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MotoGP 2009 - Round 14 - Estoril - Race |
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MotoGP 2009 - Round 14 - Estoril - Race |
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MotoGP Rnd 14 Jorge Lorenzo repeated his 2008 Estoril victory from pole on Sunday to significantly boost his title chances as Valentino Rossi could only manage fourth place at the bwin.com Grande Prémio de Portugal. The Fiat Yamaha pair got away in first and second places on the grid but Rossi was unable to match the pace of Lorenzo as he pulled away quickly at the front. On his return to action Ducati’s Casey Stoner rode brilliantly to follow Lorenzo across the line in second place, whilst Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa was third. Lorenzo will now feel that with three races to go and an 18 point deficit to Rossi the championship is far more achievable than before the visit to Portugal. The Spaniard was in unstoppable form in the Atlantic Coast sunshine and his fourth win of the year was eventually secured by a 6.3s margin. Stoner performed admirably on his return to action after two months away due to illness, achieving his first podium since Assen in June – and he now has his home race at Phillip Island to look forward to in a fortnight’s time. Pedrosa rode well from fourth on the grid, taking the holeshot with one of his traditionally rapid starts onboard the factory RC212V and briefly holding the lead before Lorenzo slipped through. Pedrosa’s third place was his eighth podium of 2009. World Champion Rossi appeared to be off-colour throughout the race, finishing off the podium for the first time at Estoril in the premier class. The championship leader will undertake a comprehensive inquest into his lack of competitiveness with his Fiat Yamaha crew after finishing 23 seconds behind Lorenzo. Behind the MotoGP big guns at the front, Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was 10 seconds back on Rossi in fifth place, whilst Toni Elías (San Carlo Honda Gresini) held off Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) for sixth on the line. The top ten also featured Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro), James Toseland (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki), with Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) crashing out early on and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) and Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) retiring due to technical problems. Another solid fourth placed finish for Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Racing) saw him extend his title advantage to 26 points in the 250cc class after Álvaro Bautista (Mapfre Aspar) crashed out early on, whilst World Champion Marco Simoncelli (Metis Gilera) brought himself back into the championship fight with another win. Bautista’s engine appeared to seize up on lap four causing him to crash out, leaving Simoncelli to take his fifth win of the year – and his fourth in the last six rounds – putting the Italian two points behind the Spaniard in the standings. Behind Simoncelli, Mike di Meglio (Mapfre Aspar) and Héctor Barberá (Pepe World Team) crossed the line neck and neck, and although they were given exactly the same race time second place was awarded to Di Meglio (who had performed the fastest lap of the two riders), whilst Aoyama rode steadily to fourth place. The Japanese rider finished 12 seconds slower than Simoncelli but leaves Portugal in a stronger position than he arrived in. In fifth place following Aoyama across the line two seconds back was Jules Cluzel (Matteoni Racing), whilst Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT SAG) did well to finish sixth. Pol Espargaró (Derbi Racing) scored an excellent victory in the 125cc category to make up for his last lap Misano nightmare, as he judged the final stages to perfection to outdo Sandro Cortese (Ajo Interwetten) and Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar). World Championship candidate Julián Simón (Bancaja Aspar) crashed on the 16th lap when leading by more than five seconds as he suffered a rare drop in his consistently high standards this year, at the end of a highly competitive weekend. He will have to wait a while longer to clinch the title but is still 50.5 points ahead with three rounds remaining. Espargaró held his nerve in a three-way battle at the front over the final laps, eventually crossing the line 0.394s in front of Cortese and 0.581s ahead of Smith. Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) was ten seconds behind the podium finishers, whilst Joan Olivé (Derbi Racing Team) was a further six seconds back in fifth. The next two rounds of the 2009 FIM MotoGP World Championship take place back-to-back, with the Iveco Australian Grand Prix (16th-18th October) being held a week before the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix (23rd-25th October). |
| MotoGP Rnd 14 - Race Result |
MotoGP Rnd 14 - Championship Standings |
