Rossi hoping for another good result at Brno

Fresh from a two-week summer break, Fiat Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo head to Brno in the Czech Republic this weekend riding high at the top of the championship. Despite a disappointing last round in the UK the pair remain first and second in the standings with seven rounds remaining, setting up a thrilling final seven-race run to the end of the season.

Brno is a special track for Rossi as the Italian took the first of his 101 career victories there, in the 125cc class in 1996. Since then he has added a 250cc win and four MotoGP victories to his tally, including a commanding one last year on the way to his eighth World Championship title, and three second places. The 30-year-old slid out of the lead in Donington last time out but remounted to finish fifth, meaning he managed to extend his lead at the top of the championship to 25 points from his team-mate.

22-year-old Lorenzo also has an impressive record at Brno, having won there in 125cc and twice in 250cc, both times from pole position. He finished tenth at the Czech track last year, a creditable performance considering that he was nursing broken bones in his foot sustained at the previous round in America. This year he arrives more or less in full fitness, having had a chance to fully recover from another foot injury, lying second in the championship and determined to put in a good performance to try to close some of the 25-point deficit to Rossi.

This year marks the 40th time a Grand Prix has been held at Brno since the 14km road circuit was first used in 1965. Today the modern track retains much of the character of the original road circuit, with its winding chicanes and dramatic elevation changes. The well-balanced nature of the circuit make it an ideal testing venue and the team will remain there after the race for a key mid-season test. Brno sees an important new rule come into existence, with all riders now restricted to just five engines for the final seven races of the season with a 10-point deduction for any rider who goes over his quota.

Valentino Rossi - “Rested and relaxed”
“The summer ‘holiday’ wasn’t as long as usual but anyway I’ve had the chance to recharge the batteries in the break and I’m feeling rested and relaxed. Last time out wasn’t ideal but in the end it was a positive day for us and we now have a one-race buffer at the top of the championship. Despite this breathing space we can’t afford to relax for a minute because our rivals are very strong and I expect everyone to be at their best in Brno. It’s a great track for me and I took my first ever win there; I’m hoping for another good result this time.”

Jorge Lorenzo - “Aiming to get back on the podium”
“I’m really excited about this race after what feels like a long time without one. It was good to have a bit of a break and I used the time to work on my fitness and to completely recover from the injuries I had after Laguna, in the gym and with my physiotherapist. The result is that I feel much better than I did in Germany and England and I’m excited to be getting back on the bike. I like Brno and I have had good results in the past there, including three wins. This time my aim is to fight hard and get back on the podium.”

Davide Brivio - “A good circuit for Valentino and Yamaha”
“After a short break, Brno is the start of three close races before the real season finale of the remaining four events. Brno is a good circuit both for Valentino and for Yamaha in general and we have to take advantage of this to manage and hopefully extend the 25-point advantage we currently have in the championship. Valentino has always been at the top there and it’s a track that’s full of important memories for him and for us, including in 2008 when it marked the start of us ‘completing’ the job of recapturing the title. At the moment we’re working very well and we are looking forward to maintaining the same high standard as much as possible. The competition amongst the top riders is very exciting and we hope we can offer everyone another great show.”

Daniele Romagnoli - “Great motivation”
“A little break to recharge the batteries has been useful for us all before the last seven races. This has given Jorge the chance to improve his fitness after his Laguna Seca injuries and he will be in good shape for Brno. All the team and Jorge want to forget the ‘zero point’ of Donington and we have a great motivation to catch Valentino at the top of the championship! From this Grand Prix the new engine rule will be applied but Yamaha has worked hard on engine durability and maintaining performance so we’re confident that it won’t be an issue.”

U.S. Grand Prix 2009 : Victory for Pedrosa

Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa stormed to a flag-to-flag victory in the U.S. Grand Prix before a sun-drenched crowd of nearly of over 46,000 on the challenging Laguna Seca circuit within sight of the Pacific Ocean in Monterey, California.

Starting fourth on the grid, the Spaniard jetted into the lead over the turn one crest and into the turn two left hand hairpin. Then he was gone. Pedrosa set one fast lap after another to pull away to what seemed a certain victory. But on the final lap Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) made a robust challenge to Pedrosa, closing onto his rear tire in the final turn. Pedrosa, however, was resolute, and used the power of the Honda RC212V to cross the line with a gap of .344s. Rossi was second and his teammate Jorge Lorenzo was third.

