MotoGP Donington: Saturday (updated regularly)

NEWEST AT TOP

Jake Gagne

Donington, England (July 25, 2009) – American Jake Gagne continued his Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup success on Saturday on England, earning his third straight top five finish in the race at Donington. The 15 year-old, racing against a field of elite teen racers from around the globe, capped off his hectic and challenging race with a last lap, last corner pass to complete his trifecta of top five finishes in the Netherlands, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

“I got a really good start and was in the group running up front,” said the Ramona, California resident. “There was a lot of crazy passes in the group and all it really did was let Jakub (Kornfeil) get away and hurt everyone else’s chance for the win. I really got frustrated but I managed to work up to second place and tried to go after Jakub.”

Halfway through the race, Jake was in second place when he hit a curb awkwardly. It forced Jake wide and he dropped back into sixth position, possibly damaging his rear shock on his KTM RC 125 and making the rest of his race even more difficult. “It was pretty ’squirrelly’ after that and I kept losing the rear. I wasn’t real comfortable and made some mistakes,” said the teen in his second season of roadracing. “The good part is I was able to battle back and make a pass at the very end to get back in the top five.”

Despite the drama, Gagne regrouped and gained back time. He worked his way past Florian Marino on the last lap, crossing the line just 0.148 seconds in front of the French racer. Jake earned the finish line less than half a second behind third place finisher Daijiro Hiura of Japan, showing how close Jake came to finishing on the podium three races in a row.

With just two races in the Czech Republic to go, Jake is the top American in seventh place in the season’s points.

“We’re gaining momentum and I am learning a lot,” said Jake. “I’m keeping it on two wheels and making progress against some great competition. I can’t wait to race at the next event at Brno and my goal is to go for the win and the podium again.”

Jake Gagne’s 2009 sponsors: Alpinestars, Arai Helmets, Kevin Schwantz schools, American Supercamp, KTM North America, Precision Concepts Racing, JD Built, Spy Optics, AP Designs, All American KTM, Ready Filter, Factory Backing, Ramona Cycle Supply, Rickypics.com

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Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup

For the second time in 8 days Jakub Kornfeil produced a perfect victory and with Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup rival Sturla Fagerhaug crashing out again the 16 year old Czech goes into his home race tied on points with the 17 year old Norwegian. Spanish 17 year old Daniel Ruiz rode a great race to second in Britain ahead of 14 year old Japanese Daijiro Hiura who also put himself into Cup contention. Hiura is 18 points behind Kornfeil and Fagerhaug with 50 points at stake for the double header that wraps up the season. The top 7 riders in the Cup can still win it.

While Kornfeil matched his German wet weather disappearing act with an almost identical performance in glorious sunshine at Donington the entertainment was provided by an incredible battle for second. As Pole man Danny Kent faded through the pack to finish an eventual 8th it was the two Frenchman Florian Marino and Nelson Major who bashed elbows in second allowing Jake Gagne, Mathew Scholtz, Hiura and Ruiz to close and make it a 6 man battle for second.

Just as he did at the Sachsenring, Kornfeil reeled off perfect laps and soon had a 3 second lead while those behind slowed each other with the line-steeling and out-braking. As things settled down slightly there were many laps when Kornfeil was not the quickest man on the track but as the pursuers swapped that advantage between them they lost ground as a group.

The situation was only reversed when Ruiz pushed his way into second and broke away. That was lap 12 of 17 though and by then the story was written. Kornfeil had more than 3 seconds in hand and though Ruiz took a few tenths out of him every lap the Czech just kept his head and enough of an advantage to cross the line 2.4 seconds ahead.

“It was almost a perfect race for me but not easy.” said Kornfeil. “From the start I was happy to see that once I got ahead my lead was getting bigger and bigger but I wasn’t happy in the middle of the race when they started closing again. I just couldn’t do the lap-time I wanted. There was nothing wrong with the tyres or the bike it was just in my head I think. Still I am happy with the win and I am happy that the last races are in Brno.”

Ruiz has been frustrated so often this year but finally things worked out as he raced through from 20th place on the grid. “I think I was just so relaxed because I didn’t expect anything from this race. I really enjoyed it though and as I was passing the other guys I just felt comfortable. I was happy to get away from the group into a clear second but by then Jakub was just too far in front.”

