MotoGP Blog

It’s the hottest it has been all year for the MotoGP riders on track at Motegi - 34C air temp. Some interesting points coming out of the Friday free practice:

• Pedrosa on Michelins tops the timing sheet. Bridgestone dominance was expected. However, Dani is the only Michelin in the top eight.
• Hopkins manages 4th despite suffering food poisoning.
• Rossi suffers engine blow-up and does not trouble the top of the leaderboard. Is the Yamaha overheating despite the new fairing?
• Burgess confirms both Yamahas are now running the pneumatic valves.
• Stoner seems unhappy that he can’t find the right suspension settings. The bike was fighting him out of corners and he ended up half a second behind Pedrosa down in 5th place.
• Wildcard Akiyoshi (6th) showed Vermeulen (18th) how to ride his bike.

It does not look like Stoner will get it all his own way this weekend, much like last weekend. Another good race is in prospect with Pedrosa looking very strong.

Here’s a summary of the rider and team line-ups for 2008 with some noteable gaps still to be announced, although I can’t see Pedrosa going anywhere but Repsol Honda - the question is just really for how much and for how long.

Repsol Honda
Nicky Hayden - signed 2007, 2008.
Dani Pedrosa - signed for 2008, 2009.

Fiat Yamaha
Valentino Rossi - signed for 2007, 2008.
Jorge Lorenzo - signed for 2008, 2009.

Ducati
Casey Stoner - signed for 2008, 2009.
Marco Melandri - signed for 2008, 2009.

Suzuki
Chris Vermeulen - signed for 2008.
Loris Capirossi - signed for 2008.

Kawasaki
John Hopkins - signed for 2008, 2009.
Ant West - signed for 2008.

Honda Gresini
Alex de Angelis - signed for 2008 with an option for 2009.
Tony Elias yet to sign

Tech 3
Colin Edwards - signed for 2008 with retirement from MotoGP in mind.
James Toseland - signed for 2008.

Pramac d’Antin
Sylvain Guintoli - signed for 2008.
Alex Barros yet to sign

Honda LCR
Randy de Puniet - signed for 2008, 2009.
Carlos Checa yet to announce retirement

Konica Minolta Honda
Still to be announced - rumoured to be Dovizioso

Team Roberts
Team future still to be announced.

UPDATE: Dani Pedrosa announced his signature for Repsol Honda today, 21 Sept 07.

Here’s an experiment: a Motegi circuit guide in Google Maps.
Hmm. It’s not embedding for me. Check out the guide at this link. If you like it, share it with your friends. All part of the service.

Motegi Twin-Ring Map

It has been a busy time over the last couple of days with some more seats being taken in the game of musical chairs - and one being freed up. Pramac, Yamaha and Gresini all making annoucements.

The surprise sacking of Hoffman from the Pramac squad suggests a rider who has lost his way a little. Perhaps after suffering such a nasty wound to his hand in Laguna, which has still left him with a feeling of numbness in one finger 15 screws and various plates in his hand, he lacks motivation. And who could blame him. The events of Sunday morning can hardly have helped matters, with Pramac announcing the signing of a new rider for the season. None other than Guintoli, Hoffman’s nemesis and cause of his hand injuries.
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Formula 1 has had its trials and tribulations recently with the Mclaren/Ferrari spying affair dragging the reputation of the the sport and the teams involved through the mud. This is not really the problem with Formula 1 though, it goes much deeper than that. The plain and simple fact is: it has become boring. This was made plain to me today, sitting in front of the TV watching the race at Spa, followed by the Estoril round of MotoGP.

I actually swore off F1 when the McLaren judgement was announced, such was my disgust. I documented some of how I was feeling on Clive’s excellent F1 Insight blog, but found myself reluctant to miss the race in case it was exciting, and I do so love Spa. So I watched it, well some of it.

I literally dozed off in the F1 race. For 20 laps, I snored. Then I woke up with six laps to go and nothing had changed. No, sorry, Coulthard dropped out with a hydraulic problem in that time. He was back in about 14th though, so no big deal. Still Raikkonnen led Massa, who led Alonso who led Hamilton. And then it was the BMWs I think. To be honest I couldn’t really care. For me to miss 20 laps and at the same time not miss anything of import is a real shame. More than that, it is sad.

Then came the MotoGP race. A four way battle for the lead right from the off. Nine men fighting for ninth place for several laps. Exchange of the lead several times. The current championship leader struggling for grip and fighting, and succeeding, to close the gap on the leaders. The greatest rider of all time seeming to play with the competition then shown to be riding right at the limit, only to snatch victory on the final lap.

