Yesterday there was a glitch when they indicated that Ben Spie had lapped in 1.58, but there wasn’t any glitch today when Casey Stoner posted a 1’59″607 with his RC213V. His lap on the third day of testing at Sepang and early this morning was 0.058s faster than the lap time he set during the 2011 Sepang tests with his highly evoluted 800cc machine.

The Australian champion is still suffering from back pain, stating that it seemed that he’d ‘felt like he had done three rounds with Mike Tyson’ but his fast lap set a warning shot to his rivals, despite the fact that both he and Repsol Honda team mate Dani Pedrosa have yet to solve the chattering issues that emerged with the new Bridgestone tires.

Casey Stoner:

“It’s been a good test in general, we only managed two out of the three days unfortunately but the weather has been really good to us and we’ve been able to do what we planned. The day I missed hasn’t affected us too much and we’ve managed to complete our testing programme, to be honest I think track conditions on the first day weren’t that great anyway as the lap times were not so fast. I’m still not feeling great with my back but the bike is ok, so we’ve made progress in reducing the chatter a little more and trying a few different things, some small settings on the shock that we haven’t tried before amongst other points. So far it’s been pretty positive, we’ll just have to wait and see what we have for the next test and hopefully improve a little more. Now I’m looking forward to getting home to Switzerland to see Adriana and await the arrival of our baby!”

Dani Pedrosa:

“Three days testing here in Malaysia is very tiring. This morning when I woke up I was pretty sore and stiff, but once I got running I was a little bit better. Anyway, it’s been worth it to do a general test of the engine, chassis and tyres and overall it is the biggest test we have done on this bike and we have good data to analyse and can start to build up points we need for the second test. As I said yesterday, the biggest point to improve is on braking, and we are also working on the electronics to improve the management of the power and the grip level. The chatter is still there, I know it’s something very difficult to fix, but I’m sure Honda is working hard on it. In general, it’s been a positive test for us and we will come back here in three weeks with new ideas. This bike is physically more demanding, you feel the power in the acceleration, the speed under hard braking and also the extra weight, but it’s alright. I will keep working hard physically to prepare for the second test.”

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After missing the first day of testing yesterday due to back problems (something he says he suffers from a couple of times a year since 2003) World Champion Casey Stoner enjoyed good track conditions on his first outing of 2012. Stoner who wanted to spend more time on the track - he did a total of 29 laps - did a chassis comparison between his two RC213V chassis’ and finished the day as the fastest rider of the day with a time of 2′00.895, but like everyone else freaked out when the the official timer had a glitch and briefly indicated that Spies had posted a terrifying 1.58.

Team-mate Dani Pedrosa and used his second day of testing to work on braking and to improve the stability of the new 1000cc bike in corner entry, and look for solutions to reduce the chattering. He finished the day 4th with a time of 2′01.508.

Casey Stoner:

“It was great to be able to ride today and everything went pretty well, although I would have liked to have done a few more laps. We spent most of the day on the new chassis comparing it back to back with the one we had in Valencia and we found a good direction and where we want to go. As usual it would be great to take some elements from one chassis and some from the other, but at least we found the direction we are happy to follow. We used the hard front tyre this afternoon but found we had more chattering with it so we have to work on this, there is still room for improvement. We didn’t get a chance to use the new spec tyres that Bridgestone have brought here, we’ll try them out tomorrow and go from there.”

Dani Pedrosa:

“Today we started to work well from the beginning; the track conditions were better than yesterday and it was hotter out there. We’ve been working on the setting of the bike, focusing mainly on the braking and reducing chatter, to improve the stability on the entry of the corners, that’s our main target right now. We made some comparisons between the two chassis’ and we will keep working with the bike and see what can we do before choosing. We have one more day, so we’ll try some other things with the shocks, this could help, and also different tyre pressures, we will see. I didn’t do many laps during the day, but now it’s time to test as much as possible and sometimes you have to spend more time in the garage, it’s normal. The new Bridgestone tyres are working ok, I just tried one hard on the rear but I didn’t have much grip and the soft ones are working better, even for the endurance they don’t look so bad.”

Continue reading: Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa on Day 2 at Sepang

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Switzerland is story book perfect in the winter time, the Alps, skiing, hot chocolate or something a little more alcoholic to warm you up, but it isn’t the ideal spot to start doing some outside training for the upcoming MotoGP season, especially if your name is Dani Pedrosa and you’ve been constantly battling an array of injuries.

Pedrosa who resides in Switzerland (for tax purposes) is spending a couple of weeks training on the warm Spanish island of Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands located off the coast of Africa trying to strengthen the shoulder he injured in the incident with the late Marco Simoncelli during the Le Mans GP.

