FIM MotoGP World Championship Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California July 23, 2010 Free Practice One Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Casey STONER, Australia (Ducati), 1:21.699 2. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (Yamaha), 1:21.932 3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (Honda), 1:22.225 4. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (Honda), 1:22.559 5. Ben SPIES, USA (Yamaha), 1:22.640 6. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (Yamaha), 1:22.660 7. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (Ducati), 1:22.902 8. Colin EDWARDS, USA (Yamaha), 1:22.971 9. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (Honda), 1:23.021 10. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (Ducati), 1:23.693 11. Mika KALLIO, Finland (Ducati), 1:23.825 12. Marco SIMONCELLI, Italy (Honda), 1:24.002 13. Hector BARBERA, Spain (Ducati), 1:24.326 14. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (Honda), 1:24.615 15. Loris CAPIROSSI, Italy (Suzuki), 1:24.710 16. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (Suzuki), 1:25.031 17. Roger Lee HAYDEN, USA (Honda), 1:25.432 More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER FASTEST IN THE OPENING DAY AT LAGUNA SECA, HAYDEN SEVENTH Casey Stoner dominated the opening afternoon of the USGP at Laguna Seca today, spending the majority of the first free practice at the top of the time sheets and finishing up 0.233 seconds clear of his closest rival. Stoner’s best effort came on his 24th lap of 26 and at 1’21.699 it was just over two tenths shy of his own circuit record, set on his way to victory here in 2007. Stoner’s team-mate Nicky Hayden worked hard throughout the session on the set-up of his Desmosedici GP10 machine and nobody completed more laps than the 33 of the American at his home circuit. However, with over a second gap to his pacesetting team-mate Hayden knows he has work to do in tomorrow’s remaining two sessions. CASEY STONER (Ducati Team) 1st (1’21.699) “Today we tried a few different things with the setting because we still need to find a better feeling with the front and also we need to adapt the braking because there are a lot more bumps here in the braking zones than there were last year. In general we have to be happy because we’re setting the pace at the moment but we have to continue this tomorrow. In a lot of races this season we’ve been fast on a Friday but not able to improve and lost ground to the others so we want to make sure that doesn’t happen here. I’m not looking to be first in practice, I would like to be first at the end of the race on Sunday.” NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Team) 7th (1’22.902) “The session didn’t go quite as well as I’d hoped but we got a good base and learned a few things. Casey going so fast is a good thing for us because it shows the potential of the bike at this track even though we know he is really special around here. From our side we need to work a little on the gearbox tomorrow because the engine is quite different to what we had last year. It’s maybe something we need to look at tonight. This track is really tricky because there are so many second and third gear corners so we need to find something that works in every one of them.” Circuit Record: Casey Stoner (Ducati – 2008), 1’21.488 159.483 Km/h Best Pole: Casey Stoner (Ducati – 2008), 1’20.700 161.040 Km/h More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing Team: FIRST LAPS AT LAGUNA SECA FOR PRAMAC RACING RIDERS First laps on the Californian circuit of Laguna Seca for the Pramac Racing riders, Aleix Espargarò and Mika Kallio. Both riders have, in fact, made their debut on this track: Mika missed last year race due to an injury while Aleix is a debutant in the top class. The Catalan rider has impressed today concluding the session in tenth position leaving behind riders that already knew the circuit. Tomorrow he will therefore have the possibility to reduce the gap from the fastest riders. Also his teammate, Mika Kallio, has registered a good lap time positioning in eleventh place only one tenth of a second from Aleix. Marco Rigamonti – Aleix Espargarò Track Engineer “Today we didn’t make any modification on the bike and also for tomorrow final free practice we will keep everything on the bike just like it is. First of all Aleix has to understand the best lines to follow, afterward we will begin to make some changes to the set up of the bike. We can consider ourselves satisfied for what Aleix has done today on track, he is the best of the debutant on the American track and this gives us good hopes for the rest of the weekend.” Aleix Espargarò – Pramac Racing Team – 10th best lap time in 1’23.693 “What a beautiful track! In the first laps it seemed like I was walking around: I was studying which were the best lines to follow and after a few laps I could begin to push more. There are some spectaculars curves, which I really enjoy and you almost have to take them with your eyes closed. The corkscrew leaves you breathless. Tomorrow morning we will use the bike without any modifications: the most important thing for the moment is to increase the trust with the circuit.” Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing Team – 11th best lap time in 1’23.825 “I can’t complain with this beginning of the weekend on a totally new circuit for me. There are many blind turns where is hard to understand which are the best lines. Anyway I really had good time on my bike today and the eleventh position is a good starting point. I am trustful that tomorrow we will be able to improve also thanks to the support of my technical staff.