The victory, Pedrosa’s seventh in MotoGP and 30th career, was his first since the Catalunya Grand Prix on June 8, 2008. He was also able to solidify fourth in the championship after eight of 17 rounds.

What made the victory especially sweet, was that it showed he’d reverted to the form that can take him to victory after a very difficult set of races. Pedrosa injured his right hip in a crash in Mugello and for the following two races he couldn’t ride as he wanted. Today he was under no physical restrictions and showed what a powerful package he and the Honda RC212V can be.

Attrition took its toll on the field as they tried to complete 32 laps of the demanding
3.61k track. Only 12 made it to the finish, but four of the top eleven were Honda-mounted. San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Toni Elias finished a season best sixth and within .4 secs. of fifth placed Nicky Hayden (Ducati), who he chased to the checkered flag.

Randy De Puniet (LCR Honda) finished ninth, two spots in front of Alex De Angelis on the second San Carlo Honda Gresini machine. De Puniet had difficulty with traffic in the early laps before breaking clear. His fastest lap was the 18th of 32, by which time he was securely in ninth. De Angelis also found the early part of the race more difficult than the latter part. His fast lap was also on the 18th. And though he pressured Marco Melandri (Kawasaki), he couldn’t find a way past and was frustrated to miss out on a top ten finish by under a second.

Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) was among the unlucky. The Italian was in a secure fifth place and on the tail of the lead quartet when his front end slid away in the left hand turn five on the seventh lap. Earlier he’d had problems with engine braking after inadvertently hitting his clutch lever on one of the plastic stanchions separating the pit lane exit from the track. But he took full responsibility for the crash, which happened after repeated warnings.

Earlier, Gabor Talmacsi (Scot Honda) had crashed out on the fourth lap. It was his first race crash in his third MotoGP race, and on his first visit to Laguna Seca.

HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES

Lorenzo victorious in France

Jorge Lorenzo heads Valentino Rossi after French MotoGP grand prix win

Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo's gamble on tyres paid off as he won the FIM MotoGP World Championship race in France.

But the real shock was second place for the Hayate Racing machine of Marco Melandri, who put his Ducati and Kawasaki nightmares firmly behind him.

Jorge Lorenzo has overtaken his Fiat Yamaha team-mate, the current world champion Valentino Rossi, in the MotoGP world championship after wining the French grand prix at Le Mans.

The Spanish rider finished 17.71sec ahead of Marco Melandri of Italy, with Dani Pedrosa of Spain beating Italy's Andrea Dovizioso into third place with a late burst of speed. Lorenzo leads the overall standings by a point after four races, with Rossi and Casey Stoner tied for second on 65 points.

Rossi had gone in early to switch to his second bike with slick tyres but that strategy proved to be his undoing as he slid off and then visited the pits several times – including once for a ride-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane – to get his tyre selection right.

Behind Lorenzo and Melandri were the Honda duo Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso, with the Ducati of Stoner in fifth.

Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) was sixth, Colin Edwards (Yamaha) finished seventh and Vermeulen's team-mate Loris Capirossi was eighth. James Toseland was ninth and Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda) 10th. Rossi came 16th and failed to score a championship point.

Melandri struggled to be competitive on the Ducati and also thought he might not be racing this season when Kawasaki pulled out of MotoGP.

A compromise deal struck by Kawasaki and series rights holders Dorna resulted in the Italian racing on machines supplied by the Japanese manufacturer and run under the Hayate Racing banner.

Melandri repaid the team with a fine second place behind Lorenzo, who had stayed out on the drying track with a bike running wet-weather tyres longer than most of his rivals.

Rossi could only finish 16th and failed to score a championship point, leaving the defending champion one point behind new leader Lorenzo in the standings and tied in second with Stoner on 65 points.

Jorge Lorenzo takes win in manic bike swap race

Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo took a stunning second win of the season in Le Mans today, negotiating varying track conditions and a change of bikes to lead from the first lap to the flag and take the championship lead. It was a doom-laden day for his team-mate Valentino Rossi however as the world champion slid off early on and then had a ride-through penalty to compound his misfortune.

