FIM MotoGP World Championship
Silverstone Circuit, England
August 31, 2014
Race Results (all on Bridgestone tires):
1. Marc MARQUEZ, Spain (HONDA), 20 laps, 40:51.835
2. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), -0.732 second
3. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (YAMAHA), -8.519 seconds
4. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), -8.694
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (DUCATI), -9.238
6. Pol ESPARGARO, Spain (YAMAHA), -24.746
7. Stefan BRADL, Germany (HONDA), -26.717
8. Andrea IANNONE, Italy (DUCATI), -26.910
9. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (FORWARD YAMAHA), -33.455
10. Scott REDDING, UK (HONDA), -39.094
11. Yonny HERNANDEZ, Colombia (DUCATI), -40.255
12. Cal CRUTCHLOW, UK (DUCATI), -43.027
13. Karel ABRAHAM, Czech Republic (HONDA), -52.245
14. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Japan (HONDA), -58.981
15. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (FORWARD YAMAHA), -59.164
16. Leon CAMIER, UK (HONDA), -65.680
17. Michael LAVERTY, UK (PBM), -70.939
18. Danilo PETRUCCI, Italy (ART-APRILIA), -76.834
19. Hector BARBERA, Spain (FTR-KAWASAKI), -76.904
20. Mike DI MEGLIO, France (FTR-KAWASAKI), -94.939
21. Broc PARKES, Australia (PBM-APRILIA), -98.442
22. Bradley SMITH, UK (YAMAHA), -1 lap, pitted
23. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (HONDA), -2 laps, DNF, crash
World Championship Point Standings (after 12 of 18 races):
1. Marquez, 288 points
2. Pedrosa, 199
3. Rossi, 189
4. Lorenzo, 157
5. Dovizioso, 129
6. Aleix Espargaro, 92
7. Pol Espargaro, 88
8. Iannone, 81
9. Bradl, 74
10. Smith, 65
11. Bautista, 56
12. Redding, 51
13. Crutchlow, 40
14. Aoyama, 39
15. Hernandez, 32
16. Nicky Hayden, 29
17. Abraham, 28
18. TIE, Colin Edwards/Michele Pirro, 11
20. Parkes, 7
21. TIE, Di Meglio/Petrucci, 4
23. TIE, Laverty/Barbera, 2
25. TIE, De Angelis/Camier, 1
More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda:
Marquez back in the groove in Silverstone with win number eleven, Pedrosa battles for fourth
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez was back on the top step of the podium today, after an intense encounter with Jorge Lorenzo, and became the first rider since Valentino Rossi in 2005 to win 11 MotoGP races in a single season. Teammate Dani Pedrosa enjoyed a tight battle with Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso and took a well earned 4th place, just 0.175 seconds off the podium.
Both Marc and Dani dropped a position from the start, Marc down to 2nd behind Jorge and Dani down to 6th. Whilst Marc tracked the race leader, Dani picked off his opponents and by lap nine he was up to third behind the two front runners. However, on lap thirteen Valentino and Andrea fought back and Dani was relegated back to 5th. Meanwhile on lap fourteen Marc passed Jorge, but after a small mistake on lap sixteen Jorge re-took the lead. An epic battle ensued on the final two laps with the riders touching briefly before Marc was able to make the pass stick, and Dani managed to overtake Andrea for 4th, finishing just behind Valentino.
Marc now leads the Rider’s Championship by 89 points (288), with teammate Dani in second (199) and Rossi third (189). Honda have an 86 point lead in the Constructor’s Championship and the Repsol Honda Team enjoy a 141 point lead in the Team’s Championship.
The MotoGP paddock will now have a two week break before returning for round thirteen in San Marino.
TEAM QUOTES
Marc Marquez
1st – Championship Standing: 1st – 288 points
“I’m very happy with this win! I expected the race to be slightly different, given what happened in practice yesterday, but today with higher temperatures it seems that both Jorge and Valentino took a step forward. Above all, Jorge, because he had a great pace and we were fighting right to the end. It was important to win today, after missing out at Brno. I also had a score to settle from last year, when Jorge beat me on the final corner, so I am happy to be back on the top step of the podium!”
