Pedrosa and Dovizioso eager for Le Mans

The Repsol Honda riders are keen to take the improvements made from the last round out onto the track at the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France.

A confident Repsol Honda pairing of Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso will head to Le Mans this weekend for the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France, both ready to continue the impressive progress they made at the last round of the 2010 MotoGP World Championship.

Pedrosa started from pole position at Jerez and finished the race second as he made a huge step up from the season opener in Qatar, and the race at Le Mans will be a big personal achievement in his career. The Spaniard will make his 150th Grand Prix start across all classes, making him the youngest rider to have passed the landmark.

The 24 year-old also has a strong record at Le Mans, where he has started from pole position in three of his four premier class races so far and where he placed third in last year’s outing. ”After the Jerez race I’m looking forward to arriving in Le Mans and continuing with our recent progress,” said Pedrosa. “We were able to complete a good weekend in Spain, being fast from the first practice and building up to the best set-up possible for the race. This is the pattern we have to achieve again in France.”

“Le Mans is one of those circuits where you need to be prepared for any track conditions because the weather can play a big part during the weekend. In fact, last year’s wet-dry race was a good example of this. So it will be very important to make maximum use of the practice sessions and be ready to set the bike up for a wide range of weather conditions and temperatures.”

Pedrosa concluded by adding: “Le Mans will also be my 150th Grand Prix in the World Championship, and I would really like to mark this with another great result there.”

Dovizioso is also going for his second podium of the season to match his third place in Qatar, and after some promising steps at the Test at Jerez he is hopeful the developments made can help improve his sixth place from the race at the Spanish circuit.

“I’m looking forward to racing at Le Mans this weekend. It’s a circuit that I like and where I always tend to get good results so I’m confident for this race,” said Dovizioso, who finished on the podium five times in the 250cc and 125cc classes, including a win in the latter.

“After the improvements we found during the Monday Test in Jerez, I think we will be very competitive. In fact we will use the new chassis we tested in Jerez and I’m very positive about our potential. Le Mans is a slow racetrack. It looks easy on paper but in reality it’s quite a tricky place to interpret, and riding at maximum pace is a good challenge.”

Dovizioso will also be keen to improve on his fourth place at Le Mans from last season, and added: “Last year I fought for the podium and I lost out on the very last lap so my motivation is high for this race. I’m confident we can fight with the front riders this year.”

(http://www.motogp.com)

Rossi distinguished by Italian government with award

The nine times World Champion was honoured yesterday by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the image he portrays of his country on an international level.

Reigning MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi was received in the Villa Madama in Rome last night by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where Minister Franco Frattini awarded him the first ‘Winning Italy Award’. The Italian star was praised for his vast number of race victories (103 to date) which has seen the Italian national anthem played on five continents.

Personalities such as Vito Ippolito (President of the FIM), Carmelo Ezpeleta (CEO of Dorna), and MotoGP legend Giacomo Agostini were all present, as were ambassadors of the various countries in which the World Championship takes place and personal invitees of Rossi. The highlight of the evening was the award by Minister Frattini to Rossi of a trophy with the inscription ‘Winning Doctor, ambassador of Made in Italy’. Rossi then took questions from the media and spoke on the present and the future.

“Since I returned to Italy I have distanced myself from some people, and now I have returned to surround myself with real friends,” said Rossi. “I am again enjoying the sport and the desire to compete, so I think I will continue for some more years. The trick to staying on top for a long time is having fun. This is the motivation I prefer and avoids controversy. When I was younger I was entertained by that.”

With the media not missing the chance to ask questions about a possible future at Ducati, Rossi was more clear than ever on the subject. “An Italian on an Italian bike would be nice, yes. But I think I want to stay with Yamaha, which is also a little bit Italian. I would feel like a traitor if I acted any other way, because I feel very good with them.”

Rossi then looked forward to the 2010 World Championship, and said: “The young riders in Stoner and Lorenzo seem to me to be more prepared than the old adversaries of Biaggi and Gibernau. Who do I fear the most? Perhaps Stoner, but only because Jorge is injured and will need a few Grands Prix to fully recover.”

Concluding, Rossi gave praise and recognition Giacomo Agostini, whom he embraced at the end of the ceremony.

“I do not know if I will ever overtake him,” said Rossi. “To go where he has been requires a courage which is not comparable to that needed today.”

(http://www.motogp.com/)

Update to 2010 provisional MotoGP calendar

The FIM have announced that the provisional date of the 2010 Czech Republic Grand Prix has been moved to August 15th.

