LORENZO AND ROSSI READY FOR CATALONIAN CHALLENGE The Fiat Yamaha Team moves to Spain for the Grand Prix of Catalunya this week and after Valentino Rossi’s home race in Italy last time out it is now Jorge Lorenzo’s turn in the spotlight as the local hero. After a thrilling race in Mugello the pair now lie second and third in the championship and another exciting spectacle beckons this weekend at the high-speed Montmeló track. Mallorcan-born Lorenzo lived in Barcelona for much of his early career and after a brief hiatus in London last year he has now returned to live in his beloved home city. Following two wins and a brilliant second in Mugello the 22-year-old lies just four points off Casey Stoner in the championship standings and after disappointment on his last visit to Spain earlier this season he is determined to reach the podium in front of his fans this time out. Last year he was forced to miss the Catalunya round through injury after a crash in practice but he has won there previously in 250s and knows that home success is something special in front of the passionate and knowledgeable Spanish fans. Montmeló has been a happy hunting ground for reigning World Champion Rossi in the past and he has no less than eight victories to his name there, but he has finished second for the past two years and would like a return to the top step at what is one of his favourite tracks. Last year he made an impressive charge through the field from ninth on the grid to take the runner-up spot but he is keen to strike back with a win this weekend to add to his victory in Jerez a few races ago and claim back points on his team-mate, whom he trails in the standings by five points. The Circuit de Catalunya is similar to Mugello in that it features one of the longest main straights in the world. The rest of the track is characterised by long radius, medium and high-speed sweeping corners, with two tight left-hand hairpins thrown into the mix. This variation combined with regular changes in camber makes the circuit particularly demanding on chassis balance and means that front-end feel is a key concern for every rider. After the limit on testing this season, the Monday after the race will allow the teams their first chance to test since before the first race and it promises to be a crucial day of development before the busiest stage of the season. Jorge Lorenzo “ONE OF MY FAVOURITE TRACKS” “I’ve had a great season so far but it hasn’t all been perfect and I made a big mistake in Jerez when I tried to pass Stoner, so hopefully I can do better for my home fans this time! After Mugello and Le Mans we know that anything can happen and you just have to keep calm and focused. Now we’re going to my home, the closest place to my Island of Mallorca and one of my favourite tracks. I’ve always been fast there, right back to when I went there for the first time when I was in 125s and got my first second row start. My main aim this time is to have a better weekend than last year and to completely forget what happened. I improved on last year in Mugello so hopefully I can do the same again in Barcelona.” Valentino Rossi “HOPING FOR A SECOND SPANISH WIN!” “Mugello was disappointing but still we took some good points and now, entering one of the most important phases of the championship, this is very important. We still haven’t found the perfect answer to make my M1 exactly how I want but Barcelona is a good track for us so hopefully we can make the final step there, also since we will finally have a chance to test on Monday. Barcelona is, along with Mugello and Phillip Island, one of my favourite tracks and I always love racing there. I have taken one Spanish win so far this season so I am hoping for another this weekend. We need to keep focused and use what we learnt in Mugello to put us in the right shape. Finally I am hoping for good weather because I don’t think these flag-to-flag races in the wet and the dry suit me very well!” Daniele Romagnoli “FEELING VERY STRONG” “Going to Barcelona, Jorge’s home race, lying second in the championship is absolutely brilliant and it gives us great motivation; we are feeling very strong right now after two good results in a row. This year the championship is very close and we need to be consistently on the podium in order to stay in touch. We’ve done very well in the last two races in the strange weather conditions but I think everyone would prefer a ‘normal’ race this time so let’s hope for some Spanish sunshine.” Davide Brivio “STILL ON TARGET” “We’re still on target and close to the top of the championship but this weekend we need to try to gain some points on the two ahead of us in the championship. We have to work at our hardest this weekend. Usually we’re good in Barcelona but there are a lot of others who are also strong there and we know that it’s going to be a hard battle which we have to be involved in! On Monday we have our first test since the start of the season and it’s going to be a very important day which will hopefully give us some good information to help us over the second half of the championship.