Tagged: Circuit de Catalunya

Catalunya Grand Prix race result and times: Lorenzo stuns the Hondas, Pedrosa lucky to beat Marquez to 2nd

Jorge Lorenzo rode a perfect race – well, he made mistake he reckoned, but not even Yamaha’s data showed it – and won the Catalunya Grand Prix by comfortable 1.7 seconds. Dani Pedrosa made it to second, but his teammate Marc Marquez was clearly faster. If they weren’t racing for the same team, Marquez would have almost certainly pulled a hard pass on the number 26 and taken second spot.

The race was hot. Very hot in fact, and the Hondas simply weren’t as fast as they would have been in slightly cooler temperatures. Remember that Pedrosa left everyone for dead in qualifying, and the race looked like it could be over before it even started. The extra heat meant he lacked the grip he needs to be fast. Lorenzo’s team meanwhile decided to alter the setup of the bike, preparing it for the slicker track. While it didn’t make him any faster, it did mean he could bang out lap after lap at a consistent, fast pace. And a pace faster than Pedrosa.

Right from the off Lorenzo pushed to hit the front, getting by Pedrosa with a tough move, and he simply pressed home his advantage for the rest of the race. While many are quick to say that Pedrosa is always the fastest off the line, which he normally his, Lorenzo is arguably the man who is fastest over the first five corners of a grand prix.

Being fast at the start of a race is something Crutchlow wishes he was. The Tech 3 Yamaha M1 has a different fuel tank, making the balance of the bike poor on a full fuel load. Try as he might, Crutchlow always loses time on Lorenzo and the Hondas at the start of a race. In Barcelona he pushed hard to stay with the leaders, and while he was successfully dealing with Rossi, he crashed on lap 6. We forgive him; a satellite bike hasn’t been ridden this hard for many years.

Still, Crutchlow lasted longer than Alvaro Bautista, who if he’s not careful will get a reputation as an impatient rider who crashes too often. He wasn’t the only crasher, with Nicky Hayden joining him in the gravel trap. The American started from 5th and was circulating in 7th, showing good pace, but a lowside put paid to the good work.

Marc Marquez had a very strong race. He looked slow for most of the weekend, even when Pedrosa looked unreachable. The two riders have different styles, and Marquez’s setup is notably different from his teammate’s. This is why when Pedrosa began to struggle towards the end of the race, Marquez wasn’t. He has a mature head on his shoulders and knows finishing behind the other Repsol bike is always preferable to taking them both out of the race. His pace may have been good enough to catch and even pass Lorenzo if he had overtaken Pedrosa, but this is his rookie season. He is learning, and already shows skills the other riders don’t possess, such as his ability to recover from a mistake.

Behind Marquez was Valentino Rossi. He had a relatively quite race once Crutchlow was out, but the very fact he is still struggling to compete with Crutchlow must be frustrating. After the race there were official tests, and Rossi was happy he had found a setup and alterations to his style that improved his front end feel. The Italian has always been one of the best riders on the brakes, slotting past from way behind his rivals. Once that feeling and ability is back, Rossi may once again be at the sharp end and grab podiums regularly.

Still, the day was Lorenzo. Even when the Honda of Pedrosa looked invincible, he stuck with it, rode without error and clawed back more points in the championship.

Catalunya Grand Prix times:

Pos. Rider Team Time/Gap
1 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 43’06.479
2 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1.763
3 Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 1.826
4 Valentino ROSSI Yamaha Factory Racing 5.874
5 Stefan BRADL LCR Honda MotoGP 26.756
6 Bradley SMITH Monster Yamaha Tech 3 32.228
7 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team 32.692
8 Aleix ESPARGARO Power Electronics Aspar 58.615
9 Colin EDWARDS NGM Mobile Forward Racing +1’03.142
10 Michele PIRRO Ignite Pramac Racing +1’09.774
11 Danilo PETRUCCI Came IodaRacing Project +1’24.377
12 Claudio CORTI NGM Mobile Forward Racing +1’33.679
13 Yonny HERNANDEZ Paul Bird Motorsport +1’45.355
14 Bryan STARING GO&FUN Honda Gresini +1’50.745
15 Javier DEL AMOR Avintia Blusens 1 Lap
16 Lukas PESEK Came IodaRacing Project 1 Lap
Not Classified
Hector BARBERA Avintia Blusens 10 Laps
Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 15 Laps
Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 20 Laps
Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 20 Laps
Andrea IANNONE Energy T.I. Pramac Racing 21 Laps
Randy DE PUNIET Power Electronics Aspar 24 Laps
Alvaro BAUTISTA GO&FUN Honda Gresini 0 Lap
Michael LAVERTY Paul Bird Motorsport 0 Lap

Catalunya Grand Prix Warm up: Yamaha clean sweep – Crutchlow, Lorenzo and Rossi.

