LORENZO FLIES LONE FIAT YAMAHA FLAG AS MOTOGP COMES TO SILVERSTONE A somewhat depleted Fiat Yamaha Team lands on British shores this week, with championship leader Jorge Lorenzo the team’s sole representative following Valentino Rossi’s injury at Mugello. Silverstone plays host Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing for the first time since 1986 and the riders and teams are looking forward to getting their first look at the modified track. Lorenzo has had a stunning start to the season, with two wins and two second places under his belt and a championship lead of 25 points from Dani Pedrosa. The 23-year-old has a strong following in Great Britain, having won there in 2006, and is keen to take his first premier-class win on British soil after crashing out of the lead at Donington last year. On Wednesday Lorenzo will get a taste of a sport that is entirely alien to him as a Spaniard when he meets the British media at Lord’s, the world-famous cricket ground in London. The British fans adopted Rossi as one of their own when he lived in London for several years and will be devastated that the Italian will not be racing this weekend. They will be cheered however by the news that he is recovering well at his house in Italy after breaking his leg at his home round and that he has confirmed that he will be back racing just as soon as he is returned to full fitness. The Fiat Yamaha Team will set his garage up as usual and his two YZR-M1s will be there for the fans to see. Silverstone straddles the Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire borders and was first used for impromptu car racing in 1947, when it was no more than a disused airfield. It is most famous as the home of the British Formula One Grand Prix, which was first held there in 1948 and has been contested at the track every year since 1987. Silverstone is no stranger to bike racing, with the 500cc machines having raced there from 1977 to 1986, but it has undergone extensive alterations in the past year with remodeled sections and faster, sweeping corners to tailor it to the 800cc MotoGP machines. Jorge Lorenzo “I WANT TO KEEP IMPROVING” “After Mugello we arrive at Silverstone, a track that none of us know! I will do some laps with the scooter on Thursday; I don’t always do this but I think it’s very important because so far I’ve only seen the track on the Play Station and it’s changed quite a lot. My aim is once again to get on the podium, but I was disappointed after Mugello and I want to do a better race in England. I am happy with my lead in the standings but I want to keep improving and this weekend we will try to find some more traction for my M1. Last week I went to the Isle of Man to see the TT, which was an incredible experience and I even rode a lap, but quite slowly! On Wednesday I will go to Lord’s Cricket Ground for a press conference and it will be the first time I’ve seen cricket, because we don’t play in Spain. I think it will be interesting to discover this sport, and maybe even play! Finally I want to send again my best wishes to Valentino, I am glad he is recovering well and we will miss him in these busy weeks.” Wilco Zeelenberg “AN EXCITING NEW TRACK” “We’ve had a great start to the season and it is exciting to be leading the championship at this stage. Now we head to a new track for MotoGP and personally I am looking forward to it as I raced there myself when I was younger! The track has been changed quite a bit but it looks like it’s going to be great for our bikes so we’re looking forward to Friday. Of course our team will miss Valentino but we wish him all the best and look forward to having him back as soon as possible.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: REPSOL HONDA TEAM SEEKING MORE SUCCESS AT SILVERSTONE Grand Prix motorcycle racing returns to the Silverstone circuit this weekend as round five of the 2010 World Championship takes MotoGP back to one of its historic venues. The Repsol Honda Team is determined to mark this special occasion by building on their success at the last race in Italy two weeks ago where Dani Pedrosa won the race and Andrea Dovizioso joined him for an emotional visit to the podium. A confident Pedrosa comes to Silverstone fresh from his Mugello masterclass – an event where he dominated the race meeting by taking pole position, the race victory and setting a new lap record along the way. His first win of the 2010 season has promoted him to second position in the World Championship behind Jorge Lorenzo, and Pedrosa’s goal this weekend will be to reduce the 25-point gap to his fellow countryman. After a start to the 2010 season that hasn’t been without its problems, Pedrosa is growing ever-more satisfied with the performance from his Honda RC212V and now looks poised to genuinely launch his challenge for the World Championship. His team-mate Dovizioso has made by far the best start to a season of his MotoGP career – with three podium finishes from four races – and the Italian is now determined to take the next step forward and fight for race wins. Dovizioso’s average gap to the race winner in the first four rounds of 2010 has been less than 10 seconds at the chequered flag, and the 24-year-old knows that a few tenths of a second per lap are all he needs to be fighting for victory. Britain would be the perfect place to make that step because it was at the British Grand Prix last year – then held at the Donington Park circuit – that Dovizioso took his maiden MotoGP win with a perfectly judged ride in treacherous and ever-changing conditions on a damp circuit. Silverstone first became the venue for the British Grand Prix in 1977 – the year after the Isle of Man TT ceased to be a round of the Road Racing World Championship. The circuit hosted