Hiura remains frustrated even though he made the rostrum for the 4th time. “I am still not winning so I can’t be happy. I am going to have to do that in Brno.”

It was Jake Gagne who looked as though he was set for his third podium in as many races as the 15 year old Californian was the first to break free of that second place battle. That was mid race but the advantage only lasted a couple of corners. “I’d been a bit frustrated by all the crazy overtaking moves in the group so I was happy to get out front. Trouble was I then ran over the kerb and got a bit loose. That put me back and I think I then tried a bit too hard, made some mistakes and couldn’t get in front again.”

There were some pretty ‘interesting’ moves in that pack. Hiura and Marino tried for the same piece of track at the right-hand hairpin and both were lucky to remain upright. It was getting clear of that kind of action that gave Ruiz 2nd place.

For Fagerhaug, who seemed to already have one hand on the Cup, Donington was a race to forget as he crashed out on lap 3. “I went onto the back straight too tight, close to the kerb, the front wheel jumped up and I lost the front. It’s a shame because I didn’t go into the corner too fast, I just pulled a tight line to get a good drive out and I crashed as I hit the bump. In Brno… I’m not going to crash again. I love that track, hopefully it’s going to be a good one.”

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MotoGP

Valentino Rossi took pole position number four of the 2009 season on Saturday afternoon with the fastest lap of MotoGP qualifying at Donington Park. The Fiat Yamaha rider’s time of 1’28.116 gave him his first top spot for the British Grand Prix since 2005 – the last occasion in which he won at the Midlands track.

Rossi now has twice as many pole positions as he did for the entire 2008 season and, following his pole position last week in Germany, heads the qualifying timesheet for consecutive races for the first time since the beginning of 2007. His hot lap came at the end of the session in a frantic shootout, in which he sent Dani Pedrosa, the top man in both Free Practice sessions, packing by just under a tenth of a second.

Teammate and title rival Jorge Lorenzo was also hot on the Italian’s heels, placing third on the grid and maintaining his 100% record of front row starts in the current campaign. He relegated Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner, who lowsided at Macleans for his second fall of the day, to the second line by just 0.044.

Andrea Dovizioso and Colin Edwards join Stoner on row two, riding for Repsol Honda and Monster Tech 3 Yamaha respectively. Edwards’ teammate and the only home rider in the premier class, James Toseland equaled his best qualifying performance of the year with ninth in the session.

In addition to Stoner’s fall, Scot Racing rider Gabor Talmacsi also came off his bike during the run-out.

250cc

Hectór Barberá took his third pole position in four races with a final throw of the dice in the 250cc category, as the Spaniard looks for a second victory of 2009. Riding the PepeWorld Aprilia RSA, Barberá was just 0.094 quicker than Marco Simoncelli when the session was shut down.

Hiroshi Aoyama bounced back from a morning cylinder problem to clock the third fastest time of the session, just over two-tenths of a second down on Barberá’s 1’31.802 hot lap. He starts from the front row as the World Championship leader, with the final spot on the first row occupied by Alex Debón.

Mike di Meglio out-qualified Mapfre Aspar teammate Álvaro Bautista for the first time in his rookie year, heading the second row. Bautista ended his 100% record of front row starts in 2009 after suffering the after-effects of two crashes in previous sessions, but will begin from sixth. Mattia Pasini, a faller in qualifying, and Ratthapark Wilairot complete the row.

125cc

Bradley Smith will start his home Grand Prix sitting on 125cc pole position for the second time this season. The Bancaja Aspar rider had to pull something special out of his box of tricks in the final minute of the qualifying session, duly obliging with a 1’37.442 lap to grab the top spot from Marc Marquez.

Red Bull KTM rider Marquez separates Smith and World Championship leader Julián Simon on the grid, with third Aspar rider Sergio Gadea putting the entire squadron on the front line for only the second time this year. Simón had crashed early on in the session.

Row two continues the Spanish theme, lining up Joan Olivé, Nico Terol, Pol Espargaró and German rider Sandro Cortese.