Dani Pedrosa
4th – Championship Standing: 2nd – 199 points
“Today’s race wasn’t easy. I had a bad start and on the opening laps I lost a little ground on the frontrunners, although to be honest I didn’t have the same pace as the leaders afterwards either. However, we fought with Valentino and Andrea and in the end we gained a place on the final lap. It hasn’t been our best weekend, but we will try to be back up at the front again at the next Grand Prix.”
More, from a press release issued by Movistar Yamaha:
Silverstone (UK), 31st August 2014
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi fought epic battles today in the British Grand Prix to take their third consecutive double Yamaha podium, finishing second and third respectively.
Starting from third on the grid Lorenzo had a flying start off the line, taking the holeshot into the first corner. He put his head down trying to clear off at the front but wasn’t able to shake off his rival Marc Marquez who followed close behind. The two raced less than half a second apart until with seven laps remaining, when Marquez made his move at Stow corner, taking the lead. Lorenzo tried to pass back at Vale, but was unable to make it stick.
With five laps left Marquez went wide, allowing Lorenzo to re-overtake him. He again tried to break away at the front, but two laps later Marquez put in an aggressive move going into Village. Lorenzo tried to hold on to the lead but a near collision in the Loop forced him to fall back into second position. The pass cost him valuable time, leaving him to finish the race just 0.732 second behind to claim his 80th podium in the premier class.
Teammate Valentino Rossi kicked off his 246th Grand Prix start in style, celebrating now being the rider with the most premier class starts in MotoGP history. The nine time world champion took off from sixth on the grid and tucked in behind Andrea Dovizioso and Aleix Espargarò in fifth place.
The opening laps saw Rossi and Espargarò engaged in an intense battle, ending with the Italian passing the Spaniard going into Stow. Rossi was then able to close down the gap to Dovizioso. With 16 laps left the Doctor put in his first attempt to snatch third going into Abbey, but was unable to make it stick. His second try saw him successfully go through before eagerly trying to close down the gap to the race leaders. Then threat started to arrive from behind. Dani Pedrosa was on a charge and twelve laps before the end, the Spaniard passed. The Doctor bided his time for four laps before retaking third place at Stow, which he held until the line, 8.519 seconds behind the race winner.
The results see Lorenzo hold fourth in the championship, now on 157 points and 32 points behind teammate Rossi. Rossi remains in third, now on 189 points and just ten point behind Pedrosa in second.
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP will now move to San Marino for the next round at the Misano circuit in two weeks time.
Jorge Lorenzo
2nd / +0.732 / 20 laps
“Knowing what this weekend was like, this race is much better than we expected. I made a really good start and pushed 100%, more than ever, so I am really proud of my riding. The only thing is that here we probably don’t have the best package. Though we did a really good job improving little by little and practice by practice, we were not able to have the same confortable pace as Marc. I was pushing a lot and maybe he was able to relax a little bit more. I was struggling a lot with my physical condition to keep the bike on two wheels and being able to ride these lap times. Finally I lost a lot of time when he touched me. I knew that he was going to try to overtake me in this corner in first gear on the right, but I didn’t let him enter. On the outside I opened the throttle and he touched me. In the next corner he touched me again as he went into the corner and I lost seven tenths of a second. We started the weekend 1.3 seconds slower than Marc and we finished the weekend with being just 7 tenths slower than Marc after twenty laps. That’s fantastic! Thanks to a very good job from my team, all together we improved the bike. I rode well from the first corner to the last one and I did my best. Unfortunately you can’t ride the Yamaha as aggressively as our rivals. You have to open your lines more else you lose corner speed. That’s a difference, but we have our strong points and they have theirs. It’s just unfortunate that in the braking areas it makes it a little harder to fight for me. We will try to improve the bike and win races.“
Valentino Rossi
3rd / +8.519 / 20 laps
“I’m happy for the podium. It’s the first time here at Silverstone and usually this is a very difficult track for me. I am very happy about my pace at the beginning, because Jorge was in front and pushing a lot, so the lap times were very fast. I was able to stay with them for the first laps, but unfortunately I had already a small gap when I was behind Dovizioso. To try and catch them I stressed the rear tyre too much, so I had too slow my rhythm and from that moment I started a very hard battle with Dani and Dovi to the end. I decided to stay in front because I had a quite good pace and I could arrive on the podium. We have a lot of positive things. We have another podium. On the other side, I wanted to stay behind Marc and Jorge throughout the race. We have to do another step to prepare 100% for Misano in two weeks, because that will be my home Grand Prix and we will have to do more than the maximum.”