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| -- MotoGP Quotes Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 1st "What a day! I'm so happy to win here again in the same track where I won my first MotoGP race last year. I worked so hard in the break on my fitness with my father and maybe that's given me a little bit of extra speed, I certainly felt so strong this weekend and it is great to win like this after being top in every session as well. I got a good start and it took me just a couple of corners to get past Dani and take the lead, but I honestly didn't expect to be unchallenged from then on or to finish with such a big gap. This is a good track for me but I am fast more or less everywhere now. The championship is closer now; it's still not easy but we have nothing to lose! I'm proud that we have won the Team Title and I want to say thanks and congratulations to everyone. I liked my leathers and helmet a lot this weekend and I wanted to celebrate Neil Armstong and his landing on the moon so this is why I made this 'moonwalk show' after the race!" Casey Stoner - Position: 2nd “It is great to be competitive again and to stay that way right to the end of the race. I maybe could have been faster over the opening few laps but I made a little mistake, which caused my foot to slip off the peg. It broke the footrest support and it was moving around in all the right-handers, so my foot was slipping off. As the laps went by I was able to alter the footpeg position a little but I wasn’t able to go any faster. Obviously Jorge was too fast for us today and he did a fantastic job but I’m still really happy today for myself and for the team. It is brilliant to come back like this and I think it shows that the decision to take a break and tackle a physical problem that was really making it impossible for us, was the right choice. Like I said I’m happy for the team because it has also been a difficult period for them. My relationship with Ducati, built over the past three years, has always been strong and solid. Now I’ll try and start training a little before the next race because over the last few months my physical condition has suffered and I need to try and get some muscle back. The target for the next few races is for myself and the team to prepare as well as we can for next season.” Dani Pedrosa - Position: 3rd “I made a very good start today and held the lead until the third corner where I ran a little wide and Jorge came by. He was pushing really hard in the first few laps and even though I was too, I couldn’t match his rhythm as he opened up a gap. When Casey came past I tried to stay with him and was able to put some pressure on and maintain a good pace. I had a moment though where the bike was snaking as I braked, I ran wide and I nearly crashed – that cost me some time and opened up the gap to Casey. So I’m reasonably happy with a podium and it definitely it will now be an interesting fight for third place in the championship with Casey. He is the reference in Australia and so the next race is going to be hard fought – I’m looking forward to it. I definitely want to win at least one of the three races left and maybe the next one is the most important.” Valentino Rossi - Position: 4th "It was a very difficult race for me. I was never able to be fast because I did not have enough grip in the rear and our tyre did not work well, but I think it was more a problem of setting. After a few laps I was in great difficulties and I immediately understood that this was not going to be "our" race. Throughout the practice sessions I had some problems but I thought that today I would be able to at least stay with Stoner and Pedrosa, but they made another step forward for the race and then there was no chance for me. On Friday I was three tenths off the pace and unfortunately this stayed the same all weekend and in the race today. Here in Estoril we struggled last year as well, so it might be that, with our setting, the rear tyre gets very hot and this causes a lack of grip. It is a pity that I am off the podium, but we have three more races and they are three great tracks. We must think race by race and we must work to understand what the problem was today in order to make sure that we fix it in time for Phillip Island". Colin Edwards - Position: 5th "Like I said yesterday, if you're the next best rider behind the top four in the world then you've done a good job and I rode the strongest race I could today. I got a good start but we've been fighting some front-end movement all weekend and I knew early on I wasn't going to be able to go with Valentino (Rossi) in front of me. The tyres worked great but we were just missing something on the set-up that meant even though Valentino was struggling a little bit, I couldn't really put any pressure on him. As much as I couldn't comfortably stay with the four guys in front, it was pretty easy for me to run a pace that meant I could pull away from the group behind me. Once I'd got a comfortable gap it was just a case of staying consistent to make sure I didn't give anybody a chance of catching me. I got a few more points back on Dovizioso for fifth in the championship and that is a good