FIM MotoGP World Championship Mugello, Italy June 6, 2010 Race Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (Honda), 23 laps, 42:28.066 2. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (Yamaha), -4.014 seconds 3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (Honda), -6.196 4. Casey STONER, Australia (Ducati), -25.703 5. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (Honda), -25.735 6. Randy DE PUNIET, France (Honda), -25.965 7. Ben SPIES, USA (Yamaha), -28.806 8. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (Ducati), -40.172 9. Marco SIMONCELLI, Italy (Honda), -41.394 10. Loris CAPIROSSI, Italy (Suzuki), -42.107 11. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Japan (Honda), -43.095 12. Hector BARBERA, Spain (Ducati), -43.363 13. Colin EDWARDS, USA (Yamaha), -74.393 14. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (Suzuki), -84.389 15. Mika KALLIO, Finland (Ducati), -15 laps, DNF, crash 16. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (Ducati), -18 laps, DNF, crash World Championship Point Standings (after 4 of 17 races): 1. Lorenzo, 90 points 2. Pedrosa, 65 3. Valentino Rossi, 61 4. Dovizioso, 58 5. Hayden, 39 6. De Puniet, 36 7. Melandri, 32 8. Stoner, 24 9. Simoncelli, 23 10. Spies, 20 11. TIE, Barbera/Edwards, 19 13. Aoyama, 18 14. Espargaro, 16 15. Capirossi, 13 16. Kallio, 12 17. Bautista, 8 More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: 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 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 realised 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 honoured 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 analyse 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.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista both finished today’s Italian Grand Prix in points scoring positions. The two riders finished in 10th and 14th places respectively after tough races for the pair, but for different reasons. Capirossi struggled to get the front end feeling that he wanted from his Suzuki GSV-R and couldn’t push hard enough to get up to the pack in front of him for a higher position. He was disappointed to finish his home GP in 10th, but philosophical about completing a full race after crashing in both of his last two outings. Bautista was also battling against the injury he sustained recently – as well as the other riders on-track – and although the discomfort from riding a MotoGP bike in race conditions was immense, he wrestled his machine to the line to give Rizla Suzuki its first double points score of the season. Today’s race was held in glorious sunshine with 76,814 fans baking at trackside in temperatures of over 30ºC. Dani Pedrosa took a flag-to-flag victory on his factory Honda, with championship leader Jorge Lorenzo second. Rizla Suzuki now heads back across the English Channel for its home Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday 20th June. Loris Capirossi: “This race is less of a disaster that the last two because I didn’t finish them, but I am really annoyed because we just never found the best solution. Today we started with a setting from warm-up but I just never had a feeling in the front and every time I changed direction I thought I was going to lose it. I nearly crashed a couple of times and had to go a bit slower to make sure I didn’t I don’t want to be racing like that! The whole team works so hard to find the right solution, but unfortunately we’re not finding what we seek. The engine has improved a lot from last year, but we have something in the chassis or settings that is not working well, so we need to quickly discover what that is and fix it.” Álvaro Bautista: “My left arm feels like it is destroyed, but we managed to do what our target was today and that was to finish the race, so that is a small victory for us. On the first lap I tried to ride and change direction quickly, but the first time I felt so much pain I couldn’t keep in touch with any other riders or manage to follow them. I tried to get a good rhythm that I was comfortable with and finish the race. Towards the end I got a feeling that was ok and although I felt much pain all over, I was able to get to the line and get more experience and complete more kilometres. I will now make sure I get close to full recovery for the next GP, it is the Team’s home race and I want to do very well there!” Paul Denning – Team Manager: “Loris set the fifth quickest lap in warm-up this morning and was confident of a strong race, but, as we’ve found already this year, the feeling from the front and the amount of grip was much less in the race in fact much less than it had been all weekend and this is something that Suzuki and the engineers will need to get to the bottom of as soon as possible. Our target has to be more consistency in different conditions so that Loris can push as hard as he wants to and get nearer to the leading group. “Álvaro’s two points are likely to be the hardest he’ll ever score. It was a fairly heroic effort to complete the 23-laps and the medical team all believe that putting the shoulder through that process will help the recovery. It will put him in a much stronger position for the busy schedule in June and July and he certainly has a better base to begin with at Silverstone in two weeks’ time.