— MotoGP 2013 – Round Five – Mugello
— Teams preview Mugello MotoGP
— MotoGP Championship Standings
1 Dani Pedrosa 83 pts SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Marc Marquez 77 pts SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Jorge Lorenzo 66 pts SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
4 Cal Crutchlow 55 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5 Valentino Rossi 47 pts ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
6 Andrea Dovizioso 39 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
7 Alvaro Bautista 38 pts SPA HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
8 Nicky Hayden 35 pts USA DUCATI Ducati Team
9 Aleix Espargaro 20 pts SPA ART Power Electronics Aspar
10 Andrea Iannone 18 pts ITA DUCATI Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team
11 Bradley Smith 17 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
12 Stefan Bradl 17 pts GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
13 Michele Pirro 13 pts ITA DUCATI Ignite Pramac Racing Team
14 Ben Spies 9 pts USA DUCATI Ignite Pramac Racing Team
15 Hector Barbera 7 pts SPA FTR Avintia Blusens
16 Randy De Puniet 6 pts FRA ART Power Electronics Aspar
17 Danilo Petrucci 4 pts ITA IODA-SUTER Came IodaRacing Project
18 Michael Laverty 3 pts GBR PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
19 Yonny Hernandez 3 pts COL PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
20 Colin Edwards 1 pts USA FTR-KAWASAKI NGM Mobile Forward Racing
21 Karel Abraham 1 pts CZE ART Cardion AB Motoracing
22 Hiroshi Aoyama 1 pts JAP FTR Avintia Blusens
23 Lukas Pesek 0 pts CZE IODA-SUTER Came IodaRacing Project
24 Blake Young 0 pts USA APR CRT Attack Performance
25 Claudio Corti 0 pts ITA FTR-KAWASAKI NGM Mobile Forward Racing
26 Bryan Staring 0 pts AUS FTR Go & Fun Honda Gresini
— HRC Preview
A fortnight after securing a hat-trick of three consecutive MotoGP wins in France, Honda’s grand prix racers face a new challenge in Italy. The task is not only to continue the run of first places … but to build on the strong championship positions achieved in the early races.
The Italian GP is the fifth round, and third in the European season. The venue is spectacular, set in a narrowing valley packed with passionate fans.
Both Repsol Honda RC213V riders have tasted victory at Mugello, but each race is a new beginning. This year, one or both of the riders have been on the rostrum at every race so far. Another double-top is the target.
In Qatar and Texas it was scintillating class rookie Marc Marquez setting the pace even while learning how to get the best out of his super-fast Honda racer. At the second round the 20-year-old reigning Moto2 World Champion took a maiden pole and race win to become the youngest ever in the premier class.
At the next two rounds senior team-mate Dani Pedrosa hit his stride, winning at Jerez and in dire wet-to-dry conditions at Le Mans in France. The 27-year-old Spaniard now leads the points table from Marquez, fulfilling pre-season predictions that his eighth year in the Repsol Honda would be his best yet, after he closed last season with a run of wins.
The key to his upturn this year was finding the right settings to give him the right machine balance and feeling to exploit his smooth style to the maximum. Dani describes how Mugello’s fast, sweeping corners demand the best possible settings, and hopes the balance he has found will work as well here as at the last two tracks. Dani has one Mugello win and three other rostrums in the last seven races at the track.
Marquez followed up his win in Austin, Texas with a fighting second at Jerez, seized in the last corner from defending champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) in an attacking move that made the headlines, and further underlined the class rookie’s blazing arrival in the premier class.
At Le Mans, in his first wet race on a 250-plus horsepower MotoGP Honda, he stunned the fans again, riding through from ninth to third. Marc has won at Mugello in both 125 and Moto2 classes. His first attempt on a MotoGP bike is eagerly awaited.
Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini RC213V rider Alvaro Bautista came through to sixth place at Le Mans, his third such finish in a perfect top-ten tally so far. He lies seventh overall. The Spanish former 125 World Champion combines his racing role with that of suspension development: the only rider in the class to use Showa suspension.
The last race brought more woe for German former Moto2 World Champion Stefan Bradl. He was running strongly with the top riders when he was unsighted by a badly fogged visor, slipping off and remounting for tenth. He lies 11th overall after two earlier non-finishes, and will be striving to make amends at Mugello, where newly improved machine settings should give him the chance to regain lost ground.
Australian Bryan Staring sees the race as another chance to score his first points to prove his growing confidence with his CBR1000RR-powered CRT bike. The GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR Honda rider had been confident of a good result in France, but crashed out early in the race, blaming “impatience”.