The British Grand Prix MotoGP race starts at 3.30pm local time, with 125cc commencing at 12.30pm and 250cc at 1.45pm.

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LCR Honda

Donington, 25 July: LCR Honda MotoGP rider Randy De Puniet will start tomorrow’s UK Grand Prix from the fourth row following today’s qualifying session at Donington Park race track which hosts the tenth round of the season before 2-weeks summer break. The French rider rode his Honda RC212V to the 10th place with a best lap time of 1’29.434 as he could not take a big advantage from the soft tyres at the 4.023 Km race track.

After yesterday’s mixed conditions opening day of the British GP, this morning free session was conducted in the dry and the hour long qualifying session was ridden in the same condition with ambience temperature of 21°C ( 31°C on the asphalt). However the 28-year-old was unable to feel comfortable on the bike as he is not a fan of the British track.
Today’s poleman is Rossi followed by Pedrosa and Lorenzo.

De Puniet – 10th – 1’29.434

De Puniet -10th: “Well … it hasn’t been an easy day for me and I always struggle to set my pace on this track especially in the last two corners. Since the beginning of this week end we had some issues to understand why we could not keep the pace of the front group. We have been focused in the last part of the track because that’s where it seems we lost too much time. We tried to improve the machine between the two sessions and I did my best to suit my riding stile to these corners for winning some tenths. Honestly we expected a third row start but I am still hoping for a top eight end”.

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Rizla Suzuki

Rizla Suzuki racers Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi have a tough task ahead of tomorrow’s final MotoGP race from Donington Park in England.

Sunday will see the last MotoGP race at Donington Park – for the foreseeable future – and Vermeulen (P13, 1′30.98, 33 laps) and Capirossi (P14, 1′30.153, 28 laps) will have their work cut out right from the start as they try to fight their way through the field after both qualified on the fifth row of the grid today, following a frustrating qualifying session for the pair.

Neither rider was able to find the answers that they were looking for to enable them to make significant steps forward with their Suzuki GSV-Rs. With rain forecast for tomorrow, Vermeulen and Capirossi could be called upon to use all their skills in the wet to carve through the field and challenge for a good result at the 4,023m British circuit.

Today’s qualifying was held in cool and windy conditions with track temperatures only getting up to 31C. World Championship leader Valentino Rossi will start from pole position on his factory Yamaha.

Tomorrow’s race will be the last motorcycle Grand Prix since GP racing returned to Donington in 1987 and a big British crowd is expected to turn up and witness end of an era when the lights signal the start at 15.30hrs local time (14.30hrs GMT).

Chris Vermeulen:
“I am really frustrated because I was looking forward to Donington as I’ve had some success here and the bike has worked well, but this weekend so far has been quite difficult. In the wet we had reasonable success, but it has been really tough for us in the dry today. We have struggled to make the bike turn how we would want it to and to keep the front end feeling and speed through the corners. That is something we will need to work on this evening, it’s an issue we’ve had a couple of times this year and hopefully we can get it resolved for tomorrow. I know I don’t really like the rain, but we might get lucky tomorrow and it will be wet – which would certainly help us this weekend. You never know what the weather will do at Donington so we will have to wait and see.”

Loris Capirossi:
“I don’t really have a lot to say about today! I would like to thank my crew for the fantastic job they did at lunchtime today when they changed an engine in about 25 minutes, which was great work. It has been hard work on the bike today as we tried to find the best solutions for here but we are still struggling a bit. We have a couple of issues to still sort out, but things were better this afternoon compared to this morning. Overall the situation does not look too good, but we are here to fight as hard as we can and we will continue to do our best tomorrow, it won’t be easy but we will be trying!”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“The issues we suffered from at Sachsenring last weekend have unfortunately transferred over to this weekend and we have been unable to give either rider a package to enable them to push to their maximum level. The team has done a good job today to try to overcome the problems and particularly on Loris’s side I must say ‘well-done’ on such a great job to change the bike completely between sessions. Those changes improved some areas but it hasn’t reflected significantly on the stopwatch or the grid positions. We’ll keep pushing hard and do everything we can to give the riders a better package tomorrow.”

