MotoGP Round 3: Estoril

[Corny]

So it's already the third round of the championship on the slowest track: Estoril. It will be the first round where not has been tested, what does that mean for Lorenzo, will he be able to do as good on a track he hasn't ridden a 800 bike before?
And how about the tyres? This is the first round where not has been tested, so that will mean that the choosing-tyre-on-thursday rule will see if Rossi had got it right to change to Bridgestones.. Last year Bridgestone was miles away on this point, how will it be now?
Bring on some action, and an exciting race please :)

[fatman]

Estoril has produced excellent races for at least the last two years (if not more, I can't remember 2005 - did Barros run away with that one?) so I think the odds are good for a nail bitter of a race.

Sadly I don't think Elias will be mixxing it up at the front this time. Dani, Rossi and Stoner with perhaps Hayden and Edwards (if he gets the new engine) all have a strong shot at a podium. Who will be on top step is anyone's guess ( as long as you don't guess Edwards ).

I think Lorenzo will also be strong but not strong enough. If he gets pole again I might have to start liking him.

[maxu05]

I think Lorenzo will also be strong but not strong enough. If he gets pole again I might have to start liking him.[/QUOTE]

Oh no Ryan, don't cross over to the Dark Side :D :vader:

[Roby44]

You couldn't go to the "other" side could you really!!

[Ranger]

Sadly I don't think Elias will be mixxing it up at the front this time.
That 2006 race was just about the best race I've ever seen - any category.

The 2007 race was also pretty damn good, so I'm looking forward to this race. :up:

Bets in:
Pole: Pedrosa

Win: Rossi
2nd: Lorenzo
3rd: Stoner

[ChrisS]

Tech 3 gets the pneumatic this round (I think), Yamaha may be very dominant if Michelin gets the tyres right

BTW, does anyone know when HRC will start giving the 2008 bike to the other teams?

[Corny]

No, I don't know. What I do know, is that Honda will test a pneumatic engine on monday.. (for Hayden and Pedrosa only)

[fatman]

BTW, does anyone know when HRC will start giving the 2008 bike to the other teams?

HRC won't give the 08 bike to anyone until Dani has a strong lead in the championship. Best bet is everyone will get the 08 machine in 09.

[maxu05]

That sounds about right Ryan. I can't see Honda giving the riders this bike for the race until it's proven to be faster and more reliable. Sure, they will test it out, but as for the race, I think they will stick with what is working for them at the moment.

[ChrisS]

HRC won't give the 08 bike to anyone until Dani has a strong lead in the championship. Best bet is everyone will get the 08 machine in 09.

IMHO they should at least give the bike to 1 or 2 other riders, they could take points away from Rossi and Stoner.


That sounds about right Ryan. I can't see Honda giving the riders this bike for the race until it's proven to be faster and more reliable. Sure, they will test it out, but as for the race, I think they will stick with what is working for them at the moment.

I'm talking about the 08 bike, not the pneumatic engine. The new bike is definitely better and faster as seen by the results so far. Its also much better looking with the longer tail and underseat exhaust

[osg]

FP1 Times:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v433/oosrg/Motorsport/MotogpEstorilfp1.jpg

Track is apparently still drying after overnight rain........

Interesting looking sheet, wonder if the cat will be amongst the pigeons this round? Bridgestones 1-5, and 8 of the top 10!

[Roby44]

Way to go Westy!!

[Roby44]

Dovi is in front of Lorenzo!!!

Oh 'appy days!!

Yeah yeah..I know its only FP1 but... :p

[ChrisS]

things are pretty much went back to normal in fp2 when the track dried

[Corny]

Casey crashed..

[osg]

Casey crashed..

I know it's only Round 3...... but i'm saying Stoner has no chance of repeating as WC.

The performance gap has narrowed, the pressure is returning (i.e not being able to run at the front) and now he is really having to use racecraft and patience......... and the end result is time in the litter and off track.

Pedrosa, Rossi and Lorenzo to fight for the title.

FP2 Times:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v433/oosrg/Motorsport/motogpfp2Estoril.jpg

[Corny]

I would say wait for China, Mugello, Catalunya; that kind of tracks suit the Duc and Casey..
I'm not a fan of Casey, but what he did last year was amazing, that's not a one-day-fly.. I'm sure he will bounce back

[MrJan]

That sounds about right Ryan. I can't see Honda giving the riders this bike for the race until it's proven to be faster and more reliable. Sure, they will test it out, but as for the race, I think they will stick with what is working for them at the moment.

