MotoGP 2012 – Round 13 – Misano — Abraham shines as tricky conditions hamper day one in Misano In free practice sessions that were neither completely wet nor dry for the premier-class at the Gran Premio Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera de Rimini in Misano is was Cardion AB Racing’s Karel Abraham who finished on top after posting the best time in the afternoon session. With only 13 riders taking to the partly-dry circuit that was frequently hit with showers all day, top contenders such as Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo and Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa did not head out on track with nothing to be gained in the mixed conditions. Abraham’s time in the low 1.42s was sufficient to push Came IodaRacing Team’s Danilo Petrucci into second, with the Italian finishing the day as top CRT on board his new Ioda-Suter bike. Paul Bird Motorsport’s James Ellison was out on track for the majority of both sessions as well, as he looked to dial his bike into the Misano track, ultimately finishing third. San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Michele Pirro took fourth spot on his FTR-Honda machine, putting in the laps in front of his home crowd much to their delight on the rainy day. Fifth place went to Avintia Blusens’ Yonny Hernandez, who was caught out by the track half way through the second session as he lost the front and crashed out. A time just under three seconds off the top saw Repsol Honda Team’s Jonathan Rea finish the day in sixth on his MotoGP™ debut, after only going out briefly in the afternoon. In seventh, Avintia Blusens’ David Salom also took to the track despite conditions, as he made only his second outing on a MotoGP™ machine. Eighth place went to Yamaha’s Ben Spies, who spent only a fraction of time out on track before heading straight back into the pits. Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden and Power Electronics Aspar’s Randy de Puniet completed the top ten. San Carlo’s Álvaro Bautista was 12th fastest, while local riders, Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi and Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso, took to the track for only one untimed lapped in the afternoon. Practice Results 1 Karel Abraham 1’42.030 CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Motoracing 2 Danilo Petrucci 1’43.178 ITA IODA Ioda Racing Project 3 James Ellison 1’43.204 GBR ART Paul Bird Racing 4 Michele Pirro 1’43.327 ITA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini 5 Yonny Hernandez 1’44.565 COL BQR-FTR BQR 6 Jonathan Rea 1’44.999 GBR HONDA Repsol Honda Team 7 David Salom 1’46.351 SPA BQR-FTR BQR 8 Ben Spies 1’46.471 USA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team 9 Nicky Hayden 1’48.409 USA DUCATI Ducati Team On the first day of free practice at the Gran Premio Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera de Rimini in Misano it was Tech 3 Racing’s Xavier Simeón who set the fastest time ahead of Claudio Corti and Andrea Johann Zarco in the afternoon practice, the second wet session of the day. After a preceding MotoGP™ session that was neither wet not dry, the Moto2™ contingent was met with rain, allowing all to lap continuously on wet tyres. And it was Siméon who coped best with the conditions and posted the top time of the day with a 1.51’874, with Italtrans Racing Team’s Claudio Corti less than two tenths behind. JiR Moto2’s Johann Zarco, who’s quickest time came from the morning session, was once again a front-runner in the afternoon, despite dropping his bike half way through practice. Speed Master’s local favourite Andrea Iannone went fourth quickest, doing well to recover from a crash in the morning session. Marc VDS Racing Team’s Mika Kallio was in a similar situation, as the Finn posted a good time in fifth, yet also crashed before the end of the session. Blusens Avintia’s Julián Simón bettered his performance from the morning significantly, ending the afternoon in sixth, just over eight-tenths off the top. Federal Oil Gresini Moto2’s Gino Rea was seventh fastest overall thanks to his pace in the morning, ahead of Interwetten-Paddock’s Tom Lüthi in eighth. The much-improved Marcel Schrötter on his upgraded Bimota machine with the Desguaces La Torre SAG team came in ninth, as Tech 3’s Bradley Smith completed the top ten. As well as Zarco and Kallio, Rea, QMMF Racing Team’s Anthony West and Arguiñano Racing Team’s Steven Odendaal also took a spill in the afternoon. Earlier in the day Siméon, S/Master Speed Up’s Alessandro Andreozzi, Kallio’s teammate Scott Redding, Thai Honda PTT Gresini Moto2’s Ratthapark Wilairot and Odendaal fell on the wet track. Fortunately there were no serious injuries. In the final few minutes in the afternoon practice on a near-dry racing line it was Team Italia FMI’s Romano Fenati who set the pace in Misano at the Gran Premio Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera de Rimini ahead of Maverick Viñales and Jonas Folger. The session started with a bout of rain, yet this soon stopped and riders spent most of the session creating a dry line. With five minutes left to go some riders braved the track and opted for slicks, which is what Fenati used to post his time of 1.49’965. After the taking the chequered flag the Italian crashed in the first corner after his right knee slider fell off and hit the rear wheel. Thankfully Fenati was unhurt in the incident. He finished just over one second ahead of Blusens Avintia’s Viñales, who was also on slicks. Last race winner, Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3’s Jonas Folger, kept on his wet tyres as he was putting in consistently fast laps, and ended the day just over a tenth off the Spaniard. Elle 2-Ciatti’s wildcard Kevin Calia made use of his local track knowledge to bring his Honda home in fourth, ahead of Andalucia JHK t-shirt Laglisse’s Alberto Moncayo. Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Danny Kent did well to recover from his tumble in the morning session to end the day sixth fastest, holding off the challenge from Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Alex Rins. Kent’s teammate and championship leader Sandro Cortese also kept hold of his wet tyres, like Folger, and posted the eighth quickest time. Redox-Ongetta-Centro Seta’s Jakub Kornfeil and the morning’s pace-setter, AirAsia-SIC-Ajo’s Zulfahmi Khairuddin, rounded out the top ten. Apart from Fenati’s crash, Caretta Technology’s Jack Miller suffered his second fall of the day, but walked away unscathed and managed to re-join. The morning’s wet session was also a crash-strewn affair as Racing Team Germany’s Louis Rossi was the first to fall in the tough conditions, followed by JHK t-shirt Laglisse’s Adrián Martín, Rossi’s teammate Toni Finsterbusch, Calia, Team Imperiali Racing’s wildcard Stefano Valtulini, Kent and Moto FGR’s Jasper Iwema. Fortunately none of the riders were hurt in the incidents. — Yamaha Report Grey skies and a damp track made a washout of today’s first practice sessions for the Grand Prix of San Marino with only a few riders taking to the track. Yamaha Factory Racing rider Ben Spies covered just six laps in the morning session and four in the afternoon. The Texan’s efforts were simply to test the track conditions as no valuable data could be gained for Sunday’s race which is forecast for sunshine. Team mate Jorge Lorenzo decided to stay inside today, conserving valuable kilometres of engine life and again wisely choosing to avoid any unnecessary risks to gain little valuable set up data. An otherwise dull day was brightened by not just one but two MotoGP legends from Yamaha’s racing past arriving in the garage to chat with the riders. 15 time World Championship winner Giacomo Agostini was the first to appear, soon followed by Yamaha’s first ever world title holder Phil Read. Ben Spies – Position 8th – Time 1.46.471 – Laps 8 “We didn’t really get anything from the few laps we did, it’s been pretty much a waste of a day for everybody. We can’t control the weather and unfortunately it was just too mixed conditions to do anything. We did a couple of laps to check everything was ok just in case qualifying is like that so we have a feeling for it. Other than that we just sat around, drank coffee and watched everybody!” Jorge Lorenzo “I’m so tired, we did so many laps today and now I need a big rest and a massage! Seriously though, we didn’t even go out, it just wasn’t necessary for us, we wanted to save the engine life and also save some energy. Tomorrow we will see what happens with the weather. Today was not completely wet or completely dry so useless.” Wilco Zeelenberg – YART Monster Energy Yamaha Team Manager “A waste of a day, we were smart not to go out, there was really nothing to gain or learn. If it was really wet we would have liked to go out but today there’s a risk of hurting yourself for no reason.” Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director “Unfortunately we wasted time today. We couldn’t test anything except a few laps to check how the track conditions were. I think if I have to find something positive to say it’s that we didn’t make any mileage on Jorge’s engine!” Rain disrupts Dovizioso and Crutchlow’s Misano preparations Intermittent rain and a slippery track surface prevented Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team riders Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow from starting preparations for this weekend’s GP Aperol di San Marino e Riviera di Rimini today. Dovizioso and Crutchlow didn’t complete a timed lap in both practice sessions at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, renamed in 2012 in memory of the late Italian star. A fierce wind blowing off the nearby Adriatic coast couldn’ t properly dry out the slippery surface, with rain falling at regular intervals throughout the day. Only nine riders posted times in this morning’s session, while 11 took to the track this afternoon in tricky conditions and the best pace was almost 10 seconds off the lap record. Conditions are expected to be significantly better for the remainder of the weekend, with Dovizioso and Crutchlow optimistic they can continue a fantastic 2012 World Championship for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team by challenging for the podium in Sunday’s 28-lap race. Andrea Dovizioso “Today was quite frustrating because the track conditions made it impossible to learn anything. It is never good to lose a whole day on track but on a slow track like this it can be worse because it can take a while to find your rhythm. I went out to try and gauge the conditions but the track was very slippery and it made no sense to push because you risk crashing, so