The fourth round of the MotoGP world championship will take place this weekend in Le Mans, at the Bugatti circuit. It’s an important track that was built in 1965 around the original course for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The narrow circuit is characterized by unusual curves, which force the rider to brake and accelerate hard. The Pramac Racing Team will try to continue the encouraging progress it experienced in Portugal, despite the fact that Paolo Campinoti’s team has always had a difficult relationship with this track, having only achieved a single podium, in 2004 when the Pramac logo adorned Max Biaggi’s fairing. Since that season, there have been mixed results at Le Mans, with some retirements and some finishes far from the top. Green Team rider Randy De Puniet will be the “landlord,” and the Frenchman would love to do well in front of his home crowd, at a track where he has earned four podiums. It will all depend on his knee which, following the removal of a screw a few days after the Jerez race, certainly didn’t help him during the next round at Estoril. Loris Capirossi would also like to consolidate the progress made in Portugal, although Le Mans definitely isn’t one of his favorite tracks. In addition, it seems that the French race could be the first European GP not to be affected by rain. Fabio Sterlacchini Pramac Racing Technical Director “We worked a lot on the bike at the Estoril test, especially Loris’, since Randy unfortunately was affected by his painful knee. The problem at the last race was the front end, so we tried various solutions, and perhaps one of those could help us go forward with our development once and for all. The circuit seems custom-made for our bike: it doesn’t have long straights to speak of, so a lot depends on the riders. We’re pleased with the most recent results, and we need to stay on that path. Randy’s injury is really a shame, as he was taking big steps. I hope he’ll be ready for Sunday anyway.” Randy De Puniet Pramac Racing Team Rider “I must say that I was very worried about my knee after the race in Estoril. When I got off the bike, I immediately feared the worst. I thought that the ligaments might have been injured during the race, but fortunately the doctor visits I’ve made have excluded that possibility. It needs rest, but we’ve had very few days off. The problem had to do with the blood circulation around the scar after the screw was removed. I’m calm and happy to race in front of my fans, on home ground. I wasn’t able to test the bike like everyone else did at Estoril, but I hope to have the same approach with the bike that we had in Qatar and at Jerez.” Loris Capirossi Pramac Racing Team Rider “The test after the Estoril race showed that we’re making progress with the bike. The problem with the front seems to have been solved, along with some other small issues. Sure, the bike isn’t perfect, but the work we carried out makes us optimistic about the future. We want to show our capability, and we hope we’ll be able to do that. As I said after the last race, we’re only getting started. We have plenty of time to put together a great bike. Everything depends on us, and we’re confident.” More, from a press release issued by FTR MOTO: FTR MOTO AIMING FOR LE MANS GLORY FTR MOTO is chasing more podium finishes and a first victory of 2011 in this year’s Moto2 World Championship in round four at Le Mans, France on Sunday. Simon Corsi is third in the Championship on his IODA Project Team FTR M211 with three top six finishes so far, including third place in Spain the Italian also took third place at Le Mans last year. Corsi is one of 10 riders on FTR machinery in the series and all but two have now scored World Championship points with six riders in the top 20. Emerging Moto2 talent Pol Espargaro got his first points of the year with sixth place at Estoril’s third round in Portugal 10 days ago and the HP Tuenti Speed Up rider’s team-mate Valentin Debise will be looking for his first points of 2011 at his home round this weekend. Young Spaniard Esteve Rabat sits in 14th place in the World Championship on his FTR M211 after three finishes from three rounds for the Blusens STX rider the best of those coming in the last round in Portugal with 10th place. Rabat’s team-mate Yonny Hernandez was in the points at Le Mans last year and will be looking to add to his two point-scoring rides this year in Sunday’s race. After a great eighth-place finish in Spain, Aeroport de Castello’s Kev Coghlan will be hoping to bounce back from missing the Estoril third round through injury by taking another strong finish in France. The IODA Project’s Mattia Pasini and Ratthapark Wilairot on the Thai Honda Singa Team will both be looking to add to their sole point-scoring finishes in Spain in round two while Kenny Noyes will be aiming to repeat his pole position of last year at Le Mans and get his first points haul of 2011 on the FOGI/GP Tech Team M211. “While the first three rounds of 2011 have generally been about learning for all of our new riders on the M211, the signs are now evident that huge potential exists in our 2011 line-up,” said FTR’s Steve Bones. “We’ve a lot of young riders and watching them improve race by race is pretty exciting.” He continued: “We have further development parts for Le Mans and I’m hopeful we can continue what we’ve been doing and have plenty of the FTR riders scoring Championship points on the M211.