I was on the edge of my seat: shouting, ooh-ing and aww-ing at outrageous riding; wincing in disbelief at the overtaking maneuvers; sat in awe as rear tyres lifted under braking, and feet flew off of pegs as riders anticipated crashes that never quite happened. There was not a dull moment. In contrast, the F1 race was exciting for the first three, maybe four corners as Alonso and Hamilton duked it out up to Eau Rouge. By half way through the first lap the race was decided. Halfway through the last lap and the MotoGP result was far from decided!

Farewell F1. You shall not sap another Sunday afternoon from me again this year.

MotoGP returns to form with a classic battle at the front between Michelin and Bridgestone, Honda, Yamaha and Ducati. As predicted, Pedrosa was strong all through the race. Rossi seemed to have his usual poor start, followed by grappling his way past his rivals one by one. Indeed it was a return to the Rossi of old, allowing Pedrosa to lead and him to follow, sizing his prey up. But to characterise this race in terms of Rossi is a mistake. There were battles up and down the field, at one time nine riders contesting ninth place. Here’s a brief review for each of the front runners:
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There are a few key points to take away from Estoril’s qualifying session yesterday; tyres, traction control and qualifying vs race pace.

Tyres
A Michelin on pole suggests that they have started to get to grips with the new rules. It also suggests that the tight and twisty nature of the track minimises the differences between Honda, Yamaha and Ducati. It also minimises the differences between tyres - a Dunlop in fourth!

Traction control
The Parabolica is a special corner in MotoGP and the sight of McCoy smoking his rear tyre around the full length of it is one to stir the hearts of race enthusiasts everywhere. I was expecting a rather antiseptic display of traction control keeping wheels in line and no funny business. While qualifying wasn’t quite back to McCoy standards, there were several riders out there with TC turned right down: Pedrosa, Hayden and Rossi in particular. Interstingly, Suzuki appeared to stay away from such leery behaviour and seemed to suffer as a result - although Hopkins claims to have messed up his one fast lap and Vermeulen has had vibration problems all weekend.

Qualifying vs race pace
Tamada up in fourth, Guintoli in eighth shows Dunlop can make fast rubber. Expect them to slip down the ranks pretty fast in the race though. One of the front runners who took a very different path through qualifying was Pedrosa, who stayed out on race tyres for nine consecutive laps right in the middle of qualifying, running fast enought to take pole at that time, and not slipping off the pace by more than 0.2 secs. An impressive series of laps, most likely to confirm the performance of his chosen tyre over a decent distance.

This could be Pedrosa’s race. He was fast in all sectors, all the time. This is something we have not seen from him for several races. Rossi looked strong and agile, Stoner able to put fast laps in at will. Then we have Hayden, who has shut up and put up all season long. Less TC seems to suit the man and he was on fire at the end of qualifying yesterday. Not so hot in the first two thirds of the session, but the Honda mechanics found something for him and he’s top dog again.

The race is a real tough one to call. Any of the four riders above could win. And then there is Elias, starting from eighth this year, so practically a head start compared to last year.

Have a look at pictures of the Repsol Honda, Fiat Yamaha and Ducati at Estoril.
Honda are running minimal bodywork, with the chain exposed right up to the crankshaft (at least on Pedrosa’s bike). Ducati have a slightly modified faring, a little smaller than recently if anything, probably in the run-up to Philip Island’s gusty sidewinds. Fiat Yamaha have gone in the opposite direction, still running the wider, longer fairing we have seen recently with the double-bubble screen.

A small thing, but fascinating as to how the teams are competing to get that edge and challenge Ducati.

I’ll dig out some pictures to illustrate this post as soon as they come in.

As we head into the weekend in Portugal, here’s a very quick summary of last year - how different it was:

• Rossi left the race with an 8 point lead in the championship.
• Pedrosa had a mad moment, lost the front and dramatically wiped out his team mate Hayden.
• Stoner took out Gibernau to end both their races.

While it is too much to hope the championship will still be alive after this weekend, there is plenty of opportunity for drama this weekend. Bring it on.

UPDATE: And of course, Elias won from 11th on the grid!

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There has been a remarkable lack of news recently of note in the MotoGP paddock. Aside from Rossi apparently conceeding the title verbally, and the team conceeding the title by overtly working on next year’s bike rather than focusing on this campaign, little has happened. There are still plenty of loose ends to tie up and the silence on these has been deafening:

• Edwards and the Tech3 team. No official announcement, although inferences from Toseland that Edwards will be his team mate.
• Rossi/Lorenzo team set-up. Will they effectively be riding in two single-bike teams?
• Although Kwak, Suzuki and Yamaha teams are pretty well announced (see above), what of all the others places up for grabs? Will Baros finally retire?
• Pedrosa re-signing for Honda. We list it down here as there really is nowhere else for Dani to go but into the arms of H - will they reach a compromise of the one year/three year contract though?

Expect some clarity on some of these on Thursday when the PR machines crank up. Until then, it’s fun to guess the potential outcomes.