Category: Moto GP

Assen (The Netherlands), 26 June 2015: Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Valentino Rossi wasted no time on Friday in the dry Q2 session to put in some incredible hot laps around the TT Circuit Assen, setting a new circuit best lap record of 1’32.627 and securing the 61^st pole position of his career. Assen is the only venue which hosts the race on a Saturday.

Teammate Jorge Lorenzo was unable to ride the hot lap he had in mind and will start tomorrow‘s race from eighth on the grid.

Topping the combined free practice times after FP4, Rossi was determined to drop a hot lap during the 15 minute long time attack. He was the first man to leave pit lane and momentarily took pole before dropping down the order to eighth place. His second attempt didn‘t gain him any places, but his third hot lap moved him up to fifth.

He hastened back to his pit box for some fresh tyres with seven minutes left on the clock. After a minute he was ready to hit the track once more. The Italian was unable to improve on his next lap, dropping down to eighth in the ranking order, but this only seemed to motivate him even more. Completely focused on getting that all important front row start, he gave it his all on his final push and delivered a brilliant 1’32.627 lap to claim pole.Rossi‘s stunning pole is 0.835s quicker than the previous circuit best lap record set by Marc Marquez last year.

Teammate Lorenzo also posted some very competitive times, but was unable to keep up his front row qualifying streak of four in a row. He started the Q2 session with an opposite approach to his usual strategy. This time he was the last rider out of the box, to be assured of some clear track space. He briefly took provisional pole with a strong first flying lap of 1’33.146, before being pushed back down to fourth place. On his next lap he improved his time by 0.029s, moving up to third, and quickly returned to the pits for a new set of rubber.

He rejoined the track with a little less than six minutes left on the clock. The Spaniard posted a second fastest time of 1’33.044 on his next hot lap, before being pushed back to fourth. He improved his time by two thousandths of a second on his next lap, leaving him 0.415s from the front, but it was not enough to keep him on the second row. He will start tomorrow‘s race from eighth on the grid.

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Barberino del Mugello (Italy), 31 May 2015:  Thousands of home fans of the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team gathered at the Autodromo del Mugello to see their dreams come true today. Not only did Jorge Lorenzo claim a flawless victory for the Gran Premio d’Italia,Yamaha‘s fifth of the season, but their local hero Valentino Rossi also battled his way onto podium. He secured third in a hard fought race, making it his sixth consecutive podium.

After a flying start from second on the grid, Lorenzo tucked in behind Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso to quickly make his intentions clear. He moved up from third to lead the way when he crossed the line for the first time. With a clear track ahead of him, the race went exactly as he planned. As his pit board signaled rival Marc Marquez‘s approach, he put the hammer down, setting a 1‘47.700, the fastest lap of race.

He gradually built a gap and remained untouchable for the rest of the race. Riding consistent laps in the low 1‘48s the Spaniard finished his perfect performance at the team‘s home GP with a 5.563s advantage. This win is Lorenzo‘s third win at the Mugello circuit in four years‘ time.

Starting from eighth on the grid, teammate Rossi lost time when he got caught up in the pack and finished the first lap in ninth. He quickly made his way through the field, hunting for Cal Crutchlow riding in sixth and overtaking him on lap eight. It took The Doctor four laps to close down a 2.5s gap to the group battling for second place. He immediately passed Dovizioso for fifth and went on chasing Dani Pedrosa, Marquez and Iannone.

Rossi had his mind set on the podium and, having watched Marquez crash out, he was quick to make a move on Pedrosa for third. He pushed hard to close in on Iannone, setting a personal best of 1.48.173, but was unable to catch his compatriot and secured the last podium place, 6.661s from his teammate, accomplishing a third consecutive double podium for Yamaha.

Lorenzo‘s 25 point score adds to his total of 112 points, keeping him in second position in the standings. He is six points behind teammate and championship leader Rossi, whose 16 points put him on 118 points.

Jorge Lorenzo said: “I‘m very happy, because I did not expect to escape with such a big margin, but sometimes it happens that you feel great on the bike. Today the track was not so quick so everyone has been a bit slower than we expected. I was the only rider to ride multiple 1‘47s, so luckily for me I was gaining six or seven-tenths per lap, this was key to the win of the race. If someone would have told me before Jerez that I would win three races in a row I wouldn‘t have believed it, but this is what happened. We are in a great shape; Valentino is getting podiums in every race so that means he is strong and also the bike is working really well. It seems that this year could be our year, so we have to take advantage of it. It was a different situation when I was twenty-nine points behind than now when it‘s down to six, but even like that it‘s difficult to close in on Valentino in points because he is always on the podium. Today Iannone stayed in front of him so it‘s four points more and as I said six points difference is much better than twenty-nine, but we can‘t relax and neither can Yamaha. Our competitors are working really hard to fix the problems they seem to have with the stability of their bikes and they will arrive at a point that they will win races, but until then we need to make the most of our potential to improve the bike little by little.”

Valentino Rossi said: ``Mugello was very busy, because I am very competitive and all the Italian fans expected a great race from me. It‘s a bit of a shame that it wasn‘t a fantastic race. I wasn‘t strong enough but at the end of the race I arrived on the podium after a great recovery and a hard race. To be on the podium with whole the crowd is always magical with the track being full of people. I‘ve been suffering the whole weekend, I was never strong and didn‘t achieve a good level of speed. In the race I also suffered a lot, especially on the first lap. I think we have to improve, especially with Jorge being very strong, he is in a great shape and to match his level we need to be more competitive.” This concludes the Movistar Yamaha press release.

Battle for second:

As Lorenzo disappeared off into the distance, the real battle would be for second place. This fight was originally between the Factory Ducati’s of Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone, and the Repsol Honda’s of Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa, although Valentino Rossi would join in the fun before the end of the race.

Marquez had enjoyed an amazing start, moving up from 13th on the grid into sixth at the very first corner. In contrast, Valentino Rossi suffered a disastrous opening lap that would see him down drop down to tenth, before mounting an incredible charge through the field to join the podium fight with eight laps to go.

There was even more drama to come though, as Dovizioso was forced to retire with a damaged rear sprocket and then Marc Marquez, who was once more involved in an excellent scrap with Iannone for second, crashed out of the race leaving the Italian to claim second ahead of the inspired Rossi in third to send the partisan crowd into raptures.

Dani Pedrosa rode a solid race to claim fourth as the only Honda inside the top ten, just over three seconds behind Rossi.  Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith was the leading Satellite rider in fifth as he benefitted from Cal Crutchlow crashing out of the race with just three laps remaining while the CWM LCR Honda rider was ahead of him on track. Crutchlow went to the Medical Centre for X-rays, but luckily, although he had no broken bones the British rider will need a medical inspection before being declared fit to race in Catalunya. Smith’s teammate Pol Espargaro was next across the line in sixth, while Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar), wild card Michele Pirro (Ducati Team), Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing) and his teammate Yonny Hernandez completed the top ten.

Scott Redding again struggled on his Factory spec Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda, finishing down in eleventh. Athina Forward Racing’s Loris Baz took his first Open class victory as he crossed the line in 12th ahead of Hector Barbera, Alvaro Bautista and Eugene Laverty, who claimed the last championship point on offer.

There were DNF’s for Stefan Bradl, Nicky Hayden, Aleix Espargaro, Jack Miller and Alex De Angelis, while Karel Abraham was guilty of a jump-start off the line and had to serve a ride through penalty before finishing in 17th.

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