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP is in the Catalonian capital of Barcelona for the next round of the MotoGP World Championship, with high hopes of good results at the Montmelo circuit. Chris Vermeulen finished seventh at the 4,727m track last season, a result that didn’t reflect his excellent practice performance that saw him up with the front-runners all weekend on race tyres. He was hampered in the race when he was hit by Alex De Angelis early on and relegated to 13th place. He rode a strong race and was soon inside the top-10, before eventually coming home in seventh. Loris Capirossi had a race to forget at Catalunya last year, as he too was involved in an incident with De Angelis, causing Suzuki’s Italian racer to crash heavily and injure his hand. Capirossi is determined to continue with the good form he demonstrated at Mugello last time out, as both he and Vermeulen aim for competitive results. The Circuit de Catalunya is one of the most modern and safe tracks on the MotoGP calendar. It is situated In Granollers, about an hour’s drive from the city centre of Barcelona. The layout features a kilometre long straight where speeds in excess of 300kp/h will be achieved, plus many elevation changes, super-fast right-hand turns and two spectacular downhill corners at the end of the lap. All this adds to an amazing atmosphere from the huge crowds to help to make this one of the best events of the year, Rizla Suzuki will have one practice session on Friday afternoon, followed by another on Saturday morning. An hour of qualifying on Saturday afternoon will decide grid positions for Sunday’s 25-lap race. Chris Vermeulen: “The Catalunya circuit is one I really enjoy and we have performed quite well there. I would have done better last year but I didn’t get a good run on qualifiers, so without those this year I hope my starting place will reflect my race-pace in practice – something it didn’t do last year. The Barcelona race is a bit like a home GP for me as well because I have a place in Andorra so it’s just a short journey down to the event and lots of friends and neighbours come down to support me. We are hoping that the upgrades from Suzuki this weekend will work as well on the bike as they have in the factory, we’re not sure if we’ll use them in the race or hang on for the test day, we’ll just have to wait and see.” Loris Capirossi: “I didn’t have a good time at Catalunya last year after I was hit by another rider and crashed with some nasty injuries. I am determined to put that behind me this year and carry on from where we left off at Mugello. We know we will have to work hard on the long straight at Barcelona, but we learnt a lot from the last race and hopefully that will help us this weekend. We have got some new parts coming from Japan which should make a difference to the performance of the GSV-R so we are all quite excited about that.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM MAKE MEDITERRANEAN CROSSING TO CATALUNYA FOR ROUND SIX Following their outstanding success in the Italian Grand Prix, the Ducati Marlboro Team is preparing for another challenge this Sunday around the hills of Montmelò, on the industrial outskirts of Barcelona, Spain. Casey Stoner produced a performance that boasted intelligence and determination in equally impressive measure at Mugello, avoiding unnecessary risks in the first part of the race before extracting the full potential of his Desmosedici following the change from wet to slick tyres as he opened out an insurmountable advantage over his rivals. It was the Australian’s eighteenth victory in MotoGP, equalling Wayne Gardner on the list of all-time 500cc/MotoGP winners and consolidating Ducati’s record as the most successful manufacturer in the 800cc era, with nineteen wins from forty-one races so far. Nicky Hayden, who so far this season has benefited from stable weather conditions at just one Grand Prix out of the five contested as he continues his adaptation to the Desmosedici, showed signs of improvement in Mugello, only missing out on a top ten finish after suffering a rear brake problem over the final three laps. On Friday morning both riders will be honoured by the Circuit de Catalunya with the unveiling of their own plaques on “Champions Avenue” adding their names to those of Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Dani Pedrosa, amongst others – in celebration of their MotoGP titles of 2006 and 2007 respectively. LIVIO SUPPO, MotoGP Project Director “Mugello was an unforgettable victory but we have to keep giving our best and not rest on our laurels. On Tuesday after the race Vittoriano was back on track for three days of testing at the same circuit with the objective of improving our bike for Casey and for the other riders