All posts tagged motogp misano
MotoGP Riders talk qualifying at Misano
Today’s MotoGP qualifying session at Misano was all about Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo, but Dani Pedrosa could put a wrench in the plans that these two have, if he finds that extra little something for his race pace.
For the rest of the riders, it’ll be about tire choice and management, fuel consumption for the heavier riders and if the weather decides to dump a bucketful of rain on the Italian circuit which could change everything around, while some would have liked to borrow Valentino Rossi’s new WTF helmet.
Here’s what all the riders had to say after qualifying:
Casey Stoner - 1st
It’s been a pretty good weekend for us here, steadily improving the bike each session. We struggled a little with the hard tyre this afternoon, trying to find the correct balance but then we made an improvement and got the bike feeling better. Then when we put the soft tyres on, we got a great lap in but the bike wasn’t working too well in the front, which is something we need to improve for tomorrow. It will be a tough race, Dani and Jorge are both running very well so I’ll try to get a good start but there are a few more overtaking opportunities here at Misano, it’s not a track with only one line. The weekend on a whole is going well, tomorrow we’ll have to decide on tyres depending on what the weather is doing, hopefully it will cool down a little which would be nice!”
Casey Stoner breaks record at he flies to pole position at Misano
Casey Stoner took his eighth pole position of the 2011 season today at the Misano World Circuit. The Repsol Honda rider broke his 2008 pole position record with a blazing 1′33.138, but Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo wasn’t that far off, which bodes well for an exciting race between the two title rivals on Sunday, if the weather holds up.
Lorenzo was just a tenth of a second off of Stoner’s best time, losing a tad in the third and fourth sectors, but his race pace is devasting. Taking the third spot on the front row will be 2010 Misano winner Dani Pedrosa, who was just 0.180s off the pole, so watch out for one his lightning starts when the lights go out.
Ben Spies tooked fourth after being down in eighth for most of the session, he was eighth tenths off pace, but he was able to pip both Marco Simoncelli and Andrea Dovizioso for the spot.
Continue reading: Casey Stoner breaks record at he flies to pole position at Misano
Casey Stoner drops the hammer in FP3 at Misano
Casey Stoner started FP3 at Misano with a bang, answering back to Jorge Lorenzo’s already devasting Friday’s lap of 1.33.929, with an even more stunning 1.33.567 on his fourth lap out and just 0.2s from his own 2008 pole record which was set on qualifying tyres.
Repsol Honda team mate Dani Pedrosa was the only other rider to get close to Stoner and he was just 0.099s adrift with his flying lap. Jorge Lorenzo ended up third and little more than three tenths off pace which won’t make him happy, however his race pace is still impressive. Ben Spies moved up to fourth this morning, while Colin Edwards who announced yesterday he’ll be riding for a CRT squad next season grabbed fifth on his last lap, pipping even Honda RC212V riders Andrea Dovizioso and Marco Simoncelli who were sixth and seventh, respectively.
Hector Barbera was once again the best Ducati rider with his eighth spot, while Cal Crutchlow broke into the top ten after yesterday’s 15th place, confirming that his lap times didn’t show his real potential.
Continue reading: Casey Stoner drops the hammer in FP3 at Misano
Valentino Rossi's 2011 Misano helmet
For his home races Valentino Rossi usually debuts a new helmet design and for this year’s Misano GP he and Aldo Drudi came up with this ironic idea that he showed off this morning during FP3.
We think the design is pretty self explanatory considering the difficulties he has riding the Ducati Desmosedici.
Last year for Misano he wore this ‘wake-up helmet.’
Photo source | davidebrivio@twitter
Rider quotes from Misano's Friday practice sessions
It was hot and muggy today at the Misano World Circuit, but there was one rider who was finally satisfied and that was Jorge Lorenzo. The reigning World Champion has been struggling of late in finding a proper set-up which would give him more rear traction and after two tough races, this afternoon he ended up being the quickest rider of the field, which put a big smile on his face because now he can try to stay with points leader Casey Stoner and just maybe we won’t get the usual and boring runaway race.
For the rest of grid who didn’t post such dazzling lap times as Lorenzo and Stoner, the biggest issue will be which tire to use come Sunday afternoon for the 28 lap race.
Here’s what all the MotoGP riders had to say at the end of the day:
Jorge Lorenzo - 1st
“I feel much more comfortable on the bike this afternoon with the changes we made. The setting we used is very similar to the Mugello one, and I won the race there. To be honest, I didn’t expect such a big change because we improved more than one second. We are now quite close to a victory I think. Casey and Dani are still fast but at least we are there with them.”
Continue reading: Rider quotes from Misano's Friday practice sessions
MotoGP Misano: Jorge Lorenzo fights back in FP2
Jorge Lorenzo dropped the proverbial hammer in this afternoon’s second free practice at Misano. The Yamaha rider shaved off a massive 1.2 seconds from this morning, finally finding that rear grip traction that he’s been lamenting lately to put in a blazing 1.33.929 and was the only rider to break the 1.34 barrier, putting in a devastating series of laps in the low 1.34s.
Only Casey Stoner was able to get close to Lorenzo, he was just 0.076s adrift, but it took him his final laps to do it. Dani Pedrosa took third followed by another Honda rider, Marco Simoncelli, who beat out Ben Spies for the spot by just 0.025s. Spies was the last rider to be within a second from Lorenzo.
Andrea Dovizioso was sixth followed by Rizla Suzuki’s Alvaro Bautista. Just ten minutes into the session Bautista’s GSV-R decided it had enough and started billowing white smoke (he still in the safe zone with his engine allocation) and had to park it against the wall, but that didn’t stop him from posting the 7th best time on his spare bike.