The FIM have today announced an amendment to the provisional calendar for the 2010 MotoGP World Championship, with the Czech Republic Grand Prix to be held a week earlier than originally scheduled.

Date Grand Prix (Circuit)
April 11th* Qatar (Losail)
April 25th Japan (Motegi)
May 2nd Spain (Jerez)
May 23rd France (Le Mans)
June 6th Italy (Mugello)
June 20th Great Britain (Silverstone)
June 26th** Netherlands (Assen)
July 4th Catalunya (Catalunya)
July 18th Germany (Sachsenring)
July 25th*** United States (Laguna Seca)
August 15th Czech Republic (Brno)
August 29th Indianapolis (Indianapolis)
September 5th San Marino & Riviera di Rimini (Misano)
September 19th Hungary (Balatonring)
October 10th Malaysia (Sepang)
October 17th Australia (Phillip Island)
October 31st Portugal (Estoril)
November 7th Valencia (Ricardo Tormo Valencia)

Reserve Circuit: Motorland Aragon Circuit

* Evening race
** Saturday race
*** Only MotoGP class

Calendar still subject to changes

(http://www.motogp.com)

2009 season review: Marco Melandri

The Italian rider, who finished tenth in this season’s MotoGP World Championship, is first in the motogp.com riders’ season review series.

The lead-up to the 2009 season did not run as smoothly as Marco Melandri would have wished, with the Italian expecting to ride an official Kawasaki bike. The factory’s decision to withdraw from the MotoGP World Championship this year meant Melandri was entered as a single rider entrant with Hayate Racing, but without any guarantees of competitiveness on the Ninja ZX-RR.

Entering an important season as he aimed to recover from a tough previous year with Ducati Marlboro, the initial signs were that the 27 year-old had been largely unaffected by the pre-season change in his deal with Kawasaki. Despite a poor start in Qatar, Melandri put together a run of three strong results. Sixth and fifth in Japan and Jerez respectively were followed up by a first – and only – podium of the season in France in a race which started in wet conditions.

After his remarkable second place in the flag-to-flag contest at Le Mans in May, a stretch of four races in which Melandri made the top ten only once – at Laguna Seca – followed. At Mugello he even led the race, but a final placing of 11th was part of a series of results that was something of a dip compared to his earlier form.

Back-to-back seventh places at Donington and Sachsenring saw Melandri break his run, and at the British Grand Prix he qualified in a season’s best place of seventh on the grid.

Disappointment was next up however with consecutive crashes at Brno – a final-lap collision with Mika Kallio – and Indianapolis, where Melandri was battling with James Toseland for sixth place until he crashed out with three laps remaining.

Despite these mishaps Melandri managed three more top-ten finishes in the final five races of the campaign, even with throttle problems on his ZX-RR, but ended on a frustrating note as his acceleration issues led to 17th place in Valencia. He finished the season in 10th place when there had been real hope of winning the battle for seventh in the overall standings.

It was nevertheless an impressive effort in 2009 from the Italian in some testing circumstances. In 2010 Melandri returns to the San Carlo Honda Gresini team for whom he secured five victories with in three seasons, and finished runner-up with in the 2005 World Championship.

(http://www.motogp.com/)

Lorenzo leads the way at Sepang

Jorge Lorenzo set the standard at Sepang on Friday afternoon, kicking off the weekend with the fastest lap time in the first MotoGP practice.

A margin of 0.064s separated Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner in Free Practice 1 of the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix weekend, as the Fiat Yamaha rider recorded the quickest time in the opening MotoGP session.

On the weekend in which Valentino Rossi could seal the 2009 World Championship title, it was his team-mate – who trails the Italian by 38 points in the standings – who set the pace in humid conditions, with the ambient temperature reaching an energy-sapping 31°C.

Lorenzo set a best lap of 2’02.180 in a tight session, with the top four riders – including Rossi – breaking the 2’02 barrier.

Stoner followed Lorenzo closely, with Dani Pedrosa just over half a second further down at third in the order as Rossi came in fourth, registering a time 0.684s off Lorenzo’s. It was the perfect start to the weekend for the Spaniard, whose crash at Phillip Island last weekend all but ended his hopes of wrestling the title from Rossi.

Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso completed the top five with a best lap of 2’03.142, while fellow Italian Loris Capirossi was just over 0.1s behind him.

Toni Elías (San Carlo Honda Gresini), Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro), Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki) were all inside the top ten

(http://www.motogp.com)