2010 MotoGP Championship – Round 18 – Valencia – Day Three
Jorge Lorenzo signed off a hugely successful 2010 campaign with his ninth win of the year today, taking victory at Valencia in front of a delighted home crowd. The MotoGP World Champion, who before this weekend had never won at the circuit, eventually crossed the finish line 4.576s clear of Casey Stoner, who was followed onto the podium by Valentino Rossi.
Despite the margin of victory it was far from a straightforward win for the 23 year-old Spaniard, who did magnificently to avoid crashing when he collided with Marco Simoncelli early on. Motivated even further by the moment Lorenzo determinedly pushed on and rode brilliantly to end his season in the perfect manner.
In second place and ending his four-year partnership with Ducati Stoner had led the race for much of the contest, but with eight of the 30 laps remaining he was unable to prevent Lorenzo taking over.
A further four seconds back Rossi, who was also ending a chapter in his illustrious career with his final race for Fiat Yamaha after seven success-laden years, placed third having engaged in a great scrap with Lorenzo in the earlier stages of the race. The Italian also secured third in the final Championship standings ahead of Stoner.
The fight for fourth was another great encounter in which Ben Spies came out on top as he rode his final race with Monster Yamaha Tech 3 before moving up the factory team. The American had been locked in a battle with Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and San Carlo Honda Gresini rookie Simoncelli to the end with the Italian pair completing the top six.
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) – who sealed runner-up spot in the Championship with seventh – Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar), Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) ended their 2010 seasons with top-ten finishes, with Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing), Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team), Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP) and Carlos Checa (Pramac Racing) completing the 15 finishers.
There was disappointment for Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) who crashed out at the start having risen to second position, whilst Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) retired from the race with 17 laps remaining.
Lorenzo’s final points tally of 383 is also a new record for the most points scored in a single season in the MotoGP class. His win was also the first at Valencia for Yamaha in the 800cc era.
MotoGP Race – Sachsenring | MotoGP Championship |
1 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 46’44.622 2 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 0’04.576 3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0’08.998 4 Ben Spies Yamaha USA 0’17.643 5 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 0’19.160 6 Marco Simoncelli Honda ITA 0’20.674 7 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0’26.797 8 Hector Barbera Ducati ESP 0’29.288 9 Alvaro Bautista Suzuki ESP 0’29.452 10 Randy De Puniet Honda FRA 0’29.860 11 Aleix Espargaro Ducati ESP 0’31.761 12 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0’33.604 13 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0’36.622 14 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda JPN 0’38.968 15 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 0’56.169 |
1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 383 2. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 245 3. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 233 4. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 225 5. Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 206 6. Ben Spies Yamaha USA 176 7. Nicky Hayden Ducati USA 163 8. Marco Simoncelli Honda ITA 125 9. Randy De Puniet Honda FRA 116 10. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 103 11. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 103 12. Hector Barbera Ducati ESP 90 13. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki ESP 85 14. Aleix Espargaro Ducati ESP 65 15. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda JPN 53 1. Yamaha 404 |
— Yamaha Report
World Champion Jorge Lorenzo signed off his victorious season in style today, taking his ninth win in front of his home fans at Valencia. Valentino Rossi finished third on his 117th and final appearance for Yamaha, bringing to a close a wonderful seven-year partnership with his YZR-M1. Lorenzo and Rossi both dropped places at the start, the Mallorcan slipping to fifth and the Italian right back to ninth in the race to the first corner. Lorenzo soon began looking for a way past Marco Simoncelli but almost crashed in the process, somehow making a spectacular save but dropping several places to ninth. Rossi meanwhile made it up to fourth by the end of the third lap and was on the hunt for third, trying to get by his determined fellow Italian Simoncelli. On