All posts tagged honda repsol
Tough race for Pedrosa, Stoner tired and Dovizioso battles fuel consumption at Misano
Dani Pedrosa isn’t a rider to take team orders and don’t even suggest it, because today he caught his team mate Casey Stoner and slipped right past him with no thoughts to the standings and the fact that Jorge Lorenzo was dominating, while his Australian team mate suffered from fatigue, niggling neck problems (probably brought on by the hot and very humid conditions at Misano) and was quickly fading.
Like we said yesterday after the qualifying session, fuel consumption would be an issue for some riders even if we didn’t expect that it would be Andrea Dovizioso to suffer from it. It effected the outcome of his race (even if he didn’t have the pace), but his battle with rival Marco Simoncelli can still be considered one of the best moments of the race and he’s still the best Italian rider on the grid with his 3rd place in the standings.
“I’m a little disappointed with the race because the bike didn’t feel as good as in practice,” reported Dani Pedrosa who took second. “We wanted to make a change to the suspension to improve it but we had the opposite effect, sometimes it happens. From the first lap, I realised I couldn’t keep up with Jorge and Casey, at the beginning the bike was closing the front and then it was sliding in the rear. The second part of the race was good, Jorge had a perfect race today, but I was able improve my times lap by lap and catch Casey. I overtook him and had another second place in two weeks, which is not so bad. We’ve been lucky today as it was cooler than yesterday the rain didn’t come. It’s been two demanding races in a row and this one in particular was the toughest of the season so far - the circuit is challenging with so many hard braking areas and it’s been very hot again, also after Indy it’s been difficult to recover from the jet lag. Let’s hope we can get some rest and be stronger for Aragon.”
Honda factory riders, oh so very satisfied
It’s way to early to say if Casey Stoner will be the one to take Jorge Lorenzo’s crown away in 2011, because testing is only testing, but the Aussie is already making a big, big impression and is probably scaring the crap out of his rival aliens on his second outing with the Honda.
More than four tenths of a gap on Jorge Lorenzo on the first day of testing is nothing to sneeze at, while his team mates have become testing mules, Stoner just got comfortable … and he still has a lot of room for improvement.
Alberto Puig’s worst nightmares certainly look like they may be coming true, while Ducati just might be having second thoughts on their expensive decision, that could land them with yellow egg on their red faces.
Casey Stoner – 1st – 2.01.574
“Very positive day. At the beginning it took some time to get used to the bike again, but I soon felt comfortable and we had a good day. We didn’t change the set-up too much compared to the one we had in Valencia and I am please to see that even if the circuit is different, it still works pretty well here in Sepang. We did some work later on with the engine braking to decrease some chattering and looks like we found a good solution. In the next two days we will start testing something new but anyway for me, it was a very good way to come back on track after the winter break.”
Continue reading: Honda factory riders, oh so very satisfied
Andrea Dovizioso to get new crew members
Honda may have announced that their going to field a three rider factory team, but it looks like Andrea Dovizioso has already drawn the short straw in the deal.
The Italian rider was informed Monday morning that a big part of his pit crew, techs and mechanics, are being switched over to Casey Stoner’s side of the garage and that he’ll be getting others.
By now everyone knows how essential it is for a rider to work with a tightly knit crew and the importance that they put in them. They’ve become so fundamental, that they even take them when they switch teams as Valentino Rossi, Ben Spies and now Casey Stoner have done.
So why is Honda changing Dovizioso’s pit crew and informing him the day before the tests kick off, when they had told him if he went to a satellite team he would have kept all his crew? If we were malicious, we’d think that Honda is playing mean with Dovizioso for putting up such a stink and adamantly refusing to be shuffled off to Gresini, wanting to stay in the factory team.
Source | motosprint.it
MotoGP: Honda gets 'One Heart' Logo
Honda HRC has picked up a new sponsor for the final race of the season and for 2011 (it looks like Livio Suppo has been doing something else besides poaching Casey Stoner from Ducati and infighting with Alberto Puig) that will appear on the Honda factory fairings and Dani Pedrosa’s and Andrea Dovizioso leathers on Friday morning at Valencia.
“One Heart” is the tag line of the new logo that will appear on the RC212V’s and on the front and right arms of the rider’s leathers and belongs to Honda’s joint venture operating company in Indonesia, called Astra Honda.
Honda already holds a 46% market share in Indonesia and the company plans to increase motorcycle production in this important market to four million machines by the end of next year.
Source | motogp.com and astrahonda.com
Andrea Dovizioso stopped by technical problem
After two excellent podiums at Motegi and Sepang, Andrea Dovizioso who despite struggling during this weekend at Phillip Island was off the starting line from ninth to fifth on the first lap, but on the third lap went wide and fell back to last place and after trying to manhandle his Honda on track, decided to pit.
Honda techs discovered that the steering damper mounting on his RC212V had moved, making steering and controlling virtually impossibile for the Italian.
“It’s really a pity that I had to retire today because we had worked hard with team and, after two difficult days of practice, today we had the pace to fight for third position and a podium finish. I made a good start and I was able to recover some positions. On the first lap I did a 1m31.7s without pushing too hard and I was fifth across the line. In the first two laps though I felt the steering was stiff and on lap three this caused me to lose a lot of positions. I could control the bike but, although I completed another lap, it was too risky to keep riding and I had to come into the pits. There was a problem at the steering damper mounting - it had moved into an incorrect position, so now we will investigate the causes. I’m really disappointed because after two great races in Japan and Malaysia, it was important to make a good race here to fight for third position in the championship. Still, now we will look to get the best results possible in Estoril and Valencia. ”
Honda may have the better engine life this season compared to the other marques, but they’ve also had problems that have cost Dani Pedrosa twice. The first problem was at Jerez, when Pedrosa was dominating the race and a sensor on his ECU unit went on the glitch, cutting the power on his bike believing that he was running out of gas and then the fly-by-wire throttle electronic malfunction that caused the Spaniard to crash at Motegi and now the unusal steering damper problem on Dovizioso’s bike.
Dani Pedrosa to ride in Qatar GP
After speculation whether Dani Pedrosa would be able to participate in the first GP of the season after his surgery at the begining of March, Pedrosa has now personally confirmed on his blog on the official Repsol website, that he will ride his Repsol Honda at the MotoGP in Qatar this weekend.
Here’s what the Spanish rider had to say:
“I am pleased that I can return to racing this weekend, but I have to tell you that I am not 100% fit, so I am well aware that I will be at a disadvantage in Qatar. Doctor Ferreira & Doctor Mir have done some great work on my knee and arm, but the time we had for my recovery, especially for my knee, was quite short. Even though I have made good use of the last two weeks and we have made good progress, I am aware that in Qatar I will only be able to win a few points, but points which at the end of the season could be very valuable. The overriding reason being not to begin the second race of the season with a gap of 25 points to make up on my rivals.”
You can read more of his message here
Source | motoblog
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