side watching and rooting these guys on this weekend.”

Mr Ezpeleta paid credit to the impact Rainey has continued to have on the sport, and said: “Wayne has always been involved in MotoGP and he has been a big help to us in continuing with our duty of managing the Championship. Wayne was the man responsible for convincing us and the people at Laguna Seca to bring the Grand Prix back to the States, and now today he is here in Misano. All I can say to you Wayne is thank you very much for all the help you have given to MotoGP to make this Championship as important as it is.”

Reigning World Champion Lorenzo added: “I would like one day to have the same number of titles as Wayne. We are working on it and hopefully in the next few years we can achieve that. Wayne always put everything he had into making Yamaha win races. This gives me great encouragement and a role model for being the best rider I can be.”

Rainey’s fellow American Spies also had a few words to say about one of the riders he watched whilst growing up.

“I started watching GP racing at the end of 1989 so I got to watch a lot of it on TV,” he said. “One thing that stood out for me about Wayne was how tough he was, riding through injuries. A lot of people won’t know this but in America through 1989 to 1993 there were GP review tapes and I watched them and memorised them. I want to do what he did and do the best I can.

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