Moto GP

[Rev004]

Well it's been an interesting pre season testing and on the other hand nothing to surprising with the normal faces at the top of leader board and everyone seems to have come to grips with the one tyre rule.
We have some changes coming over the next few years that will hopefully bring the racing a little closer and the guys that have all these electronics packages will have to get use to not having all aspects availabe to use. I reckon we are in for some good times ahead with the sport in general.

So here's some more info from the paddicks..

Riders assess Bridgestone material after first ‘competitive†session
Monday, 30 March 2009

Sunday saw the first ‘competitive†session since the switch to single tyre supply by Bridgestone for 2009, the experience provoking varied but mainly positive reactions from the MotoGP field.


One of the big changes in MotoGP over the â€08-â€09 off-season has been the move onto new generation Bridgestone tyres, following the rule change to a single supplier arrangement at the end of last year.

Qualifying sessions in particular will be different this year, with the Japanese company no longer producing ‘qualifying†tyres as such and with the Official Practices which dictate grid positions having been reduced to 45 minutes, as part of the ongoing cost reduction process in the World Championship.

With the first preseason in the single tyre supplier era now complete - and with Sundayâ€s BMW M Award session giving an insight into what qualifying may be like in 2009 – a number of MotoGP riders have given positive impressions on the new rules.

Instead of fitting qualifiers in search of hot laps this season riders have the option of putting on a new ‘soft†tyre from their Bridgestone compound allocation, with all riders receiving exactly the same material in the name of fairness.

The most experienced rider on the premier class grid, Rizla Suzukiâ€s Loris Capirossi played a big role in helping Bridgestone to establish themselves in MotoGP during his time with Ducati and he is a fan on the updated regulations.

The veteran Italian, who has been riding well over the winter on an updated Suzuki prototype and was third in Sundayâ€s showdown session, commented, “Now it is easier compared to the past because everyone has the same material. We have the choice of softer and harder tyres and maybe some riders will even race on the softer ones because they are not qualifying tyres.”

He added, “We will have these 45-minute sessions and everyone will try hard. Last year we saw instances where someone was tenth or eleventh, they put on a qualifier and suddenly they were second. We wonâ€t see that anymore.”

Another vastly experienced MotoGP rider, Colin Edwards spent years riding with Michelin until the end of last season, but he too is in favour of the new system, despite finishing tenth on Sunday. He stated, “I think the single tyre supplier rule is working out really well as we are now all in the same boat. So instead of trying to find a tyre that works for your bike you have to adjust your bike to work with the tyre.”

The Texan continued, “With our bike it is a little bit different to last year, but we have had the same bike for five years so that maybe gives me an advantage. I know what to do with the bike, or my crew chief especially knows what to do with the bike so we can just adjust it. I think the rule is excellent, you look at other championships that are also going to one tyre and it seems to be working.”

A successful qualifier last year, Jorge Lorenzo remarkably took pole position for his first three MotoGP races and was on pole four times in total last season. He has had to adapt to riding with Bridgestones ahead of his second year in the premier class and he believes that he is at a slight disadvantage now, even though he was the fastest of the 2008 Michelin riders on Sunday.

The Spanish youngster said, “I think that the qualifying this year is going to be quite hard without the special tyres, which always suited my riding style quite well. I was quite a specialist with the qualifying tyres and now I donâ€t have that advantage, so I have to learn to adapt. My riding style is better with the harder Bridgestone tyre and so it will be quite difficult for me to be as good in the qualifying sessions this year I think.”

Lorenzoâ€s big rival Andrea Dovizioso, meanwhile, has also been adapting to Bridgestones over the winter but he remains upbeat about the situation, despite going slower than Lorenzo over the weekend at Jerez. The Repsol Honda rider focused on racing rather than qualifying when asked about tyres, saying, “We need to wait until the weekend of the first race to really see, but I donâ€t think it will be a big problem because you can do many laps with the same tyre. Also we donâ€t have too many tyres in terms of quantity, I think we have enough for each weekend.”

The last word on the matter goes to Valentino Rossi, the legendary Italian who made headlines last season by regaining the MotoGP title after a dramatic move onto Bridgestone rubber at the beginning of 2008. He stated, “We have to wait and see what it will be like at the first Grand Prix. The situation looks ok and it is possible to push and make quite good lap times, but these tyres are not like qualifiers. There is not the same grip, but you can still enjoy it, push hard and go faster for just one lap. I feel that I still have to improve in this area a bit.”