Massimo Meregalli
“For sure we are satisfied, especially after the way we started the weekend, it’s a dramatic difference. We improved the bike all the weekend and Jorge rode a spectacular race. Another double podium is excellent. Vale also rode an impressive race and fought hard for his position. We will continue this momentum and our race win will come!”
More, from a press release issued by Cardion AB Motoracing:
Thirteenth place in Silverstone
Team Cardion AB Motoracing grabs another three points in Britain Grand Prix at Silverstone circuit. The Czech rider Karel Abraham finished the race on thirteenth position, behind factory rider of Ducati team, Cal Crutchlow, and with lead by eight second to one of his traditional rivals, Hiroshi Aoyama.
Karel Abraham
“This wasn´t bad race, but it would be much better, if I hadn´t loose so much in the first three laps. I run practically the same lap times as Cal Crutchlow and Scott Redding, but I couldn´t close the gap made at the beginning of the race. On the other side the good news is that the gap behind me was also wide. This allowed me to finish the race without any risk.”
Marco Grana, Cardion AB chief mechanic
“I think this was successful weekend for our team. Karel did very fast laps in the race and he was able to stay close to Scott Redding and Cal Crutchlow. Unfortunately we lost a lot in the first lap. Karel was 19th and this keeps him out of the chance to fight with Crutchlow. After the half of the race Karel tried to push harder to catch Cal, but the rear tyre started to be too slippery. The target for next races is clear – we need to be faster in the first three laps to stay in the group we belong to.”
More, from a press relase issued by Pramac Racing:
Silverstone, Iannone is determined Hernandez again at points
After two cold and unpredictable days the sun shines on the Silverstone circuit, scene of a great race of the Pramac Racing Team, who placed Iannone eighth and Hernandez eleventh.
Andrea Iannone made good start that allowed him to gain a couple positions. After some spectacular overtaking Andrea gained up to sixth place, a position that he held until the fifteenth lap. Forced to slow down by the wearing out of rear tire he had to give up two positions and finish the race in eighth position. Ever since this morning Andrea did not have a good feeling with the bike, and then in the race rear tire begun stopped doing it’s job. The rider from Abruzzo demonstrated the ability to ride over the difficulties and to be able to bring home results even in difficult conditions. Now he heads straight to Misano.
Even Yonny Hernandez started the race on the right foot, gaining positions in the early stages of the race from the first laps and finished in eleventh position. The first half of the race he managed to keep a very fast pace, taking the group from sixth to eleventh. For the hole race Yonny fought with the riders at the end of the race finished in the mid positions, with which the Colombian gave a beautiful show and finished the race in eleventh place. Yonny is satisfied with his race, despite that he had to contend with a rapid wear out of the tires. At the same time he knows that he has something extra inside himself that would allow him to finish a race in the top ten.
Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing)
“It was a tough day today, since the warm up this morning I had no feeling with the bike, I thought I could have done better. I am very disappointed with this result, unfortunately I struggled a lot. I could not brake hard and put the bike in the corners. After a few laps I lost all of grip in both entering and exiting the corners, making riding the bike even more difficult. I gave my best from the start of the weekend and we hope to improve the result at Misano! “
Yonny Hernandez (EnergyT.I. Pramac Racing)
“I’m happy to have finished the race in the points, bad luck is gone! The rear tire towards the end of the race had no grip so fighting for the top ten was impossible. I want to solve this problem I have with the tires I want to be able to fight for the top ten positions from the next race. “
More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone:
Marquez emerges victorious in spectacular Spanish duel at Silverstone
Round 12: British Grand Prix – Race
Silverstone, Sunday August 31 2014
Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Extra-soft, Soft & Medium; Rear: Soft, Medium & Hard (Asymmetric)
Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Soft (Main), Hard (Alternative)
Weather: Dry. Ambient 18-19°C; Track 31-34°C (Bridgestone measurement)
For the second consecutive year the British Grand Prix was the venue for a spectacular duel between Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo, but this year it was Marquez who was the victor at Silverstone as the reigning World Champion beat his Spanish rival to the chequered flag.