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Pedrosa wins and sets new lap record on hard compound slicks Round 4: Italian GP Race Mugello, Sunday 6 June 2010 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Medium, Hard. Rear: Medium, Hard Opting for Bridgestone’s hard compound slicks front and rear, Dani Pedrosa took victory for the Repsol Honda Team at Mugello in decisive style, setting a new lap record on only the fifth lap of the race and consistently lapping faster than the existing lap record. The Spaniard was the only rider to lap in the 1m 49second bracket. Pedrosa’s consistently fast pace, in which he set seven laps all faster than the existing lap record, means that he also set a new fastest total race time at this circuit. Second was Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo, followed closely by Andrea Dovizioso of Repsol Honda. Both riders also opted for the hard compound front and rear Bridgestone slicks. Rear tyre compound choices for the race were the most varied of the season though, and Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner finished fourth after a race-long battle with San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Melandri, both of whom chose the softer option Bridgestone slick. The third rider involved in the battle for fourth was LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet, who finished 0.2seconds adrift of Stoner using the hard compound rear. Hiroshi Yamada Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department “I’d like to congratulate Dani and the Repsol Honda Team for their victory today and for their pace that set two new records here at Mugello. We saw a good comparison between our two rear slick tyre options which gave some good battles, such as between Casey, Marco and Randy for fourth. Ben and Aleix also did impressive jobs to finish 7th and 8th here today. We all at Bridgestone Motorsport wish Valentino Rossi a speedy recovery from his injury and hope to see him back in the paddock again soon.” Tohru Ubukata Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department “Rear tyre choices were the most varied of the season so far today, which allowed us to again demonstrate that both our hard and medium compound rear slicks have sufficient performance cross-over to operate effectively in the same conditions. The softer rear tyre option proved its durability and consistency throughout the race, as Casey’s last lap was only 0.6seconds slower than his best on lap three. Ultimately though, Dani’s setup using the hard rear tyre proved strongest. On only the fourth lap of the race he set a new lap record which demonstrates good warm-up performance whilst his total race time indicates the balance of good durability of our slick tyres.” Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team Race Winner “I had a great feeling on the bike, especially in the beginning. My rhythm was high and my laptimes were good so I am delighted with this win. To be on top again is a great feeling for me and the team as we have had to work a lot, and you could see everyone was so happy today.” Top ten classification (Sunday 14:00 GMT+2) Pos. Rider Team Race time Gap Front spec Rear spec Tyres 1 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 42m28.066s Hard Hard Bridgestone slick 2 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 42m32.080s +4.014s Hard Hard Bridgestone slick 3 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 42m34.262s +6.196s Hard Hard Bridgestone slick 4 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 42m53.769s +25.703s Hard Medium Bridgestone slick 5 Marco Melandri San Carlo Honda Gresini 42m53.801s +25.735s Hard Medium Bridgestone slick 6 Randy de Puniet LCR Honda MotoGP 42m54.031s +25.965s Hard Hard Bridgestone slick 7 Ben Spies Monster Yamaha Tech3 42m56.872s +28.806s Hard Hard Bridgestone slick 8 Aleix Espargaro Pramac Racing 43m08.238s +40.172s Hard Medium Bridgestone slick 9 Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda Gresini 43m09.460s +41.394s Hard Medium Bridgestone slick 10 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 43m10.173s +42.107s Hard Medium Bridgestone slick Weather: Dry. Ambient 30-31°C; Track 49-46°C ( Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Dani Pedrosa rode a start-to-finish victory at Mugello on Sunday as he took his maiden win of the 2010 campaign at the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM. The Spaniard, who had only converted three of his previous fourteen premier-class pole positions into wins prior to this race, never looked like relinquishing the lead he held from turn one of the opening lap as he crossed the finish line 4.014 seconds clear of the rest of the field. The whole of MotoGP had been rocked on Saturday by the crash of Valentino Rossi, which left the World Champion in a Florence hospital recovering from an operation to his broken right shin. However the Mugello crowd responded, with over 76,000 fans packing the hillsides, many draped in yellow and offering support to their hero Rossi. Sporting a t-shirt on the podium in the famous yellow colour of his stricken team-mate, World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo was unable to take advantage of his rival’s absence. The Fiat Yamaha rider was forced to settle for second place having been unable to replicate his impressive practice pace, however he still extended his lead at the top of the standings. Undoubtedly Lorenzo will be disappointed, unable to keep tabs on Repsol Honda’s Pedrosa, whose lead had stretched to 7.309s at the mid-point of the race. Behind Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso were more closely matched, and neither was able to close down the gap to the eventual winner. Pedrosa’s win became more secure as the final laps counted down, and it was left to Lorenzo and Dovizioso to decide the remaining podium spots. The Fiat Yamaha rider opened up a slender advantage that he did not surrender for the remainder of the race. An emotional Dovizioso could console himself with giving the home crowd a podium to cheer in Rossi’s