Lorenzo keen to make up for Jerez

By Matt Beer

Monday, May 11th 2009, 12:29 GMT

Jorge Lorenzo is confident that he can make up for his Spanish Grand Prix error when the MotoGP championship resumes at Le Mans this weekend.

The Yamaha rider followed up his Motegi win with a staggering pole lap at Jerez, only to fall back to fourth in the race and then crash out.

That meant he fell from the lead of the standings to third place, 24 points behind his series-leading team-mate Valentino Rossi.

Lorenzo believes it is now vital that he gets a good result in France to get his title bid back on course.

"Le Mans is the next stop and the first after my crash in Jerez," said the Spaniard. "I was very sad about what happened there but now it is another story, everything begins again and I must try to do things step by step.

"The team and I need to improve after Jerez and main target is to get back on the podium. I am fit and I like Le Mans."

He said his performance in France last year, when he raced with a broken ankle after a Shanghai accident but still shrugged off practice and qualifying crashes, and an awful start, to come through to second, gave him a lot of confidence for the race.

"I have had some difficult times there, and last year wasn't easy because I crashed twice during the weekend, but in the end the result was good," said Lorenzo.

"I've been on the podium in each category and I will remember forever the incredible (all) Yamaha podium of last year. It was amazing. I can see now Valentino, Colin (Edwards) and I enjoying the moment with all the Yamaha people smiling. I hope this year we can repeat that moment.

"I will also remember that podium because it's the only one where I was on crutches!"

His team manager Daniele Romagnoli is also optimistic that Lorenzo can get over the Jerez disappointment with a great result in France.

"Le Mans was very good for us last year, especially considering that Jorge was not in great physical condition," he said.

"Jerez was a great disappointment but now we're keen to move on to France and hopefully we will be able to forget the bad memory from Spain. Le Mans generally suits our Yamaha very well so we hope that we can make the most of it."

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Ducati pushes to help struggling riders

By Matt Beer

Monday, May 11th 2009, 12:02 GMT

Ducati is to reshuffle its engineers, change its electronics and recruit Troy Bayliss for testing as it tries to get all its riders on the pace.

While Casey Stoner took victory in Qatar, and Pramac Racing's rookie Mika Kallio has impressed greatly, second factory rider Nicky Hayden, Kallio's team-mate Niccolo Canepa and returnee Sete Gibernau (with the new Hernando team) have all struggled for form.

To address this, Hayden's former engineer Cristhian Pupulin has moved to a new role analysing data from all five bikes, with Juan Martinez returning to Ducati after a period at Kawasaki to take his place leading Hayden's crew.

In an additional measure, Ducati's triple World Superbike champion Bayliss is to join test rider Vittoriano Guareschi at Mugello this week to work on developments, and changes have been made to the bike's electronics for this weekend's Le Mans race to try and make the bike more consistent and help the new riders adapt.

Stoner has often been Ducati's only competitive rider since the start of the 800cc era in 2007, and team boss Livio Suppo said this situation had to change.

"After the race at Jerez, which was fantastic for Casey but very difficult for Nicky, we had a few meetings to analyse our technical and organisational structure, with the goal of improving the all-round performances of our riders," he said.

"We came to the conclusion that after starting the season with not all of the Ducati riders able to match their positive form in winter testing, maybe this is the right time to introduce some new technical ideas in terms of the electronics as well as boosting our track presence in order to provide all of the Ducati riders with better support.

"The GP9 is still a very young machine and for the first time in MotoGP we have five bikes on the grid. For these two reasons we have decided that we need to concentrate more on co-ordinating all the data that we gather at each race in order to provide more direction for development.

"As well as changing the structure of the team we have some electronic updates and Cristhian Pupulin will be able to completely dedicate his time to the important role of co-ordination, which we need to continue to develop the GP9."

Hayden also hopes the changes will help him get up to speed.

"I think it should help me and all the Ducati riders," he said.

"I believe that with Cristhian more freed up from some of the normal work as crew chief he can use his expertise more and focus on really working on the issues I am having with the bike and help give us a better direction and give more info to the factory.

"So to fill his spot we will bring in Juan, who has put up some solid results in MotoGP. He has already worked in Ducati and speaks good English and Italian so he was a good match."

The American praised Ducati's support, and admitted that the onus was now on him to raise his level.

"I can't say I don't have enough good manpower behind me and it has been encouraging to see Ducati trying everything and working so hard to help get me in a situation to deliver," said Hayden.

