MotoGP 2012 – Round 11 – Indianapolis
— Pedrosa on scorching form on first day at Indianapolis
On the first day of free practice for the MotoGP™ grid at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix it was Repsol Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa who was on scorching form in the premier-class as he topped the timesheets in the afternoon session ahead of Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo.
Pedrosa’s superb time in the high 1.37s, breaking the previous track record, was sufficient to oust Yamaha Factory Racing’s charging Spies into second, who looked back to his old self as he lapped his home circuit. His teammate Lorenzo took third spot, yet aborted his final hot lap in the second session on the final turn, denying a true indication of his outright pace. He did however state that he is seeking improved front-end feel in corner entry.
Fourth place went to Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso, who was only marginally behind Lorenzo on board his satellite machine. Casey Stoner’s best lap saw him finish the day in fifth, although the Repsol Honda rider had electronics and rear suspension issues during the session, meaning he spent the final five minutes on his number two bike.
British rider Cal Crutchlow took sixth spot on board his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine, doing well to recover from a crash early on in the morning session.
In seventh, San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista was over 1.2 seconds off the top time set by the factory Honda of Pedrosa, and will be looking for significant improvements tomorrow. Eighth place went to fellow Honda satellite rider Stefan Bradl, who is taking to the Indianapolis track for the first time on his LCR Honda MotoGP bike. Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi completed the top ten, after a disappointing session for the Italian outfit.
Top CRT spot went to Power Electronics Aspar’s Randy de Puniet, while the grid also welcomed GPTech wildcard Aaron Yates and Attack Performance’s Steve Rapp. Rapp was however garage bound for the afternoon session as his team struggled with bike issues. Both US wildcards finished at the bottom of the timesheets, yet showed promising improvement in their stints out on track. The majority of riders started the session on the softer option rear tyre, yet switched to the harder option as the track temperature increased. Pedrosa’s hot lap was set on the harder option rear during a seven-lap stint at the end. Much of the talk after the session was about how dirty the mostly unused track surface was, and that most expect lap times to drop the more rubber is laid down over the weekend.
Pramac Racing Team fielded Toni Elías for the afternoon session after Héctor Barberá had a big highside in the morning run out. Barberá, who crashed heavily in the final turn suffered fractures in his dorsal vertebrae 5, 6 and 8, rendering him unfit for this weekend. He is currently at Indianapolis Methodist Hospital, where his is undergoing further checks to vertebrae 5, which was previously damaged in a serious crash in Japan 2008. The Spaniard will be kept there overnight.
Practice Results
1 Dani Pedrosa 1’39.783 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Ben Spies 1’40.078 USA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
3 Jorge Lorenzo 1’40.502 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
4 Andrea Dovizioso 1’40.560 ITA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5 Casey Stoner 1’40.623 AUS HONDA Repsol Honda Team
6 Cal Crutchlow 1’41.055 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
7 Alvaro Bautista 1’41.072 SPA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
8 Stefan Bradl 1’41.255 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
9 Nicky Hayden 1’41.397 USA DUCATI Ducati Team
10 Valentino Rossi 1’41.529 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
11 Randy De Puniet 1’41.855 FRA ART Aspar Team MotoGP
12 Karel Abraham 1’42.279 CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Motoracing
13 Mattia Pasini 1’42.290 ITA ART Speed Master
14 Aleix Espargaro 1’42.360 ESP ART Aspar Team MotoGP
15 Yonny Hernandez 1’42.761 COL BQR-FTR BQR
16 Michelle Pirro 1’42.761 ITA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
17 Toni Elías 1’43.095 SPA DUCATI Pramac Racing
18 Colin Edwards 1’43.813 USA SUTER NGM Mobile Forward Racing
19 Ivan Silva 1’44.122 SPA BQR-FTR BQR
20 James Ellison 1’44.127 GBR ART Paul Bird Racing
21 Danilo Petrucci 1’44.609 ITA IODA Ioda Racing Project
22 Aaron Yates 1’46.021 USA N/A GP Tech
23 Steve Rapp 1’46.619 USA N/A Attack Performance
Pons 40 HP Tuenti’s Pol Espargaró was on tremendous form on the first day of Moto2™ practice at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix as he set the fastest lap of the day in front of Marc Márquez and Claudio Corti in the afternoon session.
Espargaró made his intentions for the weekend clear with a record Moto2™ lap of 1.43’575 that was over half a second clear of Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol’s Márquez, who went through some big set-up changes on his bike half way through the later session. Italtrans Racing Team’s Claudio Corti will undoubtedly be pleased with his showing in the afternoon, after the Italian posted the third fastest time of the day.
Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott Redding looked to have found some pace as the Brit put his bike fourth, in front of Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2’s Nico Terol, who looks reinvigorated after the long summer break. Technomag-CIP’s Dominique Aegerter cemented his good form of the day by finishing sixth in both outings, narrowly ahead of Tech 3’s Bradley Smith, who improved significantly later in the day after a subdued morning session.