absence. Much further back positions four to six remained open as Marco Melandri, Randy de Puniet and Casey Stoner exchanged blows, with Ben Spies not out of the chase either. Stoner eventually pushed his struggling Ducati to the limit to claim fourth as he beat Melandri and de Puniet in a last-lap dash. Spies finished seventh in his first race at the circuit, with another rookie impressing in the shape of Aleix Espargaró who took eighth. Simoncelli had recovered from an early mistake in time to take ninth, with Loris Capirossi tenth. Lorenzo now has 90 points at the top of the Championship, with Pedrosa second on 65. The absent Rossi is third on 61 with his return date unknown, whilst Dovizioso’s podium takes him to 58 in fourth. Moto2 Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up) won the Moto2 race by a comfortable margin, delighting the home crowd as the battle for positions two to six provided a riveting contest. Sergio Gadea eventually took second place, drafting past Simone Corsi on the run to the line, for his first rostrum in 2010. Corsi just made it as the second Italian on the podium as he rose from 26th on the grid to take third place with an incredible ride. Swiss rider Thomas Lüthi was just 15-thousandths further back in fourth, with Championship leader Toni Elías taking fifth. Shoya Tomizawa made a late break to steal second from in amongst the fiercely contested chasing group, but his error on the penultimate lap meant he was forced to settle for sixth. The top ten was completed by Gabor Talmacsi, Yuki Takahashi, Julián Simón and Alex Debón. Elías remains at the top of the Championship standings with 74 points, with Tomizawa staying in second on 55 and Corsi in third on 51. Gadea sits fourth on 46, whilst Iannone’s win lifts him to fifth, level on 38 points with Lüthi. 125cc Marc Márquez took his first World Championship win in a tight 125cc race that went all the way to the wire, leading an all-Spanish podium, which was completed by Nico Terol and Pol Espargaró. A four-way battle for the lead came about after an early break by Terol and Espargaro, with Marquez joined by Briton Bradley Smith in the chase for the lead duo. After pole holder Sandro Cortese crashed on the opening lap, the front quartet broke away in a breathless fight as the lead changed hands regularly before the end of the race. Into a thrilling 20th and final lap, Márquez led the pack and ultimately managed to hold his slender advantage to cross the line ahead of Terol and Espargaró with Smith cruelly missing the podium in fourth. Remarkably just 0.161 seconds separated the four. Efrén Vázquez, Randy Krummenacher, Esteve Rabat and Tomoyoshi Koyama completed the top eight, with British rider Danny Webb placing tenth. Terol remains at the top of the standings after the race with 85 points, six ahead of Espargaró and Márquez moves to third on 57. More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Ben Spies battles hard for seventh at majestic Mugello Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider Ben Spies got his 2010 world championship campaign firmly back on track with a battling seventh place finish in today’s Italian MotoGP race at Mugello. Spies showed his failure to finish the previous two races had done little to dent his confidence as he made a stunning start from the third row of the grid. The 25-year-old slotted into a brilliant fourth place before he slipped back to seventh in a hectic opening few laps. He briefly moved back into the top six with an overtake on Randy de Puniet on lap six but spent the remainder of the 23-lap encounter giving his maximum effort to try and clos e in on captivating battle for fourth position. Spies brilliantly hunted down Casey Stoner, de Puniet and Marco Melandri but despite launching a persistent challenge he was never able to get sufficiently close to mount an attack. The Texan’s morale-boosting result though moved him back into the top ten in the world championship standings on 20-points with four of the 18 rounds completed. American team-mate Colin Edwards finished in a brave 13th place despite having to race in extremely difficult circumstances. Edwards suffered a mystery fatigue issue in this morning’s warm-up session and it was obvious from the start of the race that his physical condition would prevent him from showing his true potential as he dropped from fifth to 11th. Despite feeling well below his best, Edwards bravely rode to 13th to collect three valuable po ints and preserve his 100 per cent points-scoring record this season. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team now embarks on a new adventure when MotoGP visits the Silverstone circuit in England for the first time since 1986. Ben Spies 7th 20-points “The goal was top ten, so to be eighth I’m pretty happy with, especially leaving here with solid points after the disappointment of the last two races. I got a great start and felt like I rode as hard as I could and didn’t make too many mistakes but I just couldn’t quite get up close to the battle in front of me and that was a little frustrating. I found myself right on the tail of that pack with Randy, Marco and Casey but I wasn’t going to be able to pass them on the straight. I just tried to stay as close as I could for as long as I could in case something happened with them but everybody kept it upright. I was just hoping that the pack was going to break open and I could pick one of them off but they stayed together. It was a good race and what I needed to build my confidence and experience and now I’m looking forward to Silverstone. That’s a level playing field with nobody knowing the track, so I’ll have less of a disadvantage.” Colin Edwards 13th 19 