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.´
Valentino Rossi has warned Dani Pedrosa not to expect Bridgestone tyres to instantly transform his fortunes as the Yamaha star expressed his surprise at the Spaniard’s shock switch.Rossi needed three months of winter testing and the early part of the season to fine-tune his factory Yamaha YZR-M1 to Bridgestone tyres, and said Pedrosa shouldn’t be banking on the Japanese rubber to be a miracle cure.
Rossi, who also orchestrated his own switch to Bridgestone after a torrid 2007 campaign with Michelin, said: “I was in exactly the same position last year but sincerely I didn’t think to try the tyre during the season.
"The potential of Bridgestone is very high but it is not like you put a Bridgestone sticker on the bike and like magic you go faster. You have to work a lot and you have a lot of pressure because at he beginning my performance was not much faster than Michelin and people were questioning my decision.
"It is a risky move for Dani, and a move like this at this time is quite strange I think.”
Yes, it's true. Dani Pedrosa has made it be known that he doesn't want Michelins on his bike and the young Spaniard has got his way. In an astonishing 'mutual' decision which bodes ill for the rest of the season. And who would bet against a single-make tyre championship in 2009? And it looks like his decision was the right one (at Misano anyway) when on his first day of testing, he went almost a second a lap quicker on the Japanese brand than. Pedrosa did a total of 81 laps, working mainly on setting his Repsol Honda up for the Bridgestone's characteristics and went eight-tenths faster than his best race lap on Sunday.
Here's the wee man's quote from the press release:
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1m 34.652s – on lap 76 of 81.
“I'm happy starting this new challenge and I would like to thank Bridgestone. Today we also made an important step forward in developing the 2009 bike, but now my first priority is to be fully competitive again. Of course, there is a lot of work to do but I am determined to win again this year. Today we worked hard on bike set-up. The feeling with the new tyres on my RC212V is different, both for settings and for riding style, but I just tried to follow my feelings and adjust the set-up accordingly.
“Today was only my first day riding on Bridgestone tyres but I am happy. I also tested the pneumatic-valve engine. The engine character is different, the power delivery is a bit more aggressive, but the engine has some good points. I have no experience on this latest bike, so I had to test many new things today. This has been an important test. Now we will analyse all the data and we look forward to the next race at Indianapolis.”
Here's the earlier press release:
'For 24 years Michelin and Honda have worked together at the highest level of motorcycle racing. Together the two companies have won 14 premier-class World Championships.
The two companies fully understand the importance of the “feeling” between the rider and the equipment he has at his disposal, especially tyres.
Despite making an excellent start to the season and leading the World Championship going into the German GP, during the last few races Dani Pedrosa has made it know to both Michelin and Honda that he doesn't feel at ease with the tyres that Michelin have offered him.
Honda and Michelin believe that rider confidence needs to be at its maximum if the rider is to fully exploit the tactical potential of the tyres.
In these circumstances Michelin and Honda have therefore decided not to equip Pedrosa with Michelin tyres for the remainder of the 2008 season.
Pedrosa comments: “I thank Michelin and Honda for their mutual understanding and for agreeing to my personal demands. I am very conscious of the fact that I have made some excessively negative comments about Michelin tyres, even though Michelin helped me make an exceptional start to the season.”
Both Honda and Michelin hope that MotoGP World Championship will continue with a multi-tyre brand regulation in 2009, Michelin will equip one of the Repsol Honda's two riders for the remainder of the 2008 season.'
And what the hell is Nicky Hayden going to be doing, riding around on Michelins while his team mate creams him for the rest of the season? What a disaster for the French firm.
Repsol Honda factory team rider Nicky Hayden worked on chassis development and tyre testing today. Once happy with the set up of his RC212V the 2006 MotoGP World Champion went out on track to set the fastest lap of the day on Michelin qualifying tyres, the fastest of the three-day test. His time of 1m 38.848s was half a second faster than pole position time set for the Spanish GP at Jerez last year.
Hayden’s team-mate, Spaniard Dani Pedrosa is still carrying a hand injury sustained during testing in January. But the determined Pedrosa returned to the track today after sitting out the wet day on Sunday. Pedrosa and his team technicians worked on his RC212V to try set up variations that would ease the stress on his injured hand. The injury has hampered Pedrosa’s pre-season test programme but the tough young man from Barcelona will be in better shape, but not 100% ready, at the next MotoGP test, at Qatar on February 28-29, the final test before racing begins in earnest at Qatar on March 9.
Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 1m 38.848s - on lap 81 of 82.
“It’s definitely been a really positive and productive three days. We had high hopes coming here because when we tested here in November the bike worked pretty good and Michelin tyres normally work good at Jerez, so this is a good track for us, also there’s no big long straightaways. The wind here has made it tough, the conditions haven’t been easy, but I do feel more comfortable on this year’s bike in the wind. The team really worked hard and made some good moves and good decisions. We didn’t make a lot of big changes, we just got closer to race settings, tried a couple of qualifiers and did a 25 lap run. The chassis seems to be working good and also the tyres are working good. We tried a few different tyre options, and we’re still checking data between the 16 and 16.5 rears. But the show hasn’t started yet, we’ll find out what everybody’s really got and what we’re in for when we get to Qatar but we leave here pretty happy. At the Qatar tests we’ll see how it is under the lights and dial everything in for the first race.”
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1m 41.699s – on lap 33 of 35.
“After this morning’s rain we were finally able to do some laps and it’s been a pretty good day for us. We were happy that we were able to test in the dry after yesterday’s rain and we did similar work to what we did on Saturday. My right hand feels the same as it did on Saturday. We’ve been trying to make some changes to the bike to make it easier for the hand and that’s been positive. But we weren’t able to try too many things because it’s been so windy, which makes it dangerous to ride fast, so it’s been difficult to improve. I don’t think the hand will be 100 per cent when we get to Qatar but I hope it will be better than it is now. We have ten days before the test, so we’ll do as much therapy as we can in order to be ready for the tests and for the race. The last test at Qatar will be difficult, especially for us because we still have a lot of work to do. And it will also be tough because we’ll be riding under floodlights for the first time, so we have to adapt to that. I hope the track conditions will be good at night and the rack temperature not too low.
Ambient temperature: 19 degrees
Track temperature: 16 degrees
Humidity: 57%
Test Times:
1. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda 1'38.848
2. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'39.252
3. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JiR Team Scot MotoGP 1'39.313
4. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1'39.351
5. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'39.568
6. James Toseland (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha 1'39.727
7. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro 1'39.845
8. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'39.932
9. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'40.333
10. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'40.442
11. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki 1'40.576
12. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing 1'41.026
13. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Alice Team 1'41.177
14. Marco Melandri (ITA) Ducati Marlboro 1'41.292
15. Toni Elias (SPA) Alice Team 1'41.311
16. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda 1'41.699
17. Niccolò Canepa (ITA) Ducati Test 1'42.160
18. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing 1'42.970
19. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki Racing 1'43.496
20. Vittoriano Guareschi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team 1'45.597
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