I immediately came back to the pits. Hopefully the weather will be better for the rest of the weekend and we can put on a good show for the fans, who unfortunately didn’t get to see much action today.” Cal Crutchlow “Today turned out to be quite strange because in both sessions I just sat in the garage waiting for the track conditions to improve. It is disappointing for everybody concerned and I feel sorry for the fans here and the people watching on TV at home. When the track is damp like that it is very hard to learn anything, so I didn’t even put my helmet on. It looks like the weath er will improve for the rest of the weekend and I am looking forward to getting down to business tomorrow morning. I gained a lot of confidence with my first podium in Brno recently and I can’t wait to be back on my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1.” — Repsol HRC The end of the summer brought with it some sporadic light showers to the Adriatic Coast and interrupted the track action on the first day of free practice for the San Marino Grand Prix, thirteenth round of the 2012 MotoGP World Championship. Repsol Honda rider, Jonathan Rea ventured out for a few laps in the afternoon, just to have some feeling on the RC213V at the Marco Simoncelli Circuit. The British rider, competing in his first MotoGP race replacing the injured Casey Stoner, finished sixth in the combined free practice times with a best lap time of 1’44.999. Dani Pedrosa, remained in the garage for both sessions waiting for more stable conditions, but they never arrived and the team decided to wait until tomorrow to start preparing for the race. JONATHAN REA 6th 1’44.999 “It was a frustrating day with these weather conditions. This morning the track was slightly wet and began to dry up towards the end of the session, but then it began to rain again, so we didn’t make it out at all. Then in second free practice I went out straight away with the slick tyre to try and get some kind of feeling and I only managed three full laps as the tyre wasn’t getting up to temperature. It was a pretty pointless exercise and I didn’t have any real feedback to give to the engineers. It’s a strange situation when the temperature is so low that none of the top riders even go out on track. We need to cross our fingers for some sunshine tomorrow so I can find a good rhythm on the bike and gain some confidence in the tyres in time for Qualifying” DANI PEDROSA No time set “On days like this it’s almost impossible to get any feedback on the bike. Actually, we saw in both sessions that the weather was changing so quickly that the riders going out with slick tyres had to come back in because it started raining or the other way around: going out with wets and destroying them in just a few laps as it was drying up again. The weather forecast looks better for tomorrow and Sunday, so let’s hope we can take advantage of tomorrow morning’s session to find a good setting and have a good qualifying”. — Ducati Report Changing weather conditions, with intermittent rain all day long, rendered useless the first day of free practice at Misano, as the track was neither completely wet nor completely dry. Nicky Hayden, who wanted to check the strength of his still-healing right hand, turned four laps in the morning, but as the pace allowed by the track conditions was quite slow, the American will have to wait until tomorrow for a more meaningful test. Valentino Rossi tried to ride in both the morning and the afternoon sessions, but in both cases, it began raining soon after and the Italian returned to the garage. Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 9th (1:48.409) “There’s not really much to report today! We did a lot of sitting around and waiting. I went out a little bit in the damp this morning with a wet setup, just to check the bike. I cruised a couple of laps and my hand wasn’t too bad in those conditions, but we were all obviously way off the pace. I really won’t know more until I get out in the dry and see if it’s even going to be possible to race. I don’t have much strength, and although it was fine for light braking, it could be a different story in the dry. I wouldn’t mind more rain, but I wouldn’t want to go into the race with no dry track time. Hopefully we’ll get some dry time tomorrow.” Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) “Today was completely useless, which is really a shame as it’s obviously always better to be able to ride. This afternoon I tried to go out because we wanted to try a couple of things, including checking that everything was okay with the engine from the last race. But as soon as I got on the track, the rain started again and it was time to stop for good. There’s not much to say. We’ll wait for tomorrow.” — Bridgestone Report Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium, Hard. Rear: Medium, Hard (Asymmetric) Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Hard (Main), Soft (Alternative) Weather: FP1 – Wet. Ambient 18-19°C; Track 15-17°C (Bridgestone measurement) FP2 – Wet. Ambient 20-19°C; Track 17-18°C (Bridgestone measurement) Cardion AB Motoracing’s Karel Abraham topped the timesheets at Misano today as the Czech rider fared best on a day where both practice sessions fell victim to foul weather. Abraham posted a best time of 1’42.030 to head the thirteen riders who braved the elements