Showing posts with label Aragon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aragon. Show all posts

Friday, March 9, 2012

Wind limits CRT activity at Aragon



Adverse conditions at MotorLand circuit halted the action on the first of a two day CRT test at the Spanish track, where three of the new teams were present for testing.

What was meant to be another productive day of testing in preparation for the first race of the 2012 Championship, the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar on April 8, turned into an unproductive meeting with the five CRT riders present at the Motorland Aragon circuit sitting out due to high winds.

Low ambient and track temperatures and winds reaching up to 60 km/h put a wrench in the plