The Motourage crew is heading to Italy this week for the MotoGP Italian Grand Prix at Mugello. Although this trip would be the perfect opportunity to play real moto journo and provide up-to-the-minute reports from the track, this is a vacation after all, so there will be no news for the next two-ish weeks. A big thanks to Pole Position Travel, which has put together a fantastic agenda for us.
This trip is also our honeymoon, and we’ll be spending the week after the races exploring the Italian cities and countryside. Look for plenty of photos and news when we return on July 9th.
Until then, keep the rubber side down.
Rizla Suzuki has made a trans-European journey to Italy from The Netherlands for the eighth round of the MotoGP Championship to be held at the Mugello Circuit this weekend.
Álvaro Bautista will be looking to find a solution to the grip issues that he struggled with last time out at Assen. He is hoping that warmer weather conditions and the new surface at Mugello will assist him as he aims to make himself and the Suzuki GSV-R more competitive this coming weekend. Mugello sees the MotoGP circus enter the second half of its exhausting run of six grands prix in eight weeks, and the Italian track will give the Spaniard a chance to move forward at a circuit he has tasted success at before, winning in the 250cc race in 2007 and finishing in a podium position on two other occasions.
Mugello is located just north of Florence in the stunning Tuscan countryside. It is one of the must-see events on any motorsport calendar. The fabulous backdrop of the mountains coupled with the natural amphitheater of the 5,245m long circuit and the always enthusiastic and colorful Italian fans makes this event a truly memorable occasion. The Mugello circuit is one of the fastest tracks in the world, with average lap speeds of almost 175km/h attainable over its 15 corners and a top speed of 350km/h achievable down the 1.141m long start/finish straight.
Rizla Suzuki, Bautista and the rest of the MotoGP grid take to the track on Friday for two 45-minute long free practice sessions, plus a further practice on Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon will then stage the all-important qualifying session, where riders will determine their grid positions for Sunday’s 23-lap race that gets underway at 14:00hrs local time (12:00hrs GMT) on July 3.
Álvaro Bautista:
“I really like the Mugello circuit; it is very fast and great fun to ride at. It holds a lot of good memories for me because it is where I won my first 250cc race in 2007 and I have also been on the podium there a couple of times. Last year I was still struggling with my shoulder injury, but I am going there 100% fit this time and determined to do well. The track has a new surface and hopefully that – and hotter weather – will help us to make the bike more competitive, we are all trying hard and the whole crew deserves a bit of a change of luck, so that we can start to move forward.”
FTR Moto’s M210 Moto2 machine was taken to an impressive start-to-finish victory by Andrea Iannone in Sunday’s fourth round of the World Championship at the Mugello circuit in Italy.
Iannone, fastest in qualifying, became the first rider to win a Moto2 race from pole position, and he did so in dominant fashion, leading the 41-strong entry from start to finish on his Fimmco Speed Up Team M210. Iannone also recorded the fastest lap, a new lap record for the 3.257-mile circuit.
The 20-year-old Italian rider was more than seven seconds ahead at mid-race distance, and eventually crossed the finish line 2.764s ahead of Spaniard Sergio Gadea in the 21-lap race.
Of the three other FTR M210s in the race, Iannone’s Speed Up team-mate Gabor Talmacsi finished seventh, Spain’s Alex Debon brought the Aeroport de Castello-Ajo Team machine home in 10th while Karel Abraham on the Cardion AB Motoracing Team machine finished 17th in only his second race on the FTR M210.
The results leave Iannone fifth in the World Championship – despite only scoring in two of the four rounds so far – Talmacsi is eighth and Debon ninth.
FTR director Steve Bones said: “This is a superb day for FTR and the Speed Up Team. And the performance of Iannone is very impressive. His improvement on four-stroke machinery is dramatic. At the end of last season he struggled to challenge the top 10 in a Spanish Supersport Championship race and even the beginning of this season was tough for him but his fourth place at Le Mans two weeks ago was obviously a sign of his potential. All of the guys on our machines have performed well today and we’re really pleased for the riders, technicians and sponsors that we’ve been able to provide a machine capable of winning World Championship races.”
FTR Moto will now turn its attentions to the Isle of Man TT where Olie Linsdell will race an FTR Moto2 machine – complete with World Supersport-spec motor – in the six-lap Senior TT race on Friday. Then, at Jerez in Spain next Sunday, Kev Coghlan will be hoping to take the lead of the CEV Buckler National Championship before making his Moto2 World Championship debut as a wild card rider in the Silverstone British round the following Sunday, June 20.