British Grand Prix Qualifying Practice Classification:
1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1′28.116: 2. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +0.095: 3. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) +0286: 4. Casey Stoner (Ducati) +0.330: 5. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) +0.662: 13. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1.982: 14. LORIS CAPIROSSI (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +2.037:

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Monster Yamaha Tech3

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team duo Colin Edwards and James Toseland will do battle in the last British MotoGP race to be staged at Donington Park from sixth and ninth on the grid respectively.

Edwards secured his seventh top six qualifying result of the season with a best lap of 1.28.865, the American using dry and warm conditions to further evaluate new front fork settings and a revised body position on his Yamaha YZR-M1 machine.
Bidding to score a third MotoGP podium at Donington Park in tomorrow’s 30-lap race, Edwards was one of only seven riders to lap within a second of Valentino Rossi’s impressive pole position pace.

Toseland gave his hopes of a scoring a top six finish in front of a passionate home crowd a huge boost this afternoon. Working closely with his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team crew to improve the setting of his YZR-M1 machine, the 28-year-old performed superbly to equal his best qualifying result of the season.
A lap of 1.29.270s was just 1.154s away from pole position and Toseland was just over four-tenths-of-a-second away from a top six spot on the grid after he’d been as high as fifth position on the timesheets.

The British rider is confident of fighting for his best result of the season, though all eyes will be on the skies tomorrow, with a repeat of the rain that disrupted yesterday’s practice forecast for the race.

Colin Edwards 6th 1.28.865 – 30 laps
“I’m happy with the way I rode but getting close to those guys at the front is getting tough. They are running a pretty fast pace but I’m confident if I can get a good start that I’ll be able to stay with them for the race. If I can get away with them then they might pull me around for a few laps. I’m moving in the right direction with the setting and the changes we’ve made to the front forks and experimenting with my body position has improved the front feeling. But with no testing now it is difficult to get used to something so different quickly and I just need a bit more time to adapt because I know we can make the feeling much better. I’m still not sure which race tyre I’m going to run. I’d like to have the best of both compounds on one tyre. We need the left side of the softer tyre and the right side of the hard one. But deliberating that might be for nothing because I hear we’re probably going to be under water here tomorrow anyway on rain tyres. We got some time in the rain yesterday so I’m happy I’ve got a set-up for rain or dry conditions. I really want a good result with it being the last British GP at Donington Park. I’ve had a lot of success here in the past and it would be good to sign off in style.”

James Toseland 9th 1.29.270 – 30 laps
“I’m happy but at the same time a little bit frustrated because we didn’t have a really good base setting this morning. That meant we had quite a bit of work to do this afternoon, but thanks to my guys because they did a great job again. I improved quite a bit but if we had started this morning like we ended this afternoon then I’m sure I could have qualified on the second row. The base set-up didn’t work so well because we were too hard on the front and rear. I didn’t have much feel at all and I was only doing low 1.32s, so to do 1.29s this afternoon I’m really happy. At least I’ve given myself a good chance of battling for that top six tomorrow and that was always my target. Today was definitely better than last year’s qualifying, although it couldn’t really have been much worse. The new electronics are working brilliantly round here, particularly out of the slow hairpins at the end of the lap, so I’ve got say thanks to Yamaha for that again. Obviously I’m desperate t o get a good result tomorrow. I want to make amends for the disappointment of last year and give the British fans something to cheer about. The support out there today was amazing, and they deserve a good result. I can promise them I’ll be giving it my absolute maximum.”

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Repsol Honda

Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa today came within 0.095s of taking pole position for the British Grand Prix in a tightly contested qualifying session at Donington Park. The Spaniard, who won the 2006 race here in his debut MotoGP season, was quick in both today’s dry sessions. He finished the morning practice with the fastest time – a lap of 1m 28.787s – and lowered that to a 1m 28.211s in the qualifying shoot-out. Pedrosa was just pipped to pole position by Valentino Rossi and so will the start the 30-lap race nicely poised in the middle of the front row. Pedrosa’s qualifying lap record of 1m 27.676s set on the 990cc Honda RC211V on his way to pole position in 2006 remained in tact.

