Posted by Administrator on 05-31-2008 at 04:05 pm
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Valentino Rossi brought out the best for his home fans once again in Mugello this afternoon, taking a stunning pole position to ensure he will start tomorrow’s quest for a ninth Mugello victory in the best possible way. The Italian’s 50th career pole has been a long time in coming, his last one having been at Catalunya last season, almost one year ago. It is also his first for Bridgestone and Yamaha’s fifth from six races this season.
Rossi greeted his fans in slightly unusual fashion today as he unveiled his traditional one-off Mugello helmet, which this year carries a picture of his face on top of it. Joking aside however this morning’s practice was another disjointed session with the track drying throughout after yet another rain shower and Rossi finishing sixth. After his crew made some slight, but important modifications to his M1 over lunch it was a different story this afternoon, as Rossi dominated a hot and sunny qualifying session. He was consistently fast on race tyres and then improved with the first three of his four Bridgestone qualifying tyres, bettering the existing pole position lap by more than 0.8 seconds with the third.
Rossi’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo struggled with the lack of dry track time after yesterday’s washout and was unable to find a perfect set-up for his M1, qualifying at the head of the second row in seventh. After two days of poor weather however the sun that finally came out this afternoon looks set to continue through tomorrow, when the 23-lap Italian Grand Prix gets underway at 1400 local time.
Valentino Rossi 1st 1′48.130; “This is a great, great qualifying because it’s been a long wait to be on pole position again, almost one year exactly! Now for sure we will try to win tomorrow. To be honest I was quite worried after practice this morning because we had a few problems with the set-up and I couldn’t find my rhythm, but I want to say thank you to all my team because they made a great job during lunch, we did some important modifications and then this afternoon I had the feeling and the speed that I wanted. We’re now fast on race tyres but we still need to make our final decision about which tyre to use and we will do this when we see the conditions tomorrow. It’s great to make my first pole with Bridgestone and I think 48.1 is a very fast time and it shows how good their qualifying tyres are now.
It’s good as well to have two Italians on the front row and now I hope we have a lot of people here tomorrow and that we can make a big party once again! I have to be honest about my helmet, it was Aldo Drudi’s idea this time but I think it’s one of the best ever! It’s not a drawing, it’s a real picture of my face at the braking at the end of the straight here and I think it’s very funny!”
Davide Brivio Team Manager; “It’s been a bit of wait to return to the front of the grid but it’s nice to do it for the first time with Bridgestone here in Mugello, it’s extra special for everyone! Congratulations are also due to the Yamaha engineers because this is their sixth pole of the season so it’s clear that they have built a fantastic bike. With the reduced time we’ve had here in the dry our engineers have done a great job to find such a good set-up and to enable Valentino to have such a strong pace, both on race tyres and on qualifiers. We’re in the best position for the race; hopefully it will be dry and we can continue our successful weekend.”
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Fiat Yamaha Team rider Jorge Lorenzo will become the youngest rider ever to pass the 100 Grand Prix milestone tomorrow when he starts the Italian Grand Prix from seventh on the grid. It is the 21-year-old’s lowest qualifying position so far since his MotoGP debut but, with four podiums already under his belt and an impressive passing record in the last two races especially, he will be looking forward to making his way through the field tomorrow to challenge at the front.
The hoped-for dry session this morning did not materialise as more rain early on meant the track was still damp for first practice and Lorenzo struggled in the conditions, finishing 14th. This afternoon the sun finally came out and the Mallorcan and his crew worked hard to iron out the issues they were having with the M1, making some improvement but not enough to allow them to challenge for the top qualifying spots. They will now aim to make the most of tomorrow’s short warm-up session to finalise their choice of Michelin race tyre and make some last-minute adjustments to put them in better shape for the race.
Jorge Lorenzo 7th 1′48.905; “Of course I’m not happy with seventh because I always want to be at the front, it’s my worst position so far with Yamaha in MotoGP and I’m especially disappointed because I really like this track and I love the Italian fans, but now we just have to look forward to a good race! I still lack some power in my ankles but honestly I can’t blame my injuries this time, today it was a case of lacking time to find the right dry set-up and of me not riding as well as I might have done.
