2010 MotoGP Championship – Round 13 – Aragon – Day One
Fresh from the news of a renewed deal with HRC for the next two seasons and brimming with confidence after back-to-back wins in the two previous rounds, Dani Pedrosa was the quickest rider in the first day of practice at the Gran Premio A-Style de Aragón on Friday. Riding at the new track for the first time the Repsol Honda rider set a best time of 1’50.506 in the reinstated morning first free practice, before the rain arrived for the afternoon session to prevent his rivals from getting close to his mark.
Pedrosa finished 0.411s ahead of Ducati’s Nicky Hayden, with championship leader Jorge Lorenzo third fastest on his Fiat Yamaha M1 just 0.011s further down on Hayden, making the Spaniard the final rider under the 1’51” barrier this morning.
Casey Stoner was next up on the timesheet in fourth place, but can be satisfied with his day as whole, having led the wet afternoon practice with a best lap of 2’01.710. He was closely followed in the damp 45-minute session by Lorenzo and Hayden, with Pedrosa unable to match his dry weather form in 13th place.
Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) was the fastest rookie with an overall fifth and a 1’51.768, just a thousandth of a second ahead of fellow Italian and reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha). Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) put in an impressive penultimate lap to end seventh, whilst Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda), Colin Edwards and Ben Spies (both Monster Yamaha Tech 3) completed the top ten.
There was only one fall during the day with Aleix Espargaró suffering an early high-side on only his second lap out this morning. The Pramac Racing rider fell victim to a cold tyre as he crashed at turn two and fortunately escaped injury, returning to the track shortly after and setting the 13th fastest time.
The third and final practice session takes place at 10.05am local time on Saturday morning, with a 45-minute qualifying session for the Gran Premio A-Style de Aragón due to start at 2.05pm.
MotoGP FP Combined Times |
1 Dani Pedrosa 1m 50.506 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team 2 Nicky Hayden 1m 50.917 USA DUCATI Ducati Marlboro Team 3 Jorge Lorenzo 1m 50.928 SPA YAMAHA Fiat Yamaha Team 4 Casey Stoner 1m 51.195 AUS DUCATI Ducati Marlboro Team 5 Marco Simoncelli 1m 51.768 ITA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini 6 Valentino Rossi 1m 51.769 ITA YAMAHA Fiat Yamaha Team 7 Hector Barbera 1m 51.792 SPA DUCATI Paginas Amarillas Aspar 8 Andrea Dovizioso 1m 51.845 ITA HONDA Repsol Honda Team 9 Colin Edwards 1m 52.027 USA YAMAHA Tech 3 Yamaha 10 Ben Spies 1m 52.141 USA YAMAHA Tech 3 Yamaha 11 Marco Melandri 1m 52.321 ITA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini 12 Randy De Puniet 1m 52.340 FRA HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP 13 Aleix Espargaro 1m 52.752 SPA DUCATI Pramac Racing 14 Alvaro Bautista 1m 52.822 SPA SUZUKI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 15 Mika Kallio 1m 53.190 FIN DUCATI Pramac Racing 16 Hiroshi Aoyama 1m 53.512 JPN HONDA Interwetten Honda MotoGP |
— Yamaha Report Motorland Aragon played host to its first ever MotoGP practices today, with two 45-minutes sessions instead of the usual single one-hour session in order to give the riders a better chance to understand the new circuit. The two practices were run in very different conditions, with dry weather this morning giving way to steady rain this afternoon. Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi finished third and sixth in the overall combined standings. In the dry this morning Lorenzo quickly found a good rhythm on the 5.077 km track, which boasts elevation changes and some spectacular corners and, despite lacking grip in some areas, he was third at the end and confident of improving in the afternoon. Unfortunately the rain meant a change of plan but his standard wet setting worked well and he led for most of the second half, only edged off the top spot by Casey Stoner in the last seconds. Rossi confirmed yesterday that his leg is now in good shape but his damaged shoulder continues to plague him as he still lacks strength in it. He made a solid start this morning however, enjoying riding his M1 on this circuit and trying various different set-ups to find the best package for its different demands, finishing the morning in sixth. The rain this afternoon eased up the pressure on his shoulder somewhat and he finished the afternoon in fourth position, although he confirms he still prefers the track in the dry and is hoping to make more progress in better conditions tomorrow. The Italian is without his Team Manager Davide Brivio at this race as he is at home recovering from a back injury. Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 3rd Time: 1’50.928 Laps: 34 Valentino Rossi – Position: 6th Time: 1’51.769 Laps: 35 Wilco Zeelenberg – Team Manager Jeremy Burgess – Crew Chief Spies and Edwards tackle new Motorland Aragon track The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team successfully negotiated new territory today with Ben Spies and Colin Edwards tackling the state-of-art Motorland Aragon track in Spain for the first time in impressive fashion. The American pairing were instantly impressed with the challenging layout, the 5.078km circuit a blend of blind entry corners, hard braking sections and exciting undulation changes. With Friday morning practice restored to the schedule for the first time since 2008, Spies and Edwards immediately set about tweaking the set-up of their Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machines to suit the new track in an opening 45-minute session run in cool but dry conditions. Edwards and Spies were ninth and 10th respectively this morning but were presented with a completely different