points “I’m really disappointed and a bit mystified because I’ve felt good all weekend and we got the bike working really well again after we switched back to the setting we had at Mugello last year. But it was a struggle from the off and I didn’t feel great at all. The bike was working well. It goes round the corner good, it brakes good and has good traction but I can’t ride in that condition. I felt fatigued really early in the race and was really struggling to change direction with the bike. And at this track you have got a l ot of fast changes of direction that are crucial to help you flow and set good times. I’ve had a bit of an arm pump issue all weekend for the first time in my career and needed quite a few injections to ease that. But I was way below my best physical condition and not just because of that. All I can do is apologise to Monster Yamaha Tech 3 and I wish I knew what was going on. I’ll try and figure it out and be ready to come out fighting strong in Silverstone.” Herve Poncharal Team Manager “It was a mixed day for Monster Yamaha Tech 3 because we had high hopes after qualifying. Ben did a great job and it was a shame that he could not really force his way into that exciting fight for fourth place. He did everything he could and he never gave up to show how determined he is to achieve a better result. But I think it was obvious that he had a speed issue on the straight a nd that didn’t help him. But it was a race that will be good for his confidence though and he showed that he is capable of easily challenging for the top places. It was a big shame for Colin because it is clear he was not able to ride at his usual level. Colin showed his potential in qualifying with fifth but in the race his physical condition never allowed him to fight at his maximum potential and I feel for him because he too never stop trying to improve his situation. We now look forward to the new challenge of Silverstone hopeful of a positive result.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: MAGNIFICANT MUGELLO WIN FOR PEDROSA, DOVIZIOSO ON PODIUM AGAIN The Repsol Honda Team enjoyed an excellent Italian Grand Prix at Mugello today with Dani Pedrosa taking a runaway win and his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso joining him on the podium with a competitive ride to third place. The result elevates Pedrosa to second in the World Championship behind Jorge Lorenzo, and confirms the competitiveness of the Honda RC212V – with Pedrosa setting the 11 fastest laps of the race today. His best lap, a new race lap record of 1m 49.531, was 0.762 seconds clear of his nearest rival. Pedrosa made it look easy today on his RC212V, converting pole position into a lead at the first corner, and the 24-year-old Spaniard was never headed for the entire 23-lap race. Riding with metronomic precision, he opened the gap to today’s second place man, Jorge Lorenzo, lap-by-lap and his biggest challenge today was maintaining concentration and avoiding mistakes as he navigated Mugello’s glorious sweeping curves. The gap str etched to as much as eight seconds before Pedrosa began to ease back slightly and control the pace. He crossed the line four seconds clear of Lorenzo to record the ninth MotoGP win of his career and his 32nd in all classes of Grand Prix racing. Dovizioso’s performance was almost as impressive as his team-mate’s as the Italian converted eighth on the grid into third at the chequered flag to make it three podiums from the first four races of 2010. Dovizioso made a fantastic start and gained four places as he guided his RC212V up the inside of Mugello’s Turn One and into fourth place. At the end of lap one he climbed to third and locked onto Lorenzo’s tail for the entirety of the race. The gap to Lorenzo never opened to more than one second, and Dovizioso pressed the Mallorcan rider right to the end, without quite managing to find a way past. It was an emotional moment for Dovizioso – who lives in Forli, just 95 km from Mugello – as he appeared on the podium in front of his home crowd. With Marco Melandri in fifth and Randy de Puniet in sixth it was a good day for Honda, with RC212Vs filling four of the first six places. This is the first time that two Repsol Hondas have been on the podium since Germany in 2007, when Pedrosa won the race and Nicky Hayden took third. The next round of the MotoGP season takes place at Silverstone in two weeks’ time and the Repsol Honda team will arrive in Britain in search of another strong result as Grand Prix racing returns to the historic circuit. DANI PEDROSA 1st World Championship position 2nd 65 points “It’s an unbelievable feeling to win again and I’m so happy for myself and the Repsol Honda Team. We’ve been working really hard and we had some problems through the winter and in the first races, so I’m really delighted with this victory, especially after leading at Jerez for so long but not quite making it. It looks like we are back near where we need to be and the team deserves the victory. I had a great feeling on the bike today, especially at the beginning section of the race and I could open up a gap. To be honest I didn’t see who was behind me, I just looked for the gap on my pit board and tried to ride consistently. It’s important that we are competitive now because we have one weekend off and then three races in a row. The next race is at Silverstone which is a legendary track so I hope that we can match this kind of performance there – and also that this part of England has better weather! I’d like to thank the team again for this result. And I also want to thank the fans here for pushing for Valentino because he’s having a hard time and everyone in the paddock wishes him well.” ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 3rd World Championship position 4th 58 points “It’s so special to be on the podium at Mugello in front of my home crowd because I’ve never made the podium in MotoGP here – I always had to watch it on the TV in the garage! It was a really emotional experience up there with all the fans supporting us. I made a good start and this was really important for my race. I wanted to finish the race fighting with Lorenzo because I think it could have been a good battle on the last lap, but I couldn’t catch him. We are getting closer to the front but we are not quite there yet and we have to take the next step so that we can fight for victories. Three podium finishes is a good start to the season and is very important for the championship, and it’s thanks to the hard work we’ve done over the winter and in the first races. I’d like to say congratulations to Dani on the win because he had an incredible pace, and this is an extra motivation for us to take that extra step forward so we can fight for the win.” TOSHIYUKI YAMAJI – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER “My congratulations go to Dani on this victory because he was in a different class today and it was impossible for anyone to stay with him. His pace was very impressive and he controlled the race totally. Also Andrea did an excellent job and considering his starting position we couldn’t have asked for much more. The Repsol Honda Team has two riders on the podium and we will simply use this as even more motivation to improve and to challenge our rivals. We will enjoy this result, but we are certainly not going to relax at all as we go into the busiest part of the season.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: POSITIVE FOURTH PLACE FOR STONER AT MUGELLO AS HAYDEN CRASHES OUT Casey Stoner picked up an important fourth place finish at Mugello today following a combative but well-planned race. Nicky Hayden, meanwhile, crashed out of the same battle for a top six finish. The Australian certainly made the most of the package beneath him today. Aware that he didn’t have the pace to run with the front three, he tucked in behind Randy De Puniet and Marco Melandri for the majority of the race before making a decisive attack for fourth place on the final lap. Nicky Hayden didn’t make the best of starts from fourth on the grid and his race ended on the sixth lap when he was pushing to make up ground, running wide and sliding from his GP10 into the gravel. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 4th “To be honest we expected to be a little bit better after this morning’s warm-up but maybe the conditions were a little too hot for the changes we made and the tyre we ran in the race. The left side of the tyre was working really well but I just couldn’t get the right side hooked up and I was running wide, losing the front a bit, but I managed to stay on. Once I got ahead of Marco and Randy in the early stages of the race I was pushing to get away but couldn’t so I decided to sit back and attack them on the last lap. I suppose in that respect I got the job done bit it’s not exactly what I would have liked for this race because it’s a track I like and it’s Ducati’s home race.” NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Marlboro Team) DNF “I screwed the start up and got beat up into turn one but I was able to make a couple of passes and thought I could fight for it. My rhythm wasn’t that good and I was just trying to make up too much time into that downhill corner. It was a rider error and it’s a bummer because it’s the team’s home race and they’ve all worked really hard. All I can say is I’m sorry – that one was on me. I’m completely okay so that’s the good thing but it still hurts. Thankfully there are still a lot of races to go.” CLAUDIO DOMENICALI – (Ducati Motor Holding General Director) “A fourth place at Mugello is obviously not totally satisfactory for us but it was a good race nevertheless, especially at the end. Casey showed his character, he knew he didn’t have the pace to fight for the podium so he waited for the right moment to secure the best possible result. For some reason, which we are going to analyse, he didn’t have the grip we expected him to have after the changes we made this morning but he definitely got the best out of what he had. Nicky didn’t make a great start and in an attempt to make up ground he went wide in one corner and crashed, but overall he showed once again that he is competitive and he confirmed that with another excellent qualifying session and by fighting in the top five in the race.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: Italian Grand Prix, Mugello MotoGP and Moto2 races June 6 2010 Weather: hot and mostly sunny Track temperature: 54 degrees Ambient Temperature: 32 degrees Crowd: 76,814 PEERLESS PEDROSA RULES MAGNIFICENT MUGELLO Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) won a super start-to-finish victory at today’s Italian Grand Prix and was joined on the podium by team-mate and local hero Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V) who had a race-long duel with eventual runner-up Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha). The race completed a great weekend for Honda, with no less than four Honda men in the top six at this most challenging of racetracks: Pedrosa and Dovizioso plus Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) in fifth spot and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) in sixth. Pedrosa’s first win of 2010 and his ninth success in MotoGP came on the back of another brilliant ride in yesterday’s qualifying session, when he scored his second pole position of the year. His