Stoner heads San Marino proceedings

Friday, 2 September 2011

The Gran Premio Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini kicked off with Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner grabbing the top spot ahead American Ben Spies and Dani Pedrosa.

Championship leader Stoner topped the first free practice of the weekend, with full sun and climbing temperatures indicative of what the rest of the 13th round of the MotoGP Championship season will bring.

Last year’s race winner Dani Pedrosa led much of the opening free practice session at the Misano World Circuit, with Yamaha Factory’s Ben Spies occupying the top spot after laying down a time of 1’34.466 in the final minutes. But it was the Australian who outpaced them all with a time of 1’34.180 on his final lap of the session, 0.286s quicker than the American and 0.349s ahead of Pedrosa’s best lap.

Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) stepped into fourth in the line up with a time of 1’35.011, ahead of San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli who posted a best lap of 1'35.088 at his home track.

Three Spaniards followed the top five, with defending title holder Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) sixth quickest lap, followed by Mapfre Aspar rider Héctor Barberá and Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki).

Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was ninth in the timings and MotoGP rookie Karel Abraham (Cardion ab Motoracing) had a good showing, posting the tenth fastest lap of the session. Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) followed in 11th while his team mate Nicky Hayden was 13th.

Reade more >>

Lorenzo leads day one in Misano

Friday, 2 September 2011

Defending Champion Jorge Lorenzo led the MotoGP field on the first day of the Gran Premio Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, the 13th round of the MotoGP Championship.

The hot and humid weather on the Adriatic coast produced rain drops in the final minutes of the session, but it held off long enough for all but one in the MotoGP field to better their times from the morning session. Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) topped the field with a 1’33.929 on lap ten of 22, bettering his time from the first practice outing by 1.213 seconds and the only rider to break below the 1’34 mark.

Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) made a run for the front with his best lap of 1’34.005, just missing the top spot by 0.076s to rank second for the day. The Australian out paced team mate and last year’s dominating man at Misano, Dani Pedrosa, by 0.200s.

Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) improved his time by over half a second, posting a 1’34.444 to place him fourth in the combined times for the day. Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) was the only rider unable to improve his time from the morning session, posting a time one thousandth of a second slower in the afternoon meet, placing him fifth in the session and remaining fifth of the day.

Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) took the sixth spot with a time of 1'34.989, improving his earlier time by 0.153s, ahead of Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista who suffered engine problems at the start of the session, but switched bikes and posted a time of 1'35.023 which was half a second quicker than his FP1 time.

Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar ) posted the eighth quickest time with a 1'35.111, 3 tenths better than his morning lap, while Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) ranked ninth of the day with a 1'35.282 lap time on his penultimate lap, an improvement of eight tenths.

Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) took the tenth spot in the timings, Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) in 11th with a time of 1’35.331, 0.087s ahead of Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing).

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) was 13th, followed by Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing), Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing) and Toni Elías (LCR Honda).

Reade more >>

Edwards and Crutchlow seek improved pace in Misano

Friday, 2 September 2011

Colin Edwards and Cal Crutchlow started preparations for the Misano MotoGP round with solid performances today, and the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team riders are confident they can significantly improve their pace for qualifying and the 28 lap race.

American Edwards set the tenth best time on the opening day of practice at a sun-kissed Misano circuit that witnessed temperatures soaring to a physically demanding 30 degrees in the afternoon. Working on improving high speed stability with his YZR-M1 machine, Edwards was able to knock almost three tenths off his best time in the opening session to finish with a 1'35.301. The 37 year old also dedicated a large portion of his 44 laps on track to evaluate the performance of Bridgestone's soft and hard compound rear tyre options to finish just over 0.3s away from the top six.

Crutchlow started well this morning and put his World Supersport and World Superbike knowledge of the 2.626 mile Misano track to good use to finish just over two tenths away from the top 10. Although he was able to lap over three tenths quicker in this afternoon's 45 minute session, the British rider wasn't rewarded for the improvement and he slipped down the order to 15th. Crutchlow is confident he can improve his pace tomorrow to challenge for a top 10 place on the grid, as he aims to focus on gaining more grip and confidence with Bridgestone's hard rear tyre.