Lorenzo extends title lead with second place in Mugello
Jorge Lorenzo gave the Fiat Yamaha Team a reason to smile in Mugello this afternoon as he brought his M1 home in second position, extending his MotoGP Championship lead after two wins and two seconds so far this season. Lorenzo took to the podium wearing a yellow number 46 shirt as a nod to his team-mate Valentino Rossi, who watched the race from his hospital bed after breaking his leg in practice yesterday.
Lorenzo got a good start behind Dani Pedrosa but soon realized he was not able to keep yesterday’s blistering pace, quickly losing ground to his fellow Spaniard as he became embroiled in a fight with Andrea Dovizioso. The Italian passed Lorenzo on lap three but the Mallorcan got his nose back in front three laps later, the pair then remaining locked closely together until three-quarter race distance, when Lorenzo managed to stretch his lead to over half a second. By then Pedrosa was several seconds clear and the 23-year-old had no choice but to settle for a safe runner-up spot, meaning he has taken an impressive 90 points from a possible 100 so far this season. His lead is now 25 points over Pedrosa in the championship, with the injured Rossi in third.
This was the first time Rossi has not started a race since he began his illustrious career over fourteen years ago in Malaysia at the age of 16, and the Italian holds the record of 230 consecutive starts. He is currently recuperating at the Centro Traumatologico Ortopedico in Florence following surgery yesterday to repair his broken right leg.
Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 2nd, Time: +4.014
“Unfortunately my pace today wasn’t as good as yesterday and I could only finish second; something happened and I couldn’t ride in the same way but in the circumstances I am happy with my result. Anyway Dani had a perfect race today; he had an amazing pace and I don’t know if I could have beaten him even if I had been as fast as yesterday! To take 90 points from 100 is great and I am leading the championship, so I cannot ask for more. I need to make some improvements to my riding style and Yamaha needs to try to improve the power of the bike a bit so we have some things to work on, but I am confident about the next weeks. It was very strange today without Valentino, I am so glad the fans honored him so well. I wanted to win to dedicate the victory to him but that wasn’t possible so all I can do is say ‘get well soon!’”
Wilco Zeelenberg – Team Manager
“After the weekend our team has had with what happened to Valentino this was a good result for us, we have 90 points, two wins and two seconds and we are happy with our season so far. Jorge had some issues today and we need to analyze why it happened and why he couldn’t keep the same pace, but we are not too worried and he rode a good race today. We are 25 points clear in the championship which is great but we all know why, because Valentino isn’t here, and it’s a sad situation. We all wish him the best.”
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team duo Colin Edwards and Ben Spies were immediately on the pace in Mugello today as Yamaha made a flying start to the Italian MotoGP weekend. Edwards made a welcome return to form after a difficult opening to the 2010 season and a range of set-up changes on his YZR-M1 machine reaped immediate reward for the Texan. Reverting back to the same set-up he used to finish sixth in the 2009 Italian MotoGP, the confidence Edwards has lacked with the front-end of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine in the early part of the campaign instantly returned.
Edwards was a permanent fixture in the top six before he surged into the top three shortly before the halfway stage. He briefly dropped out of the leading trio before a lap of 1.50.772 moved him behind dominant Yamaha duo Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo back into third spot in the closing stages. Only a late attack from circuit specialist Loris Capirossi prevented Edwards from helping Yamaha claim a stunning 1-2-3 start to the fourth round of the world championship. The spectacular Mugello circuit is one of the most technically challenging and physically demanding on the MotoGP calendar. But Spies once again exhibited his talent for learning tracks at a remarkably fast rate to clock the sixth quickest time and finish just over 0.2s behind Edwards.
Spies is still suffering slight discomfort from left ankle ligament damage he suffered in a practice crash in Le Mans. But the 25-year-old quickly got to grips with Mugello’s hard braking points, high-speed corners and undulation to finish with a best time of 1.51.004. Spies is confident with more time to work on the set-up of his YZR-M1 machine he’ll be able to fight for a leading position in Sunday’s 23-lap race.
Colin Edwards, 4th, Time: 1’50.772, laps: 21
“I’m really happy with today because the first three races have not been easy at all. Nothing had worked at all so far this season, so basically I completely changed the set-up of the bike today. I just told my team to change the set-up so it was completely the same as Mugello last year when I had my best result at this track. We changed riding position and got my weight moved forward because I’ve been having a problem keeping weight on the front this season. Now it just feels so natural and the bike does exactly what I want it to do. When I want the bike to do something it actually does it instead of me waiting and wondering why it didn’t work. Now it just turns and it feels like I’m spending much less time on the side of the tire. I turn in now really quickly and don’t run wide or have to work hard to get the bike round the corner. I want to say a big thanks to Tech 3 and Yamaha because it feels like my bike again and I’m riding with much more confidence.”
