MotoGP™ championship leader Jorge Lorenzo was joined by reigning World Champion Casey Stoner, Héctor Barberá and local riders Cal Crutchlow and James Ellison at the press conference on Thursday marking the sixth round of the MotoGP™ World Championship at the Hertz British Grand Prix. Yamaha Factory Racing’s Lorenzo, who two days ago confirmed he had renewed his contract with the manufacturer until the end of the 2014 season, will be looking to extend his 20-point lead at the top of the table. Speculation had been rife over a potential move to the Repsol Honda Team, with Lorenzo admitting in the press conference that he did in fact reject an offer for Stoner’s vacant seat before re-signing for Yamaha. And despite crashing out of last year’s wet race, the Spaniard has tasted success at the track before, having won in 2010. “As you know I have signed for two more years with Yamaha and I’m really happy to stay with this brand. It was a difficult decision this time, as I had another offer from another brand, from Honda, and the decision was very tough, but finally I listened to my heart, and my heart said Yamaha”, said the Spaniard, before joking: “I waited that he [Stoner] might change his opinion and came back to Honda for another year. So I left the place open to Casey.” With regards to the race and preceding tests he stated: “In 2010 I enjoyed riding here a lot. I felt very comfortable from the beginning. This track gives me the best facility to go fast. But the opposite happened last year when I crashed trying to catch Casey in the rain. For the moment we are going to ride with the same bike as we did in Montmeló. We didn’t find anything new yet, but the engineers are working on it.” Repsol Honda Team’s Stoner, who won last year’s race with a spectacular wet-weather master-class, will be looking to claw back points on Lorenzo, as he bids to retain his title in his ultimate year in the championship. Commenting on the race and his team’s testing efforts, he said: “Our whole objective in the test was just to reduce rear chatter and we think we’ve reduced it quite substantially. With the improvement we did make, we understand a little bit more the direction, and I’m pretty sure we can reduce almost all of it this weekend. It’s [Silverstone] been one of my favourite tracks since I’ve raced here in the British championship. Unfortunately we don’t go through the old section of the track. It was one of my favourite corners in the world. But I’m looking forward to getting back out there again.” With wet weather predicted once again for the British round, Stoner is not quite as optimistic about another run-away victory this year: “We’ve struggled more this year with the 1000cc [in the wet]. We can’t get the bike to give us quite enough front feeling in the wet, mainly on corner entry. On the exit everything seems quite good.” Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow, who missed last year’s race due to injury, is looking to continue the great start he has had this season, and to put on a show for his home fans: “It’s nice to come here in not so bad form. The worst finish we’ve had this year is an eighth in Le Man after crashing. Last year I would have bought an eighth place, so we’re not coming into this too bad. We’ve been battling near the podium, albeit not so close to the front all the time. It’s nice to come back to the British Grand Prix, and hopefully I’ll make the grid this time.” The Brit has also recovered from a heavy crash in the Barcelona test: “I’m a little bit sore still. I struggled to breathe the week after; I think it was just the bruising and a bit of swelling. I have resumed training as usual, and I should be alright.” Pramac Racing Team’s Héctor Barberá, who has shown promise this season after some fierce battles with Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi, is seeking a positive race at Silverstone, after struggling at his home round in Catalunya. “This year I have a very good bike; it’s better than last year’s. I have confidence in my team. It’s difficult because Ducati at the moment is not the best bike, but my team works very hard and I can get the same results as the official Ducati Team. I’m happy, but maybe it will be possible to get further up the front.” Rounding out the pack is other local rider, Paul Bird Motorsport’s James Ellison, who hopes to once again finish as top CRT rider, as he did in a very wet Le Mans. “We knew this season was going to be difficult for us. Obviously the Aprilia ART is a brand new bike, so all four riders are developing it as the season goes on. We missed out on a lot of testing at the start, so our testing is literally every race. At every race weekend we’ve improved, and Le Mans was obviously a good result for us, and we backed that up in Barcelona as well with our best dry result, so at every race meeting we’re getting better. And now we’re coming to the home race, so hopefully it can improve again. The target is to be the top