The tricky Le Mans conditions upset the applecart in the all-Honda-powered Moto2 class, with earlier race winners Pol Espargaro and Esteve Rabat (both Tuenti HP 40 Pons Kalex) crashing out early on in close formation. Another 2013 winner, Nico Terol (Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 Suter) joined the growing crash list.
British rider Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex) proved master of the treacherous Le Mans surface to claim his first win in the class. Added to two previous second places it gave him a useful points lead of 24 over Rabat. Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex) is third overall, after second place (his second rostrum) in France, with pre-season favourite Espargaro dropping to fifth.
Mugello is an important chance for Espargaro and Rabat to regain the initiative; and for former race winner Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Suter) to continue his return to the front, as he recovers from pre-season injuries.
With all machines powered by reliable race-prepared Honda CBR600 engines supplied by the organisers, Moto2 guarantees close racing. The nature of the Italian circuit, with its long flat-out run to the finish line, is certain to produce ultra-close slip-streaming battles throughout the field.
The same is true in Moto3, where 250cc Honda four-stroke engines in factory or independent chassis battle entries from KTM and Mahindra. The entry-level class is a maelstrom of thrusting young talent eager to make a mark; the battles are often epic.
Heading the Honda charge after four races is South African Brad Binder, who followed up a career-best fourth in Spain with a solid eighth in France to cement fifth overall. The Ambrogio Racing Suter Honda rider is in his second season in the class that last year replaced the 125cc two-strokes.
The next-best, Alexis Masbou (Ongetta-Rivacold FTR Honda), is from the other end of the scale of experience. The French racer made his GP debut in 2003, and lies ninth overall after a best of eighth so far. Italian Romano Fenati (San Carlo Team Italia FTR Honda); the third placed Honda in the points standings, finished seventh at Le Mans and moved up to 13th overall.
Australian Jack Miller (Caretta Technology – RTG FTR Honda) will be hoping his luck will turn back at Mugello, to repeat his sixth place finish at Austin, after another front-running performance in France saw him drop back with tyre trouble by the end.
The Mugello circuit is a magnificent venue for grand prix racing, with sweeping curves and chicanes using both sides of the valley in a lap of 5.245 km (3.259 miles). Running clockwise it has nine right-hand and six left-hand corners, forming a series of loops and high-speed chicanes. It is most famous for its 1.1-km “straight”, undulating past the pits to finish over a blind brow at more than 350 km/h, followed directly by a looping 120-km/h corner.
Used fitfully in the 1970s and 1980s, the track outside Florence underwent a major refit for new owner Ferrari, and joined the calendar full time in 1991. In 22 years Honda has taken 12 wins in the Tuscan foothills.
Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa says: “After the race in Le Mans, I’ve managed to relax this week and I feel good physically. Mugello is a nice track and one that I really enjoy to ride. It’s a fast track with long corners so it’s important to have a good feeling with the bike. Usually the weather is good to us and there is a great atmosphere with all the fans there. I am leading the championship, which is very special so I hope to arrive in Mugello and find that the bike works well there too, and we can do a good race.”
Repsol Honda rider Marc Marquez says: “I’m really pleased with the race in Le Mans, it was great experience for me to ride in the wet but now I am happy to go to Mugello and hopefully have some nice weather! Mugello is a difficult circuit, perhaps one of the most difficult in the World Championship. It has many changes of direction so we must work hard from the beginning to find the right set up. These coming races will be very important as they are difficult circuits and we must remain focused. The other riders are so fast in Mugello so I’m sure it’s going to be tough. As always we will try our 100 percent,”
GO&FUN Honda Gresini rider Alvaro Bautista says: “We had a really good feeling for the bike at Le Mans even though the conditions were particularly difficult. We found a good wet setting and in general the team did a very good job, especially considering the fact that we were working off data from a less than perfect weekend last year. This year we were setting lap times in line with the guys who finished on the podium, and even though I am still having some problems getting the bike out of the corners we are making good progress in general. Mugello is a completely different circuit from Le Mans. It is technical, fast, with various changes in direction and elevation. It will be important to stay focused and do a good job from the first minute to the last to make sure that we bury the memory of a bad weekend last year. I am determined to get a good result and I know this is a special Grand Prix for the team because it is their home race.”
LCR Honda rider Stefan Bradl says: “I have very good memories about my first race in the premier class at Mugello circuit. I finished the race in fourth, impressing everybody and I felt very happy about my performance because I really like the Italian circuit. This weekend is one of the most important for LCR and a lot of supporters are keen to see me and to give me an extra boost. The atmosphere will be warm but not the weather. However I am looking forward to this race and it would be amazing to repeat last years result. In Le Mans we have found a good way to solve our front-end issue and I could lap with more confidence. The race was particularly tough due to the rainy conditions but I arrive in Italy with high motivation and a good overall package.”