"The team is very important in our sport but it is really up to the rider to do his part and make the difference, so I hope I can step up and do my part soon."

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Suzuki boosted by practice alteration

By Matt Beer

Monday, May 11th 2009, 09:08 GMT

Loris Capirossi believes the increase in practice time from this weekend's French Grand Prix will make a crucial difference to Suzuki's form.

Suzuki flew in winter testing but has yet to show similar speed in the races, with the team discovering that the bike works best in a narrow set-up window that it is not always possible to perfect during the short grand prix weekend sessions.

That problem was exacerbated by the removal of Friday morning practice this year and the shortening of all other sessions to 45 minutes.

The riders had called for a 45-minute Friday morning session to be reinstated, but instead the FIM has announced that the remaining two practice periods plus qualifying will be restored to their former one-hour length from Le Mans onwards, giving an extra 45 minutes of running across the weekend.

"We now have a bit longer to work on the bike with the increased practice sessions and hopefully we can iron-out the few things that we need to make us more competitive," said Capirossi, who was regularly in the top three in testing but has not finished above sixth yet in the opening rounds.

"I have said before that I have been disappointed with the results so far this season and I want to be able to show just what the GSV-R and the whole team are capable of.

"I know that we can be closer to the front and challenging the top guys, we just seem to need that bit of luck and things to go our way for a change."

His team-mate Chris Vermeulen, who won at Le Mans in the wet 2007 race, is also determined to show better form in France.

"I managed a fifth there last year and I will certainly be looking to better that this time out," he said.

"We have had a tough start to the season and the results have certainly not gone our way for one reason or another, but we need to learn from what has happened and make sure we come out stronger through the rest of the season - starting with Le Mans this weekend."

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Stoner: Hayden needs confidence

By Simon Strang and Matt Beer

Wednesday, May 6th 2009, 14:14 GMT

Casey Stoner believes his team-mate Nicky Hayden will get up to speed on the Ducati as soon as he regains confidence after recent crashes.

Like all Stoner's previous Ducati team-mates, Hayden is currently struggling for pace and has been significantly slower than his fellow former world champion.

But Hayden had started to show better form in testing only to lose momentum following a massive crash in qualifying at Losail, and then a subsequent first lap tangle with Yuki Takahashi in Japan.

Although Hayden could only finish 15th, 50 seconds behind third-placed Stoner, in last weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, the Australian is confident his team-mate has the potential to get to grips with the Ducati GP9 once he gets over the accidents.

"He's struggled with confidence of late," said Stoner. "These last two races have been a disaster for him, and not really his fault.

"He made the mistake in Qatar and crashed. For sure that's a big blow to your confidence and then of course Takahashi took him out. There are maybe just a few things he needs to get over."

Stoner thinks that without the accidents, Hayden would be much closer to his times.

"We've seen him be very competitive up in the top five (in testing) and getting more comfortable on the bike, and then those things hit, and that put a backwards step in his stride, "he said. "Hopefully we can see him start to bounce back."

Stoner's 2007 Ducati team-mate Loris Capirossi began the year a long way adrift but eventually acclimatised to the bike and was able to win in Japan and rise to seventh in the championship.

Capirossi then left for Suzuki, and his replacement Marco Melandri fared even worse alongside Stoner. The Italian only finished in the top ten three times all year, was a lowly 17th in the final championship standings, and agreed an early end to his multi-year deal.

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Rossi predicts season-long title fight

By Jamie O'Leary and Pablo Elizalde

Monday, May 4th 2009, 16:16 GMT

MotoGP championship leader Valentino Rossi is predicting a tough, season-long battle to retain his crown.

The Italian scored his first win of the 2009 season at the Spanish Grand Prix last Sunday, moving to the top of the standings.

Rossi was the third winner, and the third championship leader, in as many races, with Ducati's Casey Stoner and Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo having been on top earlier on.

"In three races we have had three different leaders in the championship: Casey, Jorge and me," said Rossi. "So we need to stay concentrated at the maximum and make no mistakes.

"We have to try to win when it's possible and try to arrive on the podium anyway when we have problems. I have already 65 points. I'm in front of Casey, who I think is the most difficult rival. But also Pedrosa and Lorenzo are not far away either.

"I think it will be very tough to the end. Le Mans is very different to Jerez, but I have good memories because in all history Yamaha has been very fast at Le Mans. Last year I was very fast."