Colin Edwards:

“Today was a solid day without being too spectacular. We rolled off the truck from Indy not terribly fast and it's always nice to come out of the blocks with a bit more speed than I did. My biggest problem today has been high speed stability - you can lose a lot of time in the three really fast right-handers here. The front end was also tucking quite a bit this afternoon, and at times the sensation was like I was riding on a flat tyre. We made some changes which we felt were going to make the bike better, but we just ran out of time, so we'll sit down tonight and look at some data and come up with a plan for tomorrow. I feel confident and reasonably comfortable and with a couple of changes to the bike for tomorrow I'm sure we can come out all guns blazing. We also need to find something to help me with the hard rear tyre. I'm lacking a bit of entry grip, so we'll work on that too. Initially it feels fantastic but the lap times were no better. We got some ideas to get more side and entry grip with the h ard tyre, so I'm sure we'll be much faster tomorrow.”

Cal Crutchlow:

“Today wasn't an easy start to the weekend but I don't think 15th place is a true reflection of our potential. I had a few issues with getting the hard rear tyre to work, so we'll need to have a look at a big improvement in that area for tomorrow. I ran the same soft tyre I'd used this morning in the second session and even with 36 laps on it, I went just as quick with that as what we did with a brand new hard tyre. Lorenzo is more than 1.5s quicker on the hard tyre and I can't get it to work, so we need to have a look at the setting and perhaps make the bike more similar to what we ran in Indianapolis. We'll have a look at the data tonight and see what we can work out for tomorrow. I'm trying my hardest and I don't think I'm that far away because 0.5s would put me eighth.”

Reade more >>

Edwards and Crutchlow seek improved pace in Misano

Friday, 2 September 2011

Colin Edwards and Cal Crutchlow started preparations for the Misano MotoGP round with solid performances today, and the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team riders are confident they can significantly improve their pace for qualifying and the 28 lap race.

American Edwards set the tenth best time on the opening day of practice at a sun-kissed Misano circuit that witnessed temperatures soaring to a physically demanding 30 degrees in the afternoon. Working on improving high speed stability with his YZR-M1 machine, Edwards was able to knock almost three tenths off his best time in the opening session to finish with a 1'35.301. The 37 year old also dedicated a large portion of his 44 laps on track to evaluate the performance of Bridgestone's soft and hard compound rear tyre options to finish just over 0.3s away from the top six.

Crutchlow started well this morning and put his World Supersport and World Superbike knowledge of the 2.626 mile Misano track to good use to finish just over two tenths away from the top 10. Although he was able to lap over three tenths quicker in this afternoon's 45 minute session, the British rider wasn't rewarded for the improvement and he slipped down the order to 15th. Crutchlow is confident he can improve his pace tomorrow to challenge for a top 10 place on the grid, as he aims to focus on gaining more grip and confidence with Bridgestone's hard rear tyre.

Colin Edwards:

“Today was a solid day without being too spectacular. We rolled off the truck from Indy not terribly fast and it's always nice to come out of the blocks with a bit more speed than I did. My biggest problem today has been high speed stability - you can lose a lot of time in the three really fast right-handers here. The front end was also tucking quite a bit this afternoon, and at times the sensation was like I was riding on a flat tyre. We made some changes which we felt were going to make the bike better, but we just ran out of time, so we'll sit down tonight and look at some data and come up with a plan for tomorrow. I feel confident and reasonably comfortable and with a couple of changes to the bike for tomorrow I'm sure we can come out all guns blazing. We also need to find something to help me with the hard rear tyre. I'm lacking a bit of entry grip, so we'll work on that too. Initially it feels fantastic but the lap times were no better. We got some ideas to get more side and entry grip with the h ard tyre, so I'm sure we'll be much faster tomorrow.”