Came IodaRacing Project’s Simone Corsi steered his FTR machine to eighth in the combined timesheets, ahead of Espargaró’s teammate Esteve Rabat, who suffered a crash in the afternoon’s session. Speed Mater’s Andrea Iannone, who finished third in the morning session, was unable to repeat that feat in the afternoon, and will be looking for a market improvement tomorrow.
As well as Rabat, Interwetten-Paddock’s Tom Lüthi and S/Master Speed Up’s Alessandro Andreozzi also suffered crashes, though none were seriously hurt.
On the first day of Moto3™ free practice at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix it was Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Sandro Cortese who set the fastest time of the day in the afternoon session ahead of teammate Danny Kent and Miguel Oliveira.
A time of 1.49’307 saw the German championship leader take top spot with the fastest lap ahead of Kent, who left it until the last few seconds to post his hot lap. Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Miguel Oliveira put in a terrific performance to finish third, just under three tenths off the top.
Blusens Avintia’s championship favourite Maverick Viñales had looked like he would take top spot yet was unable to improve his time significantly in the final few minutes as the top three bettered theirs. He however sits over a tenth ahead of RW Racing GP’s Luis Salom, who had a much-improved afternoon session to finish fifth. Oliveira’s teammate Alex Rins also improved his positing from the first session by taking sixth spot, ahead of Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3 duo of Jonas Folger and Héctor Faubel. Folger will no doubt be pleased with his switch to the team, as he is once again showing the potential he had shown last year.
In ninth position, Racing Team Germany’s Louis Rossi endured a difficult day, as he not only had trouble starting his bike in the afternoon, but also crashed in both the morning and afternoon. JHK Laglisse’s Adrian Martín completed the top ten. Apart from Rossi’s crashes, Cresto Guide MZ Racing’s Toni Finsterbusch also slid off track, while TT Motion Events Racing’s Niklas Ajo and San Carlo Gresini Moto3’s Niccolò Antonelli suffered the same fate late on in day. Fortunately none of the riders were hurt in the incidents.
— Repsol HRC
The Repsol Honda Team kicked off the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix in fine form today, with Dani Pedrosa topping the time sheets on the first day of free practice with Casey Stoner in fifth position at the World famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
With heavy rainfall from the night before, track conditions were poor in the morning session. However, by the afternoon the grip level had improved considerably and both Repsol Honda riders made progress with their bike set up. Dani took the biggest advantage of the better conditions, lapping 2.4 seconds quicker than the morning session with a 1’39.783 – faster than the circuit record of 1’39.807 set by Casey here in 2011.
Casey, the fastest in FP1, also improved his lap times by 1.3 seconds in the afternoon, but late in the session he experienced an issue in the rear of the bike which is still being investigated and prevented him from setting a faster time than 1’40.623, placing him in 5th at the end of day one.
DANI PEDROSA 1st 1’39.783
“This afternoon the track was a little better than in the morning and we were able to improve our lap times quite a lot and also try the hard tyres, which worked much better than the soft specification we tried this morning. As we saw today, the times will keep dropping during the weekend with more rubber on the asphalt, so we have to continue working hard on the bike. We found a good base today to move on from; we can improve every area still, focusing especially on the suspension and electronics and also care about the tyres because it’s very hot out there and the tyres dropped off very quick”.
CASEY STONER 5th 1’40.623
“We tried a couple of things this morning but with the track being so slippery we didn’t really take anything from it. This afternoon we knew what we wanted to try after the morning session but unfortunately we had some issues with the bike. We had a problem with electronics on one exit and then a strange feeling in the rear on a later exit, perhaps a stone got into the chain or something, we’re not sure yet. Due to the fact we couldn’t identify what the problem was, we decided to use the second bike and I only managed a few laps. A slightly disappointing afternoon and we know what we want to work on tomorrow morning”.
— Yamaha Report
Local hero Ben Spies was quick to find his form today in the first practice sessions for Sunday’s Indianapolis Grand Prix. The Texan Yamaha Factory rider was second fastest at the end of the day, 0.295 seconds behind leader Dani Pedrosa and nearly half a second faster than team mate Jorge Lorenzo. The day started slowly with a dirty track but times soon started to drop in the afternoon as more fresh rubber was laid down.
Team-mate Lorenzo had a slower start to the day, finding the track conditions more challenging in the search for fast consistent times. The Championship leader picked up pace considerably from the morning session to finish behind Spies in third at the end of the day.
Ben Spies Position : 2nd Time: 1’40.078 Laps: 34
“The track definitely made a huge improvement from the morning to the afternoon today. The bike is working really well, we made some small changes then just worked on race set up. We used hard tyres for the whole time and were able to set our fastest lap and be consistent with a lot of laps on the tyres which is encouraging. We’ll try the softer tyres tomorrow to see if we can pick up some speed for qualifying but for the race set up the bike is good.”
