Round 13: San Marino and Rimini Grand Prix – Race
Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo scored a dominant victory in a dramatic San Marino and Rimini Grand Prix today ahead of Ducati’s Valentino Rossi and San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista.
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- Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium, Hard. Rear: Medium, Hard (Asymmetric)
- Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Hard (Main), Soft (Alternative)
- Weather: Dry. Ambient 25-25°C; Track 35-35°C (Bridgestone measurement)
The start of the race was interrupted, resulting in the race having to be restarted and reduced in distance by one lap. A technical problem for Dani Pedrosa meant he had to restart from the back of the grid and the Repsol Honda rider suffered further bad luck after being involved in an incident on the first lap that saw him crash out of the race. With his main rival out of the contest, Lorenzo took control at the front of the field and eventually won the race by 4.398 seconds from Rossi in second place, while Bautista claimed third by a meagre 0.003 seconds over the fast-finishing Andrea Dovizioso on the Monster Yamaha Tech3 M1. Power Electronics Aspar’s Randy de Puniet was the top placed CRT rider in ninth place.
Weather conditions for the race were fine and warm with a peak track temperature of 35°C and as was the case in qualifying yesterday, the combination of the softer rear and harder front slicks was the preferred tyre choice for the race, with every rider on the grid utilising this arrangement.
Lorenzo’s sixth win of the season coupled with Pedrosa’s DNF sees his championship lead swell to thirty-eight points. Pedrosa remains in second place in the championship table ahead of teammate Casey Stoner who is still recovering from injury.
Kyota Futami – General Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department
“Congratulations to Jorge and Yamaha for their dominant win today, but all three riders that made the podium today put in brilliant performances. It was great for the Italian fans to see Valentino achieve his best result in dry conditions on the Ducati, and Alvaro’s first MotoGP podium was also a fitting tribute for the San Carlo Honda Gresini team at a circuit that was renamed to honour Marco Simoncelli. It was pleasing to have such a memorable race to commemorate Bridgestone sharing in its one-hundredth MotoGP victory and I’d like to thank the all the teams and riders, Dorna, IRTA and the FIM, and of course the legions of MotoGP fans, for all the support they’ve given Bridgestone since we joined the premier class of Grand Prix racing in 2002.”
Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department
“Track conditions today were at the best level of the entire race weekend as there was no overnight rain and the ambient temperatures were higher than yesterday. Every rider on the grid selected the same tyre combination of the softer rear slick paired with the harder front, which was not surprising as this was widely used in yesterday’s qualifying session which took place in similar weather conditions. Overall, tyre performance for the race was positive as the softer rear provided consistent grip levels over the race for both the works and CRT bikes and worked well in conjunction with the harder front option.”
Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing – Race winner
“Well to be honest we’ve been really lucky today as without the problem with the lights at the beginning of the race, maybe Dani wouldn’t have crashed. I almost crashed myself in the first corner on the third lap, but somehow I saved it and after that it was hard to keep concentration as I saw Valentino was quite fast in the middle of the race. This was an important race to win and it was a fantastic result for the championship.”
|
Pos
|
Rider
|
Team
|
Race Time
|
Gap
|
Front spec
|
Rear spec
|
Tyres
|
|
1
|
Jorge LORENZO
|
Yamaha Factory Racing
|
42’49.836
|
|
Hard
|
Medium
|
Bridgestone
|
|
2
|
Valentino ROSSI
|
Ducati Team
|
42’54.234
|
4.398
|
Hard
|
Medium
|
Bridgestone
|
|
3
|
Alvaro BAUTISTA
|
San Carlo Honda Gresini
|
42’55.891
|
6.055
|
Hard
|
Medium
|
Bridgestone
|
|
4
|
Andrea DOVIZIOSO
|
Monster Yamaha Tech3
|
42’55.894
|
6.058
|
Hard
|
Medium
|
Bridgestone
|
|
5
|
Ben SPIES
|
Yamaha Factory Racing
|
42’57.379
|
7.543
|
Hard
|
Medium
|
Bridgestone
|
|
6
|
Stefan BRADL
|
LCR Honda MotoGP
|
43’03.108
|
13.272
|
Hard
|
Medium
|
Bridgestone
|
|
7
|
Nicky HAYDEN
|
Ducati Team
|
43’30.743
|
40.907
|
Hard
|
Medium
|
Bridgestone
|
|
8
|
Jonathan REA
|
Repsol Honda
|
43’32.998
|
43.162
|
Hard
|
Medium
|
Bridgestone
|
|
9
|
Randy DE PUNIET
|
Power Electronics Aspar
|
43’59.463
|
1’09.627
|
Hard
|
Medium
|
Bridgestone
|
|
10
|
Michele PIRRO
|
San Carlo Honda Gresini
|
44’03.441
|
1’13.605
|
Hard
|
Medium
|
Bridgestone
|
Bad luck continued to plague the Mahindra Moto3™ team at Misano today, when top rider Danny Webb’s hopes of finishing in the points were dashed by a crash on the very first bend.