The seven-time champion now leads Stoner by nine points, with Lorenzo and Honda's Dani Pedrosa on 41.

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Lorenzo: Slow pace worse than crash

By Jamie O'Leary

Sunday, May 3rd 2009, 15:46 GMT

Jorge Lorenzo said that his lack of pace in the Spanish Grand Prix was more disappointing than the crash that put him out of his home race.

The 21-year-old Spaniard put his Yamaha on pole position at Jerez, but made a bad start and ran fourth for most of the race before losing the front end of his M1 at the Angel Nieto bend while in pursuit of Casey Stoner's Ducati.

Prior to his accident, Lorenzo had been unable to get within half a second of his team-mate Valentino Rossi's lap times after he failed to set his bike up correctly for the track conditions.

"Unfortunately today the temperature meant that our setting did not work in the same way [as in qualifying] and at the moment we don't understand why," said Lorenzo. "This is really more disappointing than the actual crash."

Lorenzo admitted that the cause of the crash, which came on lap 22 after he had reduced a four-second deficit to Stoner to a little under a second, was purely rider error.

"Fourth position wouldn't have been so bad but when you're in front of your fans, at home with so much adrenalin on the bike of course you try to do the maximum," he added.

"I could see that the podium was possible and maybe the right thing would have been to go more gently and not push so hard in that moment, but I always want to do my best. Then I made a mistake and I threw all my good work away."

His failure to score points meant that Lorenzo dropped from the lead of the championship to third, 24 points behind winner Rossi.

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De Puniet feels he has proved a point

By Matt Beer

Sunday, May 3rd 2009, 15:37 GMT

Randy de Puniet believes he showed what he can really do with his fourth place at Jerez.

The Frenchman has a reputation as an excellent qualifier, but has often missed out on good results due to race day errors. However this weekend he qualified fifth and then rode consistently to fourth position, his best result since joining the LCR Honda team last year.

"It was a perfect weekend for me and the team," said de Puniet. "When I enjoy the bike I can go really fast and people can see that today. This was the best bike I had since I have been riding with Lucio's team. It was very easy to ride and I had fun.

"I made a good start and when (Andrea) Dovizioso overtook me I remain concentrated trying to keep my position. After few laps he made a mistake and I came back to the fifth place. Then, at the end, the final result of the race gave me the fourth place overall.

"I am very satisfied about the work we did during this week end as we struggled a bit here during the pre-season test."

De Puniet said he was determined to ensure that the Jerez result was not a one-off, but was also keen to keep his expectations for his home race in a fortnight under control.

"Honestly I think that if we keep this pace for the rest of the season we can be very competitive," he said. "However we keep our feet on the ground as we must restart from zero in Le Mans. I absolutely want to finish all the races to get as many points as possible."

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Pedrosa lauds 'unbelievable' podium

By Jamie O'Leary

Sunday, May 3rd 2009, 13:44 GMT

Dani Pedrosa described his second place at the Spanish Grand Prix as an 'unbelievable' achievement following the injury problems that have plagued the Repsol Honda rider over the winter.

Pedrosa, who started second on the grid alongside countryman Jorge Lorenzo, made a perfect getaway to lead into the first corner, and held the advantage until Valentino Rossi passed him into the Angel Nieto corner with 11 laps remaining.

"I really wanted to win, but I knew it would be very difficult because Valentino was already very fast on Friday. So I just tried to do my race and see what the result was at the end," he said.

"Coming from all those problems we had [over the winter], it's still unbelievable for me to be on the podium. My race was very good and I'm happy."

Pedrosa believes that Rossi's victory was no surprise, despite the Italian qualifying his Yamaha on the second row.

"Maybe he was going slowly to try and not make other people see how fast he was," added Pedrosa, who moved up from fifth to equal third in the world championship as a result of his podium finish - 24 points behind Rossi.

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Stoner: Third better than Qatar win

By Jamie O'Leary

Sunday, May 3rd 2009, 13:39 GMT

Casey Stoner said that his third place in the Spanish Grand Prix was a better result than his victory at the season-opening race in Qatar.

The Ducati rider's result was the first time he had made it onto the podium at Jerez in any of the grand prix classes, and also the first time the Italian manufacturer was on the rostrum at the track since 2006.