Jorge Lorenzo Position : 3rd Time: 1’40.502 Laps: 31
“We were better this afternoon than this morning. We managed to get closer to the first position. I didn’t feel great on the track today so I hope we can improve the feeling for tomorrow. This track seems to be quite difficult for us to find a good set up. I’m struggling on the entry to the corners where I don’t seem to have much grip.”
Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager
“A difficult day, the grip is not as good as on other tracks but that’s the same for everybody, it just seems we struggle a little more. Normally Jorge is very consistent because he can understand a track; here at the moment the track is good in parts and then bad in parts which is quite confusing for his rhythm. Anyway we improved a lot from the morning but we need to make some more steps tomorrow.”
Massimo Meregalli Team Director
“We made a good start here today with Ben. There were some small difficulties in FP1 due to the tarmac condition but we were able to work and improve the balance of the bike and increase our pace with the hard tyres. This was also true at the end with a lot of laps on them. Jorge had some difficulties also with the track conditions but made big improvements over the day and we expect more from him tomorrow.”
— Ducati Report
Today the Ducati Team started its preparation for the Indianapolis Grand Prix, which will take place on Sunday at legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
A long rainstorm last night reduced the asphalt’s grip level, though conditions improved steadily throughout the day. In the afternoon, both Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi were considerably faster than they had been in the morning, lapping at around the pace of the second group.
For both riders, the goal for tomorrow is to improve the bike’s handling in corners and to reduce the gap to the front.
Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 9th (1:41.397)
“It’s nice to be back with the team and on the bike. This morning things went pretty well. With the rain last night, it took a while to dry out the track and get some rubber down, but we got going okay. This afternoon we tried a couple of things, but we didn’t make a big step like we had hoped. We got some more grip in the rear, but then we started to push the front worse. We improved by a second, but everyone else improved a lot more. Some of these corners are really connected, and it’s important to get the bike to turn, because if you mess up the first one, the problem gets exaggerated. We need to understand why we’re having this turning issue and hopefully do a good step tomorrow.”
Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 10th (1:41.529)
“We lowered our time by two seconds in the afternoon because the track’s grip was improving lap by lap, and I think we’ll see the same tomorrow. The feeling of riding is better compared to last year, but we’re still having a very hard time with corner entry, especially in the lefthanders. We’re also losing a lot on the exits of the two slow corners. This afternoon, I used the same hard tyre the whole time in order to check its performance after many laps, because I don’t think it will be possible to do the whole race with the soft. Anyway, tomorrow we’ll try it. We have a number of things to sort out, but the second group isn’t far off.”
— Bridgestone Report
Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium, Extra-hard. Rear: Medium, Hard (Asymmetric)
Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Hard (Main), Soft (Alternative)
Weather: FP1 – Dry. Ambient 22-23°C; Track 30-34°C (Bridgestone measurement)
FP2 – Dry. Ambient 25-26°C; Track 42-48°C (Bridgestone measurement)
Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa was the quickest rider in Friday practice at Indianapolis, the Spaniard being the only rider to break into the 1’39 bracket on a green track surface that provided a stern challenge to the 23 riders contesting this weekend’s Indianapolis Grand Prix.
Pedrosa’s time of 1’39.783 was 0.295 seconds quicker than hometown hero Ben Spies, the Yamaha Factory Racing rider showing his prowess at a circuit that has yielded him two podiums in the last two years. Third quickest today was Spies’ teammate Jorge Lorenzo who clocked a best time of 1’40.502.
The circuit was lashed by heavy rain yesterday afternoon which washed away the little rubber that was laid down during a test on Saturday by the wildcard entries taking part in this weekend’s Indianapolis Grand Prix. Consequently, lap times in this morning’s FP1 session were quite slow as riders adapted to the low grip levels, with Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner topping the session with a time of 1’41.925.
Track conditions for FP2 were better with improved grip levels as the circuit rubbered in, and track temperatures reached a peak of 48°C. Tyre choice varied greatly throughout the day, with softer compounds front and rear preferred in FP1, though as track temperatures increased in the afternoon session tyre preference switched to the harder rear slicks front and rear, however some riders still preferred the feel of the softer slick options.
The next MotoGP session is FP3 at 1010 local time (GMT -4) followed by the one hour qualifying session which kicks off at 1355.
Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department
“Today was a challenging day for the riders as the track was green for FP1 so the pace was quite slow as riders assessed the grip levels. As track conditions weren’t the best this morning, most riders preferred the better edge grip and warm up performance of the softer slick options, but as more rubber was laid on the circuit, the pace began to quicken and many riders switched to the harder slick options front and rear. As was the case last year, we noticed that some riders experienced graining on their rear tyres in the practice sessions, though as the tarmac condition improved throughout the day the graining became less. Track conditions tomorrow should improve again so this should give the teams a good opportunity to perform long runs to help decide which combination of tyres works best for them.”