The Hondas fell asleep during Warm up with Cal Crutchlow lapping just 0.001 seconds faster than Jorge Lorenzo to top the session, and multiple world champion Valentino Rossi 3rd. Dani Pedrosa was some 1.8 seconds slower today than in yesterday’s qualifying, and it’s looking like he might struggle in the later race.

Further down Nicky Hayden is showing that his qualifying lap here in Barcelona was no fluke, lapping just 0.452 slower than Crutchlow, and Alvaro Bautista too is looking nippy, a quarter of a second down on the American in 6th.

Marc Marquez continues to struggle and sits 8th, almost a second away from the leaders,

The weather looks good, and we’re expecting a hot, dry race.

Warm up times:

Pos. Rider Team Time Lead. gap Prev. gap
1 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’42.270
2 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’42.271 0.001 0.001
3 Valentino ROSSI Yamaha Factory Racing 1’42.667 0.397 0.396
4 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’42.672 0.402 0.005
5 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’42.722 0.452 0.050
6 Alvaro BAUTISTA GO&FUN Honda Gresini 1’42.970 0.700 0.248
7 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team 1’43.042 0.772 0.072
8 Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 1’43.227 0.957 0.185
9 Stefan BRADL LCR Honda MotoGP 1’43.374 1.104 0.147
10 Andrea IANNONE Energy T.I. Pramac Racing 1’43.479 1.209 0.105
11 Bradley SMITH Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’43.686 1.416 0.207
12 Michele PIRRO Ignite Pramac Racing 1’44.006 1.736 0.320
13 Aleix ESPARGARO Power Electronics Aspar 1’44.106 1.836 0.100
14 Randy DE PUNIET Power Electronics Aspar 1’44.253 1.983 0.147
15 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’44.697 2.427 0.444
16 Colin EDWARDS NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’44.719 2.449 0.022
17 Hector BARBERA Avintia Blusens 1’44.729 2.459 0.010
18 Claudio CORTI NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’44.905 2.635 0.176
19 Michael LAVERTY Paul Bird Motorsport 1’45.001 2.731 0.096
20 Danilo PETRUCCI Came IodaRacing Project 1’45.432 3.162 0.431
21 Yonny HERNANDEZ Paul Bird Motorsport 1’45.891 3.621 0.459
22 Bryan STARING GO&FUN Honda Gresini 1’46.448 4.178 0.557
23 Lukas PESEK Came IodaRacing Project 1’47.269 4.999 0.821
24 Javier DEL AMOR Avintia Blusens 1’48.733 6.463 1.464

Catalunya Grand Prix Qualifying: Pedrosa top by 0.6, Crutchlow second, pissed off Lorenzo third.

Dani Pedrosa smashed Casey Stoner’s outright motorbike lap record by a third of a second to grab pole by a huge 0.608. Meanwhile, Jorge Lorenzo had a clutch problem on his number one bike and hurried back to the pits to swap to his number two bike. He was clearly furious, and while he still set the third fastest time, it allowed Cal Crutchlow to become the fastest Yamaha in Barcelona.

The first qualifying session saw Bradley Smith and Andrea Iannone comfortably top the session, but they stayed 11th and 12th fastest respectably. Randy De Puniet chalked up 13th, followed by Michele Pirro who is standing in for Ben Spies, and Hector Barbera in 15th.

Catalunya Qualifying 1 times:

Pos. Rider Team Time Lead. gap Prev. gap
1 Bradley SMITH Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’42.607
2 Andrea IANNONE Energy T.I. Pramac Racing 1’42.660 0.053 0.053
3 Randy DE PUNIET Power Electronics Aspar 1’43.186 0.579 0.526
4 Michele PIRRO Ignite Pramac Racing 1’43.330 0.723 0.144
5 Hector BARBERA Avintia Blusens 1’43.659 1.052 0.329
6 Colin EDWARDS NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’43.983 1.376 0.324
7 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’44.362 1.755 0.379
8 Danilo PETRUCCI Came IodaRacing Project 1’44.369 1.762 0.007
9 Claudio CORTI NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’44.603 1.996 0.234
10 Michael LAVERTY Paul Bird Motorsport 1’44.630 2.023 0.027
11 Yonny HERNANDEZ Paul Bird Motorsport 1’44.913 2.306 0.283
12 Bryan STARING GO&FUN Honda Gresini 1’45.441 2.834 0.528
13 Lukas PESEK Came IodaRacing Project 1’46.302 3.695 0.861
14 Javier DEL AMOR Avintia Blusens 1’48.952 6.345 2.65

In QP2 it was all about Dani Pedrosa scorching the field. Asked if it was his most perfect lap, the Spaniard was only prepared to say it was one of his best, but that does not bode well for everyone else. Lorenzo may have got closer on a different day with his number 1 bike, but the Respol looked untouchable. Alvaro Bautista managed a decent 4th, Nicky Hayden showed the pace of Ducati with an impressive 5th, just 0.3 seconds slower than Crtuchlow.

