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There’s no doubt: Rossi is a contender

Qatar is a dry state so there’s no fun to be had with booze on the podium, but I bet the Yamaha crew more than made up for that when they got back to their hotel on Sunday night. Doha’s international hotels are the only places you can imbibe alcohol in the country, so their terrifyingly expensive bars are an unlikely mix of ex-pat financiers and oil/gas engineers and a few naughty locals. Throw in a rowdy bunch of racers and mechanics and you’ve a pretty weird scene.

I’ll also bet that Valentino Rossi stayed up longer than Jorge Lorenzo, if he could persuade the barman to keep popping the champagne corks. Rossi may be hurtling towards middle age but he still has his old rock and roll attitude, he’s never subscribed to Lorenzo’s beliefs in Spartan self-denial or quasi-Buddhism.

Everyone at Yamaha had every right to have a few drinks on Sunday night because even in their wildest dreams they can hardly have expected to thrash Honda so mightily in the first race of the year. HRC’s post-race debriefs can’t have been pleasant affairs: how come both their factory riders were so soundly beaten by both factory Yamahas and how come Cal Crutchlow was able to run with Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez while riding last year’s M1?

True, Losail is more of a Yamaha circuit than a Honda circuit. It’s a desert serpentine: all corner speed, with one fast, flowing corner leading into the next fast, flowing corner and only one straight worthy of the name. As tradition demands, this should be where Honda horsepower tells. Last year the fastest factory Honda had a 4.6mph advantage over the fastest factory Yamaha at Losail. That’s a huge difference and a guaranteed easy overtake on the start-finish straight – it’s like one person standing still and another coming past at a fast walking rate.

This time the difference between the fastest factory Honda and Yamaha was just 1.6mph, which isn’t an easy overtake at all. With such a slim advantage the Hondas required a decent slipstream to make a pass on the main straight, and with the Yamahas exiting the final corner faster, that wasn’t such an easy thing for Marquez or Pedrosa to find. In other words, Yamaha have found a lot more engine over the winter, without losing any of their traditional chassis advantage.

Lorenzo was so ominously inch-perfect and immediately out of sight that we hardly got to see him all race. Instead the cameras – quite rightly – focused on Rossi’s meteoric comeback from his disastrous first two laps. The nine-time champ was both thrilling and hilarious to behold in the early stages. It was almost like he had regressed to his teenage years, making wild tabs here and there and paying a high price for his impatience to make up for his third-row start.

He obviously couldn’t handle being behind Andrea Dovizioso and the Ducati on the first lap, so he dived past, only to run wide. He did the same the next lap, diving past his fellow Italian once more, gaining one place, then running wide again and losing four places as Dovizioso, Stefan Bradl, Cal Crutchlow and Marc Marquez came past.

He was a man in a hurry, happily prepared to take a few wild swipes at his rivals, rather than settle into that turgid old game of follow my leader that’s become the norm in MotoGP over the last few years.

It took Rossi another six laps to extricate himself from that gang, by which time he was 7.3 seconds behind Lorenzo. By the end of the race he was 5.9 seconds down on the world champ, despite having to work his way past Pedrosa, Crutchlow and Marquez. Who knows what might have happened if he hadn’t lost so much ground in the first few laps?

During the off-season Rossi was very much in anti-hype mode, playing down his chances and being (rightly) humble after his Ducati disaster. I’m sure that he’s always felt different inside, I’m sure he’s always felt he might have an outside chance at the title. And I’m now absolutely certain that he thinks he can win the crown. Lorenzo is a daunting rival, but he’s not impossible to beat.

Rossi’s body language at Qatar was entirely different from the last two years. On the bike it screamed joy and aggression. He looked inspired, letting it all hang out and attacking corners with big, sweeping lines, happy to take risks without dreading the consequences. And that’s what you need to be able to do in racing – take a few risks, teeter on the brink and get away with it, giggling inside at your audacity. No wonder that after the race he seemed almost delirious with delight.

No one’s ever won a world championship at the first round and perhaps Qatar will turn out to be Rossi’s best race of the year, but after Sunday night there’s no doubt now that he is still a championship player.

Click here to read more from Mat Oxley.