the race until 1986, after which the British Grand Prix moved to Donington Park from 1987 to 2009. Honda machines were victorious in the last three races held at Silverstone before the switch to Donington, with wins from Randy Mamola in 1984, Freddie Spencer in 1985 and Wayne Gardner in 1986. Though there have been several layout changes and resurfacing work since then, Silverstone remains a fast and daunting circuit, and the Repsol Honda riders are relishing the challenge of repeating that historic success for Honda this weekend. First practice for the British Grand Prix takes place on Friday afternoon, with qualifying on Saturday and the 20-lap race starting at 13.00 on Sunday (GMT +1 hour). DANI PEDROSA World Championship position 2nd 65 points “We arrive at Silverstone in good shape after the victory in Mugello. We had a very good weekend in Italy and myself and the team need to make the most of it to maintain this momentum. I cannot say much about Silverstone. I’ve seen some races on video from the past to check the circuit a little bit, but they have made some changes and I think the layout is also a bit different compared to Formula One, so we will need to find out for ourselves. From what I’ve seen I can say it’s a fast circuit, high speed overall, with many right-hand corners which are taken with the throttle open. It looks like an old-fashioned circuit, maybe comparable to Assen before they shortened it. We will start on Friday without prior knowledge, but it’s the same for everyone so I hope we can adapt as quickly as possible to prepare for the race. We will have three races in a row now – Britain, Holland and Catalu nya – and it will be very important not to make mistakes and to maintain consistency in the results.” ANDREA DOVIZIOSO World Championship position 4th 58 points “I’m really excited to go to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. We used to race at Donington Park, which was a track that I really liked and where only myself and Valentino had won in all the Grand Prix classes – 125cc, 250cc and MotoGP. But despite this I’m very much looking forward to Silverstone. It’s a new track for everyone and we have no previous reference data for the circuit, which gives us one more challenge for the race weekend. From the layout, it seems a very fast track and this could be favourable for our RC212V, but we will have to wait and see first hand to get a true idea of how we’re going to perform. We arrive at this race in very good shape, with three podiums from four races, and we’re feeling especially good after the podium at Mugello – my home race – because this was really significant for me. Now we have to take another step fo rward because on Sunday I want to fight for the win.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: HONDA’S MotoGP MEN AIMING FOR MORE BRITISH SUCCESS Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) and Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V) travel to Silverstone aiming to build on their first double podium of the year at Mugello two weeks ago. Pedrosa’s stunning start-to-finish victory and Dovizioso’s strong ride to third place indicate that Honda’s MotoGP challenge is growing. With four races done and 14 to go, Pedrosa is now running second overall, 25 points behind World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha). Both Pedrosa and Dovizioso have good form on British tarmac, Pedrosa having scored the second win of his MotoGP career in Britain and Dovizioso winning his maiden MotoGP success at a damp Donington Park last year. The 2010 World Championship status quo was disrupted at Mugello when reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) fell heavily during practice, sustaining a broken leg which will put him out for much of the season. The title exit of Rossi who had been a close second overall on points left team-mate Lorenzo well ahead in the points chase, but Pedrosa’s dominant Mugello pole position, race victory and lap record reignited his bid for the 2010 MotoGP crown. Pedrosa and Dovizioso have been gradually improving their V4 machines by honing engine, electronics, chassis and suspension set-up to the point where the teams believes it is now ready to challenge for regular victories. This weekend’s British Grand Prix will be a particular challenge for the MotoGP paddock, since the sport hasn’t visited the track since 1986. Between 1987 and 2009 the British GP was held at Donington Park. The only current MotoGP riders who have competed at Silverstone are Colin Edwards (Yamaha), who contested the 2002 World Superbike round at the track, and Casey Stoner (Ducati), who raced there in his British championship days. Nevertheless, the circuit is much changed since their last visits. Silverstone is one of the world’s most historic racing venues. The Northamptonshire track became the first mainland home of the British Grand Prix in 1977 after the notorious Isle of Man TT circuit was deemed too dangerous for Grand Prix competition. The TT circuit had been the venue for the very first World Championship 500 Grand Prix race on June 17 1949. Silverstone began life in 1943 as a training airbase for RAF bomber crews. It hosted its first car race in 1948, its first motorcycle event the following summer and in 1950 the first-ever Formula 1 car Grand Prix. Using the perimeter road of the RAF base for its original layout, Silverstone has always been a fast and open racetrack; so much so that the 80cc lap record established at the track’s last 80cc GP in 1986 stands at 164.39km/h (102.17mph), which compares to the current Donington Park MotoGP lap record held by Pedrosa at 163.253km/h (101.441mph). Recent and extensive redevelopment of the circuit includes a new infield section made up of