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Fast start for Edwards and Spies on home soil Ben Spies made a blistering start to his home race at Laguna Seca this afternoon, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider ending an opening practice session run in sunny conditions with the fifth quickest time. Aided by an upgraded YZR-M1 engine specification delivered by Yamaha for his all-important home race at the breathtaking California circuit, which features the incomparable and famous Corkscrew section, Spies was less than one-tenth-of-a-second away from fourth position. Laguna Seca is the first race 2010 where Spies has previously raced in MotoGP and he put his vast track knowledge to good use immediately, the 26-year-old quickly establishing himself in the top ten. Spies, who is running a special livery for his home race featuring the Texas state flag, led home a strong American contingent while also finishing fastest non-factory rider as he edged out reigning world champion Valentino Rossi by 0.020s. Spies is confident that planned overnight set-up changes to improve the stability of his YZR-M1 machine to cope with Laguna Seca’s bumpy surface will allow him to challenge for a top grid position in tomorrow’s qualifying session ahead of the ninth round of the 2010 MotoGP world championship. It was a fruitful session for Colin Edwards too, the 36-year-old instantly taking advantage of the upgraded engine specification to put himself in the top five for much of the session. Edwards ran several laps on both soft and hard front and rear Bridgestone options in preparation for Sunday’s 32-lap race. And he was immediately able to lap much quicker using the hard front option, the significantly improved stability helping Edwards secure eighth position with a best time of 1.22.971. Ben Spies 5th 1.22.640 33 laps “It is funny but I know this track so well, yet having not been here for a while it took me a bit of time to remember it. I’m pretty happy to be in the top five after the first session and I’m also pleased with the lap times by the end. Coming home and being in front of my home crowd, I can’t be disappointed with my position after the first day. I’m sure we can make the bike a lot better because I had a couple of small issues that are easy to fix. I want the bike to absorb the bumps a little better but it is nothing that is really holding me back too much. We got an upgrade and I’m grateful to Yamaha for that and I’m definitely in the ballpark for th e rest of the weekend. I need a few tenths per lap but I think I can be much closer to the front tomorrow. At the end I put in a string of laps that weren’t super-fast, but I was really consistent and I’m happy with that.” Colin Edwards 8th 1.22.971 29 laps “I’m really happy to be back on home soil and racing in front of the American fans and I’m also happy because the practice session went pretty good. The track felt the cleanest it has ever done on the first day and I was happy with the bike to show more of my true potential. I started on the soft front and rear tyres and I wasn’t able to turn as good as I wanted but right at the end we switched to the hard options and I went almost half-a-second faster. I’ve already made my mind up to use the hard front for the race and I’m sure with some more changes we’ll be able to get some more feeling. But the hard tyre gives me more confidence. I’m happier with the performance of the bike too and I want to say a big thanks to Yamaha for giving me their support as always. The improved specification just makes it feel easier and more comfortable to do the lap time and I’m confident of a strong weekend.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Stoner quickly pushing pace in California Red Bull U.S Grand Prix – Friday 23 July Casey Stoner was over two-tenths of a second faster than Jorge Lorenzo, as he got within 0.021s of the Spaniard’s 2009 pole position time in the opening practice session at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix. The Ducati rider found an immediately fast pace at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca this afternoon as he took top spot on the timesheet Jorge Lorenzo just before the midway point of the first practice, and he did not relinquish it as he lapped consistently fast for the rest of the session having switched bikes early on following some dissatisfaction with the set-up of his first machine. Inside the final five minutes the Australian posted his best effort of 1’21.699, just two-tenths outside Dani Pedrosa’s race lap record, leaving him 0.233s clear at the top of the timing sheets. Fiat Yamaha rider and Championship leader Lorenzo was the only other rider under the 1’22″ mark, as he also made a fast start to his weekend with a best of 1’21.932. Andrea Dovizioso was the highest placing Honda rider in the session as he took his factory RC212V around in a best time of 1’22.225, just over half a second off Stoner’s pace. The Italian’s Repsol Honda colleague Pedrosa, who won last year’s race at the track, was fourth quickest at a further three-tenths down on his team-mate’s time. Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Ben Spies was the highest placing American rider in the session, the rookie albeit riding on one of the few tracks he has experienced before setting a best time of 1’22.640 towards the end to secure fifth. Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) was sixth and also the last rider within a second of Stoner, as the recovering Italian put in a best time 0.961s off that of Stoner’s. He hinted there may have been some slight pain from his injured shoulder, but that his leg was coping with the compression in the infamous Corkscrew downhill esses. American duo Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) and Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech3) were seventh and eighth respectively, with Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) and Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing) rounding out the top ten. Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) had a crash at turn three very early in the session but was uninjured and returned to the track to go 12th fastest, and Randy de Puniet’s substitute on the LCR Honda team Roger Lee Hayden was just under four seconds off Stoner in 17th as he took his first ride on the satellite RC212V. Free practice continues for the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix from 9.55am local time on Saturday morning (GMT -7) with qualifying at 1.55pm. More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: ROGER LEE HAYDEN MAKES HIS DEBUT ABOARD THE LCR RC212V Monterey, 23 July: a few days after the German GP which saw De Puniet suffering a fracture of his left tibia and fibula, the LCR Team flew to California for the tenth round of the season at the spectacular Laguna Seca race track with the American rider Roger Lee Hayden making his first outing today aboard the RC212V. Under clear, sunny skies the 60-minute first free practice for the U.S. Grand Prix was held in warm conditions (with ambience temperature of 24°C). The 27-yeard-old from Kentucky started his set up work at the roller-coaster style layout of the 3.610km circuit together with LCR crew finishing in 17th place overall (1’25.432). Hayden 17th 1’25.432 Hayden: “For the first 1-hour session it was not so bad and I had fun! For this first outing all I wanted to do was to get some miles on the bike. I have not used carbon brakes for a long time and some of the other aspects of the bike are quite different to what I am used to. As the session went on the guys made some changes to the bike to make me feel more comfortable on the machine. At the end we just run out of time but I am happy as I finished the session quite close to some of the guys in front of me. I am looking forward to getting back on the bike tomorrow to see how much faster I can go”. More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Stoner sets fast pace to top timesheets after first practice Round 9: United States GP Free Practice Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Friday 23 July 2010 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Medium, Hard. Rear: Medium, Hard (asymmetric) Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner set the fastest lap during the first hour of practice and, using Bridgestone’s asymmetric rear slicks for the first time at Laguna Seca, he was already just 0.02seconds from last year’s pole time. Jorge Lorenzo was second fastest for the Fiat Yamaha Team and Andrea Dovizioso was third for Repsol Honda, whilst three American riders finished in the top eight: the Monster Yamaha Tech3 duo of Ben Spies and Colin Edwards in fifth and eighth respectively and Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden in seventh. Conditions during the session were fine and the track temperature reached a high of 45 degrees Celsius, giving riders a chance to try both the harder and softer front and rear slick tyres. Stoner and Lorenzo set their best laps using a harder front and softer option rear, whilst Dovizioso favoured the harder rear. Today’s times show that the asymmetric rears are working well, although their real benefit of improved warm-up performance from the softer right side of the tyre will be shown tomorrow morning when the temperature will be cooler and therefore good warm-up performance more important. With the absence of tyre competition in MotoGP the basis for competitive comparison has become lap records, in this instance set by Stoner back in 2008 in the final year of tyre competition. After only the first hour of running on a dirty track Stoner was only 0.2seconds slower than the lap record, indicating promising performance from Bridgestone’s asymmetric rear slick tyres at the start of this grand prix weekend. Tohru Ubukata Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department “The circuit was quite dirty today but still the laptimes were fast so I am happy with tyre performance, particularly of our asymmetric rears. They were well received by the riders and contributed to the fast laptimes. The asymmetric rears provide better warm-up performance through the right-handers and good stability and consistency through the lefts, giving the riders more confidence to attack. As conditions improve throughout the weekend the laptimes will get faster and I expect a new lap record on Sunday.” Top ten from free practice (Friday 13:55 14:55 GMT-7) Pos Rider Team Practice Time Gap Tyres 1 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 1m21.699s Bridgestone slicks 2 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 1m21.932s +0.233s Bridgestone slicks 3 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 1m22.225s +0.526s Bridgestone slicks 4 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1m22.559s +0.860s Bridgestone slicks 5 Ben Spies Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m22.640s +0.941s Bridgestone slicks 6 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m22.660s +0.961s Bridgestone slicks 7 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 1m22.902s +1.203s Bridgestone slicks 8 