All posts tagged motogp catalunya
MotoGP Catalunya paddock girls
After a weekend of boring racing and some more injuries (as many took the MotoGP Catalunya round to be), is the MotoGP in danger of becoming a racing series for a few top riders and an opportunity for any girl who ever dreamed of attempting to start a modelling career by holding an umbrella? Quite possibly, but we don’t think you’ll mind (for the moment) on seeing these pics of the paddock girls from Montemelo at the Barcelona MotoGP. If they become all that’s interesting to look at for a MotoGP racing weekend, then the series might have some problems. But more on that later - for the moment, enjoy the pics.
MotoGP 2011 - Barcellona - Paddock Girls
MotoGP Catalunya race reaches record number of viewers in Italy
Yesterday’s MotoGP race at Montemelò has been described as boring, processional, dull, a snooze fest and my personal favourite ‘watching hair grow was more exciting’, but apparently that was the best thing that Italian TV had to offer on a Sunday and I mean all 24 hours of it.
It seemed that everyone and their mothers tuned in to see if Marco Simoncelli would take out some other Spanish rider (preferences were towards Jorge Lorenzo), podium or better yet see if the locals were going to lynch him to the highest flag pole at the track. We all know that none of these three things happened, because the Gresini rider botched up his start, but all the same 6.757.000 viewers were on hand to watch the race and it peaked at 6.980.000 viewers around the half way mark, and these were the best numbers of the season so far.
And last year we were all worried that when Valentino Rossi decides to retire MotoGP viewing audiences could take a big hit , but it seems that Italy has found someone to fill his riding boots: Super Sic.
Source | tvblog.it
MotoGP Catalunya: Rider quotes from the rest of the best
After reading what the Honda and factory Yamaha riders had to say, here’s what the rest of the grid had to say after the Catalunya GP, including Colin Edwards who after failing the medical test jokingly said, “They won’t let me ride because I’m not called Valentino Rossi.”
However the Texan is highly determined to ride at Silverstone next week after undergoing surgery Saturday morning to repair his fractured collarbone.
Valentino Rossi - 5th
“There are good and bad aspects to today’s race. On the positive side, we reduced the gap to the front, and the others in front of me weren’t so far ahead. On the other hand, I’m obviously not happy with fifth place, because our goal was to do better than that. To tell the truth, we really could have done a little better today but last night we thought of a change to try in the warm-up and the session turned out to be wet. The change worked quite well, so we found ourselves at a crossroads as to whether or not to blindly use it in the race. We tried it, and that may have been a mistake because the bike moved a lot on corner entry. It was sliding, and I didn’t have enough grip, so I was stuck for the whole race, unable to attack Dovizioso and Spies. Otherwise, I think I could have had a slightly better pace and perhaps battled with them. Anyway, we’re not too far off, and we’re working well, which we need to continue doing. The championship is long and we’re still fully focused on both the GP11 and 2012, and we have no intention of backing off.”
Continue reading: MotoGP Catalunya: Rider quotes from the rest of the best
Jorge Lorenzo: "I knew Stoner could overtake me"
Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo despite fighting tooth and nail to try stay with Casey Stoner in today’s race at Montmelò knew that he couldn’t match the Repsol Honda amazing race pace even if his Yamaha M1 did perform much better on the fast turns at Catalunya than at Le Mans.
“I’m really happy with the result, I gave it the maximum!” said Lorenzo. “I overtook Casey on the start but I knew he could overtake me. I tried to stay with him and not to lose his back wheel for as long as possible. At the end it started to rain a little and it was tough to keep concentration in the last sector but we managed it. We are still leading the championship so let’s see what happens in Silverstone.”
After a start of season with only two sixth places finishes from the opening four rounds, Ben Spies completely turned it around by taking third in Spain today, taking his first podium of the season, but also the first podium on the factory Yamaha.
Continue reading: Jorge Lorenzo: "I knew Stoner could overtake me"
Catalunya MotoGP after the race quotes from Honda
It may have been a boring MotoGP race at Catalunya, but no one can find fault with Casey Stoner who completely dominated this Spanish round. The Australian rider is now on a victory roll, very similar to his 2007 season with Ducati and seemingly unstoppable as he heads into next weekend’s Silverstone GP trailing points leader Jorge Lorenzo in the standings by just seven points.
Here’s what all the Honda riders had to say after the race.
