FIM MotoGP World Championship Donington Park, England June 20, 2008 Free Practice Two Results: 1. Casey STONER (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:28.253 2. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda), Michelin, 1:28.829 3. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), Bridgestone, 1:28.909 4. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:28.969 5. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:28.992 6. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), Michelin, 1:29.207, crash 7. Shinya NAKANO (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:29.207 8. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:29.341 9. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:29.410 10. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), Michelin, 1:29.433 11. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:29.441 12. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:29.666 13. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), Michelin, 1:29.722 14. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:29.856 15. Toni ELIAS (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:30.268 16. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:30.290 17. Ben SPIES (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:30.766 18. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:30.931 Best Combined Practice Times: 1. Stoner, 1:28.253 2. Hayden, 1:28.829 3. Rossi, 1:28.909 4. Edwards, 1:28.969 5. De Angelis, 1:28.992 6. Pedrosa, 1:29.207 7. Nakano, 1:29.207 8. Toseland, 1:29.341 9. Vermeulen, 1:29.410 10. De Puniet, 1:29.433 11. Hopkins, 1:29.441 12. West, 1:29.666 13. Dovizioso, 1:29.718 14. Melandri, 1:29.856 15. Elias, 1:30.268 16. Lorenzo, 1:30.290 17. Spies, 1:30.766 18. Guintoli, 1:30.931 More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: With the fastest times in both MotoGP sessions on Friday in Donington Park, Casey Stoner was undoubtedly the day´s standout performer in preparation for the bwin.com British Grand Prix. The Ducati Marlboro rider completed a successful day of practice with a 1´28.253 lap that blitzed Colin Edwards´ 2007 pole position time, giving him a comfortable advantage of half a second over Repsol Honda´s Nicky Hayden. Stoner was the winner of last year´s race at the British circuit, and the chances of a repeat victory look promising for the rider currently fourth in the overall standings. Hayden repaid Honda´s faith in letting him use the pneumatic valve engine for the RC212V, showing a swift pace and making him the fastest rider of the day for the Japanese factory. The 2006 World Champion had tested the engine last week in Catalunya, and has long championed the use of the motor to kickstart his 2008 campaign. During the afternoon session he also engaged in some light on-track conversation with rival Valentino Rossi, third fastest onboard the Fiat Yamaha M1. 2007 Donington poleman and podium finisher Edwards was fourth quickest with the satellite Yamaha machine, clocking a 1´28.969 lap whilst his young son slept peacefully in the Tech3 Yamaha garage. Donington Park is one of the Texan´s better tracks, a fact reflected in his race pace during the sessions. Alex de Angelis was the highest placing satellite Honda rider in fifth, ahead of factory man Dani Pedrosa. The latter was using the standard spring valve version of the RC212V engine, having not had sufficient testing time in Catalunya owing to a crash. He also took a tumble on Friday afternoon, although with no obvious ill effects to his injured back. Pedrosa returned to the track later in the session. Shinya Nakano, James Toseland, Chris Vermeulen and Randy de Puniet completed the fastest ten riders in the combined standings, With Toseland getting to grips with his home track onboard the second Tech 3 Yamaha machine. Yet to qualify off the front row in 2008, Alvaro Bautista was the fastest rider in the 250cc class as he put himself in provisional pole for the bwin.com British Grand Prix. His 1´31.834 lap of the Donington Park circuit just 0.175 slower than Jorge Lorenzo´s pole position record- concluded the Friday afternoon World Championship activity. The rider who beat Bautista in a last lap duel at the previous round, Marco Simoncelli is also on a run of front row starts. If he can confirm or improve his placing from the opening day, it will be four consecutive races at which the Metis Gilera man has started from the first line of attack, with wins at the past two Grands Prix. Quickest in the first free practice session, Hector Barbera joins Bautista and Simoncelli on the potential front row, alongside Emmi-Caffe Latte´s Thomas Luthi. A second separated Bautista and Luthi´s respective times. JiR Team Scot´s Yuki Takahashi was fifth fastest, ahead of a fellow Japanese rider in the form of KTM man Hiroshi Aoyama. Julian Simon and Aleix Espargaro completed the temporary second line, which could become the permanent placing if rain affects tomorrow´s final qualifying session. Championship contenders Mika Kallio and Mattia Pasini finished eleventh and twelfth fastest, with the