Cal Crutchlow:

“Today wasn't an easy start to the weekend but I don't think 15th place is a true reflection of our potential. I had a few issues with getting the hard rear tyre to work, so we'll need to have a look at a big improvement in that area for tomorrow. I ran the same soft tyre I'd used this morning in the second session and even with 36 laps on it, I went just as quick with that as what we did with a brand new hard tyre. Lorenzo is more than 1.5s quicker on the hard tyre and I can't get it to work, so we need to have a look at the setting and perhaps make the bike more similar to what we ran in Indianapolis. We'll have a look at the data tonight and see what we can work out for tomorrow. I'm trying my hardest and I don't think I'm that far away because 0.5s would put me eighth.”

Reade more >>

Honda Team

Friday, 2 September 2011

The Repsol Honda Team began the Gran Premio Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini in good shape, only five days after racing in Indianapolis with a very different layout but similar weather conditions.

Casey Stoner, the current MotoGP World Championship leader, and Dani Pedrosa, the winner here last year, immediately got down to business in Misano and finished the first day of free practices in second and third positions respectively, while Andrea Dovizioso recorded the sixth fastest time on his return to his home GP.

Both Stoner and Pedrosa lapped under the circuit record (1'34.340 set by Pedrosa in 2010), Stoner achieved this in FP1 with a 1'34.005 lap, and Pedrosa in FP2 with a time of 1'34.205. Dovizioso will work with his team and analyse the data from both sessions to understand where he is losing valuable time.

All three Repsol Honda riders compared the performance of the soft and hard compound Bridgestone tyres. As was the case in Indianapolis, this will be a key point for completing the 28 lap race.

Casey Stoner:

"We made a pretty good step this morning, everything felt pretty good and the bike was working well. We tried a few things this afternoon, but had a slight problem with some air in the brake line which cost us some time. Then we did race distance on the soft tyre and got some good data from that, we're doing some reasonably competitive times but not good enough yet, we'll go away tonight and work in preparation for tomorrow. We still need to get the bike feeling a little more comfortable in the middle of the corner and on the exit, with traction as well as turning. If we can improve these areas then I'm confident we can also improve the lap time quite a lot."

Dani Pedrosa:

"We had a good start in the morning, I felt quite comfortable from the beginning, but in the afternoon we didn't improve as much as I would have liked. When Bautista's engine blew in front of me I thought the track would become dirty, so I did some slow laps to check and I lost some time and rhythm. We have to keep working with the suspension to get better traction and stability under hard braking, so we will focus on this tomorrow. I tried both tyre compounds, the hard one only this afternoon, and we still don't know which one will be better for the race."

Andrea Dovizioso:

“Today we worked on the general set up of the bike and in the afternoon we made some changes to the rear setting but we didn’t achieve the results we wanted. We need to continue working on the set up to reduce the pitching in the front and the rear. This is a slow track but with many hard braking areas and strong acceleration so we will analyse the data to understand the most critical areas where I am losing time. It was very hot today but the track conditions were ok. We rode with both soft and hard tyres and I felt good on the bike, so now the first thing to do is to study the data and evaluate the best direction to follow in preparation of the qualifying and race. I’m confident that we can recover the gap from the front riders.”

Reade more >>

Lorenzo sets the pace in Misano

Friday, 2 September 2011

Yamaha Factory Racing rider Jorge Lorenzo wound up today as the pacesetter in the first day of practice for the Gran Premio Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini.

The reigning World Champion struggled to find a good pace in the morning practice but worked hard with his crew to make key set up changes over the lunchtime period. The afternoon session saw the improvements fire him straight to the top of the time sheets, where he remained unchallenged for the entire session, leading at times by over second.

Lorenzo’s team mate Ben Spies was one of the men to beat in the morning session, clocking some impressive lap times. He was the fastest rider until the last seconds of the session; ultimately finishing up in second, just 0.286 from first. The afternoon practice was spent trying a number of different set ups for rider position, the Texan ending in fifth 0.54 seconds from Lorenzo in first.