Casey Stoner - 1st
“We got a reasonably good start, but not as good as Jorge. I wanted to try to pass him early on, but had to wait until the end of the first lap. From this point I just tried to put in the consistent laps as we did in the practice sessions to see if he could stay with me. Fortunately I was able to open up an advantage without pushing too hard or feeling too much pressure. I was really happy, the bike was feeling fantastic and then it started to rain. There was enough rain there to make you think that it will affect the bike, and in the last corner there was enough rain to make the track slippery. As I was always the first to arrive to the wet area of the track, I watched what the others were doing [from the information displayed on his pit board] and if they had started to catch me then I would push and if I start to pull an advantage then I would back off a little. I’m just happy I kept the bike upright at this stage and I want to thank all my team at Repsol Honda for all the hard work this weekend. We now head to Silverstone next week where we’ll also be looking to fight for victory. I just hope Dani can make a return there also and I wish him a fast recovery.”
Continue reading: Catalunya MotoGP after the race quotes from Honda
MotoGP Catalunya: Casey Stoner rockets to another win
Casey Stoner rocketed to his third win to the season at Montmelò, and his 26th in MotoGP, in a race that dare we say became a snore fest and processional, for the almost non exsistent action on track and the fact that Marco Simoncelli had a bad start, when everyone expected him to mix it up a little with the front runners.
The Australian who was on hard tires took the lead from Jorge Lorenzo on lap two and from there eased away putting deep space between himself and Lorenzo. The Yamaha rider tried his best to match the Australian’s pace but unable to catch him, even when white flags were waved signaling that riders could switch bikes, because there some spotty rain on track which in the end never really showed up enough to disturb anyone, so Lorenzo settled in for second and was never contested for his spot.
Ben Spies turned around his somewhat lucklustre season so far with his third place podium and he too was never contested for the spot even though Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi tried their best to make up the gap difference, but never getting close enough to actually try for a pass. For the third time this season Andrea Dovizioso beat Rossi and and take the fourth position, but this time he didn’t have to fight for his spot because Rossi was more than two seconds away from Italian Honda Repsol Honda rider.
Continue reading: MotoGP Catalunya: Casey Stoner rockets to another win
MotoGP Catalunya: Marco Simoncelli leads warm-up practice
This morning’s warm-up practice at Montmelò saw a full wet track and that began drying towards the end and only in certain areas with Marco Simoncelli showing once again his excellent form by taking the top spot on the timesheets with a best lap of 1.55.292.
Right behind the Gresini rider was a much more competitive Valentino Rossi who was just 0.117s adrift from his friend and losing time in the fourth sector. Rossi was followed by his team mate Nicky Hayden in third, If this afternoon’s race should be declared wet, both Ducatisti could surprise.
Andrea Dovizioso took fourth with Cal Crutchlow in fifth. Casey Stoner was ‘only’ sixth, but considering the race pace he’s had all weekend he probably decided not to push too much. Jorge Lorenzo down in 14th, he also decided not to take any risks sitting out most of the session and going out in the dying seconds before the pitlane closed down only to practice starts.
Continue reading: MotoGP Catalunya: Marco Simoncelli leads warm-up practice
MotoGP Catalunya Qualifying Quotes
“Dio Bo’ ho fatto la pole!” (Good God, I got the pole!) These were the first words that came out of Marco Simoncelli’s mouth when he pipped a very disappointed Casey Stoner for today’s pole position ahead of the Catalunya GP.
“This is the best way to cancel the incident of Le Mans, the polemics and everything everybody said until now,” said the Gresini rider, and we can’t agree more.
Marco Simoncelli - 1st
“It went well and I am much happier now than I have been for the past two weeks leading up to the Grand Prix. I was strong even though we had a few problems at the start of the session when I couldn’t push as hard as I would have liked. By the end we had solved the problems and I was able to ride really fast, although I never thought I would be able to set pole because Casey had been so fast in every session. I took a bit of a risk on the last lap trying to go faster and managed to save it, so finally my long legs have been good for something! Tomorrow won’t be easy because both Casey and Jorge have a fast race pace but I will try to stay with them. My first target is to finish the race, the second is to finish on the podium… you can guess the third!”
MotoGP Catalunya: Marco Simoncelli pips Stoner for pole position
In the best track conditions seen in the last three free practices, this afternoon’s Catalunya qualifying session saw Marco Simoncelli pip Casey Stoner for the pole position.
The Italian who has been surrounded by controversy since the Le Mans GP and escorted around the paddock by two cops in Gresini team garb, grabbed his first ever pole position in MotoGP with a best lap of 1.42.413 ,which was just 0.016 faster than Stoner, who had virtually dominated the entire hour session, but couldn’t manage to improve in the closing stages.
Taking off on the front row next to Simoncelli and Stoner will be Jorge Lorenzo, who in his last lap lunge pipped Yamah team mate Ben Spies by just 0.014s, while the Texas Terror was just 0.007s faster than Honda Repsol’s Andrea Dovizioso who qualified fifth. Closing the second row will be Yamaha Tech3’s rookie the very impressive Cal Crutchlow, who was a little more than seven tenths slower than Marco Simoncelli.