latter falling in an innocuous lowside. Looking to regain the leadership of the 125cc World Championship, Simone Corsi took a step closer to his goal with provisional pole in the opening qualifying session at Donington Park. The Jack&Jones WRB rider clocked a 1´37.488 lap in the dry at the British track, something that could prove invaluable if rain falls before the final Saturday run. Corsi was less than a tenth of a second faster than Gabor Talmacsi, the 2007 World Champion who has returned to form after a difficult start to his title defence. The Hungarian was in turn 0.129 faster than Bancaja Aspar teammate Sergio Gadea who, alongside home rider Scott Redding, also features on the provisional front row. Provisonal poleman for the past two races, Belson Derbi´s Pol Espargaro was fifth fastest, ahead of the morning´s quickest rider Andrea Iannone. Also placing on the temporary second row are Nico Terol and Repsol KTM rookie Marc Marquez. A rider favoured for victory this weekend, Polaris World´s Bradley Smith could only manage the twelfth fastest time of the session, having run off track early on. More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: ROSSI LAUNCHES 200TH GRAND PRIX CHALLENGE AT DONINGTON Valentino Rossi, who is scheduled to contest his 200th Grand Prix on Sunday, got his weekend off to a solid start today by finishing third overall in the first free practice sessions at Donington Park. The 29-year-old Fiat Yamaha Team rider, whose first ever 125cc race was back in 1996 at Shah Alam, has an illustrious record at this circuit with eight wins to his name, including two with Yamaha in 2004 and 2005. Rossi started off steadily this morning, finishing the first session in eighth as he struggled to perfect his set-up to suit the tricky Donington surface. In the later stages of the afternoon session the Bridgestone-shod Italian and his crew improved things somewhat, finding a better setting which gave them more grip and finishing the day third in the combined standings, behind Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden. Today marked a welcome return to action for Rossi’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who was back on board for the first time since his accident two week’s ago in Catalunya. The Mallorcan took his first day back at work very gently as he looked to build his confidence back up and ended the day 16th in the combined standings. Valentino Rossi Position: 3rd Time: 1’28.909 Laps: 57 “This morning we were struggling and we’re not in perfect shape yet. Fortunately however, this afternoon on the last run things improved a lot and we are now third. The main problem here is the asphalt because it doesn’t have any grip anymore and riding on it is very difficult. Of course the temperature was quite low, which didn’t help, but in some parts of the track the asphalt is finished. It’s a pity because this track is great, one of my favourites! We have to hope that the weather stays dry because if it’s wet it will be even worse. We have a couple of ideas to try tomorrow; we will try some different tyres and also some other solutions for the setting, in order to be faster in the direction changes. We had a very long meeting after the session in order to try to understand the problem, it’s very strange because we used some tyres which are usually very good for us, but here they don’t seem to work as they normally do. Third position is okay however, we’re not so far from the top and tomorrow we will try to make some more steps forward.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “We definitely improved this afternoon, as the times show, but we still have a lot of work to do on a few things specifically. Tomorrow we need to focus on improving the setting still further to suit this track; the surface here isn’t great and the lack of grip makes it quite difficult to find the right set-up. We also need to do some more work on the tyres with Bridgestone before we’re in a position to make a choice. Luckily it was dry today so now we hope the English weather is going to be kind to us again tomorrow so that we can continue with what we started this afternoon.” More, from another press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: LORENZO MAKES TENTATIVE RETURN TO ACTION AT DONINGTON PARK Two weeks after crashing during practice in Catalunya and ruling himself out of his home race, Jorge Lorenzo made a welcome return to the track on his Fiat Yamaha M1 at the British Grand Prix today. After his sensational start to the season, the youngest rider on the grid has undergone a torrid time since fracturing both his ankles in China at the start of May and he is now riding with a special glove on his right hand to protect the skin graft that he underwent 12 days ago. Lorenzo’s focus today was simply to find the feeling back on board his bike and to build his confidence, which he freely admits has suffered in his recent string of crashes. The Michelin rider finished the day a lowly 16th in the combined standings but is looking forward to feeling more relaxed and confident tomorrow and trying