We need to work on the front especially because at the moment we are wheelying too much and we don’t have enough stability in the bumpy areas, but I have confidence in my team and in Yamaha and I know we will be able to improve for tomorrow. Anyway, we know our bike is working well here because Valentino is on pole! Tomorrow morning we will decide on the race tyre, together with Michelin, and then I will try to get a good start and pass as many people as possible.”
Daniele Romagnoli Team manager; “Today was a bit more difficult than we’ve been used to and we have some small problems, specifically with wheelies making the bike a little bit difficult to control and also in the bumpy areas where we need to work on the suspension to make the bike more stable and less nervous. Now our engineers are studying the data and we will find a good solution for tomorrow. Jorge has shown in the last two races how well he can pass people so we’re still looking forward to a great race tomorrow.” |
Colin Edwards came within a whisker of handing the Tech 3 Yamaha team a fifth front row start in six races for tomorrow’s Italian MotoGP race in Mugello. Edwards ended today’s qualifying session in fifth place, but was only 0.070s off extending his remarkable front row starting record in 2008 with another impressive display on Michelin’s qualifying tyres.
Edwards seemed certain to be on the front row when he claimed third with only five seconds left on the clock in what was the first full dry session of a weather-hit weekend. Loris Capirossi and Casey Stoner though denied Edwards after he’d posted a 1.48.383. Edwards, who had led the way earlier after using his first Michelin qualifying tyre, is confident he can challenge for a second successive podium in tomorrow’s race, despite minimal time to find a good dry set-up due to the inclement weather conditions that dominated free practice.
James Toseland once again belied his lack of track experience to clock the eighth best time, just one place behind early title contender Jorge Lorenzo. Robbed of crucial dry track time to fine tune his YZR-M1 set-up, while also learning the challenging Mugello circuit, Toseland finished just 0.895s off pole position. |
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Colin Edwards 5th 1′48.383; “Missing the front row like that is a bit of a shame but I’ve got to be happy. It would have been nice to get on the front row but I still feel like I can be up with the guys tomorrow. I put my first qualifier in early just in case it rained and I did a 48.7 and told my team ‘we can do a 47.’ You are talking about finding another seven tenths but I’d made a few little mistakes. I thought we could do it but just missed out at the end. Hats off to my team and Yamaha because I’m feeling good as far as race set-up goes and I think we have got the right tyre from Michelin. Tyres are going to be more critical than ever and I think we’ve got to be a bit cautious in the beginning.
We’ll have to stay with the guys but I don’t think we can go too crazy with the tyres. We’ve got to do 23 laps and none of us have had chance to endurance test tyres so that just adds to the intrigue. Michelin have been doing a great job so I’m confident. I have never in my entire life been this happy at this track though. To have confidence is one thing, but then to come to a track that you have never done any good on and do well, that just amplifies the confidence feeling. You realise the tyres and the bike are working like a dream because every year I’ve been to this track I’ve had chatter, and now I don’t have chatter and the bike works unbelievably. Hopefully I can get away with the guys tomorrow because with that slipstream on the straight you can hang in there. I feel really happy with my gearing off the last corner and that is the most important corner on the whole track, because if you lose that slipstream its tough to get back in the group unless they start holding each other up.”
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James Toseland 8th 1′49.025; “To finish less than a second off pole when you consider all the time we have lost due to the weather is a great result for me. I’m relieved to be honest because when it started dry this morning, the dry set-up we had was quite a long way off. It was really hard to ride with that setting and we have changed the bike a lot and gone to a set-up close to what Colin is running. The bike feels a bit more stable now. I think for a tighter track the set-up I had wasn’t going to be too bad. But on a fast and flowing track like this it was a little bit nervous so we just changed the front a bit. Now we haven’t got a bad set-up, but I have only had 10 laps on a decent set-up. With the set-up and lack of knowledge of the track, to be a less than a second is not bad. Fair play to my team because we did a lot of work and fortunately for me the new set-up is a good direction to go in. This afternoon I only really had 30 minutes to work on the race set-up because you spend 30 minutes on the qualifiers. I made some mistakes because on all these new tracks, with the qualifiers you need to be so precise and I haven’t quite mastered exactly where you need to be on the track with them.