Valentino Rossi was only seventh and will open the third row, he too was pipped, but for a second row start by Crutchlow and 0.020s, and was a little more eight tenths adrift from Simoncelli’s pole position. Team mate Nicky Hayden will start in eighth, he was just 0.005 slower than Rossi. Closing out the last two spots in the top ten will be Alvaro Bautista and Hector Barbera.
Continue reading: MotoGP Catalunya: Marco Simoncelli pips Stoner for pole position
MotoGP Catalunya: Casey Stoner still on top, but Lorenzo catches up in FP3
With the sun shining in Barcelona, the track conditions at Montmelò started to improve and dry out and lap times tumbled, but it was Casey Stoner who again set the bar for the rest of the field. The Repsol Honda rider was his usual super fast straight out of the garage with a best time of 1.42.691 on his fourth lap, but Jorge Lorenzo upped his pace towards the end of the practice and was able to get much closer to Stoner, finishing just 0.122s adrift.
The third spot ahead of this afternoon’s qualifying session went to Marco Simoncelli who was 0.439s from the top of the chart, while Ben Spies was fourth followed by Andrea Dovizioso.
Nicky Hayden was sixth and the last rider to be within a second from Stoner. The rest of the grid will still have to play catch up. Cal Crutchlow was seventh followed by Valentino Rossi, Loris Capirossi and Alvaro Bautista closed out the top ten.
Despite the improved conditions, Loris Capirossi and Valentino Rossi took a tumble at turn 5 in different incidents, both riders walked away seemingly unhurt, but Rossi’s left shoulder took another beating, but avoided further damage by his deploying Dainese D-Air. Turn 5 was the same corner that saw Colin Edwards crash out yesterday afternoon and left him with broken collarbone and unable to take part in tomorrow’s race and leaving the grid with just 15 riders.
Continue reading: MotoGP Catalunya: Casey Stoner still on top, but Lorenzo catches up in FP3
MotoGP Friday quotes from Catalunya
Most of the complaints that came from today’s free practices at Montmelò was about the changeable weather and the track conditions, however it didn’t seem to effect Casey Stoner too much. The Australian who is nursing the after effects of the flu, topped both timesheets in the wet, in the dry and in between, stating matter of factly that he can go even faster.
Casey Stoner - 1st
“We’re quite happy with the day, unfortunately we didn’t get a lot of good wet or dry track time so a lot of time was wasted in changeable conditions and not achieving much. However, in general we got a pretty good feeling with the bike and everything seems to be working well. We would like to improve rear grip and turning on the exit, also some more stability on the brakes, but in general the bike feels good and we’re confident we can go faster tomorrow, hopefully in dry conditions and we’ll see what we can do. Physically I feel better than I have done in the past weeks, I’ve got blocked sinuses which doesn’t help when I’m trying to concentrate and my ears are popping but I’m trying to put this to one side and concentrate on the job at hand”.
Marco Simoncelli - 2nd
“I was a little tense when I arrived at the track on Wednesday but I was able to relax more and more over the course of yesterday and as soon as I got on the bike today I felt comfortable and without bad thoughts on my mind. We have made a good start. Stoner is slightly faster but we are close. We have to try and improve in sectors three and four because they are the two places I am losing time but I am confident that we have picked up where we left off. We have work to do but I think we can do it and if I can stay close to him in the race I will be able to see what I can learn from him. Obviously the mixed conditions today didn’t help because it limited us to less than twenty laps so hopefully we can have better weather tomorrow.”
Colin Edwards to undergo surgery in Spain
Colin Edwards will have to undergo surgery after breaking his right collarbone during this afternoon’s second free practice at Montmelo.
Edwards was probably caught out by a cold slick tire after switching bikes and on the out lap crashed heavily at turn 5. After the initial diagnosis the Texan was taken to the reknowned Dexeus Institute where he’ll undergo surgery performed by Dr Xavier Mir, who has previously treated Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.
“Unfortunately Colin has broken his right collarbone and this is a big shame for him and for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team because we were confident he was going to be very strong and competitive this weekend,” said team manager Herve Poncharal. “Colin has been superb so far this season and he has shown that even when the competition is probably stronger than ever in MotoGP, he is still one of the fastest out there. It looks like he paid a heavy price for a very small mistake. He landed heavily on his shoulder and it was clear from the TV pictures that he was in a lot of pain. He will have an operation tonight, so we should have a clearer idea of how long the recovery process will be later this weekend. The important thing now is that he rests and recovers as quickly as he possibly can. We wish him a fast recovery and hope that it is not too long before we see him back in the garage.”
This will be the first time after 141 races in MotoGP that the Texas Tornado will miss a start and with Dani Pedrosa already sidelined, the grid with be down to only 15 riders with everyone guaranteed to pick up points if they finish the race.
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