lap six Rossi moved into third and Lorenzo, who had brilliantly recovered his composure after his near-miss to gain back the places he had lost, followed him through next time around to take fourth, with Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner in front of the Yamaha pair. At one third of race distance Rossi and Lorenzo dispatched Pedrosa and then it was Lorenzo’s turn to pass his team-mate, moving into second behind Stoner. Rossi tried his best to go with him but the shoulder that has plagued him all season stopped him riding at the maximum on the twisty track and he dropped off, content to at least finish on the podium for one final time with Yamaha. Lorenzo was unstoppable by this stage and the cool-headed 23-year-old stormed ahead of Stoner on lap 23 to take a final win on home soil. His win today brings his season points-tally to 383, a new record for a rider in a premier-class season. Rossi’s final podium for Yamaha secured third place in the standings and the Italian bid an emotional farewell to his beloved M1, stopping on the cool down lap to kiss his bike in an echo of the first of his 46 Yamaha wins, at Welkom back in 2004 when the ‘Yamaha and Rossi’ story first began. Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 1stTime: 46’44.622 Valentino Rossi – Position: 3rdTime: +8.998 Wilco Zeelenberg – Team Manager Davide Brivio – Team Manager Spies ends 2010 with fantastic fourth in Valencia finale Ben Spies rounded off a memorable rookie MotoGP season in superb style in Valencia today, the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team rider fighting his way to a fantastic fourth position. As well as claiming the coveted Rookie of the Year title and finishing leading non-factory rider in 2010, Spies set another personal milestone this afternoon when he secured a top six place in the overall rankings. Locked on 163-points with Nicky Hayden going into the 30-lap race, Spies’ latest outstanding result earned him the distinction of finishing top American after Hayden’s early mistake ruled him out of contention. On his final appearance for the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team, Spies produced a fantastic farewell performance, overhauling Dani Pedrosa, Marco Simoncelli and Andrea Dovizioso with an inspired display of aggressive riding in the final ten laps. Seventh until lap 20, Spies closed down what was close to a three-second deficit to the Honda trio before he move by Pedrosa on the 21st lap. Showing the overtaking prowess that has been a feature of the 26-year-old’s outstanding season, he then swept by Simoncelli and Dovizioso on lap 27 before reeling off a blistering series of laps to leave the Italian duo trailing in his wake on his way to a 13th top six finish of the year. It was a frustrating finale for Colin Edwards as he was unable to capitalise on an excellent practice and qualifying performance. Cooler and cloudier conditions this afternoon saw Edwards opt to race with the softer Bridgestone rear tyre. But the 36-year-old was hinder ed by a lack of acceleration grip and he slipped down to 12th. Today’s race concluded another hugely successful season for Herve Poncharal’s Monster Yamaha Tech3 squad. The French outfit finished the leading non-factory team in the prestigious Team World Championship for the second successive season. Ben Spies – Position: 4th Time:+ 17.643 Colin Edwards – Position: 12th Time: + 33.604 Herve Poncharal – Team Manager — Ducati Report After 23 wins, 21 poles, and one World Championship title together, Casey Stoner signed off as a Ducati rider today at Valencia with his 42nd podium. Four wonderful seasons for the Italian factory ended with a weekend to remember, with Stoner taking pole position yesterday and making a perfect start to the race today, leading for the majority of the race and defending first position with tooth and nail before finally conceding to Jorge Lorenzo on the 23rd lap. Nicky Hayden also got a terrific start from the second row of the grid and the American was third into the first turn, passing Dani Pedrosa for second to give chase to his team-mate at the front. However, on the third lap he lost control of his GP10 as he entered turn one and his race ended with a high-speed crash. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 2nd NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati Marlboro Team) DNF FILIPPO PREZIOSI – General Director Ducati Corse — HRC Report World Champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) completed his title-winning season in the best way possible today, winning the Valencia Grand Prix in dominant style. Honda’s top MotoGP riders had a tougher day at the 2010 finale, Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V), Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) finishing fifth, sixth and seventh. During the later stages of the race the Dovizioso/Simoncelli was the main attraction as the pair continued from where they left off at Estoril last Sunday, swapping positions time and again as they fought for superiority around this tight, sinuous track that makes overtaking so difficult. Finally Dovizioso prevailed, just as he had done at Estoril, though once again rookie Simoncelli impressed with his determination. Simoncelli finished the race ruing his decision to run the harder compound Bridgestone rear; he believes he could have been faster with the softer option. Also in the mix with Dovizioso and Simoncelli was Ben Spies (Yamaha), who got the better of both the Italians to secure fourth place during the final four laps. Dovizioso did everything he could to come back at the American but didn’t quite have enough grip left to mount a counter attack. Pedrosa, still suffering from the broken left collarbone he sustained at last month’s Japanese GP, was the surprise of the opening laps, rocketing through from the third row of the grid into second place. The Spaniard pressured leader Casey Stoner (Ducati) during the first third of the 30 lap race, in the process setting the fastest lap, but then his shoulder injury began to take its toll. Unable to use full force when braking into turns, Pedrosa slipped down the order as several riders managed to pass him on the brakes. The former 125 and 250 World Champion rated today’s race as one of the toughest of his life. The heroic effort was worthwhile, it secured him second place in the World Championship. Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) spent much of the race among a group of five or six riders contesting eighth place. Hector Barbera (Ducati) won that particular battle, the Spaniard followed across the line by Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki) and de Puniet. The French Honda rider had hopes of a better result but believes that he and his crew had been too conservative in their work on tyre life and traction control settings, so he didn’t have the corner speed to break out of the group. Today’s race ended de Puniet’s five-year relationship with the LCR squad – three seasons in MotoGP and two in 250 GPs. Valencia also marked the end of Melandri’s Grand Prix career. The Italian was 15-years-old when he started full-time GPs in 1998. Next year he will switch to the World Superbike Championship. Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V) had a difficult ride to 14th place. During the early stages of the race the Japanese struggled to find the feeling he needed to push to his limits, and although he rode a good pace during the mid-stages, his lap times tailed off again in the later stages. Czech Moto2 rider Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing, FTR) won a thrilling first Grand Prix victory today, coming out on top of a frantic last-lap skirmish that involved the four leading riders. The final race of the inaugural Honda-powered Moto2 World Championship was ultra-close throughout with the top six covered by just one second at half distance and the first four finishers separated by just seven tenths at the flag. Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up) led from the start, building a 1.5 second lead, until hard-charging Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter) came through to challenge for the lead in the closing stages. Local hero Simon had fought back from ninth on the first lap. The Italian and the Spaniard traded passes on numerous occasions, with Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) and Abraham right behind them, looking for an opening. On the final lap Elias tried to go under Simon, ran in too hot and tagged the rear of Iannone’s bike. Elias ran off the track and crashed while Iannone was forced wide, allowing Abraham to take the lead for the first time. Abraham’s first success at GP level brings his career in the intermediate class to a perfect end – on Tuesday he will commence winter testing for his first MotoGP season in 2011. Despite that last-lap collision, Iannone managed to hang onto second place, with Simon crossing the line in third spot. Less than six tenths of a second covered the three podium finishers. Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2, Moriwaki) finished fourth, less than two tenths behind Simon. Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team, Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing, Suter) and Kenan Sofuoglu (Technomag-CIP, Suter) had also been in the leading pack earlier in the race, but both crashed out, without injury. Elias remounted to finish 30th Abraham is the ninth different winner in this year’s inaugural 17 round Moto2 World Championship. Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125 Team) finished the final 125 race of the season in 12th place. Not only was Valencia the last race of the year, it was also the last race of all for Schrötter’s crew chief Sepp Schlögl. The multi-world-title-winning German, who has been actively involved in racing for 40 years, was given Schrötter’s bike as his retirement present. The 125 World Championship was the only title to be decided today, and the last crown of the year went to Spanish teenager Marc Marquez (Derbi) who finished the race in fourth. Today’s race winner was Briton Bradley Smith (Aprilia). HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V): 5th “We have done a good job here at Valencia and we can be happy that we were the first Honda rider home today. Our pace wasn’t enough to compete for the win so we can’t be totally satisfied of course, but overall we’ve had a positive end to the season. I was missing some speed in the middle of the corners today which is an area to work on in future, as is improving the stability under braking. I’m disappointed I couldn’t re-pass Spies, but my tyres were very worn by the end and I couldn’t fight in the last laps because the grip was dropping off quite a lot and it was difficult to maintain the pace from the first part of the race. Anyway it was a good battle with Simoncelli again and I hope there will be more like this next year – it shows that pocket bikes was a good training ground! Overall we have to be satisfied with the job done by Honda, the team and myself throughout the year and I’d like to thank all those involved. The package has improved a lot and, whereas last year we were struggling, this year I’ve been consistently faster. We still have some fine tuning to do for next year – and that can start here in the test on Tuesday.” Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V): 6th “I was hoping for a better result than this to be honest but I am still satisfied because I gave it my best shot. I struggled a little bit to set the same lap times as yesterday and stay with the front guys. I was losing the rear in a few places and maybe with the conditions today we should have gone with the soft tyre. Even though it had less grip yesterday I felt more confident with the hard so we stuck with it because I thought it would help me stay consistent to the end of the race, but it was sliding around a lot. In any case I kept going and I am happy with my performance.” Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V): 7th Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V): 10th “Well… to start from the fourth row of the grid was a bit difficult for me but I immediately set my pace trying to catch the guys up there. In the last two days we worked mainly on traction control and our overall package was quite good. Maybe we have been too cautious working on engine mapping and rear tyre life so when I was stuck in the second group I had not enough speed in the corners and I was not able to overtake my competitors. Honestly I aimed to finish in the top six but this is racing and I am satisfied about my final position in the standing considering the bad accident I suffered in the middle of the season. I want to thank Lucio and the team for the five years together. We shared good and bad moments and this period was an important part of my career.” Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V): 13th “I don’t want to talk about the race. I would rather look to the future because I think we have seen today that the right choice right now for me is to end this story and start a new one. Having said that it has been a big part of my life and I am the person I am today partly because of MotoGP. I want to thank all the people who have stayed close to me and also those who have been against me because they have helped me to grow. Thanks to all the sponsors who have accompanied me over these years and to everybody who has worked with me, also my family and my fans, who I will see again next year in another championship.” Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V): 14th “I want to thank my team and sponsors and all the people who helped me this year. It was a tough year and not easy. Also the last race was tough and difficult. In the end I could finish the race, but I am not satisfied with the way I did it. I almost always finished the races in the points and I had some good experience this year, my first in the MotoGP class, and I want to thank all the staff who were involved in it.” — Suzuki Report Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista produced the ride of his rookie season at Valencia today to bring his Suzuki GSV-R home in the top-10 after starting from last on the grid. Bautista and his Crew Chief Tom O’Kane made some big changes to his machine for the morning’s warm-up session and the Spanish rider soon reaped the benefits. As the first few laps unfolded there was no evidence of what was to come as he only made up a couple of places – one of which was due to another rider crashing. By lap 19 Bautista had caught a group of four riders, all of whom were battling for eighth place and the impressive Spaniard quickly passed each one of them in the next few laps to move to the front of the pack. Bautista was then constantly challenged for his position as the riders swapped places in the