FIXI Crescent Suzuki's Leon Camier produced his best ride of the season so far in today's second race from the fifth round of the World Superbike Championship at Donington Park…
Ducati World Superbike Press Release
A very unfortunate World Superbike race day for Althea Racing's Carlos Checa and Davide Giugliano at the Donington Park circuit. In race 1 the pair finished…
World Superbike, Donington Park, Europe, 12 May 2012
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) took his fourth Superpole win of the 2012 season today at Donington after setting a new track best…
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Team Suzuki News Flash
FIXI Crescent Suzuki will replace injured John Hopkins at this weekend's World Superbike race at Donington Park in England with young British hopeful Peter Hickman.
Yamaha Factory Racing rider Jorge Lorenzo continued his unbroken podium record at Estoril today. Starting from fourth on the grid he was quickly into second at the first corner and held the position to the line after a determined effort to stay with race leader Casey Stoner.
The Mallorcan’s legendary consistent lap pace meant Stoner was never more than one second ahead until the final lap and at times just 0.2 seconds in front.
Lap three of the race saw Lorenzo deliver a new fastest lap record for Estoril of 1’36.909. He now heads to Le Mans in two weeks time just one point adrift of the Championship lead.
Team mate Ben Spies started well from fifth, slotting into fourth in the first corner before running wide and dropping back several places.
The Texan made a couple of mistakes and dropped to ninth where he battled Stephan Bradl for eighth, eventually passing the German to take the position at the line. Spies will arrive in Le Mans in 11th position with 18 points.
Jorge Lorenzo Position 2nd – Time: +1.421
“I’m happy with this second position because I was expecting to fight for third or fourth and not the victory. The bike improved a lot from the practices so it was possible. I had two problems, at the start I used a lot of clutch and burnt it so for two or three laps it was burning and I lost a lot of distance from Casey. Also at the end Casey was very strong. After this everything was working well and I made a fastest lap, which is not very common for me. We are just one point behind Casey, hopefully we can improve something on the bike tomorrow and be in front again.”
Ben Spies Position 8th – Time: +33.262
“Very mixed emotions today, this is actually the first time in three years that I’ve finished a race here. As I told the team, I made four or five big mistakes during the race, they cost me time and places. It was a rough race but I’m continuing to build my confidence, I don’t enjoy Estoril so I’m happy to have finished. Now we go to Le Mans which is a great event with an amazing crowd but another track I don’t love so much! I’m happy with the bike and it’s performance so we’ll continue to build my confidence and improve the results.”
The Portugal MotoGP saw the Ducati Team improving with Valentino Rossi and unfortunate with Nicky Hayden.
After two days of working on his GP12’s settings, the Italian lapped at a pace that was both relatively fast and very consistent, eventually finishing in seventh place, which is his best result of the season so far.
Nicky Hayden, on the other hand, had to just try make it to the finish due to an electrical problem with his bike’s ECU, which was subject to interference from a radio signal near the track.
As a result, all of the electronic calibrations were out of phase around the circuit, making riding extremely challenging. The American nonetheless rode with great determination to an eleventh-place finish.
Tomorrow the Ducati Team will remain in Portugal for a one-day test, with hopes that the rain forecasts turn out to be wrong so that development can continue on the GP12.
Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 7th
“It went a bit better this time, in the sense that we started from a better base on Friday and we managed to prepare for today over the course of the weekend. I was able to approach the race knowing what to expect from the bike, and I therefore managed to push harder and get a little closer to the limit. The first laps were decent. I moved up a couple of positions and then I maintained a consistent pace, doing times that we expected to do. We can say that we took advantage of our current potential, and now we’ll have to work to make another step forward. We must improve on corner exits and on acceleration because right now we’re not able to be as effective as the others due to the fact that we can’t get all of the power to the ground. We have a test tomorrow, and we’ll start working. Anyway, today I even managed to have some fun.”
Today’s qualifying session for the Grand Prix of Portugal proved to be a frustrating one for both Yamaha Factory riders. Jorge Lorenzo led for most of the session until a red flag incident between Colin Edwards and Randy De Puniet forced a restart with nine minutes remaining.
A mixture of heavy traffic along with a lack of confidence in certain corners resulted in a gradual drop to a grid position of fourth on the second row, just 0.278 seconds from pole. This will be the first time since 2008 that Lorenzo has not started from the front row of the grid at Estoril.
Having finally got his 2012 season firmly back on track with a highly competitive pace, Ben Spies endured an extremely frustrating qualifying session with at least three hot laps interrupted by slower traffic. Having been denied a front row lap time Spies will start tomorrow’s race from fifth on the grid alongside his team mate on the second row.
Jorge Lorenzo Position 4th – Time 1.37.466 – Laps 29
“The main problem for me today was that in turn one and two I couldn’t enter aggressively so I lost a lot of time in this section. In general the bike is not giving me a good feeling so this lap time was the maximum I could get today. We are in fourth but tomorrow is going to be hard as I have to try to pass Cal who is a hard braker! I will keep thinking positive and see what we can do.”
Ben Spies Position 5th – Time 1.37.723 – Laps 26
“It was a tough session for everybody, the annoying thing was that three of my best laps were blocked but that’s just the way it goes. Two of them I think could have been avoided but one of them was just a racing incident. We’re on the second row in the middle and we’re a lot better than we were in Jerez. I feel good on the bike and I just need to keep building the confidence now. Being three tenths behind Jorge at this track is pretty good.”
Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC213V) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V) scored a brilliant Honda one-two in this afternoon’s qualifying session for tomorrow’s Portugal MotoGP at Estoril. Alvaro Bautista (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC213V) will start the race from the second row of the grid after recording the sixth fastest time in the hour-long session.
Conditions here have been typically changeable with strong winds gusting off the Atlantic and all sessions have been affected by a track that has refused to completely dry following yesterday’s early morning rain. Even during the first few minutes of qualifying a few spots of rain began to fall, adding some extra tension to proceedings.
Following a promising FP3 this morning Stoner and his crew tried some further adjustments to his RC213V, but the changes made the bike slightly worse, delivering more rear grip, but at the expense of turning performance. Stoner has also been struck by a nasty cold and is on antibiotics.
Nonetheless the reigning World Champion rallied himself for the final ten minutes when the track was reopened following a brief stoppage due to a crash involving Colin Edwards (Suter BMW) and Randy de Puniet (Aprilia). Edwards suffered a fractured collarbone in the accident.
On his first flying lap out of the pits the Australian moved ahead of Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) who had dominated the early stages of the session. But that wasn’t enough to give him his first pole position of the year. Moments later Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) bettered Stoner and he had to dig deeper to produce another faster lap that put him back on top.
At the same time last year’s Estoril winner Pedrosa was giving it all on his final run, the Spaniard crossing the line just 0.013s behind his team-mate. Pedrosa admitted that he had been concerned earlier in the session when he was saw the rain arrived while sat in the pits having some machine issues fixed. Luckily for him conditions stayed fine and he was able to secure his second consecutive start from second on the grid. Pedrosa believes he might even have made pole if he had encountered less traffic during his final attack.
Weather conditions were typically fickle for Estoril during the first day of practice at the Portugal MotoGP, with the first MotoGP free-practice session marked by a damp track, whereas the surface was mainly dry in the afternoon.
Nonetheless, Ducati Team riders Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi were able to gather valuable information that should be useful over the weekend and in the future.
Both riders opted to spend much of the morning session in the garage, but when they ventured out near the end, Hayden and Rossi set the second- and third-best times, respectively. Although they were seventh and ninth in the afternoon, both riders were able to ride near their limits, and their gap to the front was reduced compared to most of the previous dry sessions this season.
Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 7th (1:39.029)
“Conditions weren’t perfect this morning, but since they were calling for a good chance of rain in the afternoon, we thought it was worth having a look toward the end. The track was patchy, but I’ve got to say that Bridgestone’s new tyre is much better and safer in those conditions. This afternoon, the track was completely dry except for water seeping up in the last corner, which made it tough to see the line. We made a couple of gains during the session, but I felt like the time went by really quickly. We’ve still got a lot of work to do, especially in the side-to-side sections, where I’m having some difficulty changing direction. Hopefully we can do a good job with the data tonight and be more consistent tomorrow.”
Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 9th (1:39.357)
“We had a decent start to the weekend because I was able to ride the bike pretty well, I didn’t finish so far from the front in terms of lap times and, most importantly, I was fast in several sections of the track. I’m only losing a lot in the last split, T4, so along with the technicians, I’m trying to understand why I’m having such a hard time in the last corner, where there’s very limited grip and the back of the bike slides a lot. Still, I can brake hard and enter the corners pretty quickly, and if we’re able to fix the rear, we can get closer. Our goal is to try to be competitive around the entire track. We’ll see what the weather is like, because this morning’s mixed conditions were difficult, and then they were better in the afternoon. Although we went well in the wet, we hope the weather stays nice and that it will be completely dry on Sunday.”
