FIM MotoGP World Championship Silverstone, England June 20, 2010 Race Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (Yamaha), 20 laps, 41:34.083 2. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (Honda), -6.743 seconds 3. Ben SPIES, USA (Yamaha), -7.097 4. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (Ducati), -7.314 5. Casey STONER, Australia (Ducati), -7.494 6. Randy DE PUNIET, France (Honda), -9.055 7. Marco SIMONCELLI, Italy (Honda), -14.425 8. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (Honda), -15.313 9. Colin EDWARDS, USA (Yamaha), -27.954 10. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (Ducati), -42.394 11. Hector BARBERA, Spain (Ducati), -43.365 12. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (Suzuki), -43.408 13. Mika KALLIO, Finland (Ducati), -43.580 14. Loris CAPIROSSI, Italy (Suzuki), -7 laps, DNF, crash 15. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (Honda), -20 laps, DNF, crash 16. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Japan (Honda), DNS World Championship Standings (after 5 of 18 races): 1. Lorenzo, 115 points 2. Dovizioso, 78 3. Pedrosa, 73 4. Valentino Rossi, 61 5. Hayden, 52 6. De Puniet, 46 7. Spies, 36 8. Stoner, 35 9. TIE, Melandri/Simoncelli, 32 11. Edwards, 26 12. Barbera, 24 13. Espargaro, 22 14. Aoyama, 18 15. Kallio, 15 16. Capirossi, 13 17. Bautista, 12 More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: LORENZO STORMS TO STUNNING SILVERSTONE VICTORY Jorge Lorenzo ran away with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone this afternoon, storming home to win by 6.743 seconds to take his first UK win in the Premier Class. The Fiat Yamaha Team’s sole representative in the absence of the injured Valentino Rossi, Lorenzo led from the first lap to come home ahead of Andrea Dovizioso and Tech 3 Yamaha rider Ben Spies, who took his maiden podium in MotoGP. The Mallorcan got a strong start from pole position and led out of turn one but it was not all plain sailing as he became embroiled in a feisty first-lap battle with Dani Pedrosa. The pair traded the lead several times but it was Lorenzo who eventually led over the line and he was unchallenged from there on in, gradually extending his lead lap-by-lap and leaving his rivals trailing in the wake of his blue and white M1. With two laps remaining the gap to Dovizioso stood at more than eight seconds but Lorenzo slowed down on the final two laps to ensure he came home safely, which he duly did to the delight of the 70,000 British fans who are quickly adopting the spirited Spaniard as one of their own. His third win of the season and another 25-point haul extends Lorenzo’s lead to 37 points over Dovizioso in second, with Pedrosa now third. The absent Rossi falls to fourth in the championship but Lorenzo’s consistency ensures that the Fiat Yamaha Team still leads the Teams’ standings and Yamaha the Manufacturers’. The MotoGP paddock now faces a quick turnaround in order to get to Assen in time for next weekend’s Dutch TT, which is as always a Saturday race. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 1st Time: 41’34.083 “This was an important day for me and an important win, because I felt so strong and I enjoyed riding my Yamaha so much. I had a different feeling today; I felt that it was going to be a good race. It was quite hard to be fast at the start and the first lap with Dani was difficult, but once I got past him I felt very relaxed and comfortable. I thought he would follow me for a bit longer but he didn’t and then I was on my own, so I just had to focus on myself; I didn’t even know who was behind me! I never dreamt of taking three wins from five races but here we are and I am feeling very strong mentally at this moment. I want to thank my team, Yamaha and Bridgestone for this victory. The Beatles celebration was something fun for the fans, I love their music and I thought it was nice to make a homage to them, since we’re in England!” Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager “This was a great performance by Jorge. The start was a little bit interesting, with us on the hard Bridgestone and some of the others on the softer one, but Jorge rode so well, kept his head and brought it home safely. Our bike is working very well and it was great to see Spies taking a podium on the Yamaha too, well done to him. It is impressive to have a 37-point gap at this stage but now we have four more races in very close succession so we can’t relax. Well done to Jorge and to everyone for today.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: DOVIZIOSO SECOND AT SILVERSTONE, PEDROSA TAKES EIGHTH Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso extended his run of MotoGP podiums by taking second place in today’s British Grand Prix and recording his best finish of the 2010 season so far. The result promotes Dovizioso to an impressive second place in the World Championship ahead of his Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa who came home in eighth place today. Dovizioso put on a combative display at Silverstone to convert fourth on the grid into second at the chequered flag and take his fourth podium finish from the first five rounds of the year. By the end of lap one he was up to second place and then entered into a battle with Randy De Puniet which lasted for almost the entire race. As today’s winner Jorge Lorenzo broke away at the front, Dovizioso and De Puniet traded places before the Repsol Honda pilot made his decisive move on lap 11. He was able to open just enough of a gap to fend off his pursuers to claim 20 championship points. It was a difficult race for his Repsol Honda team-mate Pedrosa who was unable to find the same consistent pace in the race that he had established in practice at Silverstone this weekend. The Spaniard struggled for grip during the 20-lap encounter with the rear wheel spinning and the front end pushing as he tried to maintain position in the early laps. Pedrosa had shown promising pace through the weekend, but another unfortunate fall in cold conditions in the morning warm-up meant he wasn’t able to find the same feeling in today’s race. An eighth place finish sees Pedrosa lying in 3rd in the standings as MotoGP moves to the Netherlands for round six of the World Championship next weekend. ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 2nd World Championship position: 2nd 78 points “I’m really happy with second in the race, and we also have second in the championship now so this reflects our strong start to the season. In the middle of the race I saw many riders were closing in behind me and so I tried to push at 100 per cent to get a gap and try to avoid a fight on last lap. Corners 13 and 14 towards the end of the lap are really slow and you can see clearly the riders that are behind, and also here it would be easy to be overtaken on the last lap if they were too close, so it was important to get a gap, which I managed to do. I’m so pleased with the season so far and I’d like to say thank you to Honda and to the team for the work they are doing. We still need to improve so that we can battle for race wins, but we are one step closer today and it’s a good result for us at the start of a busy period of races. Next stop is Assen and we must move forward again so that we have a chance of winning there.” DANI PEDROSA 8th World Championship position: 3rd 73 points “Well, eighth is obviously a disappointing result because we were looking quite strong here yesterday and I was confident. However, we were lacking some grip from the beginning of the race and we couldn’t replicate the pace we were able to achieve in practice. The rear was spinning and sliding quite a lot and the front was pushing which meant that, even though I was pushing really hard, I wasn’t able to maintain my pace. It was frustrating because I could see the riders in front and I could stay with them but it was impossible to fight for position. The one positive thing from the weekend is that even though I had two crashes I wasn’t injured and I didn’t feel pain during the race today. This means we can quickly put this weekend behind us and move on to the next races – the first one being Assen next weekend. I’d like to thank the team because they worked reall y hard this weekend and had to rebuild the bike twice. TOSHIYUKI YAMAJI – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER “This is a good result for Andrea and he put on a strong performance today to achieve his best result of the year so far. He is improving all the time and I expect him to get a race victory soon. Actually this was quite a difficult race weekend for the Repsol Honda Team because Dani had two crashes and Andrea also had a crash and this disrupted our machine set-up process to some extent. Both Andrea and Dani fought hard today but finally Lorenzo made the perfect race and we couldn’t follow him. So now we have to quickly regroup so that we can compete for the win at Assen.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Spies storms to stunning Silverstone podium Ben Spies stormed to a stunning debut MotoGP podium for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team this afternoon after a thrilling battle at the spectacular Silverstone circuit. Competing in only his ninth MotoGP race, Spies was locked in an early battle with fellow rookie Marco Simoncelli for sixth place before he became embroiled in an epic fight for second place in front of 70,123 fans. Spies passed Dani Pedrosa on lap nine and then launched a brilliant pursuit of the group in front dicing for second that included Andrea Dovizioso, Randy de Puniet and fellow American Nicky Hayden. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider stalked the trio befo re he began a breathtaking late attack, firstly overtaking de Puniet for fourth place on lap 17. That clinical pass left Spies hounding Hayden’s Ducati and the 25-year-old timed his crucial attack to perfection, the Texan ignoring the discomfort of a small fracture in his left ankle that he aggravated in a big qualifying crash yesterday. Spies produced a daring overtake on Hayden at the fast Abbey Corner on the final lap and then defended supremely under immense pressure to claim third and his first premier class rostrum. The result moved Spies into seventh place in the overall world championship standings with 36-points and helped the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team close the gap on fourth place in the all-important Team World Championship classification. Texan team-mate Colin Edwards rode a determined 20-lap race after a difficult w eekend where he never found the optimum setting with his YZR-M1 machine. He also encountered a repeat of the arm pump issue that hindered him at the last round in Mugello, but he was satisfied having rode to a creditable ninth position to maintain his record of scoring points in every race so far in 2010. Ben Spies 3rd 36-points “I didn’t expect to get my first podium so quickly, especially after yesterday which wasn’t the best for me. I got a decent start but once I got by Dani and Simoncelli I just tried to stay on the back of the group battling for the podium. Once I realised I could stay in contention I just tried to save the rear tyre as much as I could and it all worked out. The last few laps I pushed as hard as I could and made some good passes and it is great for Yamaha and the Monster Tech 3 Team. I’m also pretty happy about it to o and this is good for my confidence. That last lap was difficult to pass Nicky but I got a really good drive onto the back straight and tried to pass him at Stowe Corner but he came back by. On the next straight I managed to get by him and then had to ride quite defensively on the last part of the lap. I was on the edge but I had to go for the podium and it worked out. It will be hard to duplicate this but right now I’ll let it sink in and make the most of it. But on this day I can say I was the third best rider in the world and it is a good feeling.” Colin Edwards 9th 26-points “I don’t want to be finishing in ninth at all but honestly I’m reasonably happy with the way I rode and it was a lot better than I expected after what has been a tough weekend. I’m still a fair way behind the top group but I had so many problems this weekend that even a top ten was looking lik e a difficult result to achieve. I didn’t leave anything out there and I went better than I did in qualifying but it was still not easy. The bike isn’t agile enough and having to muscle it around gave me a small arm pump problem, but not as bad as Mugello. If I could get the bike to go where I want it to go I could save lots of time, but we’ve got some ideas for the future. It was a bit of a lonely race but I rode as hard as I could for as long as I could. I want to congratulate Ben though because he did an awesome job and I’ve got nothing but admiration for him. He showed today what a great rider he is and it is great for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team to be back on the podium.” Herve Poncharal Team Manager “We knew Ben really liked this circuit and we thought he could do a good race. But he rode an incredible race because he didn’t get a fantastic start but he was v ery aggressive in the first two laps and got himself into contention. He never let that group in front of him go away and we know his strength is on worn tyres, so we expected him to hang in until the end. He was quickest on track at one stage but I was worried a little bit because Casey was catching quite quickly. But he kept his cool and made some good passes and the best was on the last lap to beat Nicky. It his first podium in MotoGP and certainly not his last because he is such a bright talent for the future. I’d like to say thanks to Yamaha and to Bridgestone and also to the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team because since the start of the season it has been a little bit up and down. But we’ve never stopped trying hard and today we got a big reward. Colin rode a steady race and as always he never stopped trying to improve his situation and we know better results will come for him soon. Now we look forward to Assen that both Colin and Ben like a lot and we are confident of anot her competitive weekend.