task this afternoon as heavy rain fell just as second practice was due to get underway. The downpour presented the Texan duo with the perfect opportunity to work on wet weather settings with forecasts predicting further rain for tomorrow. Spies in particular was in eye-catching form in the rain, the 26-year-old making a mockery of his lack of MotoGP experience in wet conditions to produce a confident and assured display. He clocked a best time of 2.03.874 to finish in eighth position this afternoon, Spies’ confidence in the wet conditions soaring as he finished less than a second off the top four. Today’s performance boosted Spies’ confidence as he looks to extend his fantastic run of form that has seen him finish top rookie and top non-fa ctory in the last four races. Edwards had a positive opening day too at the start of another landmark weekend for the 36-year-old. The 23-lap race will be his 100th premier class start for Yamaha. Only Valentino Rossi, Carlos Checa and Norick Abe have made more MotoGP appearances for Yamaha than Edwards. Edwards finished 0.114s clear of Spies in this morning’s dry session and he was delighted with his progress in the rain later, a best lap of 2.04.868 putting him 11th on the timesheets. Colin Edwards – Position: 9thTime: 1’52.027 Laps: 31 Ben Spies – Position: 10th Time: 1’52.141 Laps: 36 — Ducati Report Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden completed their first laps of the Motorland circuit in Aragon on their Desmosedici GP10 machines today and were both on the pace in both dry and wet conditions. With the schedule reverting to four practice sessions this weekend, the Ducati Marlboro pair took to the track under grey skies this morning, with Hayden second fastest and Stoner fourth. The clouds darkened and eventually burst just before the afternoon’s second session, with the Australian the fastest rider on the wet track by over half a second and Hayden again impressive with the third quickest lap. NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 2nd (1’50.917) CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 4th (1’51.195) — Repsol Honda Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa was fastest overall in today’s two opening MotoGP practice sessions as the Grand Prix of Aragon – which is a brand new event on the world championship calendar – got under way. In the morning Pedrosa wasted no time in laying down his marker for the weekend by heading straight to the top of the timesheets and staying there for almost the entire 45-minute period, finishing a healthy 0.411s ahead of second placed rider Nicky Hayden. Andrea Dovizioso also slipped smoothly into his stride, joining Pedrosa at the head of the times in the first half of the morning session before dropping back to eighth on his second outing from the pits. Pedrosa is looking to record his third MotoGP victory in succession this weekend, and on today’s evidence his rivals need to keep a close eye on the 24-year-old Spaniard, who announced a new two-year contract with Honda yesterday. In the afternoon period which began with rain falling steadily, Pedrosa was again consistently quickest in the first half the session and, although he was not on track due to a minor electrical issue when lap times came down significantly on a drying surface in the final ten minutes, Pedrosa had already displayed his pace in both wet and dry conditions today. With the wet afternoon session, today’s fastest times were set in the morning. Dovizioso and his crew spent the two sessions evaluating set-up options at the track which all the riders are experiencing for the first time on MotoGP machinery. The 24-year-old Italian, who rode here last Wednesday on a Honda CBR1000RR, once again enjoyed the varied and challenging circuit layout, although this afternoon he struggled a little to get fully on the pace in the tricky conditions. With a further practice session tomorrow morning and qualifying in the afternoon, Dovizioso is confident about moving forward in the rankings. DANI PEDROSA – 1st – 1m 50.506s ANDREA DOVIZIOSO – 8th – 1m 51.845s +1.339s TOSHIYUKI YAMAJI – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER — Suzuki Report Rizla Suzuki’s sole representative at the Motorland Aragon Grand Prix in Spain was happy with his first day’s work after changing weather conditions meant two totally different free practice sessions. Álvaro Bautista is the only Rizla Suzuki rider present at the new Aragon circuit, due to the absence of Loris Capirossi because of injury. The 25-year-old Spaniard was the busiest rider of the day as he completed a total of 39 laps of the 5,078m track during the two sessions. Today saw the re-introduction of a Friday morning practice session and Bautista put it to good use as he stayed out on track for as much of the 45-minutes as possible and used only a single pair of tyres as he learnt the layout of the circuit. Heavy rain just before the second session meant the surface was completely wet when Bautista took to the track; he stayed out for the whole session – not returning to the pits once – as he learnt how the Suzuki GSV-R behaved in the wet conditions. The fastest time of the day was set by one of Bautista’s countrymen; Dani Pedrosa recorded the quickest time in this morning’s dry session on his factory Honda. Bautista will have another 45-minute practice tomorrow morning, followed by a further 45-minutes in the afternoon to decide grid positions in the qualifying session. Sunday’s 23-lap race will be the inaugural Grand Prix at Aragon and the event will get underway at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT). Álvaro Bautista: “We had the opportunity to ride in both wet and dry conditions today and that was good because we were able to learn a lot about the track. This morning I used the softer option of tyres and at the beginning of the