Don't they usually like to let the other riders run in a new bike before their main guy gets hold of it?

What's up with my boy Toseland in practice? Way down the bottom, especially in P2 where he is surrounded by Bridgestones with the Michelin shod guys quite a bit quicker. I hope that all changes by race day.

[osg]

I would say wait for China, Mugello, Catalunya; that kind of tracks suit the Duc and Casey..
I'm not a fan of Casey, but what he did last year was amazing, that's not a one-day-fly.. I'm sure he will bounce back

no arguements there from me Corny....... i dunno, i've just got this feeling looking at Casey and the bike that things are different this season..

Time will tell though as you said...

[maxu05]

I would say wait for China, Mugello, Catalunya; that kind of tracks suit the Duc and Casey..
I'm not a fan of Casey, but what he did last year was amazing, that's not a one-day-fly.. I'm sure he will bounce back

I was more impressed with what he did at Laguna Seca, now that was amazing.

[NinjaMaster]

I know it's only Round 3...... but i'm saying Stoner has no chance of repeating as WC.

The performance gap has narrowed, the pressure is returning (i.e not being able to run at the front) and now he is really having to use racecraft and patience......... and the end result is time in the litter and off track.

Pedrosa, Rossi and Lorenzo to fight for the title.


I hear what you're saying and he definately won't win the title by as much as last year (if wins it) but that is a very early call based on 2 rounds (one good, one bad) and two practice sessions. He could easy find the right setting for this circuit and win the race yet which would give him two wins from three starts. He's definately in title contention in my opinion with Rossi and Pedrosa. I think Lorenzo will have a lean period during the year.

[osg]

I hear what you're saying and he definately won't win the title by as much as last year (if wins it) but that is a very early call based on 2 rounds (one good, one bad) and two practice sessions. He could easy find the right setting for this circuit and win the race yet which would give him two wins from three starts. He's definately in title contention in my opinion with Rossi and Pedrosa. I think Lorenzo will have a lean period during the year.

fair call again ninja......... reason i said it out loud was at this stage last year i thought Casey was looking very very strong for the title....

Just a gut feel, nothing more nothing less....... If Valentino wins this year i am over the moon. If Casey repeats, then as an Aussie i am also pleased.

If Dani or Jorge win............... well....

[osg]

If the pressure was on Casey with the front end woes in FP2...... he'll be feeling a migraine coming on after FP3......

Michelin track anyone?

Result:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v433/oosrg/Motorsport/motogpfp3Estoril.jpg

[osg]

This kid Lorenzo is ridiculous beyond comprehension....... 3 in a row, and into the 1"35's.......

Quali Results:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v433/oosrg/Motorsport/MotogpEstorilQP.jpg

[NinjaMaster]

Jorge is unbelievably impressive. Vale is holding the Bridgestone banner high where everyone else is struggling. Casey has really got his work cut out for him and will be looking to limit damage and just take away solid points I think. Pedrosa is really staking his claim as the one to beat for the title.

It should be an intriguing race but the times are fairly spread out so I'm not too confident of a real classic race.

[Corny]

What is with Casey? I really thought we would get a like Rossi time, where he would win 4, 5 years in a row or so.. And normally my expectations are quit good (as some forum member here might know :p ) but not in Casey's case I'm afraid

[fatman]

Casey is having some problems but his season isn't over by any means. Let's wait until after China (next round) before making claims that his defence of the title has no chance.

China is a track undoubtly suited to the Ducati. If he struggles as hard at that track then Ducati will be worried.

[fatman]

ps: Lorenzo.. wtf. Why is that kid so damn fast of qualifiers?

Has anyone had more than 3 poll positions in a row ?

[MrJan]

Rossi in a sea of Michelins. How come he can ride on those Bridgestones this year but struggled with the Michelins last year?

[Corny]

struggled with the Michelins? I think he was doing very well; at the half of the season he was only 21 points behind Casey.. After that he (personally) and yamaha (broke 2 times) weren't up to the pace anymore.

The Motogp website race schedule doesn't convert to my local time properly for any races which start after midnight so the 125 race is shown with a start time of 1.30am Sunday instead of Monday. Be good if the website would address that little glitch. I've noticed that the Estoril schedule is 250, Motogp, 125. Hope I've got this right as I'll probably be able to stay awake for the Motogp race which looks like a midnight start :D .

[F1boat]

Well, tough for Casey, I hope that he won't make mistakes today...

[Mach24]

Well, tough for Casey, I hope that he won't make mistakes today...

Casey fastest in wet morning warmup.