The battle between Marquez and Lorenzo lasted almost the whole race and resulted in the winning race time being the quickest ever recorded at the Silverstone circuit. After trading the race lead a few times, Marquez managed to pull a small gap on the final lap to beat Lorenzo to the finish line by 0.732 seconds. On the other Movistar Yamaha MotoGP M1 Valentino Rossi was able to resist the challenge of Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso to take third place.
After cool conditions for the first two days of the race weekend, Sunday presented much warmer conditions resulting in a peak track temperature of 34°C recorded at the start of the race; 4°C warmer than any other session this weekend. Although the soft compound rear slick was preferred by the vast majority of riders in the cooler temperatures, the warmer weather today saw a shift in front tyre choice for the race with ten of the twenty-three riders deciding to use the medium compound front, with the remaining thirteen riders deciding to keep using the soft compound front slick. The welcome rise in track temperature today wasn’t significant enough to have an influence on rear tyre choice for the race with all except four riders deciding to use the softer rear slick compound available to them; medium for the Factory Honda and Yamaha riders, and soft for the Ducati and Open-class entrants.
Courtesy of his eleventh win of the season Marquez now extends his lead over his teammate Pedrosa in the standings to eighty-nine points, while Rossi remains in third on the championship table but closes the gap to Pedrosa to just ten points with six rounds remaining the 2014 MotoGP™ season.
Shinji Aoki – Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department
“Conditions for the race were the warmest for the entire race weekend and this had quite an influence on race tyre choice, particularly for the factory riders. Although most riders preferred to use the soft compound front slick on the previous days, the higher track temperatures this afternoon resulted in many of the factory riders choosing to use the medium compound front slick for the race, which was the hardest front slick we brought here this weekend. Despite the warmer temperatures, the softer rear slick options were still used by almost every rider and overall, tyre performance was consistent over the twenty laps. Our tyre allocation performed very well this weekend and the average speed for this year’s race was the fastest ever recorded at Silverstone which was a pleasing result for us.”
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda – Race Winner
“Today I didn’t expect for Jorge to be so strong. I had the same rhythm as FP4 but he was pushing a lot at the beginning. I was trying to manage my tyres at the start but I had to stay with him otherwise he could open up a gap. In the second part of the race my rhythm was slightly better and in the end it was nice to come back and win here.”
More, from a press release issued by Paul Bird Motorsport:
PBM Miss Out On Points At Silverstone
Following on from their historic double points scoring efforts at Indianapolis earlier in the month, hopes of repeating the result in front of their home fans at the Hertz British Grand Prix at Silverstone today were dashed as Penrith-based PBM MotoGP team riders Michael Laverty and Broc Parkes finished outside of the points.
Going into the 12th round of the MotoGP World Championship, hopes were high for Paul Bird’s team to continue their good form but once again it turned into one of frustration with neither rider able to add to their points tally.
Ulsterman Laverty, on the Rapid Solicitors and Silkolene-backed Aprilia ART-powered PBM, gradually improved through free practice and eventually matched his second best qualifying of the season to start from 20th position on the grid on row seven. However, Australian team-mate Parkes, on the Silkolene-backed PBM, could not find a good setting and had to settle for 23rd on the grid on row eight.
Former British Supersport Champion Laverty got a great start in front of a bumper crowd and was up to 16th in the opening stages and involved in a battle with a few of the other British riders. He dropped down the order slightly as the race progressed but finally crossed the line in 17th position to add to his season-long consistency.
Parkes, twice runner-up in the World Supersport Championship, battled hard during the team’s final British Grand Prix and after 20 laps around the 3.66-mile circuit, claimed 21st at the flag.
The results see Parkes maintain his 20th position overall in the 2014 MotoGP World Championship table, seventh in the Open class standings and third in Rookie of the Year. Laverty still occupies 23rd place and 11th in the Open class. Importantly for the PBM team, they hold fifth place in the manufacturer’s table and 11th in the team’s standings.
The PBM MotoGP team is next in action at the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano in two weeks time where they hope for better fortunes.