Ben Spies, 6th, Time: 1’51.004, Laps: 25
“This track is definitely a more difficult place to learn but it is a super fun track. There are a couple of corners that are really difficult to learn and it can take a while to get into a rhythm. But coming here on the back of a couple of bad results and being immediately this fast on such a technically challenging track is really good for me. It doesn’t feel like I should have been sixth and I guess that is a good sign. I thought I was doing fine so to see I was sixth, I was blown away with that because I thought I’d be about tenth or just outside the top ten. I’m still having a bit of trouble with the ankle I hurt in the practice crash in Le Mans. There’s quite a bit of ligament damage but the only time I really feel it is when I’m trying to tuck in tight on the straight. It’s not a major injury but it will take a few weeks to fully recover. On the bike it hurts but it’s not slowing me down. I’ll analyze the data tonight because as always when I’m starting fresh on a new track, there is more time to come from my riding and the bike. But to be sixth on my first day at such a difficult track is a good lift for my confidence.”
Valentino Rossi looked as happy as ever at his beloved home track of Mugello this afternoon, shaking off the pain of his shoulder injury to set the fastest time on the opening day. His Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo was 0.369 seconds behind him in second and the pair looked in command of the situation as this fourth round of the season got underway, deep in the Tuscan countryside
Local hero Rossi has won here an incredible nine times in his career and professes to this being one of his favorite tracks, and the 31-year-old certainly looked at his best today as he topped the standings for almost the entire session. He is still suffering from lingering pain in his right shoulder from the injury he sustained over a month ago, but a good base setting went a long way to allowing him to ride more comfortably today and he and his crew are hopeful of continuing in the same vein tomorrow.
After two wins on the bounce championship leader Lorenzo looked the same confident package today as he lapped consistently fast to finish the day second behind his team-mate. The Mallorcan is planning to try a few changes tomorrow to try to maximize the potential of his M1 around this high-speed track, but he is feeling relaxed after a good start to the weekend.
Valentino Rossi, 1st, Time: 1’49.751, Laps: 26
“I am so happy to be back here in Mugello and we did a good first practice. We worked well, trying a lot of different settings as well as soft and hard Bridgestone tires, and we are quite fast. I still have pain in my shoulder but it seems that this track isn’t as bad and today I wasn’t suffering like I did in Le Mans. Of course we don’t know how the shoulder will feel over the weekend but at this early stage I’m quite confident. The important thing is to work at 100% to find the right setting and make sure we’re as fast as possible for Sunday.”
Jorge Lorenzo, 2nd, Time: 1’50.120, Laps: 27
“I’m happy about this session and I’m feeling quite good. It’s always difficult to be fast straight away here, because you need many laps to understand the track with all its changes in direction, but after I had done some laps I improved a lot. Now we have to try to improve some things on the bike. The most important thing is to get on the front row tomorrow and to do that we need to make some small changes. The weather is hot but it’s okay, I’m fit, well prepared and have a good pace already.”
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This weekend, the Fiat Yamaha Team heads to its home track of Mugello, which lies about 180 miles south of its European base near Milan. The team arrives in Tuscany flying high at the top of the championship, with Jorge Lorenzo just ahead of Valentino Rossi in points. The riders have three wins and three additional podiums between them this season.
The 23-year-old Lorenzo is in dominant form, having won the last two races in Spain and France to take his MotoGP win tally to seven since 2008. The Spaniard enjoys the high-speed Mugello circuit, where he won in 2006 on the way to his first 250cc title. He crashed out on his Italian Premier-Class debut in 2008, but in 2009 he recovered from a sighting-lap crash to take a strong second and get a taste of Mugello mayhem from the podium, when the fans traditionally storm onto the track to flood the finish straight.
Reigning World Champion Rossi has an unequalled record with his beloved Mugello, having won there nine times in 14 years, which included an extraordinary run of seven consecutive victories to 2008. Last year he had to be content with a slightly different view from the podium in third place, but he will be out for win number ten this weekend as he bids to close the gap to his teammate, which currently stands at nine points.
The spectacular Mugello circuit is one of the fastest in the world, with the 1,141m main street tempting the 800cc bikes to speeds of more than 200mph, before braking into the awesome downhill right-hander. The track is also one of the widest on the calendar and boasts some high-speed chicanes and frequent changes of gradient. It generally brings about some superb racing, all played out in the unrivalled atmosphere created by the fanatical Italian fans who throng the hillsides to cheer on their heroes.
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