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo took victory from pole position at the AirAsia British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday as he stretched his lead at the top of the standings to 37 points over Andrea Dovizioso, who placed second in the race. Ben Spies achieved his first MotoGP podium with third place. Lorenzo flew off from pole position as he and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) immediately engaged in a duel which saw them swap the early lead on the opening lap a number of times. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda), Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati) were all involved as well, whilst Casey Stoner (Ducati) suffered misfortune as he dropped to dead last from his starting position of sixth as the riders entered the first turn. Marco Melandri suffered disappointment as he crashed out on the opening lap, but his San Carlo Honda Gresini team-mate Marco Simoncelli enjoyed better fortunes as he climbed positions. Lorenzo wasted little time in finding a rapid rhythm and by lap seven his advantage at the head of the race was a substantial one at over five seconds. Meanwhile Dovizioso and De Puniet ignited an intense contest for second spot, with Hayden hot on their tails. Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Spies was also making progress as he moved through to enter the top five and latched onto the chase for a podium spot. Midway through the race Stoner’s lap times were almost identical to race leader Lorenzo’s, but in eighth place he was forced to chase down Pedrosa and the Australian found it hard work trying to pass the Spaniard. He eventually managed to do so on lap 13, and then proceeded to make up further ground. Loris Capirossi’s race was ended early when the Rizla Suzuki rider crashed out at Copse as he ran off and fell whilst trying to overtake Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar). At the front end Dovizioso, De Puniet and Hayden were separated by less than half a second as they continued their tactical tussle for the final two podium spots Spies keeping a tag on as well with Lorenzo’s lead by now an unassailable one. With three laps to go Hayden and Spies both managed to pass De Puniet, and Stoner scented the chance to get in the hunt. He soon made a move on the Frenchman to slot into fifth in a rousing finale. The final lap provided a fitting climax as Spies got through on Hayden at Farm Curve to take third spot, a position he held to the finish whilst ahead Lorenzo crossed the line first. Dovizioso’s second place was his fourth podium finish and best result of the season, with Spies completing the top three for a first Grand Prix podium. Ducati duo Hayden and Stoner took fourth and fifth after fine individual rides, with De Puniet sixth. Rookie Simoncelli took his best premier class result to date with seventh, as Pedrosa finished eighth. The top ten was completed by Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing). Absent from the race was Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP) who attended hospital to assess his condition following a crash in the morning warm up session. World Champion Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) also remains out whilst he recovers from his broken right leg. Moto2 Jules Cluzel celebrated the first win of his World Championship career after a stunning Moto2 race, riding his Forward Racing Suter to victory ahead of Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Racing) and Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar). From the start Fonsi Nieto (G22 Holiday Gym) flew up to third from tenth on the grid as he wasted no time in pushing his way forward, and with the pack tightly bunched on the opening lap there were a pair of fallers as front row starter Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) and Simone Corsi (JiR Moto2) third in the Championship standings before the race collided and crashed out. The Forward Racing pair of Claudio Corti and Cluzel, who started from the front two spots on the grid, became embroiled in a battle with Nieto at the head of the race, a fight which Simón soon became involved in as Nieto’s challenge faded shortly after. Cluzel, Corti and Simón threatened to become slightly detached at the front as the scrap for fourth involving a host of riders took place, but Lüthi and Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing) who had fallen to 17th after the start began to regain ground as they swallowed up track behind the trio. Lüthi’s superb pace meant that by lap 12 of 18 a gap that had stood at almost two seconds to the front three had been diminished as he and Redding caught the leading group, making for a fantastic final third of the race which became a marvellous five-way contest. Former 125cc World Champion Lüthi pushed his way to the front as he rode an unforgiving and admirable race and with two laps to go Corti crashed out as he lost his Suter bike going through Turn 8, the entry to the chicane approaching Club. The Italian returned to the race to finish 30th. The final lap provided great drama and as Lüthi ran wide going into the corner where Corti had crashed shortly before Cluzel went through on him to take the lead, holding it until the finish line to take his debut World Championship win. Lüthi and Simón both took their second podiums of the campaign with second and third places respectively, with Redding achieving his best result of the season so far with fourth in his home GP. Debón, Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP), Mike di Meglio (Mapfre Aspar), Xavier Simeon (Holiday Gym G22), Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP) and Championship leader Toni Elías (Gresini Racing Moto2) completed the top ten, as Yonny Hernández (Blusens-STX) and Alex Baldolini (Caretta Technology Race Dept) both crashed out on the final lap. Elías remains at the top of the Championship standings on 80 points, with Tomizawa still second on 65. Lüthi climbs to third on 58, with Simón and Corsi both on 51 in fourth and fifth. 