closing stages, but unfortunately he just couldn’t hold off Hector Barbera in the final lap. He still managed to bring his bike home in a commendable ninth place, to the applause of the whole team. Loris Capirossi had another torrid afternoon, as the Italian retired from the race with a mysterious problem at the end of the 13th lap. Up until that point Capirossi had battled hard to make a couple of passes and move up to 14th place, with the riders in front still well in touch. Sadly he had to come back to the pits to signal the end of the race for him, in what was his last appearance for the team. Capirossi was visibly saddened by the way the race ended, but paid tribute to all at Suzuki for three good years together. Today’s race was held in dry but cloudy conditions with track temperatures getting up to 27°C. A crowd of 80,774 spectators were treated to a thrilling race all the way through the field, with home favourite and new World Champion Jorge Lorenzo yet again showing his dominance with another victory, his ninth of the season. Rizla Suzuki will now stay at Valencia for a two-day test programme on Tuesday and Wednesday. This will be the only post-season test, with the winter ban due to start on the first of December and continue until the start of February next year. Álvaro Bautista: “After having such a difficult weekend with all the problems on Friday and Saturday, today has been a big step for us. This morning in warm-up we went back to a setting that I used in the last races and it quickly felt a little bit better, it wasn’t a big difference but I thought it would be good for the race. I wanted to give my maximum in the race and give the team the best result possible today. I had a normal start and made up one position straight away, but then I was behind Loris and I lost some time because he brakes so late and is difficult to pass. When I got past him I pushed to my limit and I got in to a good rhythm – the best I’ve had all weekend. I caught the group fighting for eighth and I finished ninth at the end, but it was a great battle with the others because I managed to overtake them all and it was good fun. Before the race started if someone said I could finish ninth I would have signed for that, but after the battle with Hector I am disappointed because I think I could have been eighth! It is a good result for the whole team after a hard weekend, but it is not the result I expected before I came to Valencia because I came with the mental attitude to finish in the top-five. Now that we have finished the season we know we have many things that we need to improve on the bike and I also need to improve my riding style, so we have a very hard winter ahead of us – I hope to get to the first race next season with the bike better than it was this year. I will also have more experience so I expect to improve on my results next season. “I would like to the thank Suzuki, all the team, Rizla and all the other sponsors, because if they didn’t help us it would be impossible for us to be racing, so thank-you to all of them. Next year we will certainly be trying even harder and I really believe we can be competitive!” Loris Capirossi: “I really want to say thank-you to everybody because I have had three really good years here at Suzuki, the relationship is great and I am so sorry to be leaving – I really love everybody! The luck this year didn’t really help me, we had many small problems and that showed in today’s race. I have improved a lot in myself in my time at Suzuki and although our roads are now changing direction, I will for sure have a place in my heart for Suzuki and all the people there – thank-you for everything!” Paul Denning – Team Manager: “For me Álvaro’s ninth place was the ride of his season, from 17th – and last – on the grid, then to climb through the field and consistently set lap-times – that if he’d started in the top eight – would have seen him battling for fifth was just superb. Qualifying has been our Achilles heel all year, but we really didn’t have the performance in the bike on Friday and Saturday to challenge the other guys, so for Álvaro to take a leap-of-faith today and make such massive improvements was impressive and more importantly very encouraging for 2011. We are now looking forward to the test this week with a lot more optimism, but before that he certainly deserves a beer tonight for his efforts today and I’d like to thank him and all his guys for bringing a breath of fresh air to the team this year!” — Bridgestone Report Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium. Rear: Medium, Hard (both asymmetric) From his third lap to his 29th, the penultimate of the race, every one of Lorenzo’s laptimes was within 0.6seconds, whilst Stoner’s 2nd lap of the race was as fast as his 26th, to the hundredth of a second. Both also set their personal best laptime on the 19th lap of the race, indicating a balance of very good warm-up performance from both tyre compounds alongside