Staying at the Hotel Princesa Yaiza at Playa Blanca, Pedrosa is dividing his days between jogging, riding his bicycle and training in the gym under the supervision of personal trainer Sebastiá Salas Paus who is also the physiotherapist of the Spanish handball team who is also in Lanzarote preparing for an international tournament.

Continue reading: Dani Pedrosa training in the Canary Islands

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The FIM and Dorna have accepted nine CRT teams with one reserve entry, the rules have been tweaked to allow the much slower CRT riders who fail to make the 107% cut during qualifying an extra chance to make it onto the grid with their warm-up practice lap times (factory and satellite riders are generally slower as they are out in race trim and not in qualifying trim) which is - let’s admit it - a blatant help to get as many CRT riders into the race.

Riders like the hypercritical Casey Stoner, to the much more moderate opinions of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi have already said what they think of upcoming CRTs and Dani Pedrosa has added his name to the list.

“The whole package is inferior to that of the current MotoGPs. The CRTs will field riders apart from Edwards and De Puniet, who have very little experience. I think that the differences in lap times will be considerable in 2012, but you have to believe in the category: Moto2 was a good change, Moto3 looks promising, it may be the same for the CRTs. However I wouldn’t be happy to ride one in the future, it would be a step backwards for me since I’ve been racing the fastest prototypes in the world and I don’t know if they would be as fun as MotoGPs, “ said Pedrosa in an long interview with Sport.es.

Source | bikeracing.it

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AMV Seguro is a Spanish insurance company for motorcycles and one of Dani Pedrosa’s personal sponsors (you can see their logo on the front of his leathers just above the big Repsol one) and this time lapsed video begins with an adorable five-year old Dani receiving his first helmet and minibike at Christmas.

Filmed last August with the splendid backdrop of the Costa Brava region, the video uses 3900 images with Pedrosa riding a scooter and doing the voice-over and thanking for all the beautiful things that motorcycles have taught and offered him.

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Dani Pedrosa is considering whether or not to have more shoulder surgery. The Repsol Honda rider who underwent surgery three times in 2011, the last surgery being after his crash at Le Mans with the late Marco Simoncellli, is thinking of having the plate removed, but is unsure of whether to have the operation done now or wait till the end of the 2012 season

After the controversial Le Mans crash, Pedrosa had a smaller plate and screws inserted into his right shoulder in order to try to avoid the serious vascular compression problems that hampered him in the first two races of the 2011 season, but the recovery time was longer and kept him out of three races.

According to the Spanish rider, the plate should be removed a year after its insertion but that would put him the middle of next season which could rule him out of at least one race event, between surgery and rehabilitation.

Pedrosa who admitted that he is not in pain, is considering all his options, but he’ll be using the testing ban period to try to regain strength in his shoulder as he has lost muscle mass and has weakened tendons and ligaments in order to try to return to complete fitness for the second official testing test at Sepang at the end of January.

The Repsol Honda rider lead the timesheets on both testing days at Valencia, earlier this month.

Source | speedweek.de and mcn.com

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Dani Pedrosa was once again the fastest rider on the final day of Moto 1 testing at Valencia. The Repsol Honda rider best lap was 1.31.807 and he pipped team mate Casey Stoner who lead most of Wednesday’s testing session. The two riders were also the only ones who broke the 1.32 mark with the new 2012 spec tires that Bridgestone brought in.

Ben Spies was again third, but he had a vast improvement from Tuesday test times, shaving off almost nine tenths and getting closer to the Honda’s. Satellite Yamaha rider Cal Crutchlow was fourth and he took off more than a second from his lap time while his new team mate Andrea Dovizioso took fifth.

Ducati and Valentino Rossi will have a massive amount of work to do this winter. The Italian is still 1.5 seconds of pace even with the GP0 or step 1 from the top of the timesheets, the same gap that he had throughout the entire 2011 season. Other Ducati riders, Karel Abraham and Hector Barbera were behind him in 7th and 8th, respectively.

Continue reading: MotoGP Valencia test: Dani Pedrosa leads off on final day of testing

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This upcoming MotoGP race at Valencia will be extremely difficult for everyone as it will be carried out under the dark cloud of the recent and tragic death of Marco Simoncelli.

The Repsol Honda team riders have admitted it will a tough one to get through, but are prepared to honour their fellow Honda rider, as is Dorna who is trying to organize the minute of noise requested by Simoncelli Sr. All the Valencia marshals will be wearing black arm bands while hundreds of racing fans are probably going to show at the Spanish track wearing tribute ‘Simoncelli’ wigs.