reward for the all effort my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 have put in.We've got three races to go and I'll be giving it my all as alw ays because I really want that fifth spot in the championship." Toni Elias - Position: 6th “I made a mistake yesterday in qualifying and had to start from 13th, and even though I didn’t get off the line as well as I would have liked I soon got into my rhythm and was able to produce a good fightback. The hardest part was getting past Hayden and Dovizioso but I was able to make a move on Andrea four laps from the end and I am delighted to have held on to sixth place, which is a position we deserve. We finished ahead of one of the factory team bikes and that is important. Today we moved up into the championship top ten. In two weeks time we go to a circuit where we know it will be tough for us but where we hope to get the points that will help us towards our objective of seventh in the championship. Of course I owe a big thank you to all the guys in my team who have done a fantastic job once again.” Andrea Dovizioso - Position: 7th “It was a really close finish on the line and I just missed out on sixth place – which isn’t the result we wanted, obviously. I started from the third row and was ninth in the early laps before getting past Capirossi, Elias and Hayden which took me up to sixth. I was able to hold the gap to Elias behind me but then I lost time on one lap and he came past. I closed again and it was really close on the last lap – I thought I had a chance of taking the place out of the last corner but it didn’t happen. We’ve had a few issues finding good grip and finding the best settings this weekend which has made it quite difficult to get the best out of the machine. I’m disappointed today but we have plenty of potential to move forward and we’ll continue to improve our understanding with the new suspension for the next races.” Nicky Hayden - Position: 8th “After the morning warm-up I was expecting a little more today but I just didn’t feel like I had the traction I’d had for most of the weekend. The bike was moving around a lot under acceleration and it was hard to get out of the corners. We made good progress throughout the weekend and like I said this morning felt quite good but the afternoon was really warm and maybe that affected us too much. I got a decent start and moved up a few places but a lot of guys were able to pass me on the front straightaway and I’m not really sure why the bike didn’t feel fast as usual. Nevertheless we learnt a lot this weekend and got some good data. I’d hoped for more but eighth is the best we could do. It’s not for a lack of effort or hard work but sometimes that’s not good enough. Hopefully we can do better at Phillip Island.” James Toseland - Position: 9th "I really enjoyed that race and it was good to be in an exciting battle with the second group. I was running pretty much the same lap times as Dovizioso and (Toni) Elias for most of the race and there was a great battle between myself, Hayden and Capirossi. I was having the most fun in that race that I've had for a while. The difficulty for me was that I've been struggling with a cold all weekend and it is very difficult to take any kind of medication when you've got to race. Over the whole race distance I didn't realise how much the cold had taken out of me but it wasn't a big problem. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team have worked incredibly hard all weekend to give me a really good package to ride today. I'm still only twelve points off seventh in the championship and that is my target now for the remaining three races. I really want that seventh place in the championship and am looking forward to giving the team a good finish to the year." Chris Vermeulen - Position: 10th "I got a good start, but from the fifth row it was always going to be difficult. I got a bit blocked in in the first few corners and that didn't help things at all. I chose the softer tyres because I knew the first part of the race was going to be very important, but after about eight laps the rear tyre that I had chosen was too soft and it started to move around a lot and the grip level dropped off. This meant I couldn't do the times I'd been doing all weekend - or that I wanted to do in the race. I am quite happy with the way I rode and the fact that I moved up through the field. We've definitely made improvements with the GSV-R at this track and I'm really looking forward to going to Phillip Island with those improvements." Randy De Puniet - Position: 11th “I am speechless! We could easily have finished in the top eight today but bad luck picked on me. I caught my right foot in the fairing at the very first corner which unzipped the boot. I couldn’t ride with boot open, so I tried to close it for a couple of laps, losing valuable positions. Then I pushed hard to overtake Vermeulen but I had a big highside moment which knocked my injured left ankle against the fairing. The last four laps were a bit painful. This result is not what we expected considering the good rhythm we had during practice