I’m still not getting the best out of the qualifiers. It is such a long lap and I kept coming out of a couple of corners going slightly wide and then you can forget about the lap time because a small mistake costs you corner speed at the next turn. I just suffer a bit of a lack of track knowledge but the bike and the tyres are working great. I just need to get a good start because the slipstream here can really help you get a good result.”
Posted by Administrator on 05-31-2008 at 04:05 pm
Rossi takes home pole position and his first ever pole with Bridgestone to end Michelin’s perfect 2008 qualifying run.
Full qualifying times from the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, round six of the 2008 MotoGP World Championship.
500GP race winner Tady Okada has returned as a wild-card this weekend, to give the pneumatic-valve Honda engine its MotoGP debut…
1. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team (B) 1min 48.130 secs
2. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1min 48.297 secs
3. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 1min 48.313 secs
4. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1min 48.375 secs
5. Colin Edwards USA Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 1min 48.383 secs
6. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1min 48.666 secs
7. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team (M) 1min 48.905 secs
8. James Toseland GBR Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 1min 49.025 secs
9. Shinya Nakano JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 1min 49.095 secs
10. Alex de Angelis RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 1min 49.145 secs
11. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 1min 49.220 secs
12. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP (M) 1min 49.246 secs
13. Andrea Dovizioso ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP (M) 1min 49.565 secs
14. John Hopkins USA Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 1min 49.601 secs
15. Tady Okada JPN Repsol Honda Team (M) 1min 49.829 secs
16. Toni Elias SPA Alice Team (B) 1min 49.851 secs
17. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alice Team (B) 1min 50.275 secs
18. Marco Melandri ITA Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1min 50.465 secs
19. Anthony West AUS Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 1min 50.889 secs
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Fastest practice time:
Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda (M) 1min 49.975secs (FP3)
2007 Italian Grand Prix - 02/06/2007:
Pole position: Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro (B) 2min 0.359secs (wet)
Fastest lap: Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda (M) 1min 50.357secs
Posted by Administrator on 05-28-2008 at 02:05 am
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The Fiat Yamaha team head into their home Grand Prix at Mugello in Italy this weekend looking to continue the most successful ever start to a MotoGP World Championship for the Japanese factory. Yamaha riders have won three of the first five races of the year, having taken pole in four of them, and have racked up nine podiums – including a top-three lockout at the last round in France. Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo currently occupy the top two positions in the championship, while Yamaha are leading both the Constructors’ and Teams’ standings.
The 300km trip to Mugello from the team’s current base in Milan has traditionally been a successful one for the factory, who have dominated for the last four seasons with Rossi. The Italian’s record at his home race is second to none, with an unbeaten run of six seasons in MotoGP to add to victories in each of the 125cc and 250cc classes. Back-to-back successes in the last two rounds of this season mean that for the first time in over a year Rossi leads the World Championship, although just three points separate him from team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who is tied on points with Dani Pedrosa.
Lorenzo’s tally of 94 points is the highest ever score after five races by a rookie and whatever the result in Italy the 21-year-old plans to make more history as the youngest rider ever to reach the milestone of 100 Grand Prix starts. Lorenzo has a strong record at Mugello, having gone from his debut 250cc pole to second place in 2005 before taking victory from pole in 2006. However, last year he started from 20th place following a rain-affected qualifying session and then slid out of the lead on the final lap, re-mounting to finish eighth.
One of the fastest circuits on the calendar, with the 1,141m front straight last year tempting the new 800cc machines towards top speeds in excess of 320km/h, Mugello differs from other fast circuits in its frequent changes of gradient and the speed of its chicanes. There is a mix of slower and high-speed corners, although even the slowest corners are still wide - allowing plenty of scope for overtaking as the riders get a choice of line, putting the emphasis as much on their skill as on the precision of their chassis set-up.