Jorge Lorenzo:

“I feel much more comfortable on the bike this afternoon with the changes we made. The setting we used is very similar to the Mugello one, and I won the race there. To be honest, I didn’t expect such a big change because we improved more than one second. We are now quite close to a victory I think. Casey and Dani are still fast but at least we are there with them.”

Ben Spies:

“Not bad today, it wasn’t a great second session but we had to try a lot of things. We’ve been working a little bit on rider position since before Indy and we came up with a good direction for me. We tried to go more in that direction this afternoon but it was too much, so we lost a bit of the second session on it. Other than that we tried all the tyres we wanted to and went pretty fast with quite a lot of laps on them. Overall a positive day, we tried some stuff that worked and some stuff that didn’t. We need to work harder for tomorrow and improve some grip levels but the overall feel and speed I’m happy with.”

Reade more >>

Positive first day for Simoncelli and Aoyama

Friday, 2 September 2011

Marco Simoncelli enjoyed a satisfactory first day at his home circuit, making constant progress and establishing a solid pace during the opening two free practice sessions, while team mate Hiroshi Aoyama is picking up pace and confidence on his bike.

Simoncelli gradually closed the gap to this afternoon's pacesetter and is hopeful of further progress tomorrow, particularly in terms of fuel consumption which promises to be a key area for race set-up and is currently proving to be the Italian's 'Sword of Damocles'. It was also a positive day of practice for Aoyama, who is going faster and looks to be recovering confidence on his bike. The Japanese rider was satisfied with his performance today and is also confident of improvements tomorrow.

Marco Simoncelli:

I am happy because we have improved quite a lot from this morning and I set a decent rhythm. We are already quicker than my qualifying lap time from last year, but we still need to improve because Lorenzo and Stoner are three or four tenths quicker than me. Anyway, for the moment I'm satisfied and I'm starting to like Misano more as a circuit – hopefully I will be in love with it by Sunday evening. The only thing I am worried about at the moment is fuel consumption and we have a few problems to solve in this area tomorrow.”

Hiroshi Aoyama:

“I didn't have a good feeling this morning, but in the afternoon things went much better. The grip was better and I was able to push more on the bike, which gives me confidence for tomorrow. With some small improvements we can be pushing for a good position on the grid. I really want to have a good race for myself and for the team, who are all working so well.”

Friday, 2 September 2011

Marco Simoncelli enjoyed a satisfactory first day at his home circuit, making constant progress and establishing a solid pace during the opening two free practice sessions, while team mate Hiroshi Aoyama is picking up pace and confidence on his bike.

Simoncelli gradually closed the gap to this afternoon's pacesetter and is hopeful of further progress tomorrow, particularly in terms of fuel consumption which promises to be a key area for race set-up and is currently proving to be the Italian's 'Sword of Damocles'. It was also a positive day of practice for Aoyama, who is going faster and looks to be recovering confidence on his bike. The Japanese rider was satisfied with his performance today and is also confident of improvements tomorrow.

Marco Simoncelli:

I am happy because we have improved quite a lot from this morning and I set a decent rhythm. We are already quicker than my qualifying lap time from last year, but we still need to improve because Lorenzo and Stoner are three or four tenths quicker than me. Anyway, for the moment I'm satisfied and I'm starting to like Misano more as a circuit – hopefully I will be in love with it by Sunday evening. The only thing I am worried about at the moment is fuel consumption and we have a few problems to solve in this area tomorrow.”

Hiroshi Aoyama:

“I didn't have a good feeling this morning, but in the afternoon things went much better. The grip was better and I was able to push more on the bike, which gives me confidence for tomorrow. With some small improvements we can be pushing for a good position on the grid. I really want to have a good race for myself and for the team, who are all working so well.”

Reade more >>