excellent race-distance durability, even from the softer slick which incorporates Bridgestone’s new extra soft compound rubber. Behind the leading trio, an equally intense battle for fourth raged between Ben Spies (softer rear slick), Andrea Dovizioso, Marco Simoncelli (both harder rears) and Dani Pedrosa (softer rear) until he dropped back in the latter stages. Switching positions in a tooth-and-nail scrap for much of the race, it was ultimately Spies on the Monster Yamaha Tech3 machine who emerged on top to secure sixth position in the World Championship in his rookie year. Hiroshi Yamada – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department Tohru Ubukata – Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department Jorge Lorenzo – Fiat Yamaha Team – Race Winner |
Moto2
Karel Abraham’s first-ever World Championship Grand Prix win came in the Moto2 race as the Czech rider took victory in a thrilling encounter before making the move up to the premier class next year. Following Abraham onto the podium were Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up) and Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar), with the Spaniard clinching runner-up spot in the Championship by just two points ahead of the Italian. It was a fantastic race from start to finish and Iannone shot into the lead early on, with a number of riders battling for positions at the front of the race. Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team) – who became the youngest ever rider to make 50 GP starts – and World Champion Toni Elías (Gresini Racing Moto2) were amongst those as they traded moves. Both Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) and Kenan Sofuoglu (Technomag-CIP) were involved too, and as they went head to head when fighting for second position the Turk was forced to run on at turn one and went down. He rejoined the race but then had to retire, and shortly after Bradl himself crashed out at turn 12 when pushing to keep pace with the leaders. After many moves and exchanges of positions it came down to the final lap and the tension peaked when Elías clipped Iannone’s rear wheel and crashed out. Abraham capitalised and slipped through into first position amid the drama, holding it to cross the finish line 0.522s ahead of Iannone with Simón just six-hundredths behind in a breathless finale. Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Racing) was less than two-tenths back with Redding capping off his season with a top-five finish. The top ten was completed by Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2), Simone Corsi (JiR Moto2), Sergio Gadea (Tenerife 40 Pons), Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP) and Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up). Elías returned to the track to finish the race 30th. Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing, FTR): winner “I’m so happy with this win because it proves not only to the people but also to me that we can fight for victories and podium finishes. During the last few races, since I got my first podium in Japan, we have always been fighting up front, so I’m really happy with these results and especially for this victory. I was a little lucky at the end of race. Toni made a big mistake, but that’s racing – sometimes I get lucky, sometimes someone else gets lucky. The fight was very hard and I only got to taste first place at the very end, after spending much of the race either second, third or fourth. It’s a great day for me and now I am very excited about getting started in MotoGP. I am really looking forward to Tuesday when I will have my first chance to really compare myself against the other riders on my Ducati.” Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up): 2nd “The start went well and at the beginning I tried to push as hard a possible because I knew that after seven or eight laps the rear tyre would go away, and that’s exactly what happed. The rear was sliding around and it was difficult to get traction through the corner exits. That’s why Julian was able to catch me. We had a great battle, a great duel and it was very clean – we didn’t touch each other at all. It’s a shame what happened with Toni on the last lap. I don’t really know what really happened but it forced me wide and allowed Karel though; then I didn’t have time to fight back. I really wanted second place in the championship, but we didn’t quite make it. Thanks to my team, I will always remember this year, it’s been my best season so far, so I was to say thanks to everyone who has helped me.” Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter): 3rd “I’m very happy to get second place in the championship. I tried to win here because I won the 125 race here last year and that was a very special feeling in front of all the Spanish fans. Also, it would’ve been great to finish the season with my first Moto2 race, but anyway, to finish on the podium and get second in the championship is good, so I am very happy. It was a good race; I did my best to win, which makes me happy. My start was not perfect, at the end of the first lap I was only ninth. I took me many passes to get ahead of De Angelis and I thought maybe it’s not possible to win. But then step by step better we passed other riders and finally I caught Andrea and I passed him. I had a very nice battle with him. Finally Toni attacked on the last lap and that was a disaster for my hopes of victory. But I’m happy anyway and very motivated for the 2011 championship.” |