125cc Marc Márquez took his second win of the season at Silverstone after a fierce battle with compatriot Pol Espargaro. Pole holder Márquez managed to pull away with Espargaro as they moved to almost three seconds ahead of Bancaja Aspar riders Nico Terol and Bradley Smith before the halfway point of the race had even arrived. Efrén Vázquez (Tuenti Racing) joined the Bancaja Aspar duo shortly after and managed to go through on both, taking third spot as the trio began a fight for third place whilst Márquez and Espargaró extended the distance to the chasing group even further. With four laps to go Márquez and Espargaró were over ten seconds clear as Terol, Smith and Vázquez continued the scrap for third. Vázquez ran wide however and appeared to drop off enough momentarily to give Smith and Terol some breathing space. The final laps provided an edge-of-the-seat finish and the fight between Márquez and Espargaró became just that as the two touched twice while pushing one another to the limit. Further back Vázquez crashed as he touched tyres with Terol, allowing Smith enough space to get through and into third. At the front a mistake from Espargaró two corners from the end saw him run wide, which gave Márquez enough room to get clear and take the win, eventually crossing the line 2.576s ahead of Espargaró who now leads the Championship by a single point from Terol. The Bancaja Aspar man finished fourth, behind team-mate Smith who secured his first podium of the season in front of a delighted home crowd and became the first non-Spaniard to make it into the top three this season. Tomoyoshi Koyama (Racing Team Germany), Sandro Cortese (Avant Mitsubishi Ajo), Randy Krummenacher (Stipa-Molenaar Racing) and Johann Zarco (WTR San Marino Team) completed the top eight, with British rider Danny Webb (Andalucia Cajasol) tenth. Vázquez managed to remount his bike and cross the line in 11th. More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Softer slicks for Lorenzo’s third win of the season Round 5: Great Britain GP Race Silverstone, Sunday 20 June 2010 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Medium, Hard. Rear: Medium, Hard (asymmetric) Jorge Lorenzo was the runaway winner of the British Grand Prix, taking a commanding victory for the Fiat Yamaha Team. With the hottest track temperature of the weekend, Lorenzo used his softer option front and rear slicks to good effect, setting a fast and consistent pace throughout and the fastest lap of the race which becomes a new lap record at this new circuit. Behind Lorenzo the battle for the podium was intense as Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso pushed hard on his softer slicks to stay ahead of Ben Spies of Monster Yamaha Tech3, who scored his first MotoGP podium, and the Ducati Team duo of Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner. The four were split by less than a second entering the final lap. Every rider opted for the softer option front slick and only Nicky Hayden, Randy de Puniet and Dani Pedrosa chose the hard compound rear. The warmer track temperature for the race made tyre selection harder for the riders though. Jorge Lorenzo set his fastest time on the fourth lap of the race using a softer rear, indicating good warm-up performance, whereas Casey Stoner set the second fastest time of the race on lap 17, also on the softer rear, demonstrating good durability. Interestingly, even the hard compound rear showed good warm-up performance as Randy de Puniet recorded the fourth fastest lap of the race on only his second lap. Hiroshi Yasukawa Director, Bridgestone Motorsport “We saw a fantastic race today and I’d like to send my congratulations to Jorge and Fiat Yamaha for their dominant victory. Silverstone have produced a very impressive venue for this MotoGP round and the new circuit layout gave us some very close and exciting battles today. MotoGP remains to be a very strong marketing tool for Bridgestone and we wish to express our commitment to continuing support for this series. It is also valuable for us that Dorna and the FIM are embracing the need to incorporate safety and environmental responsibility into their future plan.” Tohru Ubukata Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department “The track conditions were different again today as the temperature was the highest of the weekend, but we saw that our medium and hard compound rear slicks had good performance overlap in terms of durability, warm-up and grip. The increased track temperature made it difficult for teams to get the right setup and choose the right tyre option for the race as they only have data for this track from yesterday and Friday when it was cooler, but I am happy with the performance of both specs and I can say that I am satisfied with our tyre compound choice for Silverstone.” Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team Race Winner “Today was a very important day for us, for the race win and also for the championship. It was difficult to go fast at the beginning and I had to be very concentrated not to make a mistake. The rear tyre was sliding and I was just enjoying myself and focusing on my race. I had a different feeling today that said to me it could be a good day.” Top ten classification (Sunday 13:00 GMT+1) Pos. Rider Team Race time Gap Front spec Rear spec Tyres 1 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 41m34.083s Medium Medium Bridgestone slick 2 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 41m40.826s +6.743s Medium Medium Bridgestone slick 3 Ben Spies Monster Yamaha Tech3 41m41.180s +7.097s Medium Medium Bridgestone slick 4 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 41m41.397s +7.314s Medium Hard Bridgestone slick 5 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 41m41.577s +7.494s Medium Medium Bridgestone slick 6 Randy de Puniet LCR Honda MotoGP 41m43.138s +9.055s Medium Hard Bridgestone slick 7 Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda Gresini 41m48.508s +14.425s Medium Medium Bridgestone slick 8 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 41m49.396s +15.313s Medium Hard Bridgestone slick 9 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech3 42m02.037s +27.954s Medium Medium Bridgestone slick 10 Aleix Espargaro Pramac Racing 42m16.477s +42.394s Medium Medium Bridgestone slick Weather: Dry. Ambient 18°C; Track 32-36°C ( Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki finished the Silverstone Grand Prix weekend in a slightly more positive frame of mind after improving weather conditions gave both riders the chance to ride their GSV-Rs nearer the limit. Capirossi made a good start and was up inside the top 10 during the first few laps as he tried to salvage something from a tough home GP for the Rizla Suzuki team. He looked like he would be involved for a scrap for a top-10 finish, but as he braked for the first corner on the 14th lap he lost the front of his bike, forcing him to let off the brakes. Capirossi headed for the gravel trap at high speed and was unable to keep his bike upright and crashed. Sadly he was unable to continue and his weekend finished early as he walked away unhurt. Bautista fought the whole race to learn new reference points on his Suzuki GSV-R as his increased pace altered the whole track from the Spaniard’s perspective. He too looked like being involved in the battle for 10th, but as the race wore on his recent injury took its toll on his strength and he crossed the line in 12th position. Today’s first