Valentino Rossi; “Le Mans was fantastic and I am still feeling very happy when I think about it! We had a good test afterwards and did a lot of hard work with Bridgestone and on the general setting of our bike, so hopefully we have been able to improve our package even further. Everyone knows that Mugello is one of my favourite tracks; I’ve won there six times in a row and now I want to make it seven! It’s my home race and also the home race for a lot of our team and to race there is always something very special. It’s fast and technical and we know it suits our bike so we will be aiming to be quick right from Friday morning. I hope the weather is good - for us and for all the fans - and then hopefully we can have a big Italian party!”
Davide Brivio Team Manager; “This is a very good moment for Valentino to be going to Mugello, after two very important victories. Mugello is always one of the most important races of the year for us because it is in Italy but this season we’re particularly keen to win because we’d like to give Bridgestone their first win at this track – that would be a fantastic achievement. The results in general for Yamaha so far this season have been outstanding and to be leading all three championships is testament to the hard work everybody put in over the winter. Yamaha worked extremely hard on the engine and on the bike as a whole package and the results are there to see. Also Valentino put in a lot of training to make sure that he arrived for this season in great shape, he is highly focused and highly motivated to win the title back. When everybody puts so much energy into a project it is extremely satisfying to see the results and now we hope the success continues for the rest of the season.”
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Jorge Lorenzo; “I have to be really grateful for the fact that I have recovered so quickly from my injuries and to have had such great professionals making sure that was the case. Obviously we’re still not going to be at 100% for Mugello but with every race that passes I’m able to put more weight on the footrests. I’m going to Italy with high hopes because it is one of my favourite circuits, with lots of fast and flowing corners. We have some favourable tracks coming up but we can’t rely too much on that because in sport, and especially in motorcycle racing, you never know what can happen. This is a special race for me because it will be my hundredth appearance in the World Championship. It has all gone really fast and if I ever make it to 200 then I hope it goes just as fast – that would mean I’m having just as much fun as I have up to now and hopefully I’ll have helped the fans enjoy it too!”
Danielle Romagnoli Team Manager; “This is Jorge’s 100th Grand Prix, which is an incredible achievement for his age, but knowing him he will simply be focused on collecting more information, learning his bike and continuing his education in MotoGP. He is still not in the best physical shape so it won’t be easy but we saw at Le Mans his capacity to react and deal with difficult moments. The team are also learning and I am delighted with the way they too have performed. The two crashes during practice in France didn’t make their job any easier but they worked extremely hard, reacted well and made some changes in the warm-up that proved to be very successful. Even then we didn’t expect this level of performance from Jorge and the result has amazed us again. We are always looking to improve, though, so at Mugello we will work on the clutch to try and improve his starts. We know Yamaha and Michelin is a good combination there because of Valentino’s victory last year so we are confident that we can have the chance for another great result.”
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Information Valentino Rossi:
Age: 29
Lives: Tavullia, Italy
Bike: Yamaha
GP victories: 90 (63 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc)
First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc)
First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc)
GP starts: 197 (136 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc)
Pole positions: 49
Information Jorge Lorenzo:
Age: 21
Lives: London, UK
Bike: Yamaha
GP victories: 22 (1 x MotoGP, 17 x 250cc, 4 x 125cc)
First GP victory: Brazil, 2003 (125cc)
First GP: Jerez, Spain, 2002 (125cc)
GP starts: 99 (5 x MotoGP, 48 x 250cc, 46 x 125cc)
Pole positions: 29 (3 x MotoGP, 23 x 250cc, 3 x 125cc)
World Championships: 2 x 250cc
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Record Lap Mugello: M. Biaggi (Honda) 2005, 1′50.117
Best Lap Mugello: S. Gibernau (Ducati) 2006, 1′48.969
Grand Prix results Mugello 2007
1. V. Rossi (Yamaha) 42′42.385
2. D.Pedrosa (Honda) +3.074
3. A.Barros (Ducati) +5.956
Result Jorge Lorenzo Mugello 2007
8. J. Lorenzo (SPA) Aprilia +32.238 (250cc)
Posted by Administrator on 05-20-2008 at 03:05 am
After making another step up the all-time winners list to joint second with his 90th career victory yesterday, Valentino Rossi wasted no time in getting started on working towards number 91 at Le Mans yesterday. It was the first of two days of testing for Rossi, who was the sole occupant of the Fiat Yamaha Team garage as team-mate Jorge Lorenzo flew back to Spain after his hard-fought second yesterday to continue rehabilitation on his fractured ankles.