With the track still wet from a rainy morning all riders started the race on rain tyres, with the mechanics readying the dry bikes in pit lane in anticipation of an early change as the track dried out. Lorenzo, starting from second, slipped a place at the start but had passed both Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa by the end of the first lap to take the lead. By lap five a dry line had begun to appear and a few riders chose to make early pit stops to change bikes. The 22-year-old Spaniard however was feeling comfortable and had an excellent pace on his Bridgestone wets and so he stayed out, constantly stretching his lead. In the end he was the last of the front-runners to pit, a gamble which paid off brilliantly as he was by then nearly 34 seconds clear and was able to rejoin the race in the lead on lap 13. Once he had bit of heat in his slick tyres the youngster put his head down and kept his nerve for the remaining 15 laps and he eventually took the chequered flag an impressive 17.710 seconds clear of second-placed Marco Melandri.

It was a day of stark contrasts on the opposite side of the garage, with Rossi forced to make an incredible four visits to pit lane. The Italian was in second behind his team-mate when he elected for an early bike change, coming in to swap onto his second M1 on dry Bridgestones after just five laps. The change went smoothly but the track was still damp in places and he went down on the next lap whilst trying to warm his tyres up. He returned to the pits next time around to swap back onto his other bike, with the rules stipulating that he had to keep one wet tyre with the second bike change, but a problem with his pit-limiter meant he was penalised for speeding on exit and forced to return once again two laps later to perform a ride-through penalty. His final visit to the garage came on lap 11 when he changed once again onto a fully-dry machine, but by then he was some two laps adrift and he finished in 16th.

Lorenzo’s 25-point haul takes him into the lead by one point and he now has 66 points to Rossi’s 65. Stoner has the same points as Rossi but lies third as the Italian has more second places, and Pedrosa follow in the standings. With just nine points separating the top four the next round in Mugello is sure to be a thrilling spectacle.

Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 1 Time: 47′52.678
“Never in all my dreams did I imagine this situation today – winning the race and leading the championship. This season I have been much more calm and careful and so I was really upset after the crash in Jerez because I didn’t expect it! Today has made up for that though. I had a very good pace with both types of tyre and the strategy of our team worked perfectly. I felt happy to stay out on the wet tyres for such a long time and in the end I think we changed at exactly the right time for our race; there was some luck on our side but we were also strong, calm and careful and this paid off. It was the first time in my life that I’ve had to change bikes during the race and I was very nervous, but it went smoothly and I was able to rejoin in the lead. I’m sorry for Valentino because it was bad luck to crash, but now we are nearly on the same points and it seems like the championship is starting again! I want to thank my team because they were very clever today, I’m so happy to be here and to have won a third MotoGP race.”

Valentino Rossi - Position: 16th Time: +2 Laps
“I had difficulties from the start today and I really could not ride my bike to its best. Already by the fourth lap I felt that I was quite slow and that I couldn’t ride as I wanted. I decided to change bikes early because usually this strategy – being among the first to change the bike pays off. Of course I knew that I had to warm the tyres up a little bit but I crashed anyway in that corner because at that point the track was still wet and I just didn’t ride into it in a calm enough manner. Luckily I was able to make it back to the pits and I changed again, but the rule says that if you change the bike again then you have to use one wet tyre, and so this is what we did. When I started that time, the pit-limiter on my bike was not on and so I was given a ride-through for speeding, but by that time it was too late for our race anyway. We’ve had problems throughout the entire weekend with the set-up of the bike and today I was just hoping that I could stay with the riders in front and get some important points for the championship. Now we go to Mugello, my home GP, where I will perhaps be even more motivated than usual!”.

