Ducati´s Casey Stoner was third on the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix Friday timesheets courtesy of his best effort in the morning run, a session at the end of which he was flicked off his Desmosedici GP8 and suffered bumps and bruises, including a knock to his already injured wrist.
Only one of the 19 MotoGP riders out on track was able to improve his times in the afternoon session as the rain worsened, Dani Pedrosa bettering his best effort at the bottom of the timesheet, whilst Stoner registered the eighth fastest time of FP2 as he sought to rebuild his confidence.
On the other side of the Ducati pit-box Marco Melandri was tenth fastest in the afternoon but fourteenth quickest overall - courtesy of a best lap recorded earlier in the day in the opening 90 minute free practice run.
Casey Stoner - third
`The track conditions vary drastically between the old surface and the new. Grip is good on the old stuff but there isn´t even minimum grip on the recently laid asphalt and the rain makes it much worse because it isn´t draining off. If it continues to rain like it did this afternoon then I´m not sure the conditions will be safe enough to race in. As far as the layout is concerned there are only a couple of critical areas - in particular turn five, where the run-off is very short. There´s not much we can do about that right now though - the best thing would be to stick an air-fence in. This morning I crashed on the section where the grip is poorest and that´s obviously not good for the wrist but thankfully it didn´t create any major problems.´
Marco Melandri - fourteenth
`I like the design of the circuit – it´s fun but unfortunately there are too many different types of asphalt and the new part is definitely the worst, especially with the rain. The bike tends to aquaplane and you can´t see anything because of the reflection off the water. Grip on the older part is good, although if it keeps raining it´s going to get really difficult. There are two or three dangerous corners: turns one, five and six, where the walls are too close. This morning we started out cautiously but we improved towards the end, whilst this afternoon we didn´t get chance to make too many improvements because the conditions were so bad.´
Analysing the significance of Valentino Rossi´s win at the Gran Premio Cinzano di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, which extended his standings lead to 75 points with five races remaining, Yamaha Factory Racing boss Lin Jarvis was in no doubt as to the importance of the round thirteen result for the Italian. Cheered on by the majority of the crowd at a circuit which lies just a few kilometres from his hometown of Tavullia, Rossi took a highly popular victory, with Stoner unable to score points for the second round in succession as he crashed out on lap seven.
`The Doctor´ was followed across the finishing line by Jorge Lorenzo in second place as the double 250cc World Champion recaptured his early season form to register his first podium since Le Mans in May, making it a great day for the team.
Jarvis had also seen Yamaha satellite riders James Toseland and Colin Edwards finish in the top ten. He commented, `One-two for us as a team and as a manufacturer is fantastic. I mean it was a shame for Casey and for the spectators, but we will take it! It is a very, very important victory for the championship.´
When asked whether it was physical or mental well-being which had contributed most to Lorenzo´s return to form Jarvis replied, `A little bit of both. I am sure that a few races ago he was shaky but honestly in the last couple of races he has felt better about himself and he has said I feel fine mentally. I think this result is just super for him. He has been very good all weekend, and he has put it together on race day. It is great to see him back up there.´
Having overseen Rossi´s successful move onto Bridgestone tyres over the winter, but with three Yamaha riders still running Michelins, Jarvis has a unique insight on the current hot topic of tyres in MotoGP.
On the day of the announcement of Dani Pedrosa´s sensational Bridgestone switch, Jarvis stated, `As a company we maybe do not have a fixed opinion on it. There are opinions of engineers, opinions of sports management, different opinions. Personally I am quite inclined towards monobrand, for the sport, for the championship and for the equality of the competition, but it is not so simple. In principle we all believe in free competition in the championship and when things are equal the Michelin riders can be up there.´
The MotoGP Teams Get Ready For Le Mans
The Le Mans circuit has had some modifications to the layout in readiness for the MotoGP improving safety to the revised new lap length of 4,185m while keeping it’s unique character.
Valentino Rossi on the Fiat Yamaha is hoping to continue his good fortune from his win in China earlier this month. It was the first win for the Italian so far this season and he hopes to take his next victory on the French circuit, which he feels he should have done better at last year.
Rossi said “Last year Le Mans was incredibly disappointing for us. We were hoping for a good result in the dry, but the rain came and things didn’t go as planned. This year, however, we’re going there on a high after the fantastic result in China and I’m confident we can have a good weekend. Yamaha usually go well at Le Mans and, although it’s the first time we’ve been there with Bridgestone, I’m confident we’ll be strong there. I’m nine points from the top of the championship but our rivals are very motivated too, so there’s no let-up and we must go for the maximum points again.”
