Jorge Lorenzo - Fiat Yamaha 2010

The Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo is now leading the championship following his win at the Le Mans MotoGP at the weekend.

Valentino Rossi led the pack for the first eleven laps of the race after getting ahead of the Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa while Lorenzo slotted into third place and the two Marlboro Ducati’s of Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner were running in fourth and fifth.

Lorenzo soon passed Pedrosa as Stoner put his foot down to get past his team-mate and move into fourth and chase down the Honda.  Stoner was on the tail of Pedrosa when he crashed out for the second time in the last three races.

The two Fiat Yamaha’s led the field ahead of Pedrosa as Lorenzo attempted a pass on his team-mate on lap 7.  Rossi immediately retook his position but only for another four laps when the Spaniard made his move stick and shot off into the distance.

Pedrosa was then left to fight off his challenging team-mate Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden for his third spot on the podium.  With only 5 laps of the race to go the pair were on the Spaniard and looking for a way past which Dovizioso managed and the chance for Hayden came on the final lap as Pedrosa ran wide as his tyres wore down gifting Hayden took his opportunity to grab that fourth place.

Here are the results;

Jorge Lorenzo

This weekend saw the MotoGP teams and riders head to Jerez for the Spanish Grand Prix with Jorge Lorenzo crossing the line to win at his home circuit.

Dani Pedrosa qualified in pole position for the Repsol Honda team and led the race as the lights went out followed by the Fiat Yamaha of Valentino Rossi who slipped into second from fourth on the grid, ahead of the Marlboro Ducati of Nicky Hayden.

The Rizla Suzuki rider Loris Capirossi crashed out on lap three and was out of the race followed shortly afterwards by the Pramac Racing machine of Aleix Espargaro, who managed to rejoin the runners.  Ben Spies on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine was seen returning to his pit garage and retire after developing a problem with his front tyre.

Pedrosa was leading the race and creating a gap between himself and second place man Rossi with a fast approaching Lorenzo while the battle further back was between San Carlo Honda Gresini team-mates Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli who were challenging for seventh place.

Lorenzo slipped past his team mate Rossi on lap 21 of the race before attempting a pass on his fellow countryman Pedrosa two laps later.  However, the Honda rider wasn’t giving up his slot easily and the two almost made contact as Pedrosa fought to hold his line.

On the final lap, Pedrosa ran wide allowing Lorenzo the chance to get past and finish 0.543 seconds ahead with Rossi in third place.

Nicky Hayden finished in fourth spot followed by Casey Stoner in fifth, Andrea Dovizioso in sixth, MikaKallio in seventh, Marco Melandri in eighth, Randy de Puniet in ninth and Alvaro Bautista in tenth.

Here are the results;

1   Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team 45m 17.538s
2.  Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team 45m 18.081s
3. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 45m 18.428s
4.  Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro Team 45m 26.553s
5. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 45m 27.572s
6.  Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team 45m 40.682s
7.   Mika Kallio FIN Pramac Racing 45m 52.027s
8. Marco Melandri ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 45m 52.225s
9. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 45m 53.698s
10. Alvaro Bautista SPA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 45m 54.329s
11. Marco Simoncelli ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 45m 54.693s
12. Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 45m 55.798s
13. Hector Barbera SPA Paginas Amarillas Aspar 45m 55.909s
14. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Interwetten Honda MotoGP 46m 19.59s
15. Aleix Espargaro SPA Pramac Racing +3laps

DNF:
Ben Spies USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
Loris CapirossiITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

Garry McCoy - FB Corse - MotoGP 2010

The new FB Corse team have been given permission to join the MotoGP championship for 2010, starting from round three at Jerez.

The team have been testing with their rider for the season Garry McCoy, who although disappointed not to be on the grid from round one agrees that it will give himself and the team further testing time on the FB01.

Approval of the new team was given by Dorna representatives following Wednesday’s test timing test at the Valencia circuit where they have continued to test today.

The 37-year-old rider, who was better known as ‘The Slide King’ due to his style of riding has signed a two-year deal to race for the team after last competing in the MotoGP series back in 2006.

John Hopkins

The FB Corse team have announced that they have signed John Hopkins to ride for them in the 2010 debut season in MotoGP.

The team had admitted that they were interested in signing Hopkins back in the summer before it was rumoured that he would be going to the AMA series for 2010, but they have now confirmed that the deal has been done.

The team have also announced that they have signed Simone Gorztkyj for their Moto2 project, where he will ride as a wild-card at five of the championship rounds.

The official team announcement and presentation for the 2010 series is expected to take place in Milan on the 21st January.