Motor Sport Magazine – The original motor racing magazine

Source: Motor Sport Mag

Business as usual at Mallory Park

The outward journey featured some unusual quirks – not least at Newport Pagnell services. At the head of the payment queue, a Polish gent was earnestly trying to buy a bottle of vodka… and struggling to take ‘no’ for an answer as the lady behind the counter tried to explain that she didn’t sell alcohol at any time of the day, let alone 7am. Reassuring normality lay about 60 miles to the north, with the unmistakable sausage cologne that permeates as soon as you reach Mallory Park’s paddock.

The Leicestershire circuit has flirted with the news of late – following concerns that a row about noise levels could affect its future – and last month colleague Paul Fearnley outlined some of the details on this website, while at the same time paying eloquent tribute to the venue’s past.

As yet there is no formal word on long-term survival, with negotiations between the circuit, local residents and councillors still ongoing, but there are positive signs – not least a solid calendar for 2013, something that had still to be published on the Mallory Park website just a few weeks ago. There are fewer fixtures than hitherto, but potential highlights include a few vintage motorcycle weekends, two rounds of the British Rallycross Championship (April 14 and June 2), a classic touring car festival (August 3-4), a Vintage Sports Car Club event (August 21), a dedicated sidecar extravaganza (October 13) and the always popular Plum Pudding meeting, when four wheels share prime billing with two on Boxing Day. The adjacent motocross track lies silent, however, and it seems two-strokes have screamed their last across its many spectacular ridges. The layout remains intact and is likely, we understand, to be adapted for more tranquil pursuits.

The East Midlands Racing Association was in charge last weekend, with some grass-roots motorcycle races. These might have lacked the profile of the concurrent British Superbike season-opener at Brands Hatch, but were infused with parallel passion. Highlights included cheerful camaraderie, no-nonsense competition… and sidecar passenger Anne Garnish selling pots of jam, in a bid to raise funds to sustain her hobby. Business as usual, then, and the perfect complement to Mallory’s homely charms.

More than 30 years have passed since the successful Save Mallory campaign, which was spearheaded by Ron and Edwina Overend, the management team of the day. They were determined to preserve the track after previous owner Motor Circuit Developments announced its intention to sell the site for development at the end of 1982. It would eventually pass to a property company, albeit one whose owner was steeped in racing. Chris Meek retains control to this day.

There have been only a few major meetings since that deal was struck. The British Saloon/Touring Car and F3 Championships have not visited since 1982, while the British Superbike Championship dropped the circuit from its schedule at the end of 2010. No matter how much has been stripped away, though, the circuit has always retained its soul (and, arguably, Britain’s finest paddock breakfasts).

Should Mallory Park ever close, our sport would be immeasurably the poorer.

Read more by Simon Arron.

Read Paul Fearnley’s article on Mallory Park.

Motor Sport Magazine – The original motor racing magazine

Source: Motor Sport Mag

Reigning MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo became the first MotoGP rider to take pole position under the new qualifying format tonight at the Losail International Circuit for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Qatar. The new quick-fire format allowing just 15 minutes for the riders to deliver their best lap proved an intense session. Lorenzo was quick to move to the top of the time sheets with a fats lap only to be relegated to third by rival Dani Pedrosa and then fellow Yamaha rider Cal Crutchlow. The Champion then responded with a stunning 1’54.714 second lap, over two tenths clear of Crutchlow in second to take his first pole of the season.

Polesitter Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Yamaha MotoGP

Having set a threatening pace over the practice sessions Valentino Rossi looked promising for a strong qualifying session. Unfortunately the Italian nine-time World Champion was held up in traffic on his second outing with a fresh tyre and was unable to make it to the front row for tomorrow’s race. Rossi will start his first Grand Prix back with Yamaha from the fourth row in seventh place.

Jorge Lorenzo – 1st, Time – 1’54.714 “I’m really happy, for three or four laps we pushed to the limit. I knew Cal was really fast over one lap so I had to push to the maximum. I’m very happy with this pole position. The important thing is that the Yamaha works here at this track. I think for the first time of the new qualifying format it has been very positive and for the fans it is very good to watch. For the riders you are a little more nervous and you have less time to make a fast lap. I knew I was competitive but the ten minutes before the qualifying we had some problems with the set up of the bike so it was more difficult to make the time. We had to change to yesterday’s setting. The important thing is it make a good start tomorrow. The last simulations I made were better than yesterday so I’m quite confident for the start. If there are problems in the first laps we have to be patient and wait for the middle of the race.”