The reigning champion, Casey Stoner, is hoping for a better performance at Le Mans although he has already confessed to it not being one of his favourite tracks but is eager to get on with the job in hand and decrease the 25 point difference between himself and the current leader of the 2008 championship, Dani Pedrosa.
The Ducati rider said “I haven’t had outstanding results at Le Mans in the past, but they have been good and I remember being really fast in practice last year and being confident for the race. Then on Sunday it rained but I still came away with a podium.”
“The track itself is not the most exciting. It’s more like a go-kart track, the bike has to be really efficient on the brakes but agile at the same time, and quick on the exit of corners. But at the end of the day the objective is still the same, whether you like the track or not.”
His team-mate, Marco Melandri has had success on the track in the past and said “I think I can do well there because I won in 2006 and last year I made the podium. Personally, I have always liked this track so hopefully I can get another good result.”
The Kawasaki rider, John Hopkins is hoping to be back to full fitness for the next race after injuring his leg at the Shanghai round. He caught the back of his knee on the footpeg of his Ninja after getting in a tangle with Alex de Angeles, forcing him off the track but he rejoined and continued to take fourteenth position in the race.
Hopkins said “My leg is completely black and blue with bruising but, while it looks quite nasty, it hasn’t caused me any problems. I’m confident it won’t be an issue on the bike. I’m looking forward to Le Mans because it’s a track that suits my riding style. There’s a lot of hard braking, quick changes of direction, and hard acceleration, and that’s exactly what the ZX-RR has been designed for. When you combine this with our Bridgestone tyres, which always seem to work well here, I think we’re in a strong position.”
His team-mate, Anthony West was equally disappointed with his race at Shanghai and has been working hard with his crew to solve the traction problems he has had since the start of the season.
West said “I’ve had some problems this year with the rear tyre spinning up too easily out of the turns but, after discussing the problem with my crew and Kawasaki’s technical staff, we think we’ve identified what we need to change on the bike to see an improvement in this area. If we can fix this problem, then I am confident that a top ten finish in France is a realistic goal for me.”
Chris Vermeulen who won at the French circuit last year in the pouring rain for the Rizla Suzuki team is hoping to do the same again but preferably in dryer conditions. He said “I’m looking forward to Le Mans, and not just because of the memory of my first MotoGP win. We need to get back on the bike and try to get the GSV-R as competitive as it can be.”
“It was really disappointing after Shanghai. The results we’re getting are not what we all deserve for the hard work we’re putting in, maybe we just need that bit of luck to go our way. What better place than Le Mans for that to happen?”
His team-mate Loris Capirossi said “I believe that the bike is very capable of running at the front. We need to start getting the positions that we want and everybody at Suzuki is working hard to make it happen.”
The seven time world champion has been dabbling on two wheels since hanging up his formula one helmet, including recently stepping in at a Ducati test when the Italian team's regular test rider was injured.
It emerged from the Mugello test that 39-year-old Schumacher's best lap was about 8 seconds off the pace of race riders Stoner and Marco Melandri.
Stoner, an Australian, dismissed reports that the German can now - as is the case at Ferrari - be referred to as Ducati's official occasional test rider.
"Michael's not testing anything. He's just riding a bike, he's having fun," he told Speed TV.
"No matter how much experience he has in F1 he would need to learn to ride a bike a little faster before he started giving advice on electronic systems and suspension."
Stoner, 22, agrees however that Schumacher's riding is "quite exceptional" for someone with very little experience on two wheeled racers.
Schumacher's manager, Willi Weber, agrees that the German is simply making the most of his professional retirement.
"He only lasts two minutes on the sofa," he told Germany's Bild newspaper.
"It is impossible for him to do nothing," Weber added.
Source: GMM
A flurry of late qualifying runs shuffled the timesheets on the final afternoon of practice with Valentino Rossi ending the session as the fastest rider on Bridgestone tyres with a time of 1m39.568s. Several other Bridgestone riders were present in the top ten over the course of the test with some solid performances on race tyres. However, the final timesheets show that Bridgestone’s qualifying performance still needs to be further improved ahead of the season start in Qatar in three weeks’ time.
Q+A with Tohru Ubukata - Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager Motorcycle Race Tyre Development
What has Bridgestone managed to achieve over these three days with the mixed weather conditions?