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m22.971s +1.272s Bridgestone slicks 9 Marco Melandri San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m23.021s +1.322s Bridgestone slicks 10 Aleix Espargaro Pramac Racing Team 1m23.693s +1.994s Bridgestone slicks Weather: Dry. Ambient 19-20°C; Track 44-45°C (Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista made his very first racing visit to the Laguna Seca Raceway in America today and took on the task of learning this demanding circuit. Bautista’s (P16, 1’25.031, 26 laps) only previous visit to the 3,610m California circuit was as a spectator and he found out just how difficult this track is on a MotoGP machine when he made his way out onto track for today’s practice session. He made big steps throughout the session even though he was troubled by braking issues early on and is positive that he will continue to improve as the weekend continues. Loris Capirossi (P15, 1’24.710, 30 laps) is sure that the team will be able to identify the problems that have been holding him back today, as they assess the data this evening. He was unable to get the correct feeling for his bike today and is convinced that the direction they will follow tomorrow will see him take steps up the timesheet. Today’s one-and-only practice session was conducted in very pleasant conditions with air temperatures at 24ºC. Australian Casey Stoner on his factory Ducati set the fastest time. Rizla Suzuki has one more practice session tomorrow morning, followed by qualifying on Saturday afternoon. Sunday’s 32-lap race gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (21.00hrs GMT). Álvaro Bautista: “It’s a totally new circuit for me and a very difficult one to learn. It is so different from any other circuit because it is like a row of mountains always up and down. Some corners are very difficult because you cannot see where they go, so you have to find very clear reference points for where to be and where to brake. It is difficult in one hour to learn all this, especially because I had a braking problem that caused me to lose about half the practice, so I never had the time I wanted out there. At the end I went a bit quicker and found the points I was looking for. After a good sleep tonight I think it will be easier to ride the circuit. The bike is working well, but I do have a bit of a problem exiting the corners as I’m going a bit wide, but we can certainly change that tomorrow. We will take things step-by-step tomorrow and learn the track, then get quicker in qualifying so we are ready for the race on Sunday.” Loris Capirossi: “It’s been tough today, but we never thought it was going to be easy. We tried to get the right feeling on the bike because we just couldn’t get it turning right, but we now have an idea how to resolve that tomorrow. This year we have tried to go in a different way with the bike, but we have not really understood whether it is the right way or not, because we have tried to get more rear grip and have a shorter bike. For me that is sometimes the right way, but sometimes I struggle as well, and here is a racetrack that I am really struggling on. I am very positive for tomorrow though because I am 100% convinced we will improve and we will keep our fingers crossed that the rest of the weekend will be a lot better for us.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: DOVIZIOSO AND PEDROSA THIRD AND FOURTH IN LAGUNA PRACTICE Repsol Honda riders Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa made a positive start to the U.S. Grand Prix weekend today as the first hour of MotoGP free practice took place at the famous Laguna Seca circuit in California. The factory Honda squad got stuck in to the detailed process of dialing in the RC212V to the demands of this unique and challenging track – Dovizioso and Pedrosa finishing the session in third and fourth places, with further improvements expected tomorrow. Dovizioso rode with confidence from the outset and quickly got into a good rhythm around the 3.610km (2.243 miles) circuit – remaining near the top of the timesheets throughout. Towards the end of the session the Italian tried some electronics settings adjustments with positive results and he recorded his best time of 1m 22.225s on the last of his 33 laps this afternoon, a mark which was 0.526s back from today’s quickest lap time set by Casey Stoner. After the positive opening s ession, Dovizioso is confident about qualifying well tomorrow. Pedrosa was a further 0.334s behind his team-mate and is certain that there’s more to come in tomorrow’s two sessions. The Spaniard is looking to take his first back-to-back wins in the MotoGP class this weekend following his victory at the previous race in Germany last Sunday. After a promising start to this afternoon’s session, Pedrosa didn’t improve his lap times as much as he anticipated and is looking for improved rear grip and more stability at the front – areas his crew will work on this evening. But having won last year’s U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca after also placing fourth in Friday practice, the 24-year-old is confident of closing the gap to the top of the timesheets in tomorrow’s practice and qualifying sessions. ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 3rd 1m 22.225s +0.526s “I’m happy with the start we’ve made to the weekend today. We got into a good rhythm quickly and we’re faster than we were last year here. This year’s RC212V is much more controllable and so it’s quite a lot easier to get into a rhythm and set quick and consistent lap times. On our last run out of the pits we tried some new electronics settings for traction control and the feeling was generally good. Of course we need to continue working on this and testing them tomorrow to understand the changes better, but it’s a positive step. The asymmetric tyre Bridgestone has brought here is working well. I used the harder Bridgestones for my fastest laps so I’m confident we can find a good race setting and also qualify well tomorrow.” DANI PEDROSA 4th 1m 22.559s +0.860s “I know we can improve quite a lot from today so I’m reasonably confident about the rest of the weekend. After the first run this afternoon we made some settings adjustments to the bike which didn’t improve the pace as we’d anticipated and there are a few areas we need to work on in order to move forward. For the first day the lap times at the top are quick already but I’m not worried about the gap because I know we can improve from here. We need to work to increase the grip at the rear and also get some more stability at the front. Last year here we were also not so fast on the first day so we’ll keep working and get ready to take a step forward tomorrow.” TOSHIYUKI YAMAJI – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER “Today we completed the first practice session at Laguna and the team have made a reasonable start to the weekend. Andrea was very comfortable from the outset and was able to improve his pace through the session. He tried some new electronics settings with positive initial results and we’ll analyse the data from today and fine tune these further. There’s still some work to do on Dani’s side in terms of chassis settings, but once those adjustments are made he can get much closer to the front. We saw last year that both Dani and Andrea can be strong here, so I’m confident the team can qualify well tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: LORENZO AND ROSSI SECOND AND SIXTH AS THEY ADJUST TO LAGUNA SECA A sun-soaked Laguna Seca welcomed the MotoGP paddock to American soil today, where Jorge Lorenzo looked on good form to finish the opening session in second and his Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi made a solid start for sixth position. The Fiat Yamaha M1s are running in a special livery here to celebrate the forthcoming launch of the Fiat 500 car in the United States, which features the faces of 500 fans on both bikes and the riders’ leathers. Lorenzo has had an eventful time at this track in his two previous visits here but today was much more routine, as the 23-year-old quickly found a good rhythm and was on the pace from the start. He finished the day just 0.233 seconds off leader Casey Stoner but he admits he needs to make some adjustments to his riding style tomorrow to better suit the peculiar nature of this track.< /p> After his sensational return from injury in Germany, Rossi found he was in a little bit more pain at this track, especially in the braking area before the infamous Corkscrew. Aside from his physical worries the World Champion was happy with his first day’s work and is confident that the information he and his team gathered today will help them to climb the order tomorrow. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 2nd Time: 1’21.932 Laps: 31 “This was a good first practice and everything came quite easily; we didn’t find any big problems and I was able to be at the front from the start. That said it looks like Casey is very strong here and we will have to work hard to catch him! I think I need to make some small changes to my riding style tomorrow rather than big changes to the bike setting and hopefully this will help us to find a few tenths and make sure we can fight on Sunday. A lot can change and I hope we can improve some more tomorrow.” Valentino Rossi Position: 6th Time: 1’22.660 Laps: 31 “This track is a bit harder for me than Sachsenring and I have more pain than I had there, mostly in the ankle but also in the shoulder at the breaking point before the Corkscrew. Aside from that I think we can be better tomorrow; we haven’t put everything together yet to be at our full potential on the track and if we had a few more laps today we could have been a bit further up. We used the hard tyre at the end but the track was maybe a bit dirty for it. Tomorrow we will try the soft tyre also in the front. I like the special livery; it’s something different and fun. Tomorrow I will have a helmet to go with it!” Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager “The practice was fine for us today, we had no major problems and we just tried different things between the two bikes; clearly one setting was better than the other. We need a bit more time because we need to improve the balance between the front and rear, but we know that it’s very difficult to have everything perfect at this track because the corkscrew is very unusual! Second place is a good performance for the opening day and we’re only two tenths off Stoner so we are happy and will try to improve more tomorrow.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “We tried some different settings and both Bridgestone tyres in this session. It wasn’t too bad but now we need to put things together and find the best way forward. Physically Valentino seems to be not too bad, even if he has a bit more trouble here than in Germany, but we have to wait and see how he is tomorrow with two sessions instead of one. We finished the session with the hard tyre because we wanted to try some things and this probably wasn’t the best way to get a fast lap time, but it’s important to try all the combinations and hopefully the information we gathered today will enable us to be faster tomorrow.”