victory and Dovizioso’s strong showing prove once again that Honda is making significant progress with the development of its RC212V MotoGP bike. Pedrosa’s race was typically faultless. The former 125cc and 250cc World Champion didn’t put a wheel wrong as he steadily pulled away from his pursuers, establishing a new lap record along the way. At two thirds distance he was almost eight seconds ahead, then eased his pace in the final laps to cross the line 4.014 seconds in front of championship points leader Lorenzo. The win moved him to second overall in the points chase. Dovizioso enjoyed a thrilling battle with Lorenzo, chasing hard from the start, then charging past on lap three. He stayed in second place for three laps, but then Lorenzo fought back. As the race went on, Dovizioso stayed close to Lorenzo, and even when the gap crew, he managed to close it down again. In the end, however, the Italian didn’t quite have the pace to mount a final attack and crossed the line two seconds behind. The result was his third podium from the first four races. The three-way battle for fourth place was a hugely entertaining highlight of the race, with Melandri and de Puniet fighting with 2009 Mugello winner Casey Stoner (Ducati) all the way, the trio watched from a small distance by rookie Ben Spies (Yamaha). Top privateer De Puniet was riding an inspired race and managed to work his way into fourth place, but in the final stages he slipped back behind Stoner and Melandri, who lost out to Stoner on the last lap. Melandri’s ride was particularly remarkable, since he had struggled in practice and only qualified 14th. Rookies Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) and Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V) also enjoyed exciting races. Simoncelli gave himself a lot of work to do by making contact with a rival and running into a gravel trap on the very first lap, but the former 250 World Champion fought back with great spirit, lapping at the same pace as the riders going for fourth place. He passed five riders on his way to ninth place, his best MotoGP finish so far. Reigning 250 World Champion Aoyama suffered grip issues and finished 11th, less than two seconds down on Simoncelli after an interesting confrontation with Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) and Hector Barbera (Ducati). The race was run in the absence of reigning MotoGP World Champion and nine-time Mugello winner Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) who crashed heavily at the Biondetti esses during yesterday morning’s practice session. Rossi broke his right tibia in the 170km/h fall and has since undergone surgery. The Italian is expected to be out of action for several months. Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up) won an extraordinary victory in the Moto2 race, escaping from the pack at the start to run away out front while the rest of the field jostled for position some way behind. By three-quarters distance the 20-year-old Italian had amassed a lead of seven seconds a massive advantage in this ultra-close, Honda-powered World Championship. Yesterday Iannone took pole position by an impressive margin, yet few people expected him to be able to repeat his performance in race conditions, especially at a track like Mugello where chasing riders can take advantage of the leader’s slipstream. But today no one even got close enough to Iannone to get into his draft. Sergio Gadea (Tenerife 40 Pons, Pons Kalex) won a frantic five-man battle for second place, making up two positions on the final lap to take his first Moto2 podium. He just edged out Simone Corsi (Jir Moto2, Motobi), taking a second consecutive third place, Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2, Moriwaki), Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) and Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP, Suter). The five riders crossed the finish line covered by just 1.1 seconds, having swapped positions throughout the 21-lap race. Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up) had also been in the contest for second place until he lost touch with the group to finish a lonely seventh, some way ahead of a six-man skirmish for eighth won by Yuki Takahashi (Tech 3 Racing, Tech 3). The Japanese rider was followed past the chequered flag in quick succession by Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter), Alex Debon (Aeroport de Castello-Ajo, FTR), Alex De Angelis (RSM Team Scot, Force GP210), Hector Faubel (Marc VDS Racing Team, Suter) and Alex Baldolini (Caretta Technology Race Dept, I.C.P.) The 125 GP was won by Marc Marquez (Derbi) from Nicolas Terol (Aprilia) with Pol Espargaro third in a blanket four rider finish, Bradley Smith (Aprilia), race winner in 2009, the man to miss out on a podium place. Marcel Schrotter, Interwetten Honda 125, making his Mugello debut, continued the steady progress and smooth pace he had built up during practice and qualifying and put it to good use in the race. Having qualified his RS125R Honda in 18th place the 17 year old Bavarian got the fast start he needed and was with the group contesting 10th place at the end of the opening lap. Schrotter was riding within his limit but ran wide at one corner late in the race losing valuable time. The mistake left him with too much to do to rejoin the group and he had to settle for 13th at the flag scoring three world championship points. The MotoGP World Championship now heads north and across the English Channel for the British GP at Silverstone on June 20. The British event is followed by two more races on consecutive weekends: the Dutch TT on June 26 and the Catalan GP on July 4. HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda RC212V: 1st “It’s an unbelievable feeling to win again and I’m so happy for myself and the Repsol Honda Team. We’ve been working really hard and we had some problems through the winter and in the first races, so I’m really delighted with this victory, especially after leading at Jerez for so long but not quite making it. It looks like we are back near where we need to be and the team deserves the victory. I had a great feeling on the bike today, especially at the beginning section of the race and I could open up a gap. To be honest I didn’t see who was behind me, I just looked for the gap on my pit board and tried to ride consistently. It’s important that we are competitive now because we have one weekend off and then three races in a row. The next race is at Silverstone which is a legendary track so I hope that we can match this kind of performance there – and also that this part of England has better weather! I’d like to thank the team again for this result. And I also want to thank the fans here for pushing for Valentino because he’s having a hard time and everyone in the paddock wishes him well.” Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda RC212V: 3rd “It’s so special to be on the podium at Mugello in front of my home crowd because I’ve never made the podium in MotoGP here I always had to watch it on the TV in the garage! It was a really emotional experience up there with all the fans supporting us. I made a good start and this was really important for my race. I wanted to finish the race fighting with Lorenzo because I think it could have been a good battle on the last lap, but I couldn’t catch him. We are getting closer to the front but we are not quite there yet and we have to take the next step so that we can fight for victories. Three podium finishes is a good start to the season and is very important for the championship, and it’s thanks to the hard work we’ve done over the winter and in the first races. I’d like to say congratulations to Dani on the win because he had an incredible pace, and this is an extra motivation for us to take that extra step forward so we can fight for the win.” Marco Melandri, San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V: 5th “We’ve struggled more at Mugello than we did in France but after the warm-up this morning I knew I was in better shape and I’m happy to have been able to produce a race like that. I honestly didn’t think I’d be battling with Stoner and De Puniet today because I thought they would both have a higher pace than me but we did a great job. I got a fantastic start and other than losing a little time behind Hayden my pace was good. I want to thank the team, who have suffered in silence all weekend, and this result shows that in future we can never lose faith in our possibilities in a race, even when things don’t go our way in practice. Now the target is to improve during practice and make sure we’re in even better shape to race.” Randy de Puniet, LCR Honda RC212V: 6th “A top six finish was my target for this race but I am a bit upset because I could have got fourth position. After the start I pushed hard because in the middle of the first lap I was only 12th and wanted to recover some positions. On second lap I crossed the line in eighth and starting a close battle with Melandri and Stoner throughout the race. I tried to take some advantage but it was impossible so I did my best to keep my fourth place. In the last two laps my bike started to shake on the exit of the final turn and I lost a lot of drive so Casey and Marco overtook me. We are still sixth in the classification which is good for me and the Team.” Marco Simoncelli, San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V: 9th “If it wasn’t for the mistake on the first lap I would have been right up there today. I was behind Hayden when he passed Espargaro but I couldn’t quite make it through there wasn’t enough space and I miscalculated it. We touched and I ran off the track. Thankfully I stayed upright in the gravel and got back on the track. My pace wasn’t as good as yesterday but there were other riders with more problems than me. I gritted my teeth and slowly but surely the guys in front of me got closer. I never gave up and on the last few laps I got past them I’m delighted. I have finished one place higher than Le Mans but the important thing for us today is that if it wasn’t for a stupid mistake I would have been running with Melandri, De Puniet and Stoner competing for fourth place. “ Hiroshi Aoyama, Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V: 11th “The race was not easy for me. I had a quite good start and was able to go with the group for some laps, but then I didn’t have grip anymore and I could not keep my lap times. It was so hot today and that is exhausting. Many riders crashed. But this time I didn’t make any mistakes in the race. I just hope that next time I can have a better race.” MOTO2 RIDER QUOTES Andrea Iannone, Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up: 1st “A fantastic day, a perfect day. To do this in front of all the Italian fans, it couldn’t be better. I got out front and pushed very hard to make the break from the other guys. If you have an advantage in this class you have to take it. I’m very happy, I’d like to thank everyone, especially the people in the team who worked so hard over the winter to get this all set up. At Le Mans we were already beginning to understand things, to find a good direction on set-up, but I still didn’t think this could happen here at Mugello. I wasn’t easy to get the bike set up at the first races, but this is the result, the prize!” Sergio Gadea, Tenerife 40 Pons, Pons Kalex: 2nd “This is my first