mostly slow-speed speed corners, but the circuit owners predict that the latest MotoGP machines will match or better the old circuit lap record, set by King Kenny Roberts (Yamaha) in 1983 at 192.27km/h (119.47mph). Like the Repsol Honda duo, Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) had a great weekend at Mugello, continuing a strong run of form that started with sixth place in the season-opening Qatar GP. At Mugello he fought for fourth place, confirming his current position as top privateer rider in the MotoGP World Championship. Team-mates Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) and Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) come to Britain in optimistic mood after strong showings at Mugello. Melandri was another rider playing a starring role in the thrilling three-way battle for fourth place, a ride that suggests he has turned something of a corner with his RC212V machine. And rookie Simoncelli would have been involved in the same contest and thus in the running for the best MotoGP result so far if he hadn’t had an off-track excursion on the first lap. Like his fellow rookies, Simoncelli is hoping the fact that the new Silverstone circuit is new for everyone will reduce the disadvantage he suffers at other circuits, where the more experienced MotoGP riders are already several steps ahead from the start of Friday practice. Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V) feels exactly the same way and feels he is ready to get back in the fight for a top ten finish. At Mugello the reigning 250 World Champ qualified inside the top ten but struggled in the race and finished just outside. The Moto2 World Championship makes its first visit to northern Europe this weekend, with the brand new series expected to serve up plenty of action for British fans. In Italy a fortnight ago Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up) produced a very unusual kind of Moto2 victory, leading from start to finish, steadily building his advantage throughout the race. Usually the contest for Moto2 victories is much more frantic, with several riders swapping positions every other corner. All riders in the Moto2 World Championship use identical Honda CBR600 engines supplied by the series organisers which usually guarantees extremely close competition. Although Iannone did escape out front at Mugello, the competition for the remaining 14 points-scoring positions was indeed close and hectic. That’s one reason why Jerez and Le Mans winner Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) found himself down in fifth place at the finish, just six tenths of a second behind runner-up Sergio Gadea (Tenerife 40 Pons, Pons Kalex). Despite his worst result of the season so far, Elias comes to Silverstone still heading the championship, 19 points ahead of Qatar Moto2 winner Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP, Suter) who had tough weekends at the last two GPs in France and Italy. Simone Corsi (JiR Moto2, Motobi) on the other hand has made the most forward progress at the two most recent races, scoring third-place finishes at Le Mans and Mugello to move into third overall, just four points behind Tomizawa. Iannone’s first win and first podium in Moto2 moved him to fifth overall behind Gadea. Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125) has made an impressive start to his first full season of GP racing taking two points scoring finishes from the four races. With the circuit new to all teams and riders the young German will start practice on even terms with his rivals, a real bonus for him as he will not have to play catch up on machine set up for the race. Honda riders had an impressive record at Silverstone towards the end of its tenure as home to the British motorcycle Grand Prix in the mid-1980s. The last three premier-class races at the track were won by riders using Honda’s NSR500 V4 two-stroke: Randy Mamola in 1984, Freddie Spencer in 1985 and Wayne Gardner in 1986. Honda riders who won premier-class races at Donington include Gardner (1992), Mick Doohan (1995, 1996 and 1997), Alex Crivillé (1999), Valentino Rossi (2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005), Pedrosa (2006) and Dovizioso (2009). Going further back in time, Honda won Isle of Man premier-class glory with Mike Hailwood in 1966 and 1967. HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa says: “We arrive at Silverstone in good shape after the victory in Mugello. We had a very good weekend in Italy and myself and the team need to make the most of it to maintain this momentum. I cannot say much about Silverstone. I’ve seen some races on video from the past to check the circuit a little bit, but they have made some changes and I think the layout is also a bit different compared to Formula One, so we will need to find out for ourselves. From what I’ve seen I can say it’s a fast circuit, high speed overall, with many right-hand corners which are taken with the throttle open. It looks like an old-fashioned circuit, maybe comparable to Assen before they shortened it. We will start on Friday without prior knowledge, but it’s the same for everyone so I hope we can adapt as quickly as possible to prepare for the race. We will have three races in a row now Britain, Holland and Catalunya and it will be very important not to make mistakes and to maintain consistency in the results.” Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso says: “I’m really excited to go to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. We used to race at Donington Park, which was a track that I really liked and where only myself and Valentino had won in all the Grand Prix classes – 125cc, 250cc and MotoGP. But despite this I’m very much looking forward to Silverstone. It’s a new track for everyone and we have no previous reference data for the circuit, which gives us one more challenge for the race weekend. From the layout, it seems a very fast track and this could be favourable for our RC212V, but we will have to wait and see firsthand to get a true idea of how we’re going to perform. We arrive at this race in very good shape, with three podiums from four races, and we’re feeling especially good after the podium at Mugello – my home race – because this was really significant for me. Now we have to take another step forward because on Sunday I want to fight for the win.” LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet says: “We will continue working the way we have worked at the last few races in an effort to keep scoring good results and get even closer to the front guys. It will be interesting going to a new circuit, which no one knows. I don’t really know what to expect at Silverstone, except that some of the sections are quite fast. I have also heard from some people that the old tarmac is quite bumpy. Of course, what we really hope is that the weather stays okay all weekend, because the last few years we have quite often had rain for the British race.” San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Melandri says: “Silverstone will be an interesting race because it’s a new track for everybody so we’ll have to see what happens. Also, nobody ever knows what will happen with the weather in England. The last couple of races have been positive for me despite some difficulties during practice so I hope we can make a solid start on Friday and make progress throughout the weekend. I was really happy after the race at Mugello because I had a good fight with Stoner and de Puniet although if I’d have qualified two rows further forward the result would have been even better. Now the goal is to improve on that.” San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli says: “To be honest I really liked Donington so I’m disappointed we don’t get to race there anymore although I am looking forward to going to Silverstone, a circuit I don’t know, and seeing how we get on. I haven’t even seen Silverstone on a videogame so it is completely new to me. I go there in good spirits though because we made a significant improvement at Mugello and I want to continue in the same way. I feel confident and eager to have a similar race to Mugello, except this time without mistakes and with a top five or six finish at the end of it that would be great! I was satisfied with my race in Italy but I know that my pace was fast enough to be in the group fighting for fourth place. We have taken a positive step forward and it is also good to see Honda winning again because it shows how well they are working in Japan and hopefully some of that will pass on to us.” Interwetten Honda MotoGP rider Hiroshi Aoyama says: “I think my feeling on this track will be a better one as none of us had ever gained any experience there, not even for testing. I don´t have an idea of the track yet, but I think it is pretty fast and it has many fast corners. Therefore the set up of the bike is very important. We did not such a bad job in Mugello, but at the end I could not get the result we should have had there. I want to try in Silverstone again to be more up in front and to break this top ten mark. This would give my team the result they deserve after all the hard work of the last races.” Moto2 RIDER QUOTES Technomag-CIP rider Shoya Tomizawa says: “I am looking forward to discovering another new track, especially because Silverstone will be new for everyone. We will all start from zero this weekend, so that will make the three days very interesting. As always, I will work with my crew to get the best-possible set-up, and then I will give my maximum in the race. Mugello showed how tough Moto2 can be I was only one second behind the rider who finished in second place, but I was sixth!” Gresini Racing Moto2 rider Toni Elias says: “I’m still a little bit disappointed with fifth place at Mugello. It was definitely not an easy weekend for us there and the result was positive considering the fact that we took a point more than Tomizawa, I rode a clever race, but it is still playing on my mind. It is a competitive field and it is easy to drop positions so I hope we can make it the worst result of the season – that would be perfect. We go to Silverstone with the hunger and desire to win again. I only know the track from playing the F1 game on the PlayStation, although it has been slightly modified for this weekend so it is a new track for everybody. It is the first of three races in a row so it will be important to perform consistently.” JiR Moto2 rider Simone Corsi says: “The team has been working really hard all year, so it’s fantastic for everyone involved to see that the results are now coming. We have made the podium at the last two races, but of course, now we want more. We want to be fighting at the front for the win. But I think consistency is the most important thing in this new championship, so that is our priority. Silverstone should be interesting it is a legendary racetrack and also pretty fast. As usual, there will be a big fight in Moto2!” Honda 125cc rider quote. Interwetten Honda 125 Team rider Marcel Schrötter says: “Silverstone is a new track for everyone and again my target is to be in the points. I can´t really say what is waiting for us in Silverstone as also all the other riders that I am friends with could not tell me anything about it, so we will see. We don´t have any usable data about this track. I want to be as far up as possible from the first session this time. I heard that it is a fast track and I like that. It will be an interesting weekend for all of us for sure.”