Yamaha is flying high after filling the podium but there is still ongoing development work for the team, with Rossi focusing largely on tyre testing for the future with Bridgestone today as well as refining the set-up of his M1. Most of the paddock stayed on to test and Rossi was second fastest today after 68 laps with a best lap of 1’33.661, set on a qualifying tyre.
The Italian is keen to head to his home race at Mugello next week in the best possible shape and will therefore continue testing Tuesday, when he will have the track almost to himself with most teams are packing up tonight.
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Valentino Rossi; “Monday was a good day, even if it was quite hard to get back to work after the great day we had Sunday! We tested many different tyres with Bridgestone, both qualifiers and race tyres, and collected a lot of information. The tyres we tested were mostly for the future development, not so much for the next few races, but it’s very important to look ahead like this and we found some good material. Of course we worked on the setting a bit as well and also tested some new electronic maps, and now we will continue with more tyre testing again tomorrow. Our aim for this test is just to make sure the bike is in the best possible shape for the Italian challenge that is waiting around the corner!”
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1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda 1′33.106
2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1′33.661
3. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro 1′33.994
4. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki 1′34.108
5. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing 1′34.484
6. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1′34.730
7. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda 1′34.752
8. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1′34.911
9. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1′34.926
10. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing 1′35.082
11. Marco Melandri (ITA) Ducati Marlboro 1′36.064
12. Erwan Nigon (FRA) HRC Test Team 1′37.389
13. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki Racing 1′37.424
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Le Mans record lap: V. Rossi (Yamaha) 2006, 1′35.087
Le Mans best Lap: C. Edwards (Yamaha) 2007, 1′33.616
Posted by Administrator on 05-18-2008 at 03:05 pm
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Valentino Rossi made another historic step in his incredible career today when he took his 90th career victory in Le Mans, equalling the record set by the great Angel Nieto, to move into second in the all-time winners list behind Giacomo Agostini. It was an outstanding display from the Fiat Yamaha Team rider and he celebrated in fine style when Nieto joined him on his slow-down lap, the Spaniard taking charge of the bike with Rossi riding pillion behind him.
It was a superb day for Yamaha in general as Jorge Lorenzo once again defied his injuries to ride into an astonishing second place behind his team-mate and Tech 3 Yamaha rider Colin Edwards joined the pair on the podium in third place.
Rossi had an average start and was tailing the lead group in fifth at the end of lap one. It was soon clear how well his Yamaha-Bridgestone package was working however and he picked off first Nicky Hayden then Edwards and Dani Pedrosa to move into second behind Casey Stoner, before passing him too on lap eight. From then on Rossi was too strong for the chasing pack, stretching his lead lap after lap until some spots of rain forced him to slow slightly in the last third of the race. The sun soon came back out however, allowing the riders to continue without changing bikes and the Italian to cross the line 4.997 seconds in front to take his first back-to-back victory since 2006.
The 29-year-old’s 90th win moves him two points clear at the top of the championship with 97 points, whilst Lorenzo and Pedrosa are just behind him with 94 points each. Rossi will now stay here for two days of testing to ready himself for his home race at Mugello in Italy in two week’s time, when he will be looking for his 7th consecutive win at the track.
Valentino Rossi 1st 44′30.799; “To arrive at 90 wins like this and equal Angel’s record is a dream for me. I had quite a lot of pressure because Angel was waiting with the special leathers to join me on the bike, so I really needed to win! It was great to ride with him – I think maybe with some practice he can be as fast as us! 180 victories together on one bike is quite impressive I think!