Michael Laverty: “I was happy enough with the result. We got a good start and on the first lap there were four Brits together including Scott Redding, Cal Crutchlow, Leon Camier and myself. I tried to stay with them but eventually the grip I had started to diminish so I had to let them go. Leon had a three second gap on me but I just couldn’t get back at him as the harder I tried the more mistakes I made. The race pace was good, I’m happy with 17th but points would have been nice.”
Broc Parkes: “For the second meeting in a row, I struggled all weekend with obtaining a good setting and we tried so many different things to fix it but it didn’t change. I was hoping the hotter weather would have helped us but it wasn’t to be so we’ll go back to the drawing board and see if we can work something out for Misano.”
Phil Borley, Technical Director: “We have had mixed results for our home race with Michael having a good pace and making a big improvement on our overall race time from last year, but Broc was struggling with his bike and the conditions. We will keep pushing to improve both the bikes and our performance in the remaining races of the season.”
Paul Bird, Team Owner: “We have come an awful long way since we started our Grand Prix project and whereas we’d love to be scoring points every week, the fact that we are within two or three seconds a lap off the factory bikes at some tracks is very satisfying. Michael and Broc gave it their best shot and it wasn’t to be this weekend so we’ll hopefully round off the season with some strong performances.”
More, from a press release issued by NGM Mobile Forward Racing:
Espargaro, first open bike at Silverstone
The British GP saw the NGM Forward Racing Team on top of the open bikes with Aleix Espargaro finishing in ninth position after a very hard battle with Bradl, Iannone and his brother Pol.
After a great start that saw him 4th on the first lap, Espargaro lost some positions after some laps. Aleix was suffering on the straight, while he was recovering under braking. After a hard fight, he finished with a well deserved ninth place.
With today’s result the Spaniard of the NGM Forward Racing Team maintains the 6th position in the championship with 92 points.
It was a complicated day also for his team mate Alex De Angelis, who crashed twice this morning during the warm up. Alex took the start of the race from the sixth row and was able to finish 15th despite the pain to his right wrist.
Aleix Espargaro
“I did a great start and in the first laps I tried to stay with the front guys. Compared to other times, today I was suffering more in terms of top speed. I was loosing a lot on the straight, while I was recovering under braking. I was battling with Iannone, Bradl and my brother Pol. They were overtaking me in the straight, while I broke very late to recover positions. It was frustrating. Anyway, we leave Silverstone 6th in the championship and this is positive. I look forward to race in Misano, it’s a small track and I think we can do well there”.
Alex De Angelis
“This morning I crashed twice in the warm up due to some technical issues and this made the race very complicated. My right wrist was very painful and I was struggling a lot under braking. Despite this, I’m satisfied as we succeeded to reduce the gap from the front guys and we earned the first points. We are progressing and I look forward to next Race, the GP of San Marino, my home GP”.
More, from a press release issued by Drive M7 Aspar Team:
Aoyama fights adversity to score more points at Silverstone
DRIVE M7 Aspar rider maintains focus despite lack of feel with tyres as Leon Camier narrowly misses out on home points
After dominating free practice and taking pole position yesterday Marc Márquez was made to work hard for his eleventh victory of the season today, with Jorge Lorenzo mounting a strong challenge from the front row at Silverstone. Lorenzo got the jump on the pole man and Andrea Dovizioso into the first turn to lead the first thirteen laps of the race, with Márquez following closely before a late battle between the Spanish compatriots swung decisively in favour of the series leader on the penultimate lap. Dovizioso was overhauled for third place by Valentino Rossi after a three-way battle that also included Dani Pedrosa, who also edged out the Italian for fourth.
The twelfth round of the season did not quite meet up to the expectations of the DRIVE M7 Aspar riders, who both struggled to match the good feeling they had enjoyed during free practice. Hiroshi Aoyama lost two positions at the start and despite not having the same feedback from his tyres that he had experienced during a positive warm-up in the cooler conditions this morning, he was able to overcome the challenge of Alex De Angelis to seal fourteenth position and two more points for his championship total. Leon Camier, by contrast, made a perfect start and had moved up three spots when he started to struggle with his brakes and he could do nothing to stop himself from dropping out of the points positions.