today, his benchmark time set on the combination of the softer option slicks front and back during FP2 on a track that was mainly dry but with damp patches scattered about the surface. Danilo Petrucci, who enjoyed his first sessions on his new IODA-Suter machine was second quickest overall, while Paul Bird Motorsport’s James Ellison ended Friday practice as the third quickest rider. The unsettled weather resulted in many riders opting not to head out on track in both of today’s sessions. Tyre selection for those riders that did take part in practice today was split between wet tyres and the softer option slick tyres as intermittent rain caused the grip level of the track surface to constantly change. Even though some riders were able to lap faster on slick tyres than on wets, damp patches persisted on track for the whole day meaning that lap times were approximately ten seconds slower than can be expected in optimal conditions. Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department “Today’s weather conditions were quite extreme with rain and strong winds resulting in a track surface that was neither fully dry nor fully wet, while also keeping track temperatures very low. Misano is a circuit where riders require maximum feeling from the front-end of the bike, so with the grip levels being quite variable due to damp patches on track, many riders chose not to run in today’s sessions. With track temperatures being quite cold today, those riders that did go out on slicks chose the softer compound options for their greater warm-up performance and edge grip. The weather forecast for tomorrow suggests that FP3 could also be rain affected, though there is a good chance that the qualifying session will take place in dry conditions.” — Red Bull Rookies Bradley Ray ignored the wet track and the fact that he had never been to Misano before to dominate free practice and both qualifying sessions for Saturday’s Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup race on the Adriatic coast. The 15 year old Briton is joined on the front row of the grid for the San Marino Grand Prix by Nicolo Castellini, Lukas Trautmann and Stefano Manzi. Fresh from his British 125 Championship win at Donington Park Ray quickly adapted to the Misano circuit. “It’s a lot of fun, no problem at all. I don’t really mind if the race is wet or dry. We don’t have any dry track time here but we will just go back to the base setting we found at the Sachsenring, that will be fine. It took us a while this year to get the good base setting but now I’m a lot happier with the bike and enjoying it.” Italian 13 year old Castellini was almost half a second slower than Ray in the 1st qualifying session and those were the times that set the grid position as the track was wetter and colder for the 2nd session. “I have never been here before but I like the track. It was better in the first qualifying session when there was a bit of a dry line and I was enjoying it, in the second session there was more water and no grip at all. I don’t know what the track is like in the dry but it would be better for us to have a dry race.” Trautmann is less concerned. “Wet or dry, I don’t mind, I am flexible, I have to be,” said the 16 year old German with a broad smile. “I had a good feeling from the start here and it all went pretty well. I think we can have a really good race, wet or dry,” he concluded, shrugging off the fact that he slid off in both qualifying sessions. Heading the 2nd row of the grid, Manzi is happy to have a good chance of featuring in his home race. “The grip was not good in the 2nd qualifying session but in the 1st it was better, I crashed but then restarted and got a good position. It is my best qualifying position of the year but I still want a dry race,” concluded the 13 year old Italian who was 3rd in the previous race at Brno. Florian Alt, the 16 year old German leads the championship with 3 races remaining, he has a 31 point advantage over 16 year old Dutchman Scott Deroue. Alt was not concerned with his 9th place on the grid. “I wasn’t pushing it too hard in the 1st session and then in the 2nd it was clear that no one was going to go faster, I almost had a high-side and decided to finish the session early.” Deroue was a little more frustrated and sits in 14th place on the grid. “The first session wasn’t good, I had a few small, almost high-sides and did not have a good pace. I was much happier in the second qualifying, I was feeling much better but then slid off on the 3rd lap. That was a shame. I went out again but of course could not improve on my time.” Latest news on Simon Danilo Simon Danilo crashed on the last lap of Race 1 at Brno on Saturday August 25th. He is in the early stages of recovery from his injuries including spinal damage. After his operation on Saturday evening he remained in hospital in Brno until Friday when he was transferred with a medical flight to a hospital in Lille, France. Since then he has begun physiotherapy. He has increasing movement in his feet and legs and is able to operate a small cycling machine lying on his back. His broken left femur is hampering progress at this time though it has been pinned and is mending. Next week he is due to move to a rehabilitation centre where they will be able to help him progress and do more than the 30 minute sessions twice a day that he is doing now.