to improve things step-by-step. His team-mate Rossi, who is contesting his 200th race this weekend, finished the day third, behind Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 16th Time: 1’30.290 Laps: 51 “Today was always going to be a hard day for me and I had to start very slowly because honestly I felt some fear after all of my problems! I haven’t ridden since the crash in practice in Catalunya and I have lost some confidence, so the aim this weekend is just to find it again. Today the main target was to try to find my feeling with the bike and also to check my physical shape, which is okay although I do have some pain in my hand and finger where I had the skin graft. I am happy to be back however and I hope that the worst is over and that tomorrow I will be more relaxed and have more confidence. We are starting from scratch again this weekend so we have to go step-by-step and take things slowly.” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “Finally we have Jorge back after Barcelona and we’re very pleased about this! Now we are just looking to re-build his confidence by taking things gently and easily, without risking too much. For sure he will need some time before he is back to his best but there is no pressure on him. Meanwhile we also need to work hard on improving the bike setting because we are lacking some rear grip and the bike is quite nervous at full lean. Together with Michelin we will analyse the data tonight and study some solutions to help us with this tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: REPSOL HONDA’S HAYDEN SECOND FASTEST ON DAY ONE AT DONINGTON The British Grand Prix, Donington Park First day of practice, Friday June 20 2008 Repsol Honda RC212V riders Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa were second and sixth fastest in today’s opening two practice sessions at Donington Park. Hayden had a positive day, using HRC’s pneumatic-valve engine at a race for the first time. The 2006 MotoGP World Champion worked hard at dialling in the engine, which has a 1000rpm higher rev ceiling than the valve-spring RCV engine, ending the day half a second off reigning champ Casey Stoner. Pedrosa was also going well in the cool, blustery conditions, running third fastest this afternoon before he highsided at Redgate corner. The tough Spaniard, currently a close second in the 2008 points standings, immediately returned to the pits to continue riding with his other machine. Dry track time looks like it may be in limited supply this weekend, with rain forecast for tomorrow. Nicky Hayden, 2nd fastest, 1m 28.829s “Everything went relatively smooth today, though conditions were a little bit chilly, a little bit dirty. Honestly I’ve got to thank HRC. I told them that I really wanted to use the pneumatic-valve engine here, so they worked some on the electronics and the guys said I could use it, so long as I was going to be in the top three or four! I was second this afternoon and fifth this morning, so that kinda evens out, do the math. Sure, Stoner’s going quick and we’ve got some work to do to get with him but overall the bike is working good, so thanks to HRC and the team for delivering. The engine is pretty aggressive, but I like to go somewhere when I open the throttle, I like something to happen. It’s a little bit quicker, so it’s nice to be up near the front of the trap speeds. I was fourth from the top today, even though this is only a small, fifth-gear straight. I also had a new chassis today which felt better, it’s a little bit of an improvement stability-wise.” Dani Pedrosa, 6th fastest, 1m 29.207s “We were trying to concentrate our usual two days of work on set-up and tyre choice into today because the weather forecast says it may rain tomorrow. I felt quite sore when I got on the bike this morning and I feel a bit sorer now! I think maybe we were using a too-hard rear tyre when I crashed. But I didn’t do anything serious in the fall, so I got back out on the track as quickly as I could because I wanted to do as much work as possible before the rain comes. We are still struggling a bit here. We have some ideas for tomorrow, so we hope we can get as much dry time as possible.” Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager “We were sorry to see Dani crash but we are happy that he is okay. He is working hard on machine set-up and tyre choice, which he will continue with tomorrow morning. Nicky seems quite happy with the pneumatic-valve engine and so far the result is quite good. It is a bit complicated for him though, using the engine for the first time at a race and working to find the best engine setting and so on. Maybe it rains tomorrow, which could be a good thing, because then we can be prepared whether it is wet or dry on Sunday.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER FASTEST ON A DAY OF PROGRESS FOR MELANDRI AT DONINGTON The threat of rain held off at Donington to allow Casey Stoner and Marco Melandri to make full use of the first free practice sessions for the British Grand Prix. The Australian was the fastest man on track in both, taking advantage of improvements made with the electronics of his GP8 during tests at Barcelona last week. Melandri found a promising set-up and is looking forward to refining it tomorrow after lapping fourteenth fastest. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1st – 1’28.253 “I’m really pleased with today. In the past few rounds we’ve had trouble getting power to the ground – every time I opened the throttle the bike wanted to buck and that made the chassis look a lot worse than it really was. The bike has never been slow and we’ve been running for podiums, which isn’t bad, but we always felt there was something missing. In the Barcelona test we tried something with the electronics that both Vitto (Guareschi) and myself really liked straight away. It is great to see that the improvement has transferred here to Donington and I believe there is still more to come yet. I’m not sure if this change to the electronics will have such a major effect in wet conditions because that is more to do with adapting your set-up to get weight on the rear but we already have a good wet setting anyway so I’m confident we can be competitive whatever the weather decides to do. I’m pleased that the circuit organisers have done some work to combat the terrible grip here from last year. To be honest in some areas it is a lot better than last year whilst in other patches it’s just as bad, but overall I think they’ve done a pretty good job.” MARCO MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team) 14th – 1’29.856 “This weekend as started out in a more positive fashion. We started with two similar bikes, both with a fairly good setting and we continued to work by making small changes and testing tyres. We found something that worked well so I’m quite happy. We hope that the weather stays favourable tomorrow so that we can continue working. Track conditions were good today, they’ve ‘roughed up’ a couple of sections that were slippery and there are less bumps. The grip seems fine to me and it’s good to say that we can at least compete in dry conditions. I remember last year that in the wet it got really slippery but we’ll have to wait and see what happens if it rains tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS FOR HOPKINS AND WEST Kawasaki’s John Hopkins and Anthony West finished today’s opening practice sessions at Donington Park in a confident mood, after improvements to their machine set-up saw them finish in 11th and 12th positions respectively. Hopkins bravely ended the day’s proceedings just a fraction of a second outside of the top ten, despite suffering from the discomfort of a back injury sustained in practice at Catalunya. The 25-year-old Anglo-American wisely used today’s dry track time to run through various Bridgestone race tyre combinations ahead of tomorrow’s qualifying session, which is predicted to be wet. Hopkins remains confident that, with the progress made during the post-race test in Spain, and the successful practice sessions today, he can qualify well at the 4.023km Donington Park circuit tomorrow with just minor adjustments to the chassis of his Ninja ZX-RR. West completed the day just over two tenths of a second behind his teammate in a promising 12th position. Following a recent test in Japan, the Australian has altered the settings of his Kawasaki, which has significantly improved the stability and rear traction of his race machine on corner exit. The 26-year-old Kawasaki pilot is aware that there is still further progress to be made, but already West feels more confident after the two hour-long sessions today, and is aiming for a return to the top ten in qualifying. John Hopkins #21 – 11th – 1’29.441 “This circuit is quite demanding and it’s pretty tough on my back injury. I’m having trouble lifting my leg and shifting through the gears in the tight, quick changes of direction. It’s a fight, but we’re working through it and the bike feels really good. We’ve got a few areas to improve on the chassis, but the post-race test at Catalunya has definitely proven positive. We ran through different tyre options today to see what would be a good race tyre in the dry, as the weather is quite unpredictable and we’re not sure what the conditions will be like tomorrow. We have a few changes to make to the machine overnight, but I’m confident we can step it up a gear and we’ll be working hard to qualify well here.” Anthony West #13 – 12th – 1’29.666 “Finally I can say that we’ve managed to make a real step forward with the rear traction problems we have suffered with for so long. The recent test in Japan was positive and this has been proven on the track today, as we’re not so far off the pace. The setting we have found does mean the bike now wheelies more, however this is much easier to deal with than not being able to exit the turns. We still need to improve the first part of corner exit, but the rear is gripping much better and driving forward out of the turns rather than spinning so much, which means it feels a lot more controllable and stable than previously. I hope that this improvement can be reflected on qualifying rubber tomorrow, and although there is still a lot of work to do, I feel confident that we are heading in the right direction.” Naoya Kaneko Kawasaki Technical Manager “Both riders have made improvements in testing recently but there is still a lot of work to do. With John we need to work on the set-up of the front-end of his bike so he has more confidence going into the turns, whereas with Anthony we need to further improve the rear traction of his machine during corner exit. We have made steps forward, and John is working hard despite suffering from an injury, but if we are to be competitive we still need to significantly reduce the time gap between us and the top of the time sheets.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Spies shows promise on Rizla Suzuki MotoGP debut Ben Spies made his Rizla Suzuki MotoGP debut at Donington Park in England today and settled into his new environment quickly, showing a marked improvement in his times during today’s two free practice sessions. Spies (1’30.766, 58 laps) is deputising for the injured Loris Capirossi at the British Grand Prix and the two-time AMA Superbike Champion spent the majority of the day learning the 4,023m English track. Spies knocked over a second off his lap-times between the morning and afternoon sessions as he finished the day in 17th place on the timesheets. He is confident of improving tomorrow and will be trying to move further up the standings. Chris Vermeulen made a strong start to the Donington weekend and topped the timesheets a number of times during the two sessions, working with his crew to further develop the Suzuki GSV-R using some of the data gathered from the recent Catalunya test. Vermeulen completed a long run on a set of Bridgestone race tyres in the afternoon session and was pleased with the results. His best time of 1’29.410 from his 57 laps gave him ninth position on the leaderboard. Today’s fastest time was set by Casey Stoner on his factory Ducati. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP has one more free practice session tomorrow morning followed by an hour of qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s 30-lap race is round eight of the season and the event gets underway at 15.00hrs local time (14.00GMT). Chris Vermeulen: “At least we got a full dry today at Donington, as the weather forecast had been a bit hit and miss as to whether it would rain. We tried a lot of different things with the bike today, most of which we learnt from the Barcelona test and it seems to be helping the machine around here. I’ve lapped consistently today and I kept in a set of tyres for most of this afternoon’s session, and with over twenty laps on them I put in my best time of the day which was also quicker than my qualifying time here last year! So it seems we have taken a big step here with the GSV-R, but we still have a few things to try tomorrow, both chassis and engine wise to make the bike work better. If we can get a little bit more pace I think we can jump in front of a few riders.” Ben Spies: “I’m not used to being this far back in the field, but with what we are trying to achieve here this weekend I’ve got to be pleased with how it has gone today. This is the first time I’ve been on this bike and the first time I’ve ever been to Donington, so realistically only being about a second off a decent pace is pretty good. I feel we can be competitive if we can get more dry time and every time we have gone out we’ve knocked off a second, so if we continue with that we’ll be good. I’m getting more comfortable on the bike and it’s working great, the crew have been real good and it’s me right now that needs to learn the track a bit more every time out. Hopefully it will come good tomorrow and we’ll be able to get up and into the middle of the pack!” Paul Denning Team Manager: “Luckily the weather has been kind today and we have been able to get through some valuable preparation work for Sunday’s race. Chris has been pushing hard from the start and has been very consistent, but he is also a bit frustrated that he hasn’t been able to go quicker. That said, his best times have come on tyres that have done over 20 laps and that is a good sign for the race. Now if we can find a bit more rear grip and make the bike easier to ride in certain sections of the track, there is without question a fair bit more to come from him. He has his race-face on and nothing less than challenging for the podium is going to satisfy him this weekend! “In the team’s opinion Ben’s performance today has been outstanding! We have to remember he only rode the 2007 GSV-R for about two hours at Valencia in November last year, and that Donington Park is completely new to him. Learning a new racetrack is one thing, but learning to ride a new machine with different tyres on a new racetrack is another thing altogether – and pretty difficult to do as well! To get into the 1’30s on the first day is a fantastic achievement and he is serious about going a fair bit faster still, and we are really looking forward to hopefully getting more dry time tomorrow to see how fast he can go!” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Stoner on flying form in British practice Round 8: Great Britain Free Practice Donington Park, Friday 20 June 2008 Bridgestone-shod Ducati rider Casey Stoner was in impressive form during today’s opening two free practice sessions for Sunday’s British Grand Prix. Stoner was the fastest man around Donington Park throughout both sessions leading his nearest rivals by over half-a-second. Stoner won last year’s wet-drying British Grand Prix using Bridgestone wet weather tyres. It was an encouraging day’s work for Bridgestone-shod teams with Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi in third place, San Carlo Honda Gresini duo Alex de Angelis and Shina Nakano in fifth and seventh places respectively, and Rizla Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen in ninth. A range of tyre specifications was evaluated today with different soft and medium front and rear compounds, including a new compound introduced for this weekend’s race, while some teams also tried a new construction rear tyre. Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development What has Bridgestone learned after today’s two practice sessions? “It has been a good day of work for us at Donington today and we have been able to utilise both sessions effectively to develop a good direction in dry conditions. Casey has been particularly impressive during the day with some very fast and consistent lap times. The weather forecast for this weekend looks quite unsettled, so our priority today was to get a solid understanding of our compound range for this track. We have brought a new compound to Donington, which is the result of development work started in the post Le Mans test last month, and the initial results have been quite pleasing. Some riders also used a new construction rear tyre, designed to enhance edge grip, which also gave reasonable performance.” Is durability a concern for this track? “Donington has not been a particularly easy track for us in the past, but we made some important improvements for last year’s race weekend. We only had two dry sessions last year before the rain came but the signs were already encouraging. I think we have taken another step forward for this year’s event based on today’s results, but tyre durability remains an unknown factor, even if some riders put quite a few laps on the same spec rear tyre in this afternoon’s session. The weather will inevitably play its part over the next two days, but we draw real optimism from today, and will be prepared whatever weather greets us tomorrow.” Bridgestone-shod Riders’ Combined Practice Session Results Pos. Rider Team Session 1 (pos) Session 2 (pos) Gap P1 Casey Stoner Ducati Corse 1m28.979s (P1) 1m28.253s (P1) Fastest P3 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m29.917s (P8) 1m28.909s (P3) +0.656s P5 Alex de Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m29.527s (P2) 1m28.992s (P5) +0.739s P7 Shinya Nakano San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m30.144s (P9) 1m29.207s (P7) +0.954s P9 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m29.787s (P6) 1m29.410s (P9) +1.157s P11 John Hopkins Kawasaki Racing Team 1m30.282s (P11) 1m29.441s (P11) +1.188s P12 Anthony West Kawasaki Racing Team 1m30.452s (P13) 1m29.666s (P12) +1.413s P14 Marco Melandri Ducati Corse 1m30.906s (P15) 1m29.856s (P14) +1.603s P15 Toni Elias Alice Team 1m31.103s (P16) 1m30.268s (P15) +2.015s P17 Ben Spies Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m31.807s (P18) 1m30.766s (P17) +2.513s P18 Sylvain Guintoli Alice Team 1m31.578s (P17) 1m30.931s (P18) +2.678s Weather: Session 1 / Dry Air 19°C, Track 25°C (Bridgestone measurement) Session 2 / Dry Air 22°C, Track 33°C (Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Past MotoGP World Champions honoured at Donington bwin.com British Grand Prix – Friday 20th June As part of MotoGP’s 60th season celebrations, ‘MotoGP Champions Towers’ will be handed out during the remainder of year to all past winners of the MotoGP World Championship, formerly known as the 500cc World Championship. The first of these ceremonies took place at the Donington Park circuit today. Receiving the awards were Phil Read (Champion in 1973-1974), Mike Hailwood (1962-1963-1964-1965) represented by his son Dave, and the first ever MotoGP World Champion Les Graham (1949) represented by his son Stuart. Presenting the awards were Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of Dorna Sports, and the FIM Road-racing Commission President Claude Danis. Mr. Ezpeleta explained, “For us, much of the success of MotoGP is down to its tradition and history and in the 60th season of the championship we wanted to honour the former champions who have shaped the sport we know today. We chose Britain as the first place to do this as it is the spiritual home of the sport, where the first 500cc race took place on the Isle of Man Mountain course on June 17th, 1949.” Meanwhile, Phil Read commented, “It’s a real honour for me to receive this trophy. It’s great that the heroes of the past can be recognised in this modern age, and to see all those names together on the trophy is a reminder of the great history of this sport.” Other British winners, John Surtees (1956-1958-1959-1960) and Geoff Duke (1951-1953-1954-1955) were unable to attend but will still receive the trophy. The trophy for Barry Sheene (1976-1977) will be presented to his family now resident in Australia. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Rossi launches 200th Grand Prix challenge at Donington Valentino Rossi, who is scheduled to contest his 200th Grand Prix on Sunday, got his weekend off to a solid start today by finishing third overall in the first free practice sessions at Donington Park. The 29-year-old Fiat Yamaha Team rider, whose first ever 125cc race was back in 1996 at Shah Alam, has an illustrious record at this circuit with eight wins to his name, including two with Yamaha in 2004 and 2005. Rossi started off steadily this morning, finishing the first session in eighth as he struggled to perfect his set-up to suit the tricky Donington surface. In the later stages of the afternoon session the Bridgestone-shod Italian and his crew improved things somewhat, finding a better setting which gave them more grip and finishing the day third in the combined standings, behind Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden. Valentino Rossi – Position: 3rd Time: 1’28.909 Laps: 57 “This morning we were struggling and we’re not in perfect shape yet. Fortunately however, this afternoon on the last run things improved a lot and we are now third. The main problem here is the asphalt because it doesn’t have any grip anymore and riding on it is very difficult. Of course the temperature was quite low, which didn’t help, but in some parts of the track the asphalt is finished. It’s a pity because this track is great, one of my favourites! We have to hope that the weather stays dry because if it’s wet it will be even worse. We have a couple of ideas to try tomorrow; we will try some different tyres and also some other solutions for the setting, in order to be faster in the direction changes. We had a very long meeting after the session in order to try to understand the problem, it’s very strange because we used some tyres which are usually very good for us, but here they don’t seem to work as they normally do. Third position is okay however, we’re not so far from the top and tomorrow we will try to make some more steps forward.” Davide Brivio – Team Manager “We definitely improved this afternoon, as the times show, but we still have a lot of work to do on a few things specifically. Tomorrow we need to focus on improving the setting still further to suit this track; the surface here isn’t great and the lack of grip makes it quite difficult to find the right set-up. We also need to do some more work on the tyres with Bridgestone before we’re in a position to make a choice. Luckily it was dry today so now we hope the English weather is going to be kind to us again tomorrow so that we can continue with what we started this afternoon.” Lorenzo makes tentative return to action at Donington Park Two weeks after crashing during practice in Catalunya and ruling himself out of his home race, Jorge Lorenzo made a welcome return to the track on his Fiat Yamaha M1 at the British Grand Prix today. After his sensational start to the season, the youngest rider on the grid has undergone a torrid time since fracturing both his ankles in China at the start of May and he is now riding with a special glove on his right hand to protect the skin graft that he underwent 12 days ago. Lorenzo’s focus today was simply to find the feeling back on board his bike and to build his confidence, which he freely admits has suffered in his recent string of crashes. The Michelin rider finished the day a lowly 16th in the combined standings but is looking forward to feeling more relaxed and confident tomorrow and trying to improve things step-by-step. Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 16th Time: 1’30.290 Laps: 51 “Today was always going to be a hard day for me and I had to start very slowly because honestly I felt some fear after all of my problems! I haven’t ridden since the crash in practice in Catalunya and I have lost some confidence, so the aim this weekend is just to find it again. Today the main target was to try to find my feeling with the bike and also to check my physical shape, which is okay although I do have some pain in my hand and finger where I had the skin graft. I am happy to be back however and I hope that the worst is over and that tomorrow I will be more relaxed and have more confidence. We are starting from scratch again this weekend so we have to go step-by-step and take things slowly.” Daniele Romagnoli – Team Manager “Finally we have Jorge back after Barcelona and we’re very pleased about this! Now we are justlooking to re-build his confidence by taking things gently and easily, without risking too much. For sure he will need some time before he is back to his best but there is no pressure on him. Meanwhile we also need to work hard on