Casey Stoner has already wrapped up the 2011 championship title and is already thinking towards the new 2012 season, while Dani Pedrosa will be looking for victory in this season’s finale which would place him third in the general standings ahead of departing team mate Andrea Dovizioso, who will making his last appearance as Honda rider (after 10 years) before heading to the Yamaha Tech3 squad.

Here’s what the Repsol Honda riders had to say:

“It will be difficult to return to racing this weekend after Marco’s terrible accident in Sepang but I think it is the best thing we can do to honour him. We know we all play a risky game and, even if compared to the past the safety of our sport is much better, unfortunately these kind of events still occur. My thoughts go out to his family and I hope that they are coping through this period.”

“The race this weekend is the final round of an incredible season for us, we worked hard all year and after clinching the title in Phillip Island we are starting to look to 2012. After the race here in Valencia we will have the two day test on the 1000cc machine and then we can take a well deserved break and reflect on the ups and downs of a very long hard season. We will go out there this weekend and try to put on a good show for all the fans and especially in memory of Marco,” commented Casey Stoner.

Continue reading: Repsol Honda riders remember Marco Simoncelli and preview Valencia GP

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Dani Pedrosa nipped Casey Stoner’s amazing run of six consecutive pole positions by taking the first spot on tomorrow’s starting grid at Sepang, and his second pole position of the season. The Spaniard who lead all the practice sessions this weekend, despite an early crash qualified on top of timesheet with a blazing 2’01″462 lap, which was enough to pip the new World Champion by a mere 0.029s.

Andrea Dovizioso ended up in third as he and rival Marco Simoncelli exchanged the provisional pole for most of the hour session only to lose out when Pedrosa and Stoner stepped up their game in the final minutes, but the front row will be all Repsol Honda to the delight of both Honda and the Spanish petroleum giant.

Marco Simoncelli was bumped out of fourth by Colin Edwards, in his best qualifying position of the year, and was also the best Yamaha rider on track as team mate Cal Crutchlow made it into 10th. Ben Spies crashed out again, his second of the day, excaberating his already tenuous physical condition, as he ended up in 16th. Jorge Lorenzo’s replacement rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga was last and 2″610 off pace, making it another weekend to forget for the Yamaha factory team.

Continue reading: Dani Pedrosa pips Casey Stoner for pole position at Sepang

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Dani Pedrosa continued to lead a pack of Honda’s in this morning’s third free practice at Sepang ahead of this afternoon’s qualifying session.

The Spaniard was the only rider to dip under the 2.02 mark with his 2’01″769, however the gap between the Repsol Honda rider and the rest of the field was much tighter in this final pratice session. Gresini’s Marco Simoncelli was second and 0.265s followed by fellow Italian and Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso. Casey Stoner closed out the bevy of RC212V’s in fourth.

Nicky Hayden was fifth and less than half a second from Pedrosa and less than a tenth from the new 2011 World Champion, while Ducati team mate Valentino Rossi squeezed himself into eighth and was less than a second from the top of the chart. Dividing the two GP11’s were Alvaro Bautista and Colin Edwards. Closing out the top ten were Hiroshi Aoyama and Loris Capirossi.

Continue reading: MotoGP Sepang: Dani Pedrosa continues to lead Honda domination in FP3

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Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa continued Sepang domination in this afternoon’s second free practice with a bevy of Honda RC212V’s in the top five spots.

Pedrosa set a sensational 2’01″250 lap in the final minutes, shaving off almost seven tenths from his morning lap time and while he was at it broke the 2010 pole position record. World Champion Casey Stoner had no response for his ultra fast team mate has he finished second, 0.820s off pace and losing a big amount of time in the last sector of the Malaysian track.

Andrea Dovizioso was third and 1.4s adrift from his Repsol Honda team mate, while Gresini duo Marco Simoncelli and Hiroshi Aoyama completed the top five.

Continue reading: Dani Pedrosa dominates in FP2 at Sepang

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The penultimate round of the MotoGP season at the Sepang International Circuit kicked off with a devasting Dani Pedrosa taking the top of the charts in the first free practice and leading a Honda brigade, but interesting enough he was more that six tenths of second faster than newly crowned World Champion Casey Stoner who was second fastest.

Andrea Dovizioso on the third Repsol Honda took third and followed by Marco Simoncelli on the San Carlo Gresini Honda branded factory bike in fourth.

The surprise, or can we can no longer the surprise following his last few performances was Alvaro Bautista in fifth place, who is still waiting to hear what Suzuki’s plans are going to be for the 2012 season.

Continue reading: Dani Pedrosa leads Honda brigade in FP1 at Sepang

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