[MrJan]

struggled with the Michelins? I think he was doing very well; at the half of the season he was only 21 points behind Casey.. After that he (personally) and yamaha (broke 2 times) weren't up to the pace anymore.

But he did spend the whole year complaining and then moved to Bridgestone for this season.

[Corny]

Aii Pasini has crashed.. Not his own faulth unfortunately :(

[F1boat]

Casey fastest in wet morning warmup.

So I hope for wet Moto GP race...

[ChrisS]

Aii Pasini has crashed.. Not his own faulth unfortunately :(

His 2nd crash was scary, going into a corner and finding out you don't have brakes.

great race by Bautista, you are not suppost to disapear like that in the 250s. unsportsmanlike move by Simoncelli blocking Kalio at the finish line but Kalio leads the championship anyway.

Great battles for the lower positions Takahashi doing a great job with that old Honda

[NinjaMaster]

Aii Pasini has crashed.. Not his own faulth unfortunately :(

I thought it was just a racing incident. Aoyama's move was hard but perhaps Mattia forced the issue a bit too much?



His 2nd crash was scary, going into a corner and finding out you don't have brakes.

great race by Bautista, you are not suppost to disapear like that in the 250s. unsportsmanlike move by Simoncelli blocking Kalio at the finish line but Kalio leads the championship anyway.

Great battles for the lower positions Takahashi doing a great job with that old Honda

I actually didn't think there was anything in Simoncelli's run to the line. I reckon it was just a typical swerving up the straight to break the slipstream and Kallio seemed a bit asleep to his coming back. Great rides by both riders anyway.

We were talking about the 250 class whilst we were watching the race and looked at the top riders and really decided we had no one to barrack for. We like em all! Usually someone grabs my attention for one reason or another and I support them but I really like em all. I guess the only one I barrack against is Debon, for no other reason than I reckon he bought his ride rather than deserved it but nothing against him personally.

[Roby44]

Great race by Marco!! He is a different rider this year!

But I still want to know how he gets all that hair into that helmet!!!

Anyway time for Dovi to "shine"!!!

[Roby44]

Oh well Dovi did shine for awhile there!!

Better luck next race in China, if they do actually race there..

[Corny]

Rossi hasn't made the best choice to make it to the Bridgestones ;)

[MrJan]

Great race by Marco!! He is a different rider this year!

I hope that you weren't on about Melandri, either that or you were being ironic :eek: ;)

[Wim_Impreza]

I hope that you weren't on about Melandri, either that or you were being ironic :eek: ;)

This was about Marco Simoncelli, as you probably know too. ;)

[Roby44]

I hope that you weren't on about Melandri, either that or you were being ironic :eek: ;)


Me ironic :eek: :rolleyes:

[AJP]

If anyone out there can inform as to why Pedrosa's bike would skip around so much on the straight when slip streaming.. I lookde to see if other riders had this reaction but could not see any others? Is it simply the bike being unstable in the slip stream...I mean, it really moved around alot...

[ChrisS]

maybe he is too light to keep the bike down, I know thats his problem in braking

[Roby44]

Didn't other riders used to complain about Dani being too light and that this was an advantage..

[Roby44]

Who caused the grid position mix up?? KC or Loris??

[ShiftingGears]

Rossi hasn't made the best choice to make it to the Bridgestones ;)

Yep, pretty dumb move by Vale. Because essentially its splitting up the team into the Michelin bike vs the Bridgestone bike.

But who didn't see this happening? (besides Rossi ;) )

I really enjoyed the 250 and Motogp (Sky didn't broadcast the 125 for some reason). We received really good audio of the bikes and the film director didn't focus on the riders at the front so we got good coverage of most of the field. Dovizioso is doing well and can only improve, he has the mindset to learn from any mistakes, unlike Randy deP, who threw away 7 or 8 points - again. :(

[Roby44]