GO&FUN Honda Gresini rider Bryan Staring says: “There should be a fantastic atmosphere at Mugello because this is the home race for Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini. I want to put the result from Le Mans behind me as quickly as possible and in order to do that I need to work hard from the first session to learn the layout and make progress with the bike set-up. It is another new circuit for me but on paper the layout looks exciting. I really want to have a good race here and close down the gap to the points-scoring positions.”
Moto2 Rider Quotes
Marc VDS Racing Team rider Scott Redding says: “While it was good to finally win in Le Mans, it changes nothing. Our approach will remain the same, with the championship being the priority. The win in Le Mans has given me a 24-point advantage in the standings but, as we’ve seen in the past, it only takes one bad weekend to see that lead reduced significantly. Like Le Mans last week, Mugello is a circuit I like racing at. We have some new parts for the bike this weekend, which I think may give us something of an advantage at such a fast, flowing and technical track.”
Tuenti HP40 Pons Kalex rider Esteve Rabat says: “The error of Le Mans is forgotten, but you should always learn from mistakes to avoid repeating them. Mugello is a circuit I like and hopefully I can find the set-up fast. Then you can prepare for the race with some guarantees. Scott Redding has slipped ahead a little, but we are in the early races and certainly during the year I will be giving it everything I can.”
Marc VDS Racing Team rider Mika Kallio says: “In Le Mans we went with a completely different set-up to that which we’d run previously and it took us until Sunday to refine it to the point where my feeling with the bike was good. It will be interesting to see how the feeling is on the first day in Mugello, especially with the new parts we have to test there, because we really need to get the bike dialled in for qualifying this week. Mugello is one of my favourite tracks on the calendar and, although I’ve had some bad luck racing in Italy previously, I’m hoping that my luck will finally change this weekend and we’ll come away with another good result.”
Honda Moto3 Rider Quotes
Ambrogio Racing rider Brad Binder says: “I’ve usually gone well at Mugello in the past, but with the long start-finish straight it won’t be an easy race. The main thing is to keep getting better and I know my team is working really hard to give me what I need. We’re fifth in the championship, which is good, so we just need to keep building on that.”
Ongetta-Rivacold rider Alexis Masbou says: “I am looking forward to Mugello, though for sure it will be difficult with the long straight. The important thing is that we are improving at every race and we are getting closer to the front, bit by bit. This is the good point, so now we just need to keep working to do even better.”
San Carlo Team Italia FTR Honda rider Romano Fenati says: “Of course I am very much looking forward to Mugello. It is my home race and the team’s home race, so after an okay result at Le Mans two weeks ago we will try our best to get back on the podium at the Italian GP. The team is working well and I was happy with the bike in France, so we must keep working this way and keep making improvements, step by step.”
— Yamaha Preview
Yamaha Factory Racing set up for their ‘home’ race in Italy this weekend for the Gran Premio d’Italia at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello near Florence. Nestled deep in the Tuscan hills, the Mugello circuit is just over 300km from the team’s base in Gerno di Lesmo, near Milan. The track is a favourite for both Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, with each scoring multiple victories across classes. Lorenzo can claim one 250cc win, two second place premier class finishes in 2009 and 2010 and the last two consecutive premier class victories in 2011 and 2012.
Rossi’s Mugello record includes one 125cc win in 1997, a 250cc win in 1999 and then an incredible seven-year consecutive premier class win streak at Mugello from 2002 to 2008, making him the only Grand Prix rider ever to take seven straight wins at his home race.
The Mugello circuit is one of the fastest tracks on the MotoGP calendar. With a straight of over a kilometre in length fans can expect to see some incredible speeds as the 1000cc machines get pushed to the limit. The rest of the 5.245km track is guaranteed to provide exciting racing with 15 turns, varied camber and gradient changes and high speed chicanes set on an extra wide track with many overtaking possibilities.
Jorge Lorenzo
“I’m looking forward to visiting Mugello after suffering a very disappointing weekend at Le Mans. It was a tough race for us and I want to recover points at Mugello, a good track for me. I like the circuit a lot because of its layout, plenty of long and high-speed corners. I have a lot of good memories there and I would like to make a positive weekend.
I think also for Yamaha it is a good place to get the best performance. The circuit is amazing to ride and also the temperature is quite warm, as well as Jerez. The crowd is also very passionate there. The only weak point for us is the long straight, where maybe our rivals are stronger than us, but in general the track is very suitable for our bike. I can`t wait to go to Italy and find the pace. We need to cut away the gap to the front but anyway, the Championship is long so we have to be calm.”
