FIM MotoGP World Championship Catalunya, Spain June 17, 2013 Test Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Jorge Lorenzo, Spain (Yamaha), 1:41.904 2. Nicky Hayden, USA (Ducati), 1:41.955 3. Stefan Bradl, Germany (Honda), 1:42.227 4. Andrea Dovizioso, Italy (Ducati), 1:42.417 5. Cal Crutchlow, UK (Yamaha), 1:42.462 6. Valentino Rossi, Italy (Yamaha), 1:42.513, crash 7. Aleix Espargaro, Spain (ART-Aprilia), 1:42.537 8. Randy De Puniet, France (Suzuki), 1:42.676 9. Andrea Iannone, Italy (Ducati), 1:42.697 10. Bradley Smith, UK (Yamaha), 1:43.180 11. Michele Pirro, Italy (Ducati), 1:43.784 12. Hector Barbera, Spain (FTR-Kawasaki), 1:43.899 13. Colin Edwards, USA (FTR-Kawasaki), 1:44.183 14. Karel Abraham, Czech Republic (ART-Aprilia), 1:44.458 15. Danilo Petrucci, Italy (Ioda/Suter-BMW), 1:44.477 16. Michael Laverty, UK (PBM-Aprilia), 1:44.547 17. Claudio Corti, Italy (FTR-Kawasaki), 1:44.794 18. Yonny Hernandez, Colombia (ART-Aprilia), 1:45.078 19. Lukas Pesek, Czech Republic (Ioda/Suter-BMW), 1:47.379 More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Fresh from his third win of the season on Sunday, Jorge Lorenzo has posted the quickest lap time in Monday’s Official MotoGP™ Test at the Circuit de Catalunya. All eyes were on Suzuki as the Japanese company made a European debut with its 1000 cc, inline four prototype ahead of a return to the World Championship in 2015. On a more overcast day at the Montmelo-based track, the big news was from Suzuki Motor Corporation which announced that – having pulled out of MotoGP™ at the end of 2011 – it would be returning in less than two years’ time. Nobuatsu Aoki was first to ride before Randy de Puniet took over for the rest of the day. On the timesheets, current title holder Lorenzo led the way with 1’41.908 – only 11 thousandths of a second slower than Dani Pedrosa’s new pole position record of Saturday. The Yamaha Factory Racing rider sampled a new fuel tank he had requested, whereas teammate Valentino Rossi worked on gaining a better front end feeling with the M1. In second place was LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl, looking into setup issues in a bid to dial out his lack of front-end grip. Ducati Team and satellite outfit Pramac Racing ran back-to-back comparisons of their GP13 and GP13 ‘Lab’ bikes, with Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso ending proceedings in third and fourth places while Andrea Iannone and Michele Pirro were ninth and 11th, respectively. At Monster Tech 3 Yamaha, Cal Crutchlow sampled the Yamaha chassis evolution as tested by Lorenzo and Rossi in the post-race test at Jerez, while teammate Bradley Smith departed the circuit early in order to undergo a skin graft operation in Barcelona city centre. The day was broken up by several red flags, one of which was for Rossi who crashed his Yamaha shortly before 4pm. There were no such issues for the Suzuki, which ran in a chiefly blue livery. For sole tyre supplier Bridgestone, the order of the day was to test a new rear compound tyre, although carrying out meaningful runs was a difficult task as teams were engrossed in their own programmes. The new Hard compound is closer to the current Medium and designed to come into its own towards the end of races. In the CRT ranks, a raft of components were tried out. Hector Barbera ran a new swingarm and electronics package at Avintia Blusens, whereas CRT leaders Power Electronics Aspar looked into suspension and chassis. At NGM Mobile Forward Racing, there was experimentation of a flat, oval-shaped air intake which is claimed to encourage better handling, although the former teardrop form is better for conserving engines. At PBM, the main plan was to test a new shock and exhaust. Continuing development work with its ECU software for the CRT runners, Magneti Marelli brought an upgrade in a bid to revise wheelie and upshift strategies, while at Cardion AB Motoracing there was a sense of achievement as a technical problem was identified with the spark plugs of Karel Abraham’s bike. A total of 19 riders posted lap times, with Lukas Pesek completing the field for Came IodaRacing Project. MotoGP™ action will continue on Tuesday as Repsol Honda Team begins testing at MotorLand Aragon, where it will be joined by Yamaha and Suzuki from Wednesday. More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: Ducati Team concludes Barcelona post-race test With this past weekend’s Catalan Grand Prix behind them, the Ducati Team and most of the other MotoGP riders were back in action today for a one-day, IRTA-organized test at the Circuit de Catalunya. The team’s work schedule called for a continuation of the back-to-back comparisons between the bike that Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden have raced thus far, and the ‘laboratory’ version that has only been used in battle by Ducati Test Team rider Michele Pirro (at Jerez, Mugello, and Barcelona). Once again, Hayden was more comfortable on the Spanish track, as the American posted the second-best time of the day. His 1:41.955 lap was just five-hundredths off of Jorge Lorenzo, while Dovizioso finished fourth-best on the day with a time of 1:42.417. Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 2nd, 1:41.955 (73 laps) “Overall, it was kind of an up-and-down day. We were here with the lab bike, but unfortunately, I’m consistently faster with the standard version. We want to do a step and come closer to the front guys, but at the moment, I can’t find it with the lab bike. I hope I at least got some good information for the engineers. I spent some time on my standard bike, and I had a pretty good feeling with it today and was able to check a couple of things. We also tested Bridgestone’s new hard rear tyre, which has good potential. We haven’t been able to use their current hard for most of the year, which makes race weekends tough, but I had a good feeling with the new one today and did a 42.4 on it. Hopefully that will give them some direction to help us as the summer gets hotter.” Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) 4th, 1:42.417 (56 laps) “We did the comparison between the two frames on a track that’s much different from the others where we’ve tested. We still have to decide which one to use, but the difference is very small. Just like in the tests at Jerez and Mugello, the new frame seems better on corner entry but moves a bit more on exits. Anyway, the positives and the negatives are both minimal. Now we’ll decide which frame to use at Assen, but there aren’t big differences. Using one or the other won’t change much, so we’ll wait for more new parts.” Bernhard Gobmeier – Ducati Corse General Manager “After the disappointing race yesterday, we had some encouraging signs today. We tested a bunch of new things on the engine side, on the tyre side, and on the chassis side. Regarding the chassis, we’re still evaluating the data from the back-to-back comparison, and we’ll decide in the next few days which one to use.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Crutchlow fifth in Catalunya test, Smith heads for surgery Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team riders Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith finished a one-day test at the Circuit de Catalunya inside the top 10 today, the British duo satisfied with progress made in hot conditions. Following his unfortunate early crash out of podium contention in yesterday’s race, Crutchlow dedicated the majority of his time on track today to working on improving his feeling with a full fuel tank. Crutchlow tried several modifications to his YZR-M1 machine and he was happy to make positive steps that allowed him to feel more confident and faster with a full fuel load. The 27-year-old was fifth fastest and his best time of 1.42.462 that was less than 0.2s away from the top three. He also tested a revised spec YZR-M1 frame but while it offered an improvement with braking stability, he will continue to race with the same chassis he’s used in the opening six rounds when the campaign resumes in Assen. Smith was able to test for a two-hour stint this morning, the British rider completed 25 laps as he too evaluated front-end modifications to improve his pace with a full fuel tank. The 22-year-old set a best time of 1.43.180 but cut short his day at noon to make the short trip to the USP Institut Universitari Dexeus of Barcelona where he was due to undergo a double operation on his left hand and wrist this evening. Smith suffered a broken scaphoid bone in his left wrist and extensive damage to his left little finger when he crashed heavily during practice for the recent Italian MotoGP round at Mugello. He bravely rode to a career best sixth position in yesterday’s Gran Premi Aperol de Cataluna, but the considerable pain and discomfort from both injuries resulted in a decision to undergo surgery as quickly as possible. A screw was due to be inserted to stabilise the scaphoid and a skin graft carried out to repair the open wound on his little finger. Dr Xavier Mir, Head of the Hand Surgery Unit of the Orthopaedics Department of the USP Institut Universitari Dexeus, will supervise the double procedure.