Date: 13/04/2008



Excellent race performance from Andrea Dovizioso despite crash
The Grand Prix of Portugal ended today for Andrea Dovizioso in a crash, which was poor reward for the effort and skill he displayed during the first half of the race. Dovi started well from seventh on the grid to battle through his fellow competitors to join the lead group of four riders, which soon pulled away from the chasing pack. Andrea and his Honda RC212V were not dropped by the Yamahas of Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi or the Honda of Dani Pedrosa, showing that Andrea was able to maintain an excellent rhythm, even if the track was not in the best condition thanks to the overnight rain and the spots of rain which arrived during the race. Sadly, 12 laps from the end during a hard-braking section of the track he lost the front-end of his 800cc Honda and he was out of the race. For Andrea this has been very important experience, as he was able to have a pace in the race even quicker than during practice and this makes Estoril an important step forward in the growth of the JiR Team Scot rider. Tomorrow the team will remain here for a test day after the to try several solutions in order to increase the performance of their technical package.
Andrea Dovizioso – Rider, JiR Team Scot MotoGP
HONDA RC212V
Not Classified – 9th in the championship with 21 points
“I did a very good race and this makes me happy. I was able to maintain an astonishing rhythm and was half a second under my pace from the practice sessions. I never give up, as I want to try to stay with the lead group and get a good result for the team and myself. My performances are improving, not only at the start of the weekend but also in the race. To be behind the top three riders was a great experience and I understood and learned a lot of things. We have to use at the maximum the potential of our Honda and find the correct chassis and engine tuning to keep this quick rhythm during whole race without being at the complete limit, which I was at today. The crash was only because I was pushing at the very maximum, entering the corner so very hard and so I lost grip at the front. Even if there were a lot of drops of rain around this didn’t alter our performance. With my performance I don’t think I can blame myself, these things happen. Tomorrow we will stay for a test day as we are still working on our technical configuration to do better next time. I want to really thank the team for the work done this weekend.”

[alfa155btcc]

Rossi has made a big mistake going to Bridgestones, he should of stayed with Michelin, look what Lorenzo did, on what was literally rossi`s bike set up from last year, LOrenzo has rossi`s old michelin tyre technician from last year which will be a great advantage to him, as much as i dislike Lorenzo it is all working for him with the Yamaha, very bad judgement by Rossi, only good thing was he was leading Bridgestone tired bike in field ahead of poor stoner ahhh. :D

I watched whole of race and as many have said Bridgestone warm upto race pace quicker but durability was poor and why did he go for a soft front ??

Lastly, a big tyre manufacterer like Bridgestone do not have a qualifying tyre for front on bike yet, this is also where they and Rossi loose out, and Michelins are spot on with qualifiers.
:mad:

I am really interested in comments about the tyre issue, hopefully from forum members who really understand this subject. I have never ridden a motorbike and don't have any technical knowledge but I have read that the Michelins have improved this year so Lorenzo isn't riding on the same tyres as Rossi was. I have noticed that Rossi isn't running the bike wide as he often did last year - just an observation.

[maxu05]

Tyres are very complicated. It may just look like a simple item, but the amount of compounds, different sizes and constructions are amazing. For the road, tyres are quite straight forward, but racing at the top level, a different compound may require the bike to be set up a different way. Then you start looking at Dry, Wet, Intermediate, and there are many different compounds for those as well. That is why a great rider can have the same bike, and be beating everyone at one race, then, at another track he is a Tail End Charlie. The tyres are 33% part of the equation IMO, the bike being 33% and the rider the remaining 33%. Please note that my figures are rounded out :D

[ChrisS]

tyres are actually a very complicated issue for the riders and the bikes, what works for one rider may be completely unrideable for another rider, riders that work great on a Ducati may not work at all on a Honda.

Both tyre manufacturers have a support hierarchy. My estimates are that Rossi and Ducati are on the top of Bridgestone's list with Suzuki and Kawasaki next and Alice and Gresini last. Repsol and Lorenzo are on the top of Michelin's list and maybe also Tech 3 to help Yamaha with development

The tyres Michelin produces this season have greatly improved, they are definitely better than last years tyres. Bridgestone tyres I believe are as good as, and probably a bit better than, last year but the riders have to push harder and that creates the filling that the tyres are worst

Also in Yamaha's case. They have a starting point for setting the bike with Michelin for Lorenzo while they start from nothing on Bridgestone for Rossi so its likely he wastes more time in Friday trying to find the right tyre.

[leopard]

Rossi was strong on the Bridgestone in few first laps before Lorenzo made such sweet overtaking on him. Bridgesstone need to make sure that the tyres works perfectly for the whole race, ensure that Rossi doesn't use flat tyres on the second half of the race. :)

[Corny]

Excellent race performance from Andrea Dovizioso despite crash
“I did a very good race and this makes me happy.


From a few posts above; is this atricle a joke or something?

[Roby44]

Excellent race performance from Andrea Dovizioso despite crash
“I did a very good race and this makes me happy.


From a few posts above; is this atricle a joke or something?

No..Its from his website...

http://www.andreadovizioso.com (http://www.andreadovizioso.com/?lingua=en)