podium in Moto2 so of course I am very excited. The race was great Elias and Luthi were leaving nothing to spare, and I was looking over shoulder a lot. It was an incredible race to be involved in. We are improving a lot at the moment; we have gone from less to more. My Kalex chassis is working very well, it’s very consistent, which is what we want.” Simone Corsi, Jir Moto2, Motobi: 3rd “Today I scored my second podium in a row, so you can see that I am really enjoying Moto2 at the moment. We had some tyre problems in qualifying yesterday but we were able to get things sorted for the race. It was an amazing race, I started so far back and really enjoyed working my way through the pack. I hope the fans enjoyed that too.” Honda 125cc rider quote: Marcel Schrötter, Interwetten Honda 125:13th. “I had a good start and I could connect to the group right away. In the first lap I used the slipstream and I could make up some places. Then I stayed in the position and fought for it. I was able to stay with the group without being at the limit. Then I went a bit too wide and touched the grass, so I had to brake. I could not make this up again and I lost the battle for Top 10.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing Team: EIGHTH AND BEST POSITION YET FOR ESPARGARO’ IN THE ITALIAN GRAND PRIX An important weekend for the Pramac Racing Team that has used today the livery designed by the creator and designer Philippe Starck in honor of yesterday’s World Environment Day. The livery on Aleix Espargarò bike was signed on the grid by the French designer and have give good luck to the young Spaniard who, after the ninth position in Le Mans two weeks ago, have reached the eighth place in the Grand Prix of Italy on the Mugello track. That is, until now, the best result in his MotoGP career for him and so the livery will have a greater value when it will be auctioned through the charity organization Riders for Health website. Starting from the ninth position, the Spaniard has conquered three positions at the start and finished in sixth position for three laps until a touch with Simoncelli that forced him to retreat various positions. Aleix has not let go and has finish in the eighth place. Another character test that gives eight points in the world rankings and puts him just seven points behind the leader of the special classification for the Rookies of the Year in MotoGP, Marco Simoncelli. Shame for Mika Kallio that slipped after eight laps when he was in twelfth position. Until that lap he had maintained a good race pace that would have allowed him to easily maintain the top ten position. There is now a week off before the three consecutive week races that end with the Grand Prix of Cataluña on July 4th. Fabiano Sterlacchini – Pramac Racing Technical Director “Unfortunately the result is not what we hoped for, we were aiming to have good placement with both drivers, because we are fully aware of the quality of our bikes. During yesterday’s qualifying we had some problems with Mika’s bike that we had partially solved by changing a few settings and making his bike better balanced for this track. It was a great start for him winning some positions, but when he was in the twelfth position he has slipped compromising his race. I should make my warmest congratulations to Aleix and the other part of the box for the wonderful race. We hope that he will continue to give his best and that he can always gain important positions like today. The eighth place on a so hard track where he has competed only four times in the past is an excellent test for the next races. ” Aleix Espargarò – Pramac Racing – 8th in the race – 14th in the MotoGP World Championship with 16 points “I am delighted to have reach the eighth position today. After Le Mans Grand Prix I gained more confidence in my potential and I want to try to improve every race so that I can reduce the gap from the best riders. I like so much to be in the front positions, and I’ll do my best to try to improve even more in the next Gran Prix. I’ve had since Friday a great rhythm on this track, I knew I have to give my best to get a good result in my Team’s home track. I had a good start and I was in the sixth position after the first turn. Unfortunately in the first lap I had a contact with Simoncelli and this made me lose some positions, but I held up my concentration acquiring a good rhythm. I lost a couple of positions, overtaken by Capirossi and Edwards, but from the thirteenth lap I conquered back a couple of position and led the group that was fighting for eighth place until the end. This is a great result for me. I’m now looking forward for the next race to try to improve my position. I’m very happy on how this season is now going. Too bad for the races in Qatar and Jerez where I got just one point. I hope that Mika will return to fight soon for the top positions as he has all the qualities to do it.” Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing – DNF – 16th in the MotoGP World Championship with 12 points “What can I say, this hasn’t been the best weekend for me. The pain I felt in my shoulder and some technical problems I encountered yesterday morning didn’t allowed me to get a good position on the grid. We solved some problems this morning during warm up and I found a considerable improvement in the handling of the bike. I started very well, I immediately gained three positions in few laps and I was very close to the group that was fighting for eighth place. Unfortunately, in turn ten I closed too much my steering and I felt off the bike. I wanted to give my best on this track because it is the Pramac Racing Team home circuit. I will work hard to prove my value in the coming races.”