14th Hiroshi Aoyama: “I had a good feeling in the warm-up this morning and I was really hopeful of a strong comeback in the race but my feeling with the tyres just wasn’t the same, possible because of the change in temperature. I was struggling in corner exit, the bike was moving around a lot and I couldn’t hold my corner speed. I tried to manage the tyres but the lap times were slower than we were hoping for and I also made a couple of mistakes in the first half of the race that cost me the odd position. I tried to keep my concentration after that to finish as high up as I could. I want to thank the mechanics for their relentless hard work, thanks to which I am feeling comfortable on this bike.”
16th Leon Camier: “It’s a bit of a strange feeling after this race because I think we could have done more. Something weird was happening with the brakes after the first few laps and I couldn’t get the bike stopped how I wanted. Nothing had changed from the rest of the weekend but the feeling wasn’t the same. I noticed something on the warm-up lap and almost ran off track. Despite all that I got a decent start and passed some riders but with this strange feeling on the brakes I had to ride differently and that cost me some positions. I had less confidence with the bike than I had yesterday, it was sliding a lot on the rear and I couldn’t show my best today, which was disappointing. I guess these things are down to experience and obviously we need more time to get used to this bike and this championship.”
More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda:
BRADL ENDS WITH A STRONG 7TH PLACE THE BRITISH GP
Silverstone, 31 August: LCR rider Stefan Bradl rode his CWM RCV Honda to the 7th place today in the Silverstone GP scoring further important points for the standing at six races to go. The German, who qualified ninth yesterday after two awful crashes, struggled early in the race accusing some lack of rear grip but steadily continued to catch the riders in front.
Stefan: “Overall it’s not a bad result for us. I took a good start from the third row but in the beginning of the race I made a big mistake and dropped to 13th place. After that I did my best to repair the situation trying to get closer to the guys in front of me. I could catch them but suddenly Smith had a technical issue and I got stuck behind him. Once again I had to regain my pace but in the last laps I passed Iannone and Bautista (who crashed at two laps to go) and managed to finish 7th. We missed some rear grip since the first part of the race so we will work on this point before Misano”.
More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:
Great race by Andrea Dovizioso in the British GP at Silverstone: the Italian finishes fifth after battling for third until the flag. Crutchlow twelfth
Andrea Dovizioso put in one of his best performances of the season today at Silverstone. Starting from the front row after setting second-quickest time in yesterday’s qualifying session, the Ducati Team man crossed the line at the end of lap 1 in third place, and then found himself in a scrap with Rossi and Pedrosa for the rest of the 20-lap race. After being passed by both riders between laps 5 and 7, Dovi never lost ground to his two adversaries: he repassed Pedrosa for fourth on lap 13, but was then overtaken by the Spanish rider on the last lap. The Italian finished the British GP in fifth place, about nine seconds down on winner Marquez.
Crutchlow had a more difficult home race after starting from row 5. After concluding the opening lap in fourteenth place, the Coventry rider finished twelfth.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 5th
“Today we can say that fifth place was even a bit disappointing! I fought for the podium throughout with Valentino and Dani, but I was slower than them in three or four corners: I was losing a lot of grip and I couldn’t use the strategy I wanted. Managing to stay with them right until the very end is however a really great satisfaction. We worked well all weekend and the result confirms the improvements we are making. Finishing the race less than ten seconds behind the leaders was almost a dream before the start, but instead we did it and we were always in with a fighting chance of finishing on the podium.”
Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team #35) – 12th
“I’m pleased to finish the race, because one of our aims was to get a full race distance under our belt this weekend and I did that. Obviously I’m not happy with the end result, but we took a risk before the start and chose the hard front tyre that I didn’t do one lap on all weekend. I also made too many mistakes myself, and a twelfth-place finish in my home grand prix is not what I wanted.”
Luigi Dall’Igna (Ducati Corse General Manager)
“With Dovizioso’s second place in qualifying and fifth in the race, we are satisfied with the outcome of this weekend. To finish with a gap of less than ten seconds from the winner was one of our targets: today we did that and it’s an important result, which gives us more motivation to continue to work hard. We’re still not ready to fight for the win, but we are reducing the gap to the leaders at the end of the race. I’d like to thank the team and everyone working on this project in Ducati Corse, because they are always 100% committed: these improvements motivate us even more and help us to see that we are going in the right direction. Now it’s the turn of Misano, our second ‘home’ race, where we will again try and give some satisfaction to the Ducatisti and all of our fans.”