CRT.” More, from a press release issued by Indianapolis Motor Speedway: MotoGP RACE PREVIEW: GRAND PRIX OF GREAT BRITAIN INDIANAPOLIS, Thursday, June 14, 2012 – A preview of the Grand Prix of Great Britain World Championship event June 17: Race: Grand Prix of Great Britain Date: Sunday, June 17 Round: Sixth of 18 races in 2012 Circuit: Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire, England Distance: 20 laps on 18-turn, 3.666-mile circuit 2011 Winner: Casey Stoner, Honda 2012 Points Leader: Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha U.S. Riders: Nicky Hayden, ninth, 40 points; Ben Spies, 11th, 24; Colin Edwards, 17th (tie), 4. TV: MotoGP: 2:30 p.m. (ET) Sunday, June 17, SPEED. Moto2: 3:30 p.m. (ET), Sunday, June 17, SPEED. Moto3: Noon (ET) Tuesday, June 19, SPEED. Web: www.motogp.com Twitter: @MotoGP LAST RACE Jorge Lorenzo extended his lead in the MotoGP World Championship with a victory Sunday, June 3 in the Grand Prix of Catalunya, his third win of the 2012 season. 2010 World Champion Lorenzo beat fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa to the finish by 5.003 seconds on his Yamaha Factory Racing machine. Andrea Dovizioso held off reigning World Champion Casey Stoner for third, ending Stoner’s streak of 19 consecutive top-three finishes dating back to May 2011. WHO’S HOT Jorge Lorenzo: 2010 World Champion Lorenzo has dropped just 10 points in five starts this season, with three victories and two second-place finishes on his factory Yamaha M1. He has expanded his lead in the World Championship to 20 points, 115-95, over defending World Champion Casey Stoner. Stefan Bradl: 2011 Moto2 World Champion Bradl has made a quietly effective jump to the premier class this season with LCR Honda. The German has finished in the top 10 in all five races this season, with a best of fifth in May at Le Mans. Bradl’s solid form has generated whispers that Ducati is interested in hiring him for next season, especially since German automotive giant Audi just purchased the legendary Italian motorcycle manufacturer. WHO’S NOT Ben Spies: Whatever can go wrong seems to happen this season for 2010 Rookie of the Year Spies. He has just two top-10 finishes in the first five races, with a best of eighth at Estoril. Spies is facing increasing pressure to perform to keep his factory Yamaha ride in 2013, especially with the success this season of Yamaha satellite riders Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow, both of whom are ahead of Spies in the standings. Spies earned the first podium finish of his MotoGP career in 2010 at Silverstone, site of this weekend’s race. Colin Edwards: It’s been a rough start to the season for the Texas Tornado, who is competing on production-based Claiming Rule Teams machinery after racing prototypes for the first nine seasons of his MotoGP career. Edwards’ best finish is 12th in the season opener at Qatar. Since then he has finished just one of two starts, missing two races due to a broken collarbone suffered in a crash and failing to finish the last race, at Catalunya, due to mechanical problems with his Suter-BMW. NEWS and NUMBERS Andrea Dovizioso’s third-place result June 3 in the Catalunya Grand Prix was the first podium finish by a satellite rider since Colin Edwards finished third in the British Grand Prix in June 2011. Both Dovizioso and Edwards rode a Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine to the podium … Race Day for the 2012 British Grand Prix, Sunday, June 17, marks 63 years to the day since the first World Championship Grand Prix was contested. British rider Harold Daniell won the Isle of Man TT on June 17, 1949, aboard a single-cylinder Norton … It’s been 28 years since a British rider finished on the podium in the premier class at his home Grand Prix. Ron Haslam was the last, finishing third in 1984 in the 500cc class … Cal Crutchlow has scored 56 points during the first five races of the season, the best premier-class start over five races by a British rider since Haslam in 1987 … Brazilian Eric Granado is scheduled to make his Moto2 debut this weekend at age 16 years, 7 days on Race Day. He will become the youngest rider to start an intermediate-class race in Grand Prix motorcycle racing history. More, from a press release issued by Bel-Ray: Bel-Ray competes in order to bring the end user the best products for their powersports machines. On the street or in the dirt, motorcycles or atvs, Bel-Ray performs. As their professional racers have proven, time and time again, Bel-Ray wins. MotoGP, Moto2, Moto3 The MotoGP tour continues this weekend after a 1 week break in the racing action. The Hertz British Grand Prix will take place at the historic Silverstone Circuit. Located in the heart of the United Kingdom, Silverstone has more than 60 years of racing history for both cars and motorcycles and its location, just 90 minutes north of London, make it one of the riders’ favorite stops on the tour. MotoGP The Bel-Ray backed Power