De Puniet admits to error in showdown session
Monday, 30 March 2009

LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet concluded the 2009 preseason lower down the timesheets than he would have liked, but he is still positive about his chances in Qatar at round one.


Unable to force his way into the top ten in Sundayâ€s BMW M Award Official Practice in the south of Spain, Randy de Puniet left Jerez ruing missed opportunities.

The Frenchman admitted to an error in the 45-minute shootout session as his fastest effort of 1â€40.646 left him down in 13th position – though he was in truth only half a second behind sixth placed Mika Kallio.

De Puniet was one of the nine MotoGP riders who went back out on track on Sunday afternoon for the final free practice outing, though perhaps conscious of his numerous costly crashes in 2008 the Honda satellite man took it pretty easy and lapped just eight times on the wet track.

He finished that session as the slowest rider and his team later acknowledged that they were unable to complete their ‘to-do list†before the preseason came to its rather wet conclusion.

De Puniet summed things up, saying, “Before the 45-minute session we worked especially on used tyre to find a better grip and we fixed some points on the chassis and suspension set up. We found good solutions as I set a good lap time on a used tyre but I expected something better on soft tyre in the ‘qualifying sessionâ€. Maybe three or four tenths of a second faster, but I made a small mistake on my last lap.”

“Anyway, all we can do is continue our work, because I am sure we can close the gap with the middle group. My aim is to qualify in the top ten and the team will do a good job to prepare the machine for the first race in Qatar.”


Hayden looks back on ‘disastrous†session
Monday, 30 March 2009

Ducati Marlboro newboy Nicky Hayden encountered problems on Sunday afternoon in Jerez and referred to his eleventh placed finish in the BMW M Award as something of a disaster.


Outside the top ten in the first ‘competitive†session with his new team on Sunday at the Official MotoGP Test, Nicky Hayden left Jerez trailing his triumphant team-mate Casey Stoner by a significant 1.755s margin – as the Australian took the honours in the BMW M Award.

In fairness, the vast majority of the MotoGP grid have struggled to match Stonerâ€s 2009 preseason pace and Hayden is still adapting to Bridgestone tyres and the Ducati Desmosedici GP9.

The 2006 World Champion survived a scary moment in the Sunday showdown session as he ran into one of the Jerez gravel traps at high velocity, fortunately managing to keep himself upright and immediately return to the track.

Having placed eleventh on the Official Practice timesheet Hayden reviewed the second day in the south of Spain saying, “In the morning we made some small improvements and I was able to go a bit quicker, but the 45-minute session was a bit of a disaster. We were making some changes beforehand but ran out of time to get the bike ready and I lost some time at the beginning of the session. Then when I went out we had a clutch problem and I had to change to my second bike, which Iâ€ve hardly ridden this weekend, and it had a different setting.”

Forever his own harshest critic Hayden admitted he had hoped to round off the preseason in a more competitive fashion and noted his own team-mateâ€s high standards, to which he will aspire in 2009.

“Casey has shown the package is good and to be honest Iâ€d hoped to be closer to him by this stage,” the American rider stated. “But now itâ€s time to go racing, so weâ€ll head out to Qatar, work hard and see what happens.”

Unlike Stoner, Hayden went back out on track for the late Sunday free practice run, using the opportunity to get some additional wet laps under his belt before calling it a day.


Kallio: ‘We had an almost perfect bikeâ€
Monday, 30 March 2009

Mika Kallio believes his crew chief Fabiano Sterlacchini helped him achieve an almost perfect setting for his Desmosedici GP9 at Jerez on Sunday afternoon.


Jumping from 13th place on the Sunday morning free practice timesheet with a best lap of 1'41.600 to a surprise sixth place in the afternoon BMW M Award session with a vastly improved 1â€40.149 effort, Mika Kallio was in a confident mood at the end of the Official MotoGP test at Jerez.

The Finnish MotoGP rookie felt he could have gone even faster had it not been for some difficulties in the final section of the circuit, but he acknowledged the work of his Pramac Racing staff as he stated that they had been close to perfection in setting up his Desmosedici GP9.

The 250cc graduate commented on Sunday evening, “With the data we gathered on Saturday and on Sunday morning I assessed the situation with the track and the bike, alongside my Technical Director, Fabiano Sterlacchini. We put together all the positive things we found and we had an almost perfect bike. I was still losing too much time in the last sector, otherwise we could have finished in an even better position. We are doing a great job and Iâ€m sure we can keep up that good work in the first race in Qatar.”