More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3:
Espargaro leading satellite at Silverstone
Pol Espargaro produced a stellar display to clinch 6th position as the leading satellite bike aboard the Yamaha YZR-M1 at Silverstone in today’s 20 lap thriller with 138,000 thousand fans attending the race across the whole weekend. The Monster Yamaha Tech3 team rider opened the day by clinching 3rd place in warm up as he made the final setups adjustments for the race around the 5900-meter British circuit. The sun was shining over Northamptonshire when Espargaro kicked off proceedings from 8th on the grid to finish the opening lap in 9th. After initially slightly struggling to set into his rhythm, the 23 year old Spaniard found himself fast approaching the group of three in front, battling for 6th which included his team mate. His strong pace saw him continuously close down the pack and surge past to claim 7th by lap ten with the next target being Ducati rider Andrea Iannone who Espargaro breezed past on lap 16. The reigning Moto2 World Champion then continued his good rhythm to gap the group and cross the line in 6th position. His top finish here sees him add to his tally in the MotoGP World Championship standings as he remains in 7th position after another strong result for the premier class rookie at Silverstone.
Home Hero Bradley Smith suffered incredible bad luck at his home circuit after undertaking a bright start but then entering the pits on lap 12 due to a cracked rear wheel. Smith started the 20 lap race from 7th on the grid and as the lights went out, the 23 year old leapt forward and locked into his strong race pace whilst biting at the heels of the factory MotoGP bikes. He undertook an expert overtake to seize 6th on the fourth lap and became involved in a fierce battle with Andrea Iannone, exchanging some memorable moves. However, the Monster Yamaha Tech3 team rider entered the pits at the mid point of the race due to an unusual feeling in the rear section of his bike, which transpired to be a broken rim. Yet the British star persevered to the delight of his fans and headed back out on track to once again set competitive times before finishing in 22nd position due to the unscheduled pit stop.
Pol Espargaro
Race : 6thChampionship : 7th Points : 88
“All in all I have to be pleased with 6th position today as the beginning of the race was not an easy one. It took me quite a while to find my rhythm because we went for a bit of a gamble with running the harder front tyre which we never tried during the whole weekend and I was losing a bit of time just after the start. Luckily the longer the race lasted, the more we were able to recover and I managed to pass the riders in front of me and finished just behind the Factory boys and Dovi, who escaped from us during the opening laps. Still this is not where we want to be as the gap to the leader is quite big, but we will continue to work to be stronger in Italy for the next round of the Championship.”
Bradley Smith
Race : 22ndChampionship : 10thPoints : 65
“Obviously I didn’t end up in the position that I had hoped for this weekend. Unfortunately, we had a cracked wheel in the race but we don’t know exactly when or why it happened. I tried to stay out and fight through it but it just got too dangerous to ride. When we changed it, I proved that I have the pace for 6th. It was a good weekend up until the race and the team did a great job, but these things happen sometimes. It’s really disappointing for all of the fans who came to support me, who were fantastic and went crazy when I was on my cooling down lap. So I won’t be defeated just yet and have to learn from every experience. I will again try to give it my all in Misano in two weeks time and give the British fans something to cheer about.”
Hervé Poncharal – Team manager :
“I can’t say anything different other than I feel truly sorry for Bradley as he had a great weekend so far. He pushed hard without doing any mistakes, had a good qualifying and made a great start. He was battling with Vale for the opening laps, until suddenly his pace dropped dramatically and we suspected it might be due to a technical problem. Brad entered the pits and it turned out to be a cracked rear rim. The issue itself happens once in a lifetime, but to happen during the race and in front of his home crowd is more than unlucky. However he got back out on track and again rode some really competitive lap times, but it won’t remove the bitter taste in our mouths. We know he should have gotten 6th, as this was his pace but unfortunately this will not be written in the storybooks or championship standings. On the other side of the garage Pol rode a good race. He had a bit of a slow start due to his tyre choice, but pushed really hard and had a great pace at the end. He finished as the leader of the group behind the front guys which is very good for his confidence after the DNF in Brno. He will surely only get stronger and stronger. Now we will head to Misano where we hope both riders can see the chequered flag and finish in a strong position.”