Honestly I didn’t expect to be so fast today but together with Jeremy and my guys we decided to make some small modifications this morning and in the race my M1 and my Bridgestone tyres worked brilliantly from start to finish. When is started to rain a little bit I thought “oh no!’ and so I steadied a bit and tried to ride very sweetly; I had such a good rhythm and I really didn’t want to have to change bikes. Luckily the rain soon stopped and I was able to continue in the same way. It’s great for Yamaha to have the first three and I want to congratulate Jorge especially for doing such a good job in his condition. Thanks to everybody in the team; the job that Yamaha has done in three months is incredible. I enjoyed myself so much today, the atmosphere in our garage is perfect and now we will make two important days of testing, try to improve even more and then head to Mugello.”
Davide Brivio Team Manager; “What a day for Yamaha and for Valentino! This is a great victory, Valentino was even stronger than in China and now we are leading the championship. Our team, engineers and Bridgestone are doing a fantastic job and now we need to maintain this form through the busy run of races coming up. Next stop Mugello, which is a very important race for all of us, so we’ll be working hard at the test here to make sure we are in the best shape to try to repeat this result!”
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Fiat Yamaha Team rider Jorge Lorenzo once again stunned onlookers by riding to second place in Le Mans today with two fractured ankles. The 21-year-old rookie has found it increasingly difficult to ride through the pain during the course of the weekend but today he found his rhythm and was able to take his fourth podium in five races. It was a Yamaha whitewash in France as Valentino Rossi took his 90th career victory, equalling Angel Nieto with the second highest number of wins in the sport’s history, and Yamaha Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards rode a strong race to finish third.
Lorenzo’s race was a carbon copy of China as he dropped back through the field at the start, struggling off the line and unable to find his rhythm in the early stages. He had lost five places from fifth on the grid at the end of lap one but on lap eight he suddenly found the feeling with the bike and began to make headway, passing three riders in one lap and setting off after Chris Vermeulen, who was some distance ahead. It took the Michelin-shod rider seven laps to reel in the Australian and then another five to pass Edwards, before he leap-frogged both Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner on lap 21 to move into second. Some spots of rain caused a flurry of activity in the pits as the mechanics readied the second bikes with rain settings, but the sun reappeared and Lorenzo eventually crossed the line just under five seconds adrift of his team-mate.
Jorge Lorenzo 2nd +4′997; “Firstly I want to say congratulations to Yamaha because it’s fantastic to have three on the podium and it demonstrates how strong our bike is. After the weekend I have had, with the crashes and so much pain, I can’t believe I’m here! All last night I worried about this race because I really thought it might be too hard. It was a dream to finish sixth or seventh, especially when I could only manage 11th in the warm-up. I knew I had to try however and on the grid one of my mechanics reminded me that my rivals were just the same ones as in Portugal; this was a good motivation! I had some problems at the start and it’s clear that we need to work on these, but after a while I found my rhythm and once again I was able to make my way through the field and pass some riders. I think the rain helped me for the first time in my life because everyone was a little bit slower for a few laps, but second is unbelievable and I think I look a bit happier this afternoon! Now we have to work as hard as possible to heal my injuries and improve my physical condition, so that we can be back to our best in Mugello.”
Danielle Romagoli Team Manager; “Once again Jorge has done an incredible job in his condition and today is a great result for Yamaha and for the team. Our job this weekend has been very difficult because two crashes have meant less time to perfect the bike, but the team did a great job, found the best possible set-up and then Michelin gave us the best tyre for the race. Thanks to all of them! Now everyone needs some rest but Jorge most of all and we will all be hoping that he is able to relax and recuperate over the next ten days so that he can be back to full strength in Italy.” |
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Edwards claims home podium for jubilant Tech 3 Yamaha
Colin Edwards stormed to his first podium finish of the season in Le Mans today to hand a jubilant Tech 3 Yamaha squad its first premier class top three finish since 2004. Edwards finished third in a rain-affected 28-lap race to give Tech 3 its first home podium since 2003, while the American also helped Yamaha to its first clean sweep of the rostrum since 2001.