Continue reading: MotoGP Misano: Jorge Lorenzo fights back in FP2
Casey Stoner leads off in FP1 at Misano
The Misano World circuit venue which will continue to be on the GP calendar for the next five years, saw MotoGP action kick off again just one week after Casey Stoner’s superb win at Indianapolis and it was again the Australian Repsol Honda rider who headed the top of the timesheets after bumping off Ben Spies with his last flying lap of 1.34.180.
However the first practice session saw some tight lap times at least for the top three with Stoner, Spies who has an excellent race pace and Dani Pedrosa all in less than three and half tenths of a second.
Andrea Dovizioso took fourth, but he was 0.831s adrift, followed by his Honda rival for a factory bike, Marco Simoncelli. Reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo is still struggling, because he was just sixth and not only 0.962s off of Stoner’s best time, he was also almost 7 tenths from his Yamaha team mate.
Hector Barbera was the best Ducati rider this morning in seventh with Alvaro Bautista in eighth and Colin Edwards and Karel Abraham closed out the top ten.
Loris Capirossi announces retirement
After hinting several times that he was going to retire from MotoGP at the end of the season, Loris Capirossi has finally got around to announcing his retirement this afternoon during the pre-event press conference at Misano.
Capirossi, 38 received a standing ovation as he almost broke down in tears saying that it’s time that he retire after 22 years in motorcycle racing.
“It’s difficult for me to say this, because after 22 seasons this will be my last race in Italy because at the end of the year, I will retire. It’s not been an easy decision, but I think it’s the right time to stop. I’ve said to myself ‘yes, no, yes, no’ many times, but this is the right decision.I want to say thank you to everybody who has supported me and who has given me rides. I’ve always tried to do my best and I’ve had a fantastic time,” said an emotional Capirex.
The veteran rider is a triple world champion (two titles in 125cc in 1990 and 1991 and one 1998 in the 250cc class) has 29 race wins to his credit (7 in MotoGP) and 99 podiums (26 of which in MotoGP) and has a record 324 grand prix starts, asked the other riders present at the conference (Rossi, Pedrosa, Stoner, Spies) to help him get his 100th podium before he leaves the series.
Capirossi said he received other offers to continue to ride (in MotoGP with CRT bikes and Superbikes) however other rumors have him heading towards a management job in Dorna to work alongside Franco Uncini as a safety delegate.
Source | eurosport.yahoo.com
Ducati's Cicognani blames tires, Burgess previews Misano (w/video)
Ducati’s problems were exacerbated ten fold at Indianapolis and Alessandro Cicognani, Ducati Corse MotoGP Project Manager blames it all on the tires, while Jeremy Burgess, Valentino Rossi’s legendary crewchief previews the GP Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini at the Misano World circuit, which is important race for the Italian team describing Rossi’s supposedly strong points on this particular track and one of the problems that they may encounter this upcoming weekend.
Rossi in his preview of the race looks like he’s already preparing his fans that Misano won’t be a breakthrough for him nor Ducati, while Nicky Hayden is worried about temperatures (Misano is expecting a high of 31°C on Sunday) because the higher the surface temperatures, the harder it is to ride the D16.
“We’ll be racing in front of our home fans at Misano, and obviously we’d like to do better than we have at recent races,” commented Valentino Rossi. “Indianapolis was very difficult, and we would have preferred to arrive here in better shape, but we’re aware that much of our work is aimed toward the future. For the moment, we must take into account the possibility that our results won’t be satisfying, first for us but also for our fans. We’re all working at our maximum, both at the track and in the company, and in the meantime, we’ll try to do as well as the current situation allows.”
“Indy was a bad race, but some how, some way, you’ve got to try to get over it and move on,” said Nicky Hayden. “Misano has been a tough track for me, because it seems like I can’t ever get through the first corner. It would be nice to catch a bit of a break, because I don’t feel like we’re always getting the results we deserve. We learned a lot about the new bike in Indy, so I hope we’ve got a good starting point there. We’ll see what the weather’s going to do. Hopefully it won’t be too hot, as that makes things more difficult for us. Anyway, we need to do our best and try to improve our bike.”
Wayne Rainey to return to Misano after 18 years
After 18 years from that almost fatal September 5, 1993, Wayne Rainey will be returning to the Misano circuit for the first time to see next weekend’s Misano GP and will be present in the paddock on Friday September 2nd from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm with Yamaha organizing a special event for this unforgettable rider.
The former three times World Champion will find that the circuit is no longer called Santamonica, but Misano World Circuit and the races are now held in the opposite direction.
Rainey’s career ending crash will be forever etched in racing fans minds when the American crashed out at over 120mph at turn one, sliding out at highspeed and then began tumbing over and over into the rutted gravel before finally stopping, when his own bike seemed to hit him in the back. Rainey ended up with a fractured sixth thoracic vertebra and a paraplegic, but he survived and is still one of the greatest racing legends alive.
Bentornato Wayne. Welcome back Wayne.
MotoGP Misano Gallery of Pics - Part 2
Here’s our second gallery of pics from the GP Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini weekend. After 12 rounds Jorge Lorenzo leads the championship with 271 points followed by Dani Pedrosa with 208.
MotoGP Misano video highlights and pics
Here’s a highlight video from the MotoGP Misano weekend along with with our first gallery of pics. Remember to check back with us tomorrow for another great batch of great photos that you can enjoy.
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