Tomorrow, at the tender age of 23, Pedrosa could become the Spanish rider who has scored the most points ever in Grand Prix racing. Having accumulated 2006 points in his nine seasons so far, if Pedrosa finishes in ninth position or above tomorrow he will overtake the totals of fellow Spaniards Alex Criville (2012 points) and Angel Nieto (2008 points). The result would put Pedrosa in sixth place in the overall Grand Prix point scorers table behind Valentino Rossi in first place, Loris Capirossi, Max Biaggi, Mick Doohan and Alex Barros.*

His Repsol Honda team-mate, Andrea Dovizioso, also put on a competitive showing in qualifying today and will start the race directly behind Pedrosa in the middle of the second row, having qualified in fifth with a lap just 0.662s from pole. The 23-year-old Italian still feels there are some set-up improvements to be made ahead of the race tomorrow and will work in the warm-up to improve traction and his feeling on the way into corners. Dovizioso likes the Donington Park circuit and has strong previous form here, having won the 125cc race in 2004 and the 250cc clash in 2007.

As seems to be typical for the British Grand Prix, the weather threatens to play a part tomorrow with rain promised by the forecasters. The Repsol Honda Team will be ready for whatever the skies have in mind for the race, which begins later than usual at 15.30 in order to avoid a TV clash with the Formula One race in Hungary.

(*Modern day riders have an advantage due to the current point scoring system allocating more points, plus the greater number of Grands Prix per year. Statistics courtesy of Dr Martin Raines.)

DANI PEDROSA – 2nd – 1m 28.211s
“We did a good job in both sessions today and I’m happy to qualify on the front row because, in reality, that’s more important than taking pole position. On my last run at the end of the qualifying session I found some traffic on the circuit which caused me to lose my concentration and rhythm slightly, so I think I could have gone a little quicker. But still, the middle of the front row is OK. Our dry set-up is nearly there so we’ll aim to make just a few little improvements before the race. The weather is looking changeable for tomorrow, though at least we’ve had some practice time in the wet yesterday. If it’s raining I’d like to improve my riding and my pace a bit but the weather is out of our control so we’ll have to see. It’s the last MotoGP race at Donington tomorrow and of course I’d like a good result to sign off with – preferably a win.”

ANDREA DOVIZIOSO – 5th – 1m 28.778s
“Starting from the second row is not a bad place to be and gives us a chance to get away at the head of the field so I’m satisfied with that. A fast start tomorrow should give us a good opportunity to have a strong race. Having said that, I really like this track and I was hoping to be in a slightly better situation going into tomorrow both in terms of grid position and race pace. We still need to improve our speed and consistency and there is some work to do to take us closer to the frontrunners and be fully competitive. We need to improve on the entry to the corner and also to work on traction, so we’ll look at the data we collected today and I’m confident my team can help me to make these improvements. It could rain tomorrow too, so we’ll come in ready for anything.”

KAZUHIKO YAMANO – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER
“Dani was very close to pole position and this is another good performance from him and the Team. His starts have been very good this year and so the middle of the front row gives him a clear run into the first corner which could be valuable. Dani’s pace in the dry is good and he’s confident for those conditions. In the wet we need to improve the machine settings so that’s what we’ll be working on in preparation for tomorrow. Andrea is fifth on the grid and did a good job to increase his pace in qualifying. He still needs to find some improvement in terms of set-up to give him consistency for the race so his crew will be focusing on that in the warm-up tomorrow. Of course we are anticipating a range of weather conditions at Donington and whatever it brings I think the Repsol Honda Team can be challengers tomorrow.”

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Bridgestone

Bridgestone compounds available: Front: Slicks – Soft, Medium; Rear: Slicks – Soft, Medium

Fiat  Yamaha’s  Valentino  Rossi  achieved  his  fourth  pole  position  of  the  season  using  Bridgestone’s  medium compound front slick and a soft compound rear. On race tyres, his pole time was 0.6seconds faster than the existing lap record set by Honda’s Dani Pedrosa in 2006.

In contrast to yesterday’s rain, the qualifying session for the British Grand Prix was run in dry conditions giving all riders a chance to use Bridgestone’s slicks at Donington Park. Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa will start from second in tomorrow’s race, using a medium front and soft compound rear Bridgestone slick to secure his fourth front-row start of the year, just 0.095 seconds adrift of Rossi. Jorge Lorenzo was third fastest and Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner fourth, the top four all faster than the existing lap record. The top six all used the same medium front soft rear tyre compound combination.