and qualifying.” Marco Melandri - Position: 12th Niccolo Canepa - Position: 13th Gabor Talmacsi - Position: 14th “We are working hard but during practice, qualifying and the race we always had the same lap times. I am not getting the feeling I would like from the bike. For five or six laps I can stay with the others, but then I struggle. And when I lose contact with the others, my lap times drop. We must find a way to prepare a bike that gives me a better feeling.” Loris Capirossi - DNF "The race wasn't too bad today - until we stopped! I started quite well and was with the front group, but I then lost control on turn six and lost a few places. I tried to get my rhythm back and I managed to overtake a few riders and I caught up with Toni and Andrea. I know I was quicker than them and could have got past to score a good result. Then I don't really know what happened to the bike, because it lost power, so all I could do was return to the pits. We have worked really hard this weekend to find the best way to go quicker on the GSV-R and overall our position this weekend was to fight for fifth or sixth, which is not too bad for us because this is one of the worst tracks for us in terms of performance. Everything seems to be improving and we are now looking forward to the next race." Alex De Angelis - DNF “It is a tough day for us because it’s always frustrating to be forced out of a race by a bike problem but we know these things can happen, and for us it was the first time this season. It is disappointing that it happened in the race and not in practice because it would have given us a warning – it was clearly an electrical problem though. This week the Honda engineers will run all the tests they need to do and they’ll tell us exactly what the problem is and I’m sure it won’t happen again. Obviously I’m disappointed because this was an important race for me and I really wanted to challenge for the top ten in the championship. Either way I’m confident because I love the next two tracks coming up and I’ll be giving it my all again.” -- Bridgestone Report - Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium. Rear: Medium, Hard (asymmetric) Jorge Lorenzo and the Fiat Yamaha Team concluded their domination of the Portuguese Grand Prix today by scoring their fourth victory on Bridgestone tyres, closing the gap to the lead of the World Championship, setting a new record race time and lapping under the existing lap record. The new circuit lap record went to Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa though with a best time 0.5seconds faster then the existing best to set his second lap record this season on Bridgestone tyres. After an overcast and cool start to the day, conditions for the race were similar to those that Estoril has enjoyed all weekend, meaning that the harder of the available Bridgestone slicks were the favoured choice for the race. Given the track temperature and the 28-lap race distance, the top nine finishers all used the harder front and rear option slicks. Rizla Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen was the highest-finishing rider to opt for the softer options slicks both front and rear, making good use of the soft compound front and medium compound rear to climb from 15th to finish tenth. Hiroshi Yamada – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department “I must congratulate Jorge and the Fiat Yamaha Team today, and for their performance over this weekend - from Friday’s practice he has been faster than the lap record at Estoril. His win also marks the first premier class win for a Bridgestone-shod rider at Estoril. In the first year of single tyre supply, the World Championship title is now even closer with just an 18 point gap at the top and three points separating third and fourth. It is good to see Casey back and competitive, and he seems to have recovered well as his laptimes were consistent and his race time good.” Tohru Ubukata – Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department “We expected the pace that Casey and Dani set on our tyres today, but Jorge was faster than we expected and his total race time was very impressive, even considering the change of the date of the race and the resulting good weather conditions. His pace during the race today was very fast, and his winning race time was 14.5seconds faster than the total race time record, so I am pleased with the performance of our tyres on this circuit. As was predicted, the harder option front and rear slicks were the favoured option today because of their improved consistency over race distance.” Jorge Lorenzo – Fiat Yamaha Team – Race Winner “Today is a very happy day for us; it has been a perfect weekend. We dominated every practice, I felt great on the bike and I was very confident. At the beginning Casey was very fast and the difference between us was not so much, but after a few laps I could remain at my pace and he slowed a bit. But I didn’t expect to win with such a gap. Now the championship is less impossible, but it will still be very difficult.” |
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