YZR-M1 (Fiat Yamaha Team)

Bike No. 46 & 48

Engine

• Engine type: Liquid cooled Crossplane crankshaft inline four-cylinder, four stroke
• Maximum power: Over 200 horsepower (147 kW)
• Maximum speed: In excess of 320 km/h

Transmission

• Type: Six-speed cassette-type gearbox, with alternative gear ratios available

Chassis and running gear

• Frame type: Aluminium twin tube delta box, multi-adjustable steering geometry/wheelbase/ride height. Aluminium swingarm
• Suspension: Ohlins upside down front forks and Ohlins rear shock, all adjustable for pre-load, high and low-speed compression and rebound damping. Alternative rear suspension links available
• Front/rear wheels: Marchesini 16.5 front, 16.5 rear, available in a variety of rim widths
• Front/rear tyres: Bridgestone, 16.5 front, 16.5 rear, available as slick, intermediate, wet and hand-cut tyres
• Brakes: Brembo, two 320 mm carbon front discs, two four-piston callipers. Single 220 mm stainless steel rear disc, twin-piston calliper
• Weight: 148kg, in accordance with FIM regulations
• Fuel capacity: 21 litres, in accordance with FIM regulations

Jorge Lorenzo's Profile

• Bike No.: 48
• Date of Birth: May 4, 1987
• Place of Birth: Mallorca, Spain
• Nationality: Spanish
• Height: 170 cm
• Weight: 55 kg
• Marital Status: Single
• Hobbies: Music, videogames, internet
• Total Races: 111 (17 x MotoGP, 48 x 250cc, 46 x 125cc)
• Victories: 22 (1 x MotoGP, 17 x 250cc, 4 x 125cc)
• Pole Positions: 30 (4 x MotoGP, 23 x 250cc, 3 x 125cc)
• Podiums: 44 (6 x MotoGP, 29 x 250cc, 9 x 125cc)
• Wins: 2 (250cc, 2006/2007)
• First Grand Prix: Jerez, Spain, 2002 (125cc)

Background

20-year old Jorge Lorenzo joins the Fiat Yamaha Team for the 2008 season as double 250cc World Champion, having won the title for the past two years with Aprilia.

Lorenzo was born on the Balearic island of Mallorca, Spain on 4th May 1987. He began riding motorbikes at home at the tender age of three and within months of taking to two wheels was competing in his first minicross races. In 1995, aged eight, he won the Balearic title and followed that up the following year by taking the Island’s minicross, trial, minimoto and junior motocross titles.

Lorenzo graduated to road racing and national competition in 1997 and it didn’t take him long to adjust, winning the Aprilia 50cc Cup in 1998. Despite officially being too young, a special dispensation in 2000 allowed him to compete in the Spanish 125cc series at the age of 13 and he made history the following year when competing in Europe and becoming the youngest ever winner of a European 125cc race.

The precocious teenager, once again showing that age was no limit to a quick rise up the ranks of motorbike racing, made his first foray onto the world stage with Derbi at the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez in 2002, the third round of the season. He did not reach the legal age of 15 until Saturday and therefore missed the first day of practice but was unfazed by this and impressed the paddock by qualifying for the race, cementing his position in the World Championship over the course of the season as he got to grips with the circuits.

The young Mallorcan came of age the following season, winning his first 125cc Grand Prix in Rio de Janeiro and then going on to win three more races the following season, finishing fourth in 2004 and taking his podium tally to nine before making the step up the quarter-litre class and switching to Honda machinery. Six podium finishes and four pole positions in his rookie 250cc season sealed fifth in the championship and, with a move to the Aprilia factory team, 2006 was widely expected to be his defining year.

Lorenzo indeed surpassed all expectations in 2006, dominating the class with eight wins and a record-equalling ten poles, clinching his first world title convincingly. 2007 saw more of the same and an incredible nine pole positions saw him win from every single one of them, claiming his second world title at the penultimate round in Sepang. He also became the most successful 250cc Spanish rider of all time in the process.

2008 sees Lorenzo make the step up to MotoGP with Yamaha, where he will partner Valentino Rossi in the Fiat Yamaha Team. A colourful character, Lorenzo has a fondness for exuberant post-race celebrations, which make him a popular figure with the fans. His nickname 'X Fuera', is an allusion to his flamboyant outside overtaking style.


Career Highlights

2009:
Fiat Yamaha Team, MotoGP World Championship

2008:
4th, MotoGP World Championship

2007:
250cc World Champion

2006:
250cc World Champion

2005:
5th, 250cc World Championship

2004:
4th, 125cc World Championship

2003:
12th, 125cc World Championship

2002:
21st, 125cc World Championship