"To me this feels bigger than victory in Qatar," said the 2007 world champion. "It was a really good day for us. We put in a lot of effort and the team tried everything they could to get the bike working well. It was definitely good enough for a podium."

The Australian had been suffering from issues with his front tyre during the race, and feared that he would be easy meat for Jorge Lorenzo when the polesitter closed up on him late in the race before crashing.

"We just took a gamble with the setting to try and make it rideable enough to do the race and feel comfortable," Stoner explained. "At the beginning of the race we got a fantastic start and were up there with everyone.

"Then I started to lose the front at a few corners and Valentino (Rossi) came past. I tried to stay with me as long as possible to see if he could take me up to Dani (Pedrosa). But I lost the front a few too many times and just decided to stay ahead of Jorge.

"Then he started catching me and I thought it was game over and the podium was almost gone. I decided to fight as long as I could, until the dying stages at least, and in those laps almost once every lap in different corners I was almost losing the front end.

"So I was almost ready to give up third and back off the pace, and Jorge crashed."

He admitted that he would never have predicted a podium finish today given his record at the track, even after he had qualified on the outside of the front row.

"I wasn't very nervous going into it because we didn't think we had much of a chance of getting on the podium," Stoner said. "We knew that Valentino, Dani and Jorge had higher pace than us.

"After all these years, this is my first time on the podium at Jerez, so it's been a long time coming. I've had a couple of opportunities but made mistakes and things like that."

Stoner's result moved him up to second place in the world championship, 11 points behind race winner Valentino Rossi.

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Rossi praises Yamaha's race pace

By Matt Beer

Sunday, May 3rd 2009, 13:31 GMT

Valentino Rossi declared himself delighted with this Yamaha's race set-up after charging from behind to take victory in the Spanish Grand Prix.

The world champion had predicted that he would be unable to fight for the win having struggled in qualifying, but his Yamaha was more competitive in race conditions and he came through from fourth to beat Dani Pedrosa to first place - taking the points lead in the process.

"It was a great race, very fun, but also physical," said Rossi.

"My bike worked very well today, I'm so fast with a sliding tyre, and I was able to arrive with Dani, and overtake. There was another nine or ten laps to the end, so I stayed concentrated because I knew it was possible to get the victory.

"Winning here in Jerez is fantastic. It's always a great pleasure."

He admitted that he had remained sceptical about his chances of victory in the early stages, as he ran a quiet fourth at first, behind Pedrosa, Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo.

"From the beginning, in the first few laps, I was quite far behind, especially from Dani and Casey (Stoner)," Rossi said. "After that I came back and had a great fight with Casey.

"When I was able to arrive in second place, Dani was already a little bit more than one second ahead.

"I know that in that situation Dani is always very difficult to catch. So I tried to push hard and stay concentrated. There was one part of the race where I didn't gain a lot, but lap by lap I was able to improve my pace and stay very consistent."

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Rossi takes first win of 2009 in Spain

By Matt Beer

Sunday, May 3rd 2009, 12:48 GMT

World champion Valentino Rossi hunted down and passed Dani Pedrosa to secure his first win of 2009 in the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez.

Casey Stoner took his first ever Jerez podium in third, with Jorge Lorenzo losing the points lead to Rossi thanks to a late crash.

After only qualifying fourth, Rossi had declared that it would be "impossible" to win today's race, but changes made overnight allowed him to top the warm-up and then march forward when the grand prix commenced.

The Italian overtook his Yamaha team-mate Lorenzo, who had made a slow start from pole, on the second lap, and then quickly caught Stoner, getting around the Ducati on lap seven after a tough battle.

Pedrosa had grabbed the lead off the line and edged away, so took longer for Rossi to catch, but by half-distance the Honda had the Yamaha on its tail. A pass at the back hairpin on lap 16 saw Rossi take the lead, and once ahead there was no stopping him.

As Rossi pulled away to win by three seconds, Stoner drifted away from Pedrosa and came under pressure from Lorenzo - until the Spaniard's race ended with a low-side crash just four laps from home.

Randy de Puniet rode an excellent race to take fourth for LCR Honda - his best result since joining the team from Kawasaki at the end of 2007. The Frenchman held his own from the start and had a lonely run once Honda's Andrea Dovizioso had slid off the road while racing him early on.

Marco Melandri continued Hayate Kawasaki's fine form by taking fifth following a massive battle with Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) and Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha). The recovering Dovizioso carved through from 16th to join this group by the end.