Valentino Rossi – 7th, Time – 1’55.711 “The qualifying was not fantastic for us, especially as we lost the second row. Our performance during free practice was better than this, we’ll wait for tomorrow. Unfortunately in the qualifying session with the second tyre where we had to improve I was stuck in traffic so I could not improve my lap time and I lost some positions. For sure tomorrow it becomes more difficult to start from further behind but we have a good pace so we can be quite competitive.”

Wilco Zeelenberg – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager
“The new qualifying system has been run for the first time and Jorge got the pole. It was very exciting I have to say. Everything is focused on just 15 minutes so you are more nervous than with an hour qualification. He did very well and was happy with his performance and with the bike also. We are looking forward to tomorrow’s race. There are three or four guys who are strong, but we will try to win the race and if not be on the podium! The first challenge is the start and we’ll see from there.”

Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director
“There’s no better way to start the season than with a pole. The lap that Jorge did was amazing. He could have gone even faster but anyway what he has done is really great. The pace he has is really good and I think we can be pretty optimistic for tomorrow. Unfortunately Vale had some traffic during his last tyre and that compromised his possibility to do two fast laps. He has to start from the third row but he is a fighter and what we have seen from the last two days means we know he can do well. We are ready for tomorrow.”

Yamaha Racing

Special thanks to:
motorsport.com

In the debut of MotoGP’s exciting new qualifying system and his first qualifying session as a Ducati Team rider, Andrea Dovizioso had a successful Q2, with just .009 seconds separating him from the front row for tomorrow night’s season-opening Qatar Grand Prix, and just .446 seconds between him and pole-qualifier Jorge Lorenzo.

Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team

Photo by: Ducati Corse

Thanks to solid performances over the previous two days, both the Italian and his teammate Nicky Hayden had advanced directly into tonight’s 15-minute Q2 session, which was made particularly challenging by an extremely dirty track surface. Dovizioso was pleased with his setup and was able to ride to his bike’s limit, whereas Hayden struggled with chatter in his first run and pitted for a fresh tyre after just one lap. His second exit was affected by unfortunate timing and mistakes.

Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team, 4th (1:55.160)
“I’m very pleased to make the second row, just a few tenths from first place. I didn’t expect to do a 1:55.1 lap, or especially to be so close to Lorenzo. It was nice to have a good feeling with the bike when I tried to push hard with a new tyre in the last laps. I’m really happy with the work that the team did this weekend because we managed to make it to qualifying with a perfect setup of our electronics, so we were quickly able to use the bike to its full potential. Starting from the second row will be important for the race. I still have some big question marks for the race because everything is still new for me, but I’m very motivated for tomorrow. We’ll see how things are in the race.”

Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team, 11th (1:56.667)
“In the first run, I had a lot of chatter from out of nowhere. I went back out, and right when I went to start my hot lap, the other guys were pulling out of the pits, and I just made too many mistakes in the traffic. I’m certainly not thrilled, especially because last year I was one second faster in qualifying. It was a poor job by me when it counted, but credit to Andrea for a really good session. I think our setups are very similar, but we’ll definitely have to check his data.”

Ducati Team

Special thanks to:
motorsport.com

Jorge Lorenzo snatched the first pole position of 2013 for the Yamaha Factory Racing Team with a stunning performance under the floodlights at the Losail International Circuit while Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow secured a sensational second place with blistering pace and the final slot on the front row for the Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar went to Dani Pedrosa for the Repsol Honda Team.

The new qualifying format for 2013 made for very exciting practice and both qualifying sessions with the top ten fastest from the practice sessions automatically securing a slot in the shootout for pole while two more places were made available from the first qualifying session with the remainder of the riders making up the 13th to last position. Right from the start of the both sessions the pace was frantic and at the end of the Q1 it was Pramac Racing’s Andrea Iannone and CRT rider Aleix Espargaro (Power Electronics Aspar) securing the final two spots in Q2.