Every rider left the pits on the medium compound Bridgestone slicks, but most riders had opted for the soft compound rear by the halfway point of the hour-long session.If  the  conditions  for  the  race  tomorrow  remain  the  same,  it  is  expected  that  most  riders  will  favour  the  medium compound Bridgestone slicks, the harder of the two options.

Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development: “I am happy with the performance of our medium compound slick tyres today as the pace at the front of the field was very fast. The top four riders were under the lap record and again Jorge rode a consistent 23-lap stint on a single set of tyres at the start of the session, both of which suggest we could see another fast-paced race tomorrow. “If the conditions remain the same for the race, I expect the medium compound slicks to be the favoured choice because their harder compound will give improved durability over the race distance, and even though Donington is a slippery track, warm-up performance was no problem today.”

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Fiat Yamaha

Valentino Rossi took pole for the second race running at Donington Park this afternoon, his fourth of the season and the 56th of his career. Jorge Lorenzo qualified third and, with four poles for him also this year, the Fiat Yamaha Team has now taken the front grid slot in eight out of the ten races. It is also the fifth consecutive race at which both riders have been on the front row.

After yesterday’s downpours, today was dry with sunny intervals and this morning saw Lorenzo second and Rossi third as they got their first chance to work on their dry settings around the 4km track. In this afternoon’s hour-long qualifying session Lorenzo held pole position for most of the session until briefly surrendering it to Dani Pedrosa ten minutes from the end, whilst Rossi struggled slightly to find the best set-up with the hard Bridgestone tyre.

22-year-old Lorenzo moved back to the top just a couple of laps later but was then edged off by Rossi with three minutes to go, as the Italian found his best form at the perfect time. The Spaniard was unable to match the pace of his championship-leading team-mate with the soft tyre and finished 0.286 seconds adrift, whilst a strong charge from Dani Pedrosa edged the Spaniard into third but was not good enough to knock Rossi off pole.

Tomorrow’s race will start at the later time of 1530 local time, which is 1630 CET.

Valentino Rossi, Position: 1st   Time: 1′28.116   Laps: 32: “I am quite surprised to be on pole today because we had a couple of problems this afternoon! This morning unfortunately we didn’t try the hard Bridgestone tyre but we weren’t worried because everyone else had good grip with it. But this afternoon when we finally tried it we found the grip to be not as we expected and our pace with it wasn’t so good. We made some modifications and improved it a bit, then we made a few more and used the soft tyre again and then we were very quick. Like that I could ride the bike how I wanted and it felt great, fast and flowing so this was a good job from the team. We need to do some work to improve our pace with the hard tyre, and then we just have to wait and see what the weather does tomorrow. Whatever happens, we’re starting from the front and this is the most important thing.”

Jorge Lorenzo, Position: 3rd   Time: 1′28.402   Laps: 35: “With the harder tyre, we’re definitely ready and I feel very good on the bike. With the softer tyre and on my last run I wasn’t so fast, but we are not too concerned about this. Anyway I feel confident on my M1 and I am enjoying riding here. Tomorrow we don’t know about the weather but I was fast also in the rain yesterday so I know that I can be competitive even if the weather is bad. I am really hoping for a good race here since it’s the last time we will come.”

Davide Brivio, Team Manager: “At the end everything worked out okay and we got a nice pole position, the second in a row. We still have some work to do to improve the race setting to finalise the package in case we have dry conditions tomorrow, but we have the warm-up in to try to fine-tune everything. It looks like it’s more likely that it’s going to rain however, in which case we will use what we learned yesterday.”

Daniele Romagnoli, Team Manager
“We are on target, because starting from the front row will be very important for this race. Today we concentrated mostly on our race setting and Jorge’s pace is very fast and consistent. Maybe we should have considered something a bit different for qualifying with the softer tyre, but the most important thing is that we’re in good shape for the race. We hope that we can have the same weather as today tomorrow, but if the rain does come then we have yesterday’s good session to help us.”