Moto2 Race Results |
1 / Karel ABRAHAM / CZE / Cardion AB Motoracing / FTR / 43’49.499 / 148.045 / 2 / Andrea IANNONE / ITA / Fimmco Speed Up / SPEED UP / 43’50.021 / 148.016 / 0.522 3 / Julian SIMON / SPA / Mapfre Aspar Team / SUTER / 43’50.082 / 148.012 / 0.583 4 / Thomas LUTHI / SWI / Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2 / MORIWAKI / 43’50.259 / 148.002 / 0.76 5 / Scott REDDING / GBR / Marc VDS Racing Team / SUTER / 43’53.704 / 147.809 / 4.205 6 / Alex DE ANGELIS / RSM / JIR Moto2 / MOTOBI / 43’54.884 / 147.743 / 5.385 7 / Simone CORSI / ITA / JIR Moto2 / MOTOBI / 44’00.898 / 147.406 / 11.399 8 / Sergio GADEA / SPA / Tenerife 40 Pons / PONS KALEX / 44’10.919 / 146.849 / 21.42 9 / Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / Technomag-CIP / SUTER / 44’11.938 / 146.793 / 22.439 10 / Gabor TALMACSI / HUN / Fimmco Speed Up / SPEED UP / 44’12.411 / 146.766 / 22.912 11 / Jules CLUZEL / FRA / Forward Racing / SUTER / 44’13.010 / 146.733 / 23.511 12 / Kenny NOYES / USA / Jack & Jones by A.Banderas / PROMOHARRIS / 44’14.668 / 146.642 / 25.169 13 / Alex DEBON / SPA / Aeroport de Castello – Ajo / FTR / 44’20.070 / 146.344 / 30.571 14 / Yonny HERNANDEZ / COL / Blusens-STX / BQR-MOTO2 / 44’20.576 / 146.316 / 31.077 15 / Xavier SIMEON / BEL / Holiday Gym Racing / MORIWAKI / 44’20.775 / 146.305 / 31.276 Final 2010 World Championship Positions: |
125cc
Fourth position for Marc Márquez was more than enough for the 17 year-old to be confirmed as the deserved 2010 125cc World Champion after a mature ride from the Red Bull Ajo Motorsport rider. Victory was taken by Bradley Smith as he won his first race of the season in the final round, cruising across the finish line 2.786s clear in his last 125cc ride before graduating to the Moto2 class next season. Smith took the lead from the start, with Nico Terol (Bancaja Aspar) – Márquez’s only title rival in the final round – and Márquez following behind. A poor start from Pol Espargaró (Tuenti Racing) was recovered well by the Spaniard as he slowly climbed back up the order having dropped as low as 11th on the opening lap, and as the race progressed Márquez allowed him through and into third, thus avoiding any potential mishaps. With two laps to go Espargaró went through on Terol and the duo swapped positions once again, all the while Smith led comfortably at the front. The Brit took the chequered flag almost three seconds clear for his first win of 2010, thus breaking what had stretched to a 26-race winning streak in the category for Spanish riders. Espargaró signed off from the class with second position – his 12th podium of the year – with Terol crossing the line in third. Márquez, at just over five seconds back, took fourth position to end the year on 310 points having won ten races, taken 12 podiums and 12 poles in the process. Completing the top ten were Sandro Cortese (Avant Mitsubishi Ajo), Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX), Tomoyoshi Koyama (Racing Team Germany) – in his 100th GP – Efrén Vázquez (Tuenti Racing), Randy Krummenacher (Stipa-Molenaar Racing) and Luis Salom (Stipa-Molenaar Racing). |
125cc Race Results |
1 / Bradley SMITH / GBR / Bancaja Aspar Team / APRILIA / 40’25.648 / 142.655 / 2 / Pol ESPARGARO / SPA / Tuenti Racing / DERBI / 40’28.434 / 142.491 / 2.786 3 / Nicolas TEROL / SPA / Bancaja Aspar Team / APRILIA / 40’28.797 / 142.47 / 3.149 4 / Marc MARQUEZ / SPA / Red Bull Ajo Motorsport / DERBI / 40’33.974 / 142.167 / 8.326 5 / Sandro CORTESE / GER / Avant Mitsubishi Ajo / DERBI / 40’50.023 / 141.236 / 24.375 6 / Esteve RABAT / SPA / Blusens-STX / APRILIA / 40’52.391 / 141.099 / 26.743 7 / Tomoyoshi KOYAMA / JPN / Racing Team Germany / APRILIA / 40’52.471 / 141.095 / 26.823 8 / Efren VAZQUEZ / SPA / Tuenti Racing / DERBI / 40’53.282 / 141.048 / 27.634 9 / Randy KRUMMENACHE / SWI / Stipa-Molenaar Racing GP / APRILIA / 41’06.859 / 140.272 / 41.211 10 / Luis SALOM / SPA / Stipa-Molenaar Racing GP / APRILIA / 41’06.927 / 140.268 / 41.279 11 / Alberto MONCAYO / SPA / Andalucia Cajasol / APRILIA / 41’28.188 / 139.069 / 1’02.540 12 / Marcel SCHROTTER / GER / Interwetten Honda 125 / HONDA / 41’28.647 / 139.044 / 1’02.999 13 / Isaac VIÑALES / SPA / CBC Corse / APRILIA / 41’34.170 / 138.736 / 1’08.522 14 / Simone GROTZKYJ / ITA / Fontana Racing / APRILIA / 41’34.446 / 138.72 / 1’08.798 15 / Jakub KORNFEIL / CZE / Racing Team Germany / APRILIA / 41’50.446 / 137.836 / 1’24.798 Final 2010 World Championship Positions: |