MotoGP race to be held at the Silverstone circuit in England was watched by 70,123 fans at trackside. They saw a commanding performance from World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo, as he steered his factory Yamaha to a victory by almost seven seconds. Rizla Suzuki will now go straight to Assen in the Netherlands for the next round of the MotoGP World Championship, to be held in just six days time on Saturday 26th June. Álvaro Bautista: “For me the race seemed like my first free practice, because the conditions were different and I was able to start to ride like I wanted. I didn’t have any reference points with the better conditions so I had to learn them in the race and it was quite difficult to do that. I am quite happy because I think we have made one step forward with the bike in cold conditions and during the race I was able to ride consistently quicker than my best lap in qualifying. Also my shoulder feels much better, it was a bit painful in the last few laps, but I am pleased with how I’m recovering. Today has been the first day I’ve been able to push since my injury and I hope that for the next races I will get stronger physically and get more confidence on the bike.” Loris Capirossi: “I think that the whole weekend has been very tough for us, but today we did have better conditions and it gave me a better feeling on the bike. My start was not too bad, but I still couldn’t ride as hard as I wanted and with seven laps to go I lost the front during braking, so I had to let off the brakes and I was going into the corner too fast and I crashed in the gravel. It has been a bad weekend because we just couldn’t find what we were looking for to make us go quicker and get the grip we wanted. I feel so sorry for the whole team and for all the people that came to support us because we just didn’t give a very good show at our home race. Sometimes races are like this and you have to just keep going till it gets better!” Paul Denning Team Manager: “It’s been a really difficult weekend and it would have been unrealistic to expect things to change drastically for the race. Having said that, both the guys pushed as hard as they dared and at least we were in the group fighting for 10th place which was better than practice or qualifying. The slightly warmer temperatures helped us a little bit, but it meant that the practice from the rest of the weekend was meaningless and for the riders it almost felt like the first decent run of the weekend. “Thanks to all our sponsors and partners for all their support over the weekend and we’ll be pushing Suzuki to deliver the improvements we need, as soon as possible!” More, from a press release issued by Honda: British Grand Prix, Silverstone MotoGP and Moto2 races June 20 2010 Weather: cool, cloudy with sunny spells Track temperature: 17 degrees Ambient Temperature: 29 degrees Crowd: 70,123 LORENZO FIRST, DOVIZIOSO WINS BIG BATTLE FOR SECOND Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V) rode a superbly aggressive race to take a brilliant second-place finish in today’s British Grand Prix, his best dry-race result in the premier-class. The Italian who won last year’s rain-hit British GP at Donington Park headed a frantic four-way contest for the runner-up spot while Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) ran away out front to increase his World Championship points lead. Today’s event was the first British motorcycle Grand Prix at Silverstone since 1986, the high-speed track enjoyed by all the riders despite its bumpy surface. Dovizioso wasn’t the only Honda rider in the thick of it; Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) fought back and forth with his fellow RC212V rider, eventually slipping to the rear of the group to finish sixth, just behind Casey Stoner (Ducati) who had fought back from a woeful start. Italian Grand Prix winner Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) rode bravely to eighth place despite grip issues and considerable discomfort from the two tumbles he suffered during qualifying and morning warm-up. The first lap was hectic with Spain’s two biggest MotoGP stars stealing the show: Lorenzo led into the first corner, Pedrosa moved ahead at Stowe, Lorenzo was back in front at Vale, Pedrosa took the lead again at Abbey, then Lorenzo retook first place into the very next corner, Farm. After that excitement, Lorenzo wasn’t headed again. Pedrosa soon discovered that he was lacking grip his RC212V pushing the front and spinning the rear so he wasn’t able to maintain his first lap aggression and he was gradually pushed back down the order by de Puniet, Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden (Ducati). This was the battle for second place, joined later in the race by rookie Ben Spies (Yamaha). Dovizioso finally began to make second place safe in the second half of the race when he worked extra hard to eke a small advantage over his pursuers, aware that the fast, open nature of Silverstone allows riders to close gaps and make passes more easily than at many other tracks. Dovizioso was never completely secure, the former 125 World Champion finally crossing the line just three tenths of a second ahead of Spies, who passed Hayden with six corners to go to score his maiden MotoGP podium. Dovi’s fourth podium from the first five races moves him into second place in the World Championship points standings. Privateer de Puniet had qualified a brilliant second and although he missed out on a podium result he was happy to continue his record of strong top-six finishes. De Puniet chose the softer front tyre option and perhaps that hindered him in the final laps, because today’s track temperature was warmer than the last two days. Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V), who was also hurting from a heavy fall yesterday morning, got the better of Pedrosa in the last third of the race to finish seventh, his best MotoGP result so far. Super Sic even ran at the rear of the group fighting for second place, until he had to ease his pace slightly in the last few laps. Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) crashed out at the Brooklands left-hander on the very first lap. Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V) didn’t take the start after a nasty highside in morning warm-up left him with heavy bruising to his back. He was examined in the circuit medical centre and then taken to hospital in Oxford for a CT scan. Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing, Suter) won his first Grand Prix victory at Silverstone this afternoon, winning a thrilling four-man contest in the Moto2 race. The Frenchman beat Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2, Moriwaki) by just five hundredths of a second, with Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter) and Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team, Suter) a few metres behind. The top four were covered by less than two tenths of a second. Once again, the Honda-powered Moto2 series retained its reputation for unpredictability with the three winners of the first four races not even in contention for a podium finish here. Losail winner Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP, Suter) finished sixth, Jerez and Le Mans victor Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) tenth after making up four places in the last three laps and Mugello winner Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up) 12th. Most of the race was dominated by Cluzel, team-mate Claudio Corti (Forward Racing, Suter) and Simon. The trio had a two second gap on the rest of the pack until Luthi caught them at two-thirds distance, with local hero Redding right behind him. Luthi’s charge had taken him from 17th to fourth in ten laps. The last six laps were edge-of-the-seat entertainment, with Luthi working hard to pick off the three men in front of him. The former 125 World Champion finally hit the front on lap 16 of 18 and opened up a small lead while Corti tumbled out at Vale corner with one lap to go. On the final lap Cluzel ate into Luthi’s advantage, so that when the Swiss rider almost lost the rear into Vale, Cluzel pounced and took the lead. Cluzel, who had crashed out of the two previous races, was delighted with his first GP victory, which moves him into seventh in the Moto2 points chase. Elias retains first place in the championship, 15 points ahead of Tomizawa, with Luthi a further seven points behind. Today’s five-way second group battle was won by Alex Debon (Aeroport de Castello-Ajo, FTR) who crossed the line a fraction ahead of Tomizawa, Mike Di Meglio (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter) and Xavier Simeon (Holiday Gym G22, Moriwaki). The group which was covered by half a second at the flag lost one rider on the last lap when Yonny Hernandez (Blusens-STX, BQR) crashed out. Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125 Team) finished just two places and a few seconds outside the points in the 125 race, which was won by Marc Marquez (Derbi) HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V): 2nd “I’m really happy with second in the race, and we also have second in the championship now so this reflects our strong start to the season. In the middle of the race I saw many riders were closing in behind me and so I tried to push at 100 per cent to get a gap and try to avoid a fight on last lap. Corners 13 and 14 towards the end of the lap are really slow and you can see clearly the riders that are behind, and also here it would be easy to be overtaken there on the last lap if they were too close, so it was important to get a gap, which I managed to do. I’m so pleased with the season so far and I’d like to say thank you to Honda and to the team for the work they are doing. We still need to improve so that we can battle for race wins, but we are one step closer today and it’s a good result for us at the start of a busy period of races. Next stop is Assen and we must move forward again so that we have a chance of winning there.” Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V): 6th “It was a good race and I had fun but, like in Mugello, I finished behind the leading group. It’s a pity but I feel satisfied anyway. I took a very good start from the front row and I could rely on my machine as we lapped consistently fast for the whole weekend. With four laps to go the front started to move too much because we raced on front soft tyre [which was the right choice] but probably today’s ground temperature was a bit higher compared to the rest of the weekend. We had a great race weekend and I am a big fan of this new circuit. The guys gave me an incredible machine here and we can be pleased about this result as we battled for the podium. In my opinion we moved a step forward in this week end and will do our best to keep the sixth position in the world classification.” Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V): 7th “We have definitely taken another important step forward here. I got a good start and stuck with the group fighting for the podium for the majority of the race. I was able to run with Spies and close the gap right down but they were able to keep their pace to the end of the race whereas I struggled at the end as my tyres went off. It was nice to have them in my sights until two laps from the end though and I feel like I have really improved. I had fun today hopefully next time it can be even closer to the front.” Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V): 8th “Well, eighth is obviously a disappointing result because we were looking quite strong here yesterday and I was confident. However, we were lacking some grip from the beginning of the race and we couldn’t replicate the pace we were able to achieve in practice. The rear was spinning and sliding quite a lot and the front was pushing which meant that, even though I was pushing really hard, I wasn’t able to maintain my pace. It was frustrating because I could see the riders in front and I could stay with them but it was impossible to fight for position. The one positive thing from the weekend is that even though I had two crashes I wasn’t injured and I didn’t feel pain during the race today. This means we can quickly put this weekend behind us and move on to the next races – the first one being Assen next weekend.” Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V): DNF “I made a really good start but then made a mistake on the exit of a corner on cold tyres. I was behind Spies and felt I was faster than him so I attacked two or three times but couldn’t get through. Then I tried a pass on the inside but I hit a bump, lost the front and there was no way I could save it. I’m disappointed because I wasn’t even pushing that hard, I was just waiting for Spies to give me a chance to pass him. It’s a shame!” MOTO2 RIDER QUOTES Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing, Suter): winner “I’m very happy with this win, especially after my mistakes at the last two races where I was fast but crashed out. Here I decided to stay on the bike and work for the race. I tried to be clever, rather than worry out being absolute fastest. You don’t need to be in front all the time, but when you are, you can push, but being first isn’t everything, it’s important to get points. I felt so good on the bike in the race, so I have to thank my team because we made some changes in warm-up and they didn’t feel so good. They worked hard this morning and in the race I was able to push hard.” Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2, Moriwaki): 2nd “Things got a bit tight at the first corner two riders in front of me touched, so I had to go wide and that lost me some positions. I worked hard to get back to the front. I was lucky the front group stayed together because once I had got clear of the other riders I had a clear track in front of me, so I was able to put in some good lap times and catch the group. The bike was good, so I could fight. When I was in front on the last lap I didn’t know if the others were close enough to use my slipstream, so I pushed hard to stay ahead. In the end I pushed too hard and had a big moment at Vale. Cluzel got past me and after that there was no chance for me to get past again.” Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter): 3rd “I’m happy with this podium, especially because we had a bad weekend at Mugello. This weekend we have been up front all the time. In the race I got a good start and was able to get into the lead after a few laps and push hard. But it was impossible to break away from Cluzel and Corti. In the final part I was waiting for the last lap. I had a plan to get back into first place but there was no chance. Anyway, I’m happy with this podium and the points. The good thing is that after the problems we had at Mugello that the bike felt really nice here.” HONDA 125 RIDER QUOTES Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125 Team): 17th “I would say the race was not too bad. It is a pity that I missed out on the points. I had a good start and I could make up some places. Then I almost crashed into another rider, as it was getting critically tight in the chicane. I was lucky that I didn’t crash. Then there was building up a gap in front of me and I tried to close it. Unfortunately I could not do it and at the end I missed out on the points.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: HAYDEN MISSES OUT ON SILVERSTONE PODIUM AS STONER FIGHTS BACK TO FIFTH Ducati Marlboro Team’s engineers did an excellent job in this morning’s warm-up to put Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner in a position to challenge for podium finishes in this afternoon’s British Grand Prix. They missed out for differing reasons – Stoner paying the price for his bad start, leaving him in last place in the first corner – and Hayden making just a small mistake on the final lap to concede third place after fighting throughout the race for second. Stoner made up ten positions to take fifth place but lost too much time when held up behind Dani Pedrosa to make a decisive attack at the end. NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Marlboro Team) 4th “It’s a pretty frustrating result because the team did a great job with the bike after the warm-up and it was a lot of fun to ride. Unfortunately I didn’t get a good start we’ve been having some little clutch problems and didn’t get away well. The race was really fun, everybody was going back and forth, I was able to make some moves in the corners but just didn’t really have the top speed in the straights. It’s hard for me to dress this result up because I’m not happy to finish fourth again but the good thing is we were in the hunt again. We did something good with the bike today so hopefully it will work at Assen, a circuit I love.” CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 5th “I’m not happy with fifth place because we were capable of more today. I don’t know if we could have challenged Jorge for the win but we definitely found something in warm-up and made more improvements in the race, but we paid the price for a terrible start. As I let the clutch out the bike started jumping and hopping around and I had to pull the clutch in and go again, by which time everybody was past. The tyres were fresh on before the warm-up lap so in the early laps I had to be really careful before being able to start overtaking and I lost a lot of seconds. The race then was fun, we were able to find a good rhythm and to make our way forward but the time lost at the beginning prevented us by fighting for the podium.” VITTORIANO GUARESCHI Team Manager “Even though we didn’t make the podium I think both Nicky and Casey had a good race today. Casey paid the price for a very bad start when the bike jumped as he let the clutch out but he put together a great fight back and only missed out on the podium because he ran out of time. Still, he made ten overtakes in a very determined performance. Nicky also paid a heavy price for the only small mistake he made at the end, missing the podium as a result, but he was up there again at a new circuit, working well with the team to find a good set-up.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing Team: THIRD CONSECUTIVE TOP TEN FOR ESPARGARO’. KALLIO THIRTEENTH Weather conditions improves at Silverstone, where today took place the MotoGP British Grand Prix, and also the Pramac Racing riders, that concluded the race in tenth and thirteenth positions, have improved their lap times. Catalan rider, Aleix Espargarò, wasn’t lucky at the start of the race and in the first turn he found himself in last position. His determination brought him to reach and overtake lap after lap Barberà, Bautista and Capirossi concluding the race in tenth position. This is the third consecutive top ten finishes for the Pramac Racing rookie after the ninth and eight position conquered in Le Mans and Mugello. Mika Kallio has instead started better but in during the race he tried to fight for the eleventh position and with three laps left he had to give up two positions. The Finnish rider will be able to do try to improve next weekend in Assen during the Dutch Grand Prix. Fabiano Sterlacchini – Pramac Racing Technical Director “We made it to improve the set up of our bikes, but not enough as Mika couldn’t go further then the thirteenth position. A pity, we really cared to do well on this track. Aleix made it to conquer the tenth position maintaining his good moment. We are trustful that next weekend, when we will be in Assen, we will be able to do much better with both of our riders.” Aleix Espargarò – Pramac Racing – 10th in the race – 13th in the Championship “Bad start that has ruined my race. I lost the middle group straight away and after overtaking three riders I basically ridden all alone for most of the race. A bit boring. Tenth position is anyway a good result and now we have to think to next weekend when we will be in Assen: it is one of my favorite circuits and I hope to be able to conquer a even better position.” Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing – 13th in the race – 15th in the Championship “The situation compare to yesterday has sensibly improved, today we have at least made it to fight with some of the other riders. It is clear that the thirteenth position isn’t our objective but as the weekend went we couldn’t expect for more. We hope that the work done today it can become useful for next weekend. Last year in Assen we were really competitive and I hope to result at least as competitive also this season.” More, from a press release issued by Silverstone Circuit: Silverstone and Lorenzo celebrate MotoGP success Weekend attendance reaches 145,000 over all three days A crowd of more than 70,000 were at a sun-drenched Silverstone on Sunday, enjoying the successful return of Motorcycle Grand Prix racing to the Northamptonshire circuit. Fiat Yamaha Team rider Jorge Lorenzo celebrated his third win of the MotoGP season, having started from pole position on Silverstone’s new Grand Prix Circuit. Over 145,000 fans experienced a festival of two-wheeled motor racing over all three days of the event, making the most of Silverstone’s new and improved spectator facilities. More than 25,000 attended on the Friday, while a crowd of just under 50,000 headed to the circuit for qualifying on Saturday. The 2010 AirAsia British Grand Prix was the first bike event to inaugurate the new 3.666 mile Grand Prix Circuit and the riders were full of praise for the fast, flowing nature of the new circuit layout. While Lorenzo stole the headlines in the MotoGP class, the British crowd was also treated to a podium finish by British 125cc rider Bradley Smith. Brits Danny Webb and Scott Redding also put in strong performances in front of their home crowd, finishing tenth and fourth in the 125cc and Moto2 races respectively. Away from the track, a number of celebrities added even more glamour to the occasion, including Dame Kelly Holmes, Matt LeBlanc and F1 personalities Mark Webber, Karun Chandhok, Martin Brundle, Johnny Herbert and Anthony Davidson. A world-class line-up of entertainment created a festival atmosphere around the venue, with numerous activities, displays and shows providing plenty to see and do throughout the weekend. Highlights included: – More than 3,000 fans stayed behind on Saturday evening to see almost all of the MotoGP and British riders interviewed on a giant stage in the public Entertainment Zone at the new Arena Complex – 12-time Trials World Champion Dougie Lampkin wowed the crowd with a number of stunt shows and stunned BRDC Members with an impromptu ride through the Clubhouse on Saturday afternoon – The Red Bull X-Fighters performed several spectacular ‘X-Jam’ freestyle motocross shows, while the fourth round of the 2010 Red Bull Pro Nationals took place on a specially designed track – ‘Day of Champions’ raised more than £155,000 for the Rider’s for Health charity – The skies above Silverstone were filled with fly-bys and displays from a Typhoon, the Red Devils Parachute Display Team and the Blades Aerobatic Display Team – Fans enjoyed live concerts every night, with performances from bands including Jamie Whitham’s ‘The Po Boys’, Marner Brown and Pink Floyd Tribute band ‘The New Machine’ Speaking over the weekend about Silverstone, Lorenzo commented, “I’ve really enjoyed the new circuit; it’s fast and fun to ride.” The championship leader added, “I think the crowd is crazy about the bikes this is important.” Richard Phillips, Managing Director of Silverstone Circuits Limited, said, “It’s been a fantastic weekend for Silverstone. The new Grand Prix Circuit has received rave reviews from the riders and we have had great feedback from the fans. We were aiming for a 60,000 strong crowd on Sunday, so to exceed this by more than 10,000 is superb. I have a great team here at Silverstone who have worked hard to deliver such a world-class event. Tickets are already on sale for next year’s event, which will be even bigger and better.” Tickets for the 2011 AirAsia British Grand Prix are now on sale. For further information and to purchase tickets visit www.silverstone.co.uk. More, from a press release issued by Indianapolis Motor Speedway: U.S. ROOKIE SPIES STANDS ON FIRST MotoGP PODIUM AT SILVERSTONE INDIANAPOLIS, Sunday, June 20, 2010 Rookie Ben Spies recorded his first career MotoGP podium finish, placing third in the Grand Prix of Great Britain on Sunday, June 20 after a stirring battle with a group of riders that included fellow American Nicky Hayden. Spies, from Longview, Texas, ended up 7.097 seconds behind winner Jorge Lorenzo, the 2009 Red Bull Indianapolis GP champion. But Spies’ Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine was just .354 of a second behind runner-up Andrea Dovizioso at the Silverstone Circuit. Spies earned the podium position in just his ninth career MotoGP start. “It will be hard to duplicate this, but right now I’ll let it sink in and make the most of it,” Spies said. “But on this day, I can say I was the third-best rider in the world, and it is a good feeling.” Spies started seventh and dusted fellow rookie Marco Simoncelli for sixth early in the 20-lap race. Then he passed superstar Dani Pedrosa on Lap 9 and immediately began to pursue the group fighting for second that included Dovizioso, Hayden and Randy De Puniet. By Lap 17, Spies passed De Puniet for fourth. He then set sail for two-time Red Bull Indianapolis GP podium finisher Hayden, who was running in third. On the final lap, Spies hounded Hayden, looking inside and outside for passing opportunities. He finally found his chance at the fast Abbey Corner, seizing third from the Ducati of 2006 World Champion Hayden with a bold move. Hayden fought back but wasn’t able to crack Spies over the last half of the final lap. Hayden finished fourth, .217 of a second behind Spies. “That last lap was difficult to pass Nicky, but I got a really good drive onto the back straight and tried to pass him at Stowe Corner, but he came back by,” Spies said. “On the next straight I managed to get by him and then had to ride quite defensively on the last part of the lap. I was on the edge, but I had to go for the podium, and it worked out.” Spies climbed to seventh in the World Championship. His teammate, fellow Texan Colin Edwards, finished ninth in the race after suffering from lingering arm pump symptoms that hindered his race at the Grand Prix of Italy on June 6. The MotoGP World Championship races next in the Dutch TT on Saturday, June 26 at Assen, Netherlands. The top MotoGP riders in the world, including Spies, Hayden and Edwards, will race at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 27-29 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. *** IMS tickets: Tickets for the 2010 Red Bull Indianapolis GP are on sale now. A new structure offers additional value and flexibility to fans attending the annual MotoGP event. Among the highlights of the new ticket structure are lower prices and single-day reserved and general admission tickets for Race Day, Sunday, Aug. 29. Fans can order tickets online at www.imstix.com, call the IMS ticket office at (317) 492-6700, or (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area or visit the ticket office at the IMS Administration Building at the corner of Georgetown Road and 16th Street. Online orders can be made at any time. Hours for phone orders and the ticket office are 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET) Monday-Friday. General admission tickets provide access to the grounds and to the viewing mounds along the infield section of the circuit, which provide excellent angles to see the greatest riders in the world. Tickets for groups of 20 or more also are on sale. Contact the IMS Group Sales Department at (866) 221-8775 for more information.