Yamaha Factory Racing rider Ben Spies was back on form in Estoril today for the first practice sessions of the Portuguese MotoGP. The Texan was one of the first riders to venture out in the morning session, braving mixed track conditions of wet and dry to test a big set up change.
The new direction proved to be confidence inspiring, Spies topping the morning timesheets and remaining highly competitive in the afternoon, leading for a while and eventually finishing in second place, 0.321 seconds behind Casey Stoner.
Team mate Jorge Lorenzo decided to sit out the morning session with little valuable data to be gained from the mixed track conditions.
The afternoon session saw him hunting a set up to provide more rear grip for his YZR-M1, eventually settling for fifth in the timesheets.
The team will look to find a solution tomorrow to be ready for qualifying. Today marks not only Lorenzo’s 25th birthday but also the ten-year anniversary to his first GP session at the Jerez circuit.
Ben Spies Position 2nd – Time 1.38.717 – Laps 33
“It’s a good feeling today but it’s still early, it’s Friday. The most important thing is I have to thank my crew, they made a huge change to the bike, not only to the front but we also changed some rider position settings that I asked for and the bike seems good. Not only are the lap times fast, it’s much easier to ride at that speed than the slower times at Jerez. Right now the bike is quick and easy to ride, we need to make some more improvements to it. To be in the top three on the first day after two difficult weekends is a positive start.”
Jorge Lorenzo Position 5th – Time 1.38.930 – Laps 16
“Today was so-so because we didn’t find a good set up or a good feeling with the bike. Also the new asphalt is not the best, I think it’s worse than last year in some places and also the weather doesn’t help with some wet patches in corners. I expect a lot of things to improve tomorrow, especially the rear of the bike which is not right in some corners.”
Yamaha Factory Racing Take MotoGP Championship Lead to Estoril
Yamaha Factory Racing head to Estoril this weekend on the Atlantic coast in Portugal for the second European round of the 2012 MotoGP World Championship, the first back to back race weekend of the season.
Jorge Lorenzo arrives in confident mood as the Championship leader having taken victory in Qatar and a well deserved second place finish in Jerez last weekend.
Estoril is another favourite track for Lorenzo with four consecutive premier class pole position starts, three race wins and one second place finish. He has never finished higher than second in the premier class there. The Mallorcan will be looking to defend and extend his four point lead in the standings.
Team mate Ben Spies arrives in Portugal determined to get his 2012 Championship back on track after a frustrating start to the season. The Texan has yet to complete a MotoGP race at the Estoril circuit having suffered misfortune in both 2010 and 2011.
The Autodromo Fernanda Pires de Silva sits just seven kilometres from the Atlantic coast and as such is notorious for dramatic weather changes; riders can see conditions change in seconds from warm sunshine to high winds and gusts of rain. Estoril provides one of the most challenging circuits for set up, featuring one of the longest straights of the MotoGP calendar combined with the one of the slowest corners. Lorenzo and Spies will need all their rider skills to negotiate the slow twisty sections then hold their nerve for the high speed 200km/hr kink at turn five and the infamous final Parabolica corner leading to the finish line.
Jorge Lorenzo
“We go to Estoril now, a track which has seen very good results for me. I have had some great victories here, and really enjoy the racing. I think we can be very strong in the race and as in Jerez I think the right tyres will be very important. We are leading the Championship but the competition is very tough so we must give everything to try and stay in front. We also will test on Monday which will be important to continue to make the 1000cc M1 even better.”
Ben Spies
“It’s been a pretty rough start to the season so far, we’re going to Estoril determined to get our championship back on track and get back up there. I’ve been pretty unlucky in Portugal so it’s time to change that and deliver a good result. We will work hard from the first session to find a good set up that works and see what we can do on Sunday.”
The weekend’s last rain shower fell less than an hour before the Spanish Grand Prix, leaving time for the water to evaporate enough to have the race declared dry, so the MotoGP riders started on slick tyres.
Nicky Hayden, who started from the first row, was involved in a back-and-forth battle for third place with Crutchlow and Pedrosa.
The American then steadily lost ground as grip decreased, eventually finishing eighth. Valentino Rossi, who started from the fifth row, steadily improved his pace as he climbed to eighth place.
Both riders will continue working on the setup of the GP12, starting this Friday when they again take to the track for free practice at the Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril, and also during the post-race test on Monday.
Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 9th
“The positive thing from today’s race is that I think it might help us to do a bit better in the coming events, starting next week in Portugal. Today we used a setup that’s new for us, and it gave some positive signs. First we tried some solutions to give me a feeling similar to what I’ve had in the past, but it doesn’t work.
Today’s setting was very similar to what Nicky has used for a while, though not exactly the same. I must get used to riding the bike a bit differently than I’m used to, and today that caused me to lose some ground in the early laps because I was basically starting blind. I wasn’t going bad once I found my rhythm, in the sense that I was matching the times of those who were fighting for sixth place, and I was able to push until the end, doing a 1:41.0 on the penultimate lap. This helps me to be a little more optimistic as I look ahead to the next races because if I’m able to ride a bit better, it could be a place for us to start from. In fact, we’ll use this setting when we start on Friday. Naturally, we’ll have to keep working, be more effective in qualifying so that we can start further forward, and improve acceleration and a number of other things, which we’ve already discussed at Ducati as we try, together, to improve the GP12.”
MotoGP: Yamaha Factory Racing rider Jorge Lorenzo continued his unbroken premier class podium run at Jerez for the third year running today, taking second in the Grand Prix of Spain. Starting from pole, Lorenzo initially dropped to third, then swiftly moved up to second by lap three behind race leader Casey Stoner.
The gap never grew to more than a second, then closed to just over 0.2 seconds in the last laps. Unfortunately by this point the soft front tyre choice left Lorenzo unable to make a pass. He crossed the line 0.947 seconds behind Stoner, taking 20 Championship points and as a result heads to Estoril leading the Championship by four points with a total of 45.
Ben Spies suffered a second disappointing race today, despite starting well the Texan was unable to find a good feeling from the front end of his M1 and was cautious to push to hard and risk a fall. He took the same result as in Qatar, finishing in 11th to take a further five Championship points, bringing his total to ten and 11th in the standings.
Jorge Lorenzo Position 2nd – Time +0.947
“Today I knew it would be a very important decision on the grid to choose the right front tyre. Finally we chose the soft one, unfortunately we were wrong and had a lot of problems during the race, I wasn’t as confident as in practice. Without good feelings to finish second is not so bad, we are still leading the Championship and have good motivation for Estoril.
Ben Spies Position 11th – Time +38.041
“I don’t really know what happened, I got off to a pretty good start from the line but after that I didn’t have a good feeling with the bike, it was a pretty pathetic race really for me. I’ve apologized to the team and we’ve had a long meeting about what I was feeling with the bike. I just wasn’t comfortable, I rode as hard as I could but the speed just wasn’t there. We need to find something because we can see the Yamahas are working well but my feeling with the bike is not great. It was a bad day at the office today.”
Wilco Zeelenberg – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager
“A very difficult weekend but a very good result, second place was the maximum we could get today. The front tyre was gone so an attack would have been a disaster at the end. We’re leading the Championship and we’re on to the next round. The team worked really hard here in constantly changing conditions to deliver a competitive bike for Jorge.”
The Mallorcan’s legendary consistent lap pace meant Stoner was never more than one second ahead until the final lap and at times just 0.2 seconds in front.
After two days of working on his GP12’s settings, the Italian lapped at a pace that was both relatively fast and very consistent, eventually finishing in seventh place, which is his best result of the season so far.
Conditions here have been typically changeable with strong winds gusting off the Atlantic and all sessions have been affected by a track that has refused to completely dry following yesterday’s early morning rain. Even during the first few minutes of qualifying a few spots of rain began to fall, adding some extra tension to proceedings.
The new direction proved to be confidence inspiring, Spies topping the morning timesheets and remaining highly competitive in the afternoon, leading for a while and eventually finishing in second place, 0.321 seconds behind Casey Stoner.
Yamaha Factory Racing head to Estoril this weekend on the Atlantic coast in Portugal for the second European round of the 2012 MotoGP World Championship, the first back to back race weekend of the season.
The American then steadily lost ground as grip decreased, eventually finishing eighth. Valentino Rossi, who started from the fifth row, steadily improved his pace as he climbed to eighth place.
The gap never grew to more than a second, then closed to just over 0.2 seconds in the last laps. Unfortunately by this point the soft front tyre choice left Lorenzo unable to make a pass. He crossed the line 0.947 seconds behind Stoner, taking 20 Championship points and as a result heads to Estoril leading the Championship by four points with a total of 45.