improving the bike setting because we are lacking some rear grip and the bike is quite nervous at full lean. Together with Michelin we will analyse the data tonight and study some solutions to help us with this tomorrow.” Edwards and Toseland happy with early pace at Donington Tech 3 Yamaha team pairing Colin Edwards and James Toseland made an encouraging start to the British GP at Donington Park, both clocking top ten times at the end of the first day of free practice. Edwards showed why Donington is the track where he’s enjoyed the most success in his MotoGP career as he clocked the fourth best time overall. Edwards has claimed four top six finishes at Donington and he was third fastest this morning despite small issues with the gearing on his Tech 3 Yamaha YZR-M1. Edwards held second until the closing stages this afternoon and a best lap of 1.28.969 clinched fourth as the American spent the opening day evaluating Michelin tyres and a new rear shock from Ohlins. Making his MotoGP debut at his home track, Toseland was able to immediately post competitive and consistent lap times, which only got faster as he honed the set-up of his YZR-M1 to suit the challenging Donington layout. Toseland set a best time of 1.29.341, confident with more time on the new set-up that he will be able to fight for a front row position in tomorrow’s crucial qualifying session. Toseland will unveil a special one-off paint-scheme for his home race tomorrow, having given fans a glimpse today of what to expect with a St George’s flag on the front and rear of his YZR-M1 machine. A crowd of close to 80,000 is expected to flock to the East Midlands to see Toseland’s eagerly anticipated British GP debut. Today’s action was run under dry but cloudy skies, with forecasts predicting heavy rain for tomorrow. Colin Edwards – Position: 4thTime: 1’28.969 Laps: 54 “I’m reasonably happy because I didn’t get in many quality laps this morning. I either caught traffic or the bike wasn’t quite right but this afternoon we made a change to the gearing and I felt good right away. This year the rev limiter is different on the bike so we had to make a change to alter that. When you’ve come here for a few years you know what the revs are in certain corners and when to change and you don’t have to think about it. But I wasn’t sure if I was going down one too many gears or going up one too less because the gearbox was a bit out. We got the gearbox sorted and with some electronics the grip got better and better and Michelin have done a fantastic job. Every tyre I put in it seems to work and this will probably be the only time all year where I could use three tyres in the race on Sunday. Credit to Michelin because they have done an amazing job. This afternoon I did some more laps on a tyre that I’d already done 22 laps on and I was only two-tenths slower than my best lap so we are in great shape. Minus the Australian I’m happy because Casey has been impressive and we’ve got to work something out to get closer to him. But the rear shock from Ohlins I really liked. It’s not often you get a new suspension piece and throw it in and it works. Usually you have to tinker with it and work out what springs work with it, but it feels great. It just keeps the rear planted more on the entry and it is not pitching weight to the front as hard. So braking is better and mid-corner it feels like there is no speed limit. You can brake harder because the rear tyre stays consistently in the same position.” James Toseland – Position: 8thTime: 1’29.341 Laps: 52 “The times are very close but unfortunately I found it difficult with the setting we had from the Catalunya test that I thought would work. I came away from that test with a lot of confidence but the settings don’t work here. We tried to persevere with it but it was the wrong direction and at the end we made a change and it was night and day different. At least now we are moving the right way. I’m really comfortable doing low 29s but with the Catalunya setting I couldn’t enter the corner. I didn’t have the contact with the rear and that was losing me a lot of corner speed. Around this track you have to keep it fast and flowing and I couldn’t keep my momentum up. I’m sure I can get it in the 28s and it looks like that will be the race pace so we have got to find a bit more. But with more time on the new setting I’m confident we can improve because we found it a bit too late to really dial it in. I’m pleased to be in the ballpark, but obviously not pleased with eighth but I don’t think that is a reflection on where we could and should have been. It is quite a bit different riding at this track on an 800 that what I did last year in World Superbikes. I tried my old lines but they don’t work! The speed is just so much faster and that determines the corner speed you carry. Using my old lines I couldn’t square the corner off, so even though I know the track I have to learn and adjust. The support for me out there is amazing with all the JT flags and 52 flags. I think everybody wants to see a British guy do well, so it’s just down to me to get the job done.”