Jorge Lorenzo - Catalunya MotoGP 2010

The Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo crossed the line to take the chequered flag yesterday at the Catalunya MotoGP extending his lead in the championship standings.

It was the Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa that took to the front as the lights went our at the Circuit de Catalunya from fourth spot on the grid but as he came out of the first turn he discovered that he had no front brakes, forcing him wide and  back to ninth position.

Lorenzo to the front of the pack as the Marlboro Ducati of Casey Stoner began to put pressure on the Spaniard followed closely behind by the second Repsol Honda of Andrea Dovizioso and Randy de Puniet.

Within two laps Dani Pedrosa was back on the pace and had fought his way back to fifth position as his team-mate passed Stoner on the inside to take second place at turn five and began to chase down the leading man.

Dovizioso then passed Lorenzo on the following lap as they headed into turn one but only managed to hold the position for a short time as the Yamaha rider retook the lead within a lap and a half.

Stoner decided he wanted a taste of the lead and after running in the slipstream of the two front runners picked up enough speed to pass but missed his braking point at turn 1, rejoining behind Randy de Puniet and Pedrosa.

Pedrosa continued to chase down the front runners, passing De Puniet on lap 7 as the battle for the lead between Lorenzo and Dovizioso went on.

Dovizioso’s moment ended when after suffering some sort of problem with his rear brakes the Honda rider crashed out leaving Lorenzo some breathing space as he cruised towards the finishing line.

Stoner recovered from his earlier off and passed Randy de Puniet before chasing down Pedrosa for second place, however, Pedrosa gave the Ducati rider no chance of passing and finished the race ahead.

Randy de Puniet finished in fourth place ahead of the Rizla Suzuki rider Alvaro Bautista in fifth and Monster Tech3 Yamaha rider Ben Spies in sixth.

In seventh place was the second Rizla Suzuki man Loris Capirossi followed by Nicky Hayden on the second Marlboro Ducati in eighth, Marco Melandri on the  San Carlo Honda Gresini in ninth and Hector Barbera on the Paginas Amarillas Aspar in tenth.

Here are the results;

1.  Jorge Lorenzo  ESP Fiat Yamaha Team  43m 22.805s
2. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team 43m 27.559s
3. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 43m 27.761s
4. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 43m 40.862s
5. Alvaro Bautista ESP Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 43m 44.166s
6. Ben Spies USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 43m 44.308s
7. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 43m 46.986s
8. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro Team 43m 50.746s
9. Marco Melandri ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 43m 50.851s
10. Hector Barbera ESP Paginas Amarillas Aspar 43m 55.244s
11. Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 44m 1.211s
12. Mika Kallio FIN Pramac Racing 44m 21.062s
13. Kousuke Akiyoshi JPN Interwetten Honda MotoGP 44m 32.153s
14. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team 44m 55.207s
15. Wataru Yoshikawa JPN Fiat Yamaha Team 44m 58.042s

DNF:
Marco Simoncelli ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini
Aleix Espargaro ESP Pramac Racing

Rossi's Fiat Yamaha 2010

The Fiat Yamaha MotoGP team are replacing the injured Valentino Rossi with their test rider Wataru Yoshikawa at the Catalunya Grand Prix on July 4th.

The Japanese rider is a two-times Superbike champion is expected to ride the YZR-M1 for at least the next 3 races while Rossi is out of action.

Team Managing Director Lin Jarvis said in an interview;

“Finally, after a great deal of consideration, we have selected Wataru Yoshikawa, our Japanese YZR-M1 test rider, to join us as our substitute rider. We provisionally plan for three races (Catalunya, Sachsenring and Laguna Seca) but we will adjust the plan accordingly when we know more about Valentino’s expected date of return.”

The 41-year-old has only competed in the series on one previous occasion when he raced as a wild-card back in 2002, at Motegi where he finished in twelfth position.

James Toseland

The first day of testing got underway today at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia with Loris Capirossi on the Suzuki setting the pace.

Ducati rider Casey Stoner was on his tail showing no ill-effects from the surgery he undertook during the winter break, despite the fact that he later admitted to his wrist not being nearly as good as he had expected and not feeling comfortable with it.

Reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi, was the third fastest on his Yamaha even with stitches in his left hand and foot after his recent accident at home, although he seemed to be rather more uncomfortable on his feet.  Rossi crashed out on his fifth lap of the circuit but quickly recovered and continued to improve on his times.

Second Suzuki rider Chris Vermeulen, came in fourth followed by Toni Elias on the Gresini Honda and Andrea Dovizioso on the new factory Honda.

In seventh place was Colin Edwards on the Tech 3 Yamaha ahead of Spanish rider Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda and Sete Gibernau on the Onde Ducati.

Jorge Lorenzo took tenth on his Yamaha followed by Nicky Hayden on the second works Ducati, a full two seconds off the pace of team mate Stoner.

James Toseland on the second Tech 3 Yamaha had a massive high side and was fortunate too escape with only bruising and a dead right arm.  The British rider lost grip on his first flying lap at the fast turn five completely destroying the brand new YZR-M1 at almost 125mph.

A very expensive accident for the team with not a single part of the Yamaha able to be salvaged and an estimated cost of £200,000, not a good start, but with all respect to Toseland he was back on track after receiving extensive treatment at the circuits medical centre to participate in the final hour of the session.

Here are the times for day One;

Pos  Rider              Bike    Time               Laps
 1.  Loris Capirossi    Suzuki  2:01.869           37
 2.  Casey Stoner       Ducati  2:02.038  + 0.169  34
 3.  Valentino Rossi    Yamaha  2:02.324  + 0.455  31
 4.  Chris Vermeulen    Suzuki  2:02.803  + 0.934  55
 5.  Toni Elias         Honda   2:02.886  + 1.017  52
 6.  Andrea Dovizioso   Honda   2:03.088  + 1.219  50
 7.  Colin Edwards      Yamaha  2:03.254  + 1.385  34
 8.  Dani Pedrosa       Honda   2:03.312  + 1.443  44
 9.  Sete Gibernau      Ducati  2:03.750  + 1.881  54
10.  Jorge Lorenzo      Yamaha  2:03.894  + 2.025  61
11.  Nicky Hayden       Ducati  2:04.002  + 2.133  60
12.  Alex De Angelis    Honda   2:04.396  + 2.527  53
13.  Mika Kallio        Ducati  2:04.405  + 2.536  60
14.  James Toseland     Yamaha  2:04.502  + 2.633  34
15.  Randy De Puniet    Honda   2:04.882  + 3.013  61
16.  Norihiko Fujiwara  Yamaha  2:05.024  + 3.155  47
17.  Yuki Takahashi     Honda   2:05.098  + 3.229  73
18.  Wataru Yoshikawa   Yamaha  2:05.140  + 3.271  44
19.  Niccolo Canepa     Ducati  2:05.270  + 3.401  45