“It was a difficult test for everybody with tricky track conditions over all three days. After the dry first day, we were able to carry out some wet weather tyre testing on Sunday, which was the first occasion for some of our riders to sample our wet specifications. In spite of those conditions, Casey did an exceptional job to set the quickest time and to win the car. On Monday, we had a brief shower at the start of the morning, but from then on it stayed dry, although with some quite gusty wind which was not helpful. We worked on evaluating tyres with a lower temperature compound range compared to the last tests in Sepang and Phillip Island to prepare for the Qatar night race and the Spanish GP in Jerez. We also continued to look closely at our qualifying tyres with many riders conducting detailed evaluation of different specifications.”
Has Bridgestone obtained all it needs from this test?
“Of course, we would have preferred a dry day on Sunday, but our riders worked really hard to get many laps in over the three days and we are grateful for their efforts. Today in particular we have seen some progress that we are sure will prepare us better for the race in March.”
In what specific areas does Bridgestone still need to improve qualifying tyres?
“We are quite happy with the durability of the qualifying tyres at this circuit, but it is clear that we are still in need of more grip to allow our riders to make an important step up in terms of lap time. Although our rivals continue to be very strong in this area, I believe we have made improvements since last year and even since the first test of this year. We tried several different specifications on Monday with different riders so we are sure that the variety of detailed feedback will benefit our development in this area.”
What is the plan for the next test in Qatar?
“Qatar test is going to be valuable, not only because it allows us to prepare our tyres for the opening race of the year at the same circuit, but also we will be following a night schedule for the first time. We will understand more clearly exactly what track temperatures we are likely to face and how that will affect our tyre performance by racing so late into the night. This will aid the tyre selection process on the Thursday of race weekend when our teams and riders must finalise the 22 rears and 18 fronts that they will have at their disposal according to the tyre restrictions.”
Published by Tasha Crook
Bright sunshine and 25 degrees celsius temperatures provided perfect conditions for Casey Stoner and Marco Melandri as they took to the Phillip Island circuit for the first of three days of testing alongside the majority of MotoGP teams in Australia.
It proved to be a positive day for both Ducati Marlboro Team riders, who recorded impressive lap times on a race setting. Stoner racked up 29 laps in 1'30 whilst experimenting with set-up and tyres, giving highly encouraging feedback on the new Bridgestone rubber. The World Champion is also continuing to regain strength in the shoulder he injured at Jerez towards the end of November, so much so that today he was able to complete a total of 73 laps.
Marco Melandri was also satisfied after completing just shy of 100 laps, making good progress with the base setting of his GP8 in both the cycle part and engine. He did not try the Japanese tyre manufacturer's latest offerings today but will start to do so tomorrow.
Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro Team), best time: 1'30.178 (73 laps)
"Everything went really well today, the feeling with the bike was perfect almost straight away. The new Bridgestones, which had already given us positive feedback at Sepang, also worked perfectly here at Phillip Island - one of them in particular improves the bike a lot in the exit of the corners, especially in the final section of the track. We've also taken a step forward with some small changes to the front, which have made the bike more stable and improved grip to the point where my best time came without pushing, on a tyre that already had 17 laps on it. I'm also really happy with the latest specs of the engine and the way it is responding under acceleration coming out of the corners. The weather was basically perfect all day apart from when the wind picked up a little in the afternoon but the smaller fairing, which we used for the race here in October, meant that it wasn't a problem. Towards the end of the day my shoulder was a little sore because this is such a physical track, with a lot of fast corners, but it is still better than it was in Malaysia."
Marco Melandri (Ducati Marlboro Team), best time: 1'30.869 (99 laps)
"I'm really happy today because I finally feel as though I'm riding the bike more or less as I should. We knew that Phillip Island would be better for us and that's proved to be the case. The feeling was good from the first lap, thanks also to the things we learnt in the last test. At Sepang I probably changed the balance of the bike too much, trying to make it more similar to what I have ridden in the past, whereas here we've just tried to find a good base set-up, which has made it more manageable in the corners and less nervous. I am happy even though we're still not at 100%. We've actually got plans to try something new with the weight distribution tomorrow and we want to continue working on the electronics to try and improve the power delivery even more, then we can start tyre testing. In any case we've made a great start here."
Phillip Island info
Circuit Record: Marco Melandri (Honda - 2005) 1'30.332 Best pole: Nicky Hayden (Honda - 2006) 1'29.020
Fastest Lap GP 2007: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1'30.801 Pole 2007: Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1'29.201
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