who are at times struggling to find a comfortable set-up for the GP9. In Barcelona we’ll have a few set-up and electronic updates to try in the day of testing on Monday after the race, so we’ll have chance for our World Championship riders to give us some feedback and direction for more useful development in the future.” CASEY STONER, Ducati Marlboro Team (1st in the championship on 90 points) “This championship is extremely difficult and competitive and even a victory like the one at Mugello, wonderful as it was, needs to be put behind us so that we can turn our focus to the next race. Being leader of the championship at this stage means absolutely nothing. My rivals are very clever, mature and capable of winning races so we have to stay focused, do our best to be competing for the top step of the podium again and if that’s not possible then make sure we are bringing home the maximum number of points. Barcelona was one of my favourite circuits until they re-laid it. Even though they put a completely new surface down a few years ago it has never been the same as it was before and the fact they race F1 there hasn’t helped the situation in terms of the bumps and potholes. The layout is nice though the first part isn’t too difficult but the middle and end parts of the lap are technical and demanding, especially the fast pair of right-handers coming onto the start-finish straight.” NICKY HAYDEN, Ducati Marlboro Team (15th in the championship on 13 points) “Barcelona is a track I like a lot, with some really hard braking areas, like turn one, but also with some really fast and technical sections. We can’t do much in terms of preparing for the Grand Prix and this obviously isn’t an easy period for me but I have to think positive and continue to give it everything. That is my way of dealing things and that is what I’ll continue to do alongside my team. I’m looking forward to getting out there and racing again but I’m also looking forward to the test afterwards. I really need some testing and more time in the saddle. This year I’m really feeling the testing ban that has been brought in and I know it’s the same for everybody but for me in particular I know I’d really benefit from some test time, so hopefully we can get some good work done in Barcelona that will help me take a step forward.” THE TRACK The Circuit de Catalunya, located around 20 kilometres north of Barcelona, was added to the calendar in 1992, when it hosted the European Grand Prix, before changing to the Grand Prix of Catalunya in 1996. It is a fast and demanding track with a long main straight of 1,047m, which allows the 800cc machines to hit top speeds potentially in excess of 325km/h, and some hard-braking areas such as turn one and the “La Caixa” corner at the end of the shorter back straight, as well as some fast and flowing corners. The combination of long corners and variations in camber calls for a balanced chassis set-up and puts huge demand on front tyre durability and feel. The track was resurfaced in 2005 but many riders still complain about the bumps caused by F1 testing and racing. CATALUNYA KEY FACTS Circuit Record: Daniel Pedrosa (Honda – 2008), 1’42.358 166.251 Km/h Best Pole: Casey Stoner (Ducati – 2008), 1’41.186 168.177 Km/h Circuit Length: 4,727 km MotoGP Race 2009: 25 laps (118.175 km) MotoGP Timetable 2009: 14:00 Central Europe Time PODIUM 2008: 1st Daniel Pedrosa, 2nd Valentino Rossi, 3rd Casey Stoner POLE 2008: Casey Stoner (Ducati – 2008), 1’41.186 168.177 Km/h DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM’S BEST RESULTS AT CATALUNYA 2008: 3rd (Stoner) 2007: 1st (Stoner) 2006: – 2005: 11th (Checa) 2004: 10th (Capirossi) 2003: 1st (Capirossi) DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM RIDER INFO CASEY STONER Age: 23 (Born 16th October 1985 in Southport, Queensland, Australia ) Residency: Switzerland Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP9 GP Appearances: 118 (57xMotoGP, 31×250, 30×125) GP Victories: 25 (18xMotoGP, 5×250, 2×125) First GP victory: Valencia, 2003 (125) First GP: Great Britiain, 2001 (125) Pole positions: 20 (16xMotoGP, 2×250, 2×125) First pole position: Italy, 2003 (125) World Titles: 1 (MotoGP, 2007) MotoGP track record at Catalunya: 2008: Qualified: 1st. Race: 3rd 2007: Qualified: 4th. Race: 1st 2006: Qualified: 8th. Race: DNF NICKY HAYDEN Age: 27 (born 30th July 1981 in Owensboro, Kentucky, USA) Residency: Owensboro, Kentucky, USA Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP9 GP Appearances: 104 (104xMotoGP) First GP: Japan, 2003 (MotoGP) Number of victories: 3 (3xMotoGP) First GP victory: USGP, 2005 (MotoGP) Pole positions: 5 (5xMotoGP) First Pole: USGP, 2005 (MotoGP) World Titles: 1 (MotoGP, 2006) MotoGP track record at Catalunya: 2008 Qualified: 3rd. Race: 8th 2007: Qualified: 7th. Race: 11th 2006: Qualified: 4th. Race: 3rd 2005: Qualified: 5th. Race: 5th 2004: Qualified: 3rd. Race: DNF 2003: Qualified: 3rd. Race: DNF