The 21-year-old Englishman became the latest of many victims of the Misano circuit’s very tight first corner, when he was squeezed and pushed on corner entry, in a high-speed traffic jam. He was unable to avoid a crash that involved three other riders.
But replacement rider Miroslav Popov restored some cheer to the Mahindra garage in only his second race on the white-and-red MGP-30, pulling through from 33rd on the grid to finish 19th, holding his place in the middle of a tight group of three more experienced GP riders.
The 17-year-old from the Czech Republic, riding in place of injured team regular Riccardo Moretti, is a grand prix novice, and a novice also on the 250cc four-stroke Moto3 machine, in the first year of the category.
Mahindra is one of a tiny handful of entrants using its own chassis and engine, developing new technology at the same time as challenging the might of the established racing factories that fill the rest of the grid. It is the first and still the only Indian team in motorcycle grand prix racing.
The race, round 23 laps of the 4.226-km circuit, was won by title leader Sandro Cortese.
MIROSLAV POPOV – 19th Position
As seems normal for me, I got a bad start and was at the back. I managed to chase the group in front of me, and I had a good fight with them that lasted the whole race. I had some difficulty changing gear later in the race which made it more difficult, so I am quite pleased I could carry on the battle.
DANNY WEBB – Did Not finish
That was really frustrating – all the effort and the race lasted only a couple of hundred metres. I was in the back half of the grid and the first corners are really tight, and as everyone funnelled in I was blocked and had nowhere to go. I crashed, and unfortunately three other riders also went down … that’s how crowded it gets. Better luck next time.
MUFADDAL CHOONIA, Mahindra Racing CEO
It was a shame that Danny was caught out so early in the race as he was having a reasonably good weekend. But the first turn is tight and the Moto3 grid is big so it was always going to be interesting. I am happy about Miro’s ride. He had a respectable race in which many other riders crashed.
source: mahindraracing.com, mahindra.com
Ellison Scores Well At Misano
Britain’s James Ellison made up for the disappointment of previous recent rounds by claiming a battling 13th place at today’s San Marino MotoGP held at Misano in Italy.
Aboard the PBMUK CRT-specification Aprilia, the 31-year-old from Kendal battled against unseasonable inclement weather for the opening two days but was well up the time sheets when he claimed third fastest overall in Free Practice 1 which he bettered to go second fastest in Free Practice 2.
James posted 16th fastest time in qualifying to start on row six of the grid, fifth fastest of the CRT bikes. The race, which was held in dry and sunny conditions, saw lots of drama as James came home in 13th place and fifth CRT bike, just ten seconds behind leading CRT runner Randy de Puniet.
It was James’ best result since he won the CRT class at Le Mans and took his points scoring tally to eight out of the 13 Grands Prix held so far and consolidates his position in the standings in 18th.
In their rookie season in MotoGP, the Penrith-based PBMUK team remain in 12th in the Team standings going into the next round at Aragon.
Phil Borley, Technical Director: “A mistake at the start unfortunately compromised James’ race which was a pity as his pace was good. After recovering and pushing hard, he just ran out of laps to make a pass for 12th but his 13th place position gave us another points scoring finish which we are pleased with.”
For more information, please visit www.pbmuk.ne t and www.motogp.com
source: Paul Bird Motorsport, cartersport.com