Gresini Honda's Toni Elias and Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen completed the top ten, with Yuki Takahashi running strongly for Scot Honda at first before drifting back to 12th behind Sete Gibernau (Hernando Ducati).

Gibernau was the second-best Ducati at the flag, as works rider Nicky Hayden had an unhappy run to 16th and Mika Kallio retired his Pramac version with brake problems.

Pos  Rider             Bike             Time
1.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha           45m18.557s
2.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda            +   2.700s
3.  Casey Stoner      Ducati           +  10.507s
4.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda        +  31.893s
5.  Marco Melandri    Hayate Kawasaki  +  33.128s
6.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha    +  34.128s
7.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki           +  34.421s
8.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda            +  34.625s
9.  Toni Elias        Gresini Honda    +  42.689s
10.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki           +  45.183s
11.  Sete Gibernau     Hernando Ducati  +  48.192s
12.  Yuki Takahashi    Scot Honda       +  51.875s
13.  James Toseland    Tech 3 Yamaha    +  53.683s
14.  Alex de Angelis   Gresini Honda    +  53.941s
15.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati           +1m01.237s
16.  Niccolo Canepa    Pramac Ducati    +1m10.896s

Retirements:

    Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha           23 laps
    Mika Kallio       Pramac Ducati    12 laps

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Q and A with Bradley Smith

By Simon Strang

Sunday, May 3rd 2009, 11:48 GMT

It has been a long time coming, but in his 50th grand prix start, Bradley Smith finally became a 125cc winner at Jerez today.

Afterwards he told AUTOSPORT how much it meant to him - and how it has transformed his world championship hopes.

Q: How do you feel?

Bradley Smith: I can't even explain it at the moment. It's just crazy. You watch these races before in years gone by when people win by 15-20 seconds and you wonder how it's possible. So for me to do it today, to keep on seeing those seconds go up on the pit board, words can't describe it because the bike was working so well and I was just keeping my head down lap after lap.

It was a freaky race really. The wind started to get worse and worse towards the end so I was thankful to have such a big gap. Also the fifth gear problem I had with a couple of laps to go played in as well. I guess it was just meant to be my day today. I'll take that one, thank you very much, and go in into the rest of the season now with my confidence pretty high.

Q: What happened with fifth gear?

BS: I just couldn't use it. It just wasn't working.

Q: And you nearly crashed?

BS: I went into corner number four and the bike almost switched off and then back on, and I went pretty sideways. So I was pretty lucky to stay on. It was a lucky race for me.

Q: So did you have to go from fourth to sixth then?

BS: Yes. Fourth... fifth-sixth... just like that. It wasn't easy.

Q: Have you cracked this business now?

BS: It's not a given. Hopefully the 1/50 ratio will soon dwindle down. That's the plan anyway. It's just one of those races where everything went my way. Right from the start I was able to ride my own lines and my own race. This is a huge confidence booster. I always knew I could do it. It was just a question of actually getting over the line first, and always something seemed to be in my way. Now I've done it and I couldn't be happier.

Q: It's an amazing transformation from two weeks ago?

BS: The thing is there were three dry days, and when you have that at a circuit where you've done so many laps in testing, you can be on it from the word go. We went under the lap record today so the pace me and my team-mate were able to set at the beginning was very fast. If it hadn't been for the problem with the bike I think it would have continued right to the end.

I think the extra 20 minutes in the session at Le Mans will help us a lot in terms of set-up time and more time on the bike. It was all good and I had no problems at all until the final seven laps of that race. I just thought 'please, not today.' And we got the job done.

Q: Is the title on?

BS: After Japan I was disappointed. It took something quite special to pick me up. To be 26 points behind after only two races, I know it's a long season, but you have a lot of work to do. This just shows you how quickly everything can turn around. I'm only one point behind now and the chase is certainly on.

Q: And the last few laps?

BS: When you've been in the zone for over 40 minutes, the final two laps don't make a difference. You think about every possible scenario you might have anyway. With the problem with the bike I had to concentrate really hard on everything else, so I didn't really have time to think about anything else.

Q: So it probably did you a favour then?

BS: In some ways, yes. In others, not at all.

Q: Will you have a different attitude now?

BS: No. Because I've been searching for, and fighting for this victory for the last year now, and the will and the desire was always there, it was just a case of doing it. So now it's not a case of chasing the victory, it's a case of chasing the second one.

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