Kallio was one of the nine MotoGP riders who re-emerged after the BMW M Award session, in the third and final free practice, putting in 17 laps of wet riding as he rounded off the preparations for his debut campaign in the premier class. He also concluded that session sixth on an abridged timesheet, again lapping faster than fellow debutants Niccolò Canepa and Yuki Takahashi.


Dovizioso: “We are improving, but it is still not enough”
Monday, 30 March 2009

Repsol Hondaâ€s new rider for 2009, Andrea Dovizioso, had a busy final day of preseason testing and insists he still has plenty of preparative work to do when he arrives at Qatar for the start of the season.


Shouldering extra responsibility at the MotoGP Official Test over the weekend as he continues to make final adjustments to the factory RC212V in the absence of injured team-mate Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Hondaâ€s Andrea Dovizioso was in a philosophical mood after seeing Casey Stoner run away with the BMW M Award in Jerez.

Assessing his findings from the Spanish test visit, the young Italian rider admitted, “It was not bad and my lap time was quite fast, but Stoner is unbelievable! We have improved little bit on our problems, though it is still not enough. We need to keep working, but the rain on Sunday meant we couldn't try any more new material, so we will just have to continue the job on the weekend of the race in Qatar.”

Doviziosoâ€s day was split into three parts, a dry morning free practice in which he finished fifth and improved on his best time from Saturday, the 45-minute BMW M Award session in which he upped his pace but ended up seventh - and a wet final practice in which he lapped 20 times and came out on top of a shortened timesheet featuring the names of eight of his MotoGP rivals.

Detailing his continued adaptation to the new Japanese rubber to be used in his second premier class season, he also stated, “The feeling with the Bridgestones now is really, really good. The setting on the bike is still not at 100% but the feeling with the front is getting better and better. The grip on the rear end still needs some attention though.”

Noting his solid performance in the final session, Dovizioso added simply, “As far as the wet set-up goes, my feeling with the bike and tyres is good and Iâ€m happy about this. Now Iâ€m looking forward to getting to Qatar for the first race.”

Doviziosoâ€s new Team Manager in the factory Honda structure, Kazuhiko Yamano, gave his perspective on the final preseason test, saying, “Weâ€ve made some useful improvements at this test and this is positive for the Repsol Honda team, though there is still a sizeable gap to the fastest riders and we will keep working to close this as quickly as possible. We are not at our maximum level of potential with this machine yet. Andrea did a good job at this test and worked very hard, putting in a lot of laps.”


Edwards satisfied with competitiveness ahead of â€09 season
Monday, 30 March 2009

Colin Edwards ran into problems on the last day of preseason testing but he is confident his team will quickly find a solution and believes they are in good shape for race one in Qatar.


After his hitherto excellent preseason preparations Colin Edwards ended up tenth on the Official Practice timesheet at the end of Sundayâ€s 45-minute Jerez showdown, having encountered problems at the Spanish circuit on his satellite Yamaha M1.

Nonetheless, after good tests at Sepang and the Losail International circuit already this year the veteran rider believes he can run near the front this season and admitted he was unwilling to take any risks on Sunday afternoon in tricky conditions, as he and the majority of the MotoGP field trailed behind the rampant Casey Stoner by a significant margin.

“I think overall the test was pretty good,” Edwards remarked before he left Jerez. “We actually found a problem on Sunday that was there already, the more we pushed the more chatter we created, but I think we are really starting to understand it. This track is a little bit ‘special†for us compared to Malaysia and Qatar where everything was working well.”

“We knew the BMW was out of reach because Caseyâ€s time was astronomical, but to me our rhythm was ok,” he continued. “I think with the hard tyre, the race tyre, we are in the top five.”

Summarising his solid â€09 preparations as a whole the experienced Texan said, “Iâ€m happy with the way the winter has gone. Yamaha has done a great job and at every test we have been competitive. I canâ€t wait for the first race to try and get a good start.”

Monster Yamaha Tech3â€s Team Manager Herve Poncharal contributed his appraisal of Edwards†preseason efforts when he commented, “I think we can be very optimistic of having a good season after Colinâ€s performance during the winter. He has done another excellent job for the team and Yamaha here. He didnâ€t come here to win the car, but he wanted to get more of an understanding of the new bike and the Bridgestone tyres ahead of the first race.”

“I would like to thank all the team for their hard work and effort over the winter. I believe we are in a great position to have our best season for a long time, and with our new partner Monster, the future is looking very bright for Tech 3.”