session they worked very well. It is a new track with new reference points so I had to try to push on without really knowing where I was going and I was able to learn the track – I felt good on the bike and the lap-times were pretty good as well. I made a stop in the middle of the session and carried on with the same tyres, but the rear was too soft and I was losing a lot of time from the exit of the corners – so I was unable to improve my lap-time. This was a good session for us though because it meant we learnt that we could not do a race distance with that type of tyre. This afternoon in the wet I just wanted to ride the track and find where the limit was. I rode very quietly and tried not to take too many risks and improve step-by-step. The lap-time was not very fast compared to other riders, but my feeling was good out there. I know I can improve the setting and performance in both wet and dry for tomorrow and I have a lot of confidence that we will make big steps over the weekend whatever the weather.” Paul Denning – Team Manager: “We are all really impressed with the Aragon Motorland facility. The layout of the racetrack is very challenging and the organisation is second-to-none. There seems to be a real pride around the place and it certainly deserves a Grand Prix event. — Bridgestone Report Bridgestone tyre compounds available: Slick: Front: Medium, Extra Hard. Rear: Soft, Medium Wet: Front: Soft. Rear: Soft Proceedings were different today at the Grand Prix of Aragon as the Friday morning practice session, scrapped at the end of the 2008 season, was reinstated temporarily as a trial ahead of a potential permanent return next season. Riders not only sampled the Motorland Aragon circuit for the first time on their 800cc MotoGP machines, but they also got to run in both the dry in the morning and the wet in the afternoon session. Spaniard Dani Pedrosa was fastest in the dry using the softer option front and harder rear slicks, favoured for their greater durability in the dirty track conditions, ahead of Nicky Hayden and Jorge Lorenzo. Hayden was the only rider in the top five to set his best lap on the softer option rear slick at the end of the session. The afternoon’s free practice session was wet for the duration, giving riders and teams a good opportunity to develop their wet setups after a distinct lack of wet running this season. Casey Stoner finished the 45-minute session fastest, over 0.5 seconds clear of Jorge Lorenzo with Nicky Hayden third. In the morning the track was dirty because it hasn’t been used a great deal recently and the surrounding area is very dusty, and whilst it cleaned throughout the morning sessions, the rain in the afternoon prevented the track conditions from improving further as the rain made the surface greasier still. Tohru Ubukata – Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department “This afternoon’s session was wet throughout and our wet tyres performed consistently, even in the dirty conditions, so I am happy with their performance. Overall, after the first two sessions I can say that all our tyre specs seem to be well suited to this circuit.” |
Moto2
In a change to normal scheduling, Moto2 experimented with being the first class out on track for both the morning and afternoon sessions and it was Andrea Iannone who laid down the first marker with a best lap of 1’56.223 on board his Fimmco Speed Up machine in the early practice. The Italian, who led the unofficial test at the circuit at the start of July, was 0.061s faster than Julián Simón, with whom he is battling closely with for second spot in the Championship standings.
In third overall was Mattia Pasini, riding this weekend as a replacement for the injured Michael Ranseder, and who set the quickest time of the afternoon session which was less affected by the rain than the other two classes. His local rival Alex de Angelis was close behind him, the San Marino rider in at the JiR team once more this weekend.
Forward Racing’s Claudio Corti was fifth fastest in the combined timesheets ahead of two Britons, with Scott Redding looking back in form after the injuries he sustained in the tragic events at Misano and his compatriot Kev Coghlan impressing as a wildcard having won the Moto2 race at Aragón in the Spanish National series earlier this year.
Completing the top ten were Tom Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki), Championship leader Toni Elías (Gresini Racing) at just under half a second off Iannone, with Hector Faubel (Marc VDS Racing) just behind.
125cc
With rain coming just 8 minutes into the morning free practice and a wet second session in the afternoon, it was the times set in the initial moments of Friday’s first practice that counted at the end of the day in the 125cc class.
Bancaja Aspar Aprilia’s Nico Terol was quickest out of the blocks as he begins his quest to close the nine-point gap to series leader Marc Marquez. Terol’s time of 2’04.580 placed him 0.247s ahead of Pol Espargaró (Tuenti Racing) and the duo were the only two under 2’05”. Espargaró, who lies third a further eleven points behind Terol was the quickest rider in the completely wet afternoon session.
Smiling after he survived a slight scare in the final moments of that practice, Bradley Smith was third overall at 0.632s down on his team-mate Terol’s effort, whilst Racing Team Germany pair Tomoyoshi Koyama and Jakub Kornfeil completed the top five but both were over two seconds off Terol.
In turn Márquez (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) placed 21st overall but that was due to his reluctance to risk injury with a fall, as he continues to guard his recovering shoulder. He was just over 10 seconds off Terol’s time having completed seven laps by the conclusion of the morning session, however he was second quickest in the wet, when he set his best time so far this weekend.