Electronics Aspar team of Aleix Espargaro and Randy DePuniet remain the men to beat in the new CRT class, with the Espargaro leading the way as the top CRT racer in three of the first five races this season. The team tested new parts on their machines during the break with hopes of improving the grip of the rear tire. Espargaro spoke about the changes and his outlook for the weekend prior to this weekend’s race. “I am really looking forward to the next race. I have never been involved in a dry race at Silverstone in MotoGP or Moto2, so hopefully, the weather is good to us this weekend so that we can have fun on the bike. Silverstone is a very fast track and that should suit me. It is a bumpy track, but once you work things out, it is not too difficult to get on the pace. We tried a new swingarm in Barcelona that has improved rear traction, which was a major problem for us, and now that all the MotoGP riders are using the same front tire, I hope our situation improves still further. My objective for this weekend is to keep working in the same way that we have up to now and maintain our leadership of the CRT category.” DePuniet called Silverstone one of his favorite tracks and hopes that the typical British weather will hold out for Sunday. “Along with Catalunya, Silverstone is one of my favorite circuits on the calendar and I always feel comfortable riding there. It is very fast with a lot of second and third gear corners that suit somebody with good corner speed, and that suits me. With it being such a long track, we might lose out a little bit compared to the factory MotoGP bikes, but I am very highly motivated, I’m looking forward to getting started and getting everything ready for the race. We have a lot of work to do, but I think we can do really well on Sunday. We will have to keep an eye on the weather because it is always likely to rain in England, but if that’s the case, we will do our best to adapt to the conditions.” Moto2 The Bel-Ray sponsored Mapfre Aspar Team of Toni Elias and Nico Terol come to Silverstone with different ideas for success. Following his DNF in Catalunya, Elias is again looking to a podium finish that he has the speed to attain. He is still struggling with tire grip on his Moto2 machine, a problem that ultimately caused him to crash out of a podium spot at the last round. He hopes to have figured the handling issues out as he spoke about this week. “I am really looking forward to getting to Silverstone and continuing the work we have started. We have been on the right lines for the last few races without being able to convert our progress into a result, so we’re going to do our best to make it happen this weekend. You never know whether you will get rain or shine in England and although the temperatures are usually quite low, I always enjoy racing at Silverstone. If we do our job well with the bike set-up, we can come away with a good result. We are closer to the front every week and I hope we can take the next step this weekend and finish where we belong.” Teammate Terol, meanwhile, has scored points in the last two rounds. He is striving for the next step in his graduation from the 125cc class to the larger Moto2 machines. He spoke with optimism about the upcoming race. “We have been in the points for the last two races and I feel like I am getting to grips with this category. The next step is within our grasp and when we make it, we will be able to make up a lot of positions. We want to be consistently in the top ten and I think we have the pace to do it.” Moto3 Bel-Ray sponsored Bankia Aspar is prepared for a top finish this weekend at the iconic British Silverstone circuit. Team rider Hector Faubel comes to England with high hopes. He was a podium finisher there last season under stormy condition and this weekend’s forecast calls for much of the same. He spoke about his misfortune of the last two rounds and his hopes for a high finish on Sunday. “We have performed to a high level over the last two rounds, but we’ve been out of luck in terms of turning our potential into results. I finished third at Silverstone in the wet last weekend and I hope I can be back on the podium this time, on the top step if possible. Silverstone is a very fast circuit and I hope it is as good to us on the Moto3 as it was on the 125.” Teammate Alberto Moncayo is looking to improve on his 14th place finish in Catalunya when the race begins on Sunday. Qualifying in a top position is important in this highly competitive class and Moncayo spoke about that this week. “Motivation is high and we are looking forward to working hard with the new material to make sure that we are improving at least at the same rate as the rest of the field. We are getting closer to the points and we need to make another push this weekend. I am not a big fan of Silverstone, but everything will be new with the Moto3 bike, so we have to be positive and work hard from the first session because, as usual, every minute will be crucial.”