When the shootout for pole position started Lorenzo was right at the sharp end as was Crutchlow but Lorenzo came out on top setting the fastest time of 1m 54.714s to that of the British rider’s best lap of 1m 54.916s. Pedrosa was off the pace for the majority of the 15 minute session but found something at the end to enable to set a best lap of 1m 55.151s while a stunning ride from Andrea Dovizioso puts the Ducati Team man in 4th place (1m 55.160s).

Stefan Bradl starts from 5th tomorrow with the LCR Honda rider on setting a best lap time of 1m 55.477s and one place ahead of Marc Marquez who was somewhat off the boil today with the Repsol Honda rider only managing a best time of 1m 55.645s. Valentino Rossi was not impressed with his performance at the end of the session with the Yamaha Factory Racing rider starting from 7th with a best lap of 1m 55.711s while GO&Fun Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista starts from the middle of the third row (1m 55.870s). Bradley Smith had a very good qualifying and the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rookie set the 9th best time of 1m 56.315s with the final spot in the top ten being secured by Pramac Racing’s Andrea Iannone 1m 56.523s.

Cal Crutchlow, Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Photo by: Hazrin Yeob Men Shah

Nicky Hayden will start from 11th tomorrow with a best time of 1m 56.667s with Espargaro in 12th (1m 57.064s). Ben Spies narrowly missed out on the pole shootout and starts from 13th for the Pramac Racing squad with Power Electronics Aspar rider Randy De Puniet in 14th and Came IodaRacing Project’s Lukas Pesek in 15th. Yonny Hernandez starts from 16th for the Paul Bird Motorsports team ahead of Hiroshi Aoyama on the Avintia Blusens machine in 17th place. Karel Abraham starts from 18th for the Cardion AB Motoracing team while Colin Edwards (NGM Forward Racing) had to settle for 19th.

Starting from 20th place will be Danilo Petrucci on the second of the Came IodaRacing machines with NG Forward Racing rider Claudio Corti in 21st place and Avintia Blusens rider Hector Barbera secured 22nd place. Bryan Staring will start from 23trd place for the GO&FUN Honda Gresini CRT effort with Michael Laverty bringing up the rear on the Paul Bird Motorsport machine.

Securing the first pole position of the year was something special for Lorenzo who was delighted with his performance. He said, “I’m really happy, for three or four laps we pushed to the limit. I knew Cal was really fast over one lap so I had to push to the maximum. I’m very happy with this pole position. The important thing is that the Yamaha works here at this track. I think for the first time of the new qualifying format it has been very positive and for the fans it is very good to watch. For the riders you are a little more nervous and you have less time to make a fast lap.

I knew I was competitive but the ten minutes before the qualifying we had some problems with the set up of the bike so it was more difficult to make the time. We had to change to yesterday’s setting. The important thing is to make a good start tomorrow. The last simulations I made were better than yesterday so I’m quite confident for the start. If there are problems in the first laps we have to be patient and wait for the middle of the race,” Lorenzo added.

Crutchlow carried over his pace from practice into qualifying and is confident about tomorrow race and said, “It is a very positive way to be starting the first race from the front row of the grid and thanks to my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team because I had a great bike underneath me tonight. I was confident going into QP2 of being able to challenge for the front row because I was fastest in FP4 and the bike felt like it was working really well. I must admit the 15-minute format is really exciting and I think it is great for the Championship and for the fans.

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team

Photo by: Repsol Media

“I’d have liked it to have been only 10 minutes long because that would have put me on pole position! But credit to Jorge because he pulled a brilliant time out of the bag, though I am really satisfied because starting from the front row is always important. It is going to be a very difficult race but I am ready for it. I think there are six of us that can be fighting for the podium and I will certainly be giving it my all to make sure I am one of them,” Crutchlow added.

Pedrosa was happy to have grabbed a front row start after encountering some problems during the free practice sessions. He said, “Today we were able to improve a lot and take a front row start for tomorrow. It is important to start high up the grid whenever you can, because there are some very fast riders up against us. We still need to improve a few things with the bike and I hope that we can have a good race. The key will be to choose a good tire compound and find a strong pace."

Special thanks to:
motorsport.com