Starting from the front row of the grid for the fourth time in five races, the American was immediately in contention for the lead as he pursued reigning world champion Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa. Relegated to fourth by eventual Valentino Rossi on lap four, Edwards then spent 15 laps closely pursuing Stoner and Pedrosa, and in the process he clocked the second fastest lap of the race. Rain started to fall on lap 16, dampening the track at certain points, though not hard enough for a second successive flag-to-flag race to be played out in front of a large French crowd. Edwards briefly slipped back to fifth on lap 20, but he moved back into fourth when Stoner encountered technical problems and secured his ninth podium when he passed Pedrosa on lap 22. The result helped move Edwards into fifth place in the points, while Tech 3 Yamaha is now level on points with Ducati’s factory squad in the Team World Championship standings.
James Toseland’s Le Mans debut ended in disappointment after the British rider crashed out of ninth place following a tangle with Andrea Dovizioso on lap three. Toseland had made a fantastic start to jump to fifth by the end of the first lap, but in the frantic early exchanges slipped back to ninth before he crashed unhurt.
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Colin Edwards 3rd +6.805; “I honestly thought that today was going to be my day with the pace I’d been able to run all weekend. I was fastest in free practice, fastest in the warm-up and second on the grid so I had high expectations. I really thought I could have got my first win out there, but I’ll still settle for third because it was a tough race. I thought I’d got a good start and then Casey and Dani came flying by and it was almost impossible to pass them. I tried everything, but they just didn’t make any mistakes and I couldn’t get close enough. I wanted to get by them because looking at my lap times I know I had more in the locker, but I couldn’t pass. They just had the jump on me coming out of the corners with acceleration and it would have taken a risky move for me to do it.
I’m an experienced rider and those guys are fighting for the world title while I’m in fifth, so I wasn’t going to do anything stupid. And when Valentino came blazing by like a cowboy with his guns shooting I knew he was going to push hard and that it would be tough for me. Casey had a problem and I got by him and then I passed Dani, as he seemed to check a bit at the first corner because of the rain. I didn’t think the rain was that bad and the lap times were not that much slower. I got to say a huge thanks to my team because I’ve wanted to give them a podium, and I guess there is no better to do it than in their home race. They’ve worked so hard and I’m glad to give them that podium. Congratulations to Yamaha as well because to have a 1-2-3 is fantastic. My Michelin tyres worked great too, so hopefully next time I can be closer to the win.”
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James Toseland DNF; “I’m pretty frustrated because a little mistake ruins all the hard work myself and the team have put in. I wish I could have a second go at it now like you get in World Superbikes! I got a great start and really wanted to try and get away with the leaders but I lost a couple of places when John Hopkins came by with a hard but fair move. Andrea then made a small mistake and went slightly wide at the fourth corner and as I tried to go underneath him he came back on line and took my front wheel. It was just a racing incident but very disappointing because after that good start I felt like I could have got a good result.
I’m already looking forward to coming back strongly at Mugello and having done a bit of testing there before it won’t be completely alien for me. Congratulations to Colin because he has been awesome all weekend. He has been on the pace since pre-season testing and he’s deserved that podium, as has the team for all their effort. It was great for Yamaha to dominate the podium so it proves what great work was done in the winter.
Herve Poncharal Team Manager; “It has been a fantastic weekend for Tech 3 and for Yamaha. It has been a long time since our last podium and we had almost forgotten what it was like to celebrate after the race! But Colin has done a great job and I want to thank him for that. He almost got pole position yesterday but second was great and in qualifying this year he has been incredible. We knew it was going to be a tough race because this is a high calibre championship and to get a podium against such quality opposition is a great achievement, and all the more satisfying because this is our home race. Colin never gave up and in the end he was rewarded because he rode a sensible but fast race. It was an exceptional day for Yamaha and congratulations to them and Masao Furusawa. The Yamaha staff put in a tremendous amount of effort over the winter after a tough 2007 so to claim all the places on the podium is incredible.
We are not 100 percent happy because of James’ crash but we always knew this was going to be a tough part of the season but he did a good job in qualifying and his start was very impressive. He was right in the heart of the battle and riding well before the incident. I am 100 per cent confident things will get better for him and I believe today he could have finished around sixth. He is a true champion and I know he will never give up.”