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: LCR HONDA RCVs BRANDED WITH ELF LOGO AT LE MANS GP The partnership between Elf (a brand of Total) and LCR Honda MotoGP Team continues with renewed commitment. After the confirmation of their long term cooperation announced at the beginning of the 2011 Championship Elf logo will be the Title Sponsor of LCR Honda Team in the next Grand Prix of France at the historical Le Mans race track. Since over 40 years Elf features the motorsport competitions involving several human resources and technologies in order to develop new top performing racing fuels, engine lubricants, hydraulic and brake fluids; such motorsport competitions are a unique communication instrument for Elf which aim to produce and distribute high technologies products worldwide. Philippe Corsaletti (Vice-President of Total Motorsport Division): “The 2010 Le Mans GP was again a great event which obtained the appreciation of the public counting over 170.000 spectators in the 3-day race week end. For this reason, after several valuations, we have planned a visibility boost with LCR Team cooperation developing new marketing activities during such an important event. Through these activities we aim to communicate our important commitment in the motorsport field that we consider a unique platform for developing and testing new products for the present and the future”. Lucio Cecchinello (LCR Team CEO): “First of all I want to thank the whole staff of Total Competition for granting us their important cooperation and confidence on the occasion of next Grand Prix of France including a sincere thanks for their precious and constant technological cooperation over the years. Recently we had the chance to visit Total ACS plant in Givors (Lyon) and I can honestly declare that we were extremely impressed about the organization, the plants, the equipments and of course the human resources involved also in that establishment. We feel honoured and proud to be part of the development process of ELF racing products with our Honda MotoGP bikes”. More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Le Mans weekend warms up with press conference Colin Edwards, Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi and Randy de Puniet were all present at the official press conference on Thursday, ahead of this weekend’s Monster Energy Grand Prix de France. The formalities for the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France got underway on Thursday at the Le Mans circuit, where five of the MotoGP class riders were in attendance at the official press conference prior to the start of Round 4. Current Championship leader and reigning World Champion, Jorge Lorenzo, kicked off proceedings and the Yamaha Factory Racing rider is anticipating another competitive weekend at a track at which he has won for the past two seasons. “It’s a track that is normally good for the Yamaha but we will see what happens this year because the competitors are really strong, they have improved their bikes a lot,” said Lorenzo, who is set to make his 150th GP start this weekend. “We are also competitive and at the Estoril Test we tried some parts that will improve the front feeling a little bit, so I’m excited to try this here.” He added: “I love the track, it’s very flat and has a lot of chicanes, which is one of my specialties. Also you have to carry a very fast corner speed. The circumstances can change a lot so we start here with an open mentality, hope and with a lot of excitement.” Dani Pedrosa trails his fellow Spaniard by just four points in the standings after his victory in the previous round at Estoril, and the Repsol Honda rider’s confidence is evident following his improved physical condition. “I hope I can do well here because I will ride with some pain still, but I think there is nothing abnormal about this after having surgery and rehabilitation,” said Pedrosa, who has two premier class podium finishes at Le Mans to his name. “Right now I’m still sore but I hope I can improve during this weekend.” “It’s a track I’ve had some MotoGP podiums at and some poles, so I’m happy to be here. To finish on the podium for the opening three races with that problem was, for me, very good. The Championship is very long, and we must try and maintain the rhythm in every race.” Valentino Rossi has a strong record at the circuit, having stepped onto the podium seven times in the premier class, three of which have been victories. The Ducati Team rider has a best finish of fifth place so far this season in his debut campaign with the Borgo Panigale factory, and was encouraged by what he found at the Estoril Test. “We had some new materials to try, especially in the front of the bike and with different settings. I’m happy because we improved our performance. The distance from the top remains too big but we will see this weekend,” said the Italian. “We have big changes on the frame of the bike. We have a small modification in the engine but we have to wait for the next engine due to the regulations, so I don’t know when we can use that.” Speaking about Le Mans, he continued: “The track is not one of my favourites, because it’s very difficult and has a lot of hard braking, chicanes, but I’ve had some good results here in the past. The Yamaha is always good here, but the Ducati was too with Stoner so we have to be strong enough. We need to improve, and the target is the get on the podium as soon as possible.” Randy de Puniet will want to improve on his best MotoGP result of seventh (from last year) in front of his home crowd. The Pramac Racing rider took four consecutive podiums here in the former 250cc class, and would love to kickstart his 2011 season with a strong result on home soil. “It’s been a difficult start to the season, but I need to manage the situation,” De Puniet said. “After Estoril I was in a lot of pain, and was not too confident about this weekend, but since Monday I’ve been without pain and now I’m at 100% physically which means I can focus on the bike.” “I really want to have a good race here because it’s important to start the season now. I’m quite confident, I hope the weather stays good, the bike is good, and I’ll give my best to be the first satellite rider,” he concluded. Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards has had a good start to 2011, and is keen to impress at his team’s home GP. “With a new chassis, electronics and engine we’ve had this year the bike has been going well, so I’m looking forward to this weekend and staying back on pace,” said Edwards, who has twice stepped onto the rostrum at Le Mans. “I have no idea why I like this track, I think it’s just because the bike likes it! But it’s very competitive out there and will be again this weekend.” Earlier this afternoon, 11 riders took part in the pre-event go kart race at the Alain Prost circuit, which consisted of a 10 min Free Practice, 2 laps for QP and a 5 lap race. Jules Cluzel took pole position, ahead of Louis Rossi and Andrea Iannone. The race was between Cluzel and Rossi who shot off and had a clear advantage at the front after lap 1. Efrén Vázquez came in a comfortable third while Iannone dropped back, battling aggressively with Simone Corsi at the back. Andrea Dovizioso finished 10th.