Marc Marquez shows signs of struggling, managing only 6th place, as does Valentino Rossi. Starting 7th is just asking to left behind by the end of the first lap, and without qualifying better his first win may still be some time away.

Catalunya Qualifying 2 times:

Pos. Rider Team Time Lead. gap Prev. gap
1 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’40.893
2 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’41.501 0.608 0.608
3 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’41.566 0.673 0.065
4 Alvaro BAUTISTA GO&FUN Honda Gresini 1’41.714 0.821 0.148
5 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’41.800 0.907 0.086
6 Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 1’41.842 0.949 0.042
7 Valentino ROSSI Yamaha Factory Racing 1’41.959 1.066 0.117
8 Andrea IANNONE Energy T.I. Pramac Racing 1’41.963 1.070 0.004
9 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team 1’42.053 1.160 0.090
10 Stefan BRADL LCR Honda MotoGP 1’42.090 1.197 0.037
11 Bradley SMITH Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’42.548 1.655 0.458
12 Aleix ESPARGARO Power Electronics Aspar 1’42.878 1.985 0.330

Catalunya Grand Prix FP4: Slower session sees Pedrosa top, and Crutchlow edging ahead of Lorenzo.

If I were Cal Crutchlow, I’d be smiling so much my face would be cramping. His job is to push as hard as possible and get results where he can. Two podiums are testament to his speed and consistency, and in FP4 he took a quarter of a second off of Jorge Lorenzo in Barcelona. While Lorenzo is likely to bounce back, his mental focus unbreakable and his confidence impressive, Valentino Rossi is now routinely sitting behind a rider on a lesser spec machine.

Dani Pedrosa too, sitting atop the timesheets, must also be happy. FP4 is more a run up to the race setup, with an eye on qualifying of course, but with Pedrosa’s recent struggles in races and impressive runs in qualifying, an FP4 top spot is a confidence booster.

Further down sit the Ducatis, split by the Aprilia-powered bike of Espargaro. While the CRT machine is now a little over a second behind the leader, splitting the factory Ducatis is more than they have any right to achieve.

FP4 times:

Pos. Rider Team Time Lead. gap Prev. gap
1 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’42.078
2 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’42.122 0.044 0.044
3 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’42.387 0.309 0.265
4 Valentino ROSSI Yamaha Factory Racing 1’42.606 0.528 0.219
5 Stefan BRADL LCR Honda MotoGP 1’42.721 0.643 0.115
6 Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 1’42.865 0.787 0.144
7 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’42.921 0.843 0.056
8 Aleix ESPARGARO Power Electronics Aspar 1’43.173 1.095 0.252
9 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team 1’43.478 1.400 0.305
10 Alvaro BAUTISTA GO&FUN Honda Gresini 1’43.539 1.461 0.061
11 Andrea IANNONE Energy T.I. Pramac Racing 1’43.584 1.506 0.045
12 Bradley SMITH Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’43.788 1.710 0.204
13 Michele PIRRO Ignite Pramac Racing 1’44.238 2.160 0.450
14 Randy DE PUNIET Power Electronics Aspar 1’44.351 2.273 0.113
15 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’44.845 2.767 0.494
16 Colin EDWARDS NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’44.872 2.794 0.027
17 Hector BARBERA Avintia Blusens 1’44.914 2.836 0.042
18 Claudio CORTI NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’45.068 2.990 0.154
19 Danilo PETRUCCI Came IodaRacing Project 1’45.072 2.994 0.004
20 Michael LAVERTY Paul Bird Motorsport 1’45.166 3.088 0.094
21 Yonny HERNANDEZ Paul Bird Motorsport 1’45.654 3.576 0.488
22 Bryan STARING GO&FUN Honda Gresini 1’45.869 3.791 0.215
23 Lukas PESEK Came IodaRacing Project 1’46.516 4.438 0.647
24 Javier DEL AMOR Avintia Blusens 1’48.950 6.872 2.434

Catalunya Grand Prix FP1, FP2 and FP3: Marquez, Hayden and Pedrosa fastest, Espargaro through to QP2.