Valentino Rossi
“I am very happy that we go to Mugello. I love this track and I’m really happy to go back there with Yamaha. This is a track that I really like and a good result is important. Unfortunately we are still not fast enough so we need to improve, especially in dry conditions. We must work hard and improve the bike. The Mugello race will be difficult, but we will try to do everything to get the best result. A podium would be really nice. I believe that there will be many people at Mugello so I’m happy and the heat in Mugello is always good!”
Wilco Zeelenberg – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager
“Well, after Le Mans where the result was very disappointing for us we need to make a good race. After three races where we have not found the pace wanted we will try to get some good points to keep our focus on the Championship. We know our rivals are really strong but there are still 14 races to go, this is quite long and the first track where we have to fight for the victory is Mugello. This circuit I think suits Jorge and Yamaha quite well so we hope to start in a good way.”
Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director
“I’m really looking forward to the Mugello race. This is our first home race and it’s a really nice circuit, a really nice place and there are always a lot of fans there. I think now that Valentino is back with a competitive bike more people will come to see the race as well. We always get a good result at this circuit so we are looking for a completely different result from Le Mans. We will start the first practice really focused to prepare the entire weekend in the best possible way and we will see what will happen on Sunday afternoon.”
— Ducati Preview
Buoyed by its recent positive showing at the French Grand Prix, the Ducati Team is preparing for its home round at the Mugello Circuit in the hills of Tuscany. Always one of the most popular rounds on the championship tour, this year’s edition of the Italian Grand Prix has been moved forward on the calendar to the start of June, and it’s sure to draw a host of fans, many of whom will be cheering on Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden from the Ducati Grandstand at the Correntaio curve.
The Italian will be competing aboard the Desmosedici GP13 for the first time at Mugello, where he began his Grand Prix career in 2001 (in the 125cc class), and where he has finished on the premier-class podium in each of his last three visits. Hayden also had a strong performance last year at the track, threatening for the podium before running off the track on the final lap.
Also in action at Mugello will be Ducati Test Team rider Michele Pirro, making his second wildcard appearance this season on the GP13 ‘lab bike’ following on from his Jerez debut; it will be the third race in a row for the Italian, who also took part in the Le Mans round, where he finished eighth as a substitute for Ignite Pramac Racing rider Ben Spies.
Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team
“I definitely can’t wait to do the Mugello weekend, as it’s the nicest circuit in the world. It’s Ducati’s ‘house,’ and there will certainly be many fans on hand, so it’s really a lot of fun to race there. We’ve already had some tests, so we’ll be prepared, although it will be difficult because we still have basically the same GP13 from Le Mans. It’s a tough track that’s physical and very fast, although I don’t think it’ll be bad for us. Mugello is always a good circuit for me, and having the support of Ducati and its fans should help us to have a good weekend.”
Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team
“Of course we’re extremely excited to go to Mugello. It’s a great race at a great track with a great atmosphere—really one of the best GPs of the year, especially when you’re riding a Ducati! Our bike was built around the circuit, so it works well there; the straightaway suits the Desmosedici because you come onto it so fast. It’s a tough track—really challenging, technical and physical, with a lot of blind sections and elevation changes—but it’s one that I like a lot. We’re not expecting miracles, but I think we can do well. The Italian Ducati fans have stuck with us through a lot, and it would be nice to leave Mugello with a result they can all be proud of.”
Michele Pirro – Ducati Test Team
“First of all, I’m very happy to be making my second wildcard ride, and I’d like to thank Ducati for this opportunity. At Le Mans I did my best to adapt to the standard GP13, which I find quite different from the development version that I’ll be going back to this weekend. Mugello is close to Ducati’s offices, and we’ve done a lot of testing there, so I’m ready for the race. Doing the last two races in a row has helped to prepare me, so I hope to be able to gather some good data for the team and to be closer to the top guys with my lap times. It would be great to do a good result in front of the Italian fans, in order to show that we’re working in the right way with the bike.”
Vittoriano Guareschi – Team Manager
“Mugello is our home race. We were able to do a test there earlier this month, so we already have an idea about the setup we’ll use. It could be hot at Mugello in June, and that might be a variable since it was fairly cool when we tested. Still, both Nicky and Andrea did a good job at the test, and we have good data from them and our test riders, so we expect to have a good race. As for support, there will be many people from Ducati at Mugello, along with a lot of Ducati fans, and everyone in our grandstand always does something special to demonstrate their enthusiasm. We’ll see what they’ve come up with for this year!”