The weather was meant to be awesome at the Barcelona track, and so far Catalunya has not disappointed. While it’s still cooler in the mornings, track time has been long, the tyre temperatures good…and the Yamahas aren’t looking the fastest bikes. In FP1 Jorge Lorenzo and Cal Crutchlow led, with Dani Pedrosa a close third and Valentino Rossi in the mix 4th. By FP2 Rossi had stuck in the fastest time, just edging out his teammate, with Pedrosa still taking third. By FP3 though, the times had dropped, and the fastest Yamaha was Rossi, with Crutchlow ahead of Lorenzo. While the time gaps were small (Rossi was just 0.156 behind FP3 leader Marc Marquez), it’s never a situation you want to be in from a confidence perspective. Perhaps I’m reading too much into as, of course, Lorenzo had a rare crash and could have perhaps pulled out a faster lap.

Cal Crutchlow mentioned that the Honda appears to enjoy warmer weather, and is even perhaps harder to setup and dial in to the correct settings.

Nicky Hayden’s blistering lap in FP3 is also perhaps signs of real progress. Sure, the bike still seems to struggle later on in races, but the very philosophy of Ducati in MotoGP is just to first make a fast bike, then control it enough to win races. It seems the riders can now scorch round once at a competitive pace. The breakthrough to a full on assault at a dry race now looks possible sometime in the future.

Aleix Espargaro. He’s probably causing a headache not only for Randy De Puniet, who is often beaten by his teammate, but also for Aprilia’s future plans. Should the Italian marque enter as a full MotoGP team next year and incur the extra rules of less fuel and less engines, or stick to its guns and stay CRT? Of course, CRT status means using the spec Magneti Marelli ECU with Magneti’s stock software, and so it will be unable to keep developing its own computer software, one of the factors that is allowing Espargaro to drag that bike around as fast as prototypes despite being down on power. With Espargaro within a second of the full on factory prototypes, the extra expense of a factory team may be the only convincing Aprilia need.

Anyway, here are the combined times and results for FP1, FP2 and FP3:

Pos.  Rider Team FP1 FP2 FP3 Lead. gap Prev. gap
1 M.MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 1’43.641 1’42.857 1’41.853
2 N.HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’43.488 1’42.890 1’41.916 0.063 0.063
3 D.PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’42.445 1’42.557 1’41.987 0.071 0.134
4 V.ROSSI Yamaha Factory Racing 1’42.861 1’42.297 1’42.009 0.022 0.156
5 C.CRUTCHLOW Monster Tech 3 1’42.492 1’42.776 1’42.064 0.055 0.211
6 J.LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’42.422 1’42.346 1’42.166 0.102 0.313
7 S.BRADL LCR Honda MotoGP 1’43.196 1’43.005 1’42.258 0.092 0.405
8 A.DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team 1’43.111 1’42.988 1’42.345 0.087 0.492
9 A.BAUTISTA GO&FUN Honda Gresini 1’43.112 1’42.752 1’42.582 0.237 0.729
10 A.ESPARGARO Power Electronic Aspa 1’43.814 1’43.204 1’42.795 0.213 0.942
11 B.SMITH Monster Tech 3 1’44.392 1’44.247 1’42.957 0.162 1.104
12 M.PIRRO Ignite Pramac Racing 1’44.519 1’43.648 1’42.970 0.013 1.117
13 A.IANNONE Energy T.I. Pramac Racing 1’44.069 1’43.272 1’43.106 0.136 1.253
14 R.DE PUNIET Power Electronic Aspa 1’44.558 1’43.644 1’43.260 0.154 1.407
15 H.BARBERA Avintia Blusens 1’45.457 1’44.461 1’43.652 0.392 1.799
16 C.EDWARDS NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’45.167 1’44.586 1’43.942 0.290 2.089
17 D.PETRUCCI Came IodaRacing Project 1’45.371 1’44.609 1’44.167 0.225 2.314
18 K.ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’45.251 1’44.599 1’44.434 0.267 2.581
19 M.LAVERTY Paul Bird Motorsport 1’46.750 1’45.337 1’45.136 0.702 3.283
20 C.CORTI NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’46.263 1’45.513 1’45.252 0.116 3.399
21 H.AOYAMA Avintia Blusens 1’45.925 1’45.834 1’45.407 0.155 3.554
22 Y.HERNANDEZ Paul Bird Motorsport 1’45.824 1’46.216 1’45.612 0.205 3.759
23 B.STARING GO&FUN Honda Gresini 1’47.070 1’46.577 1’45.686 0.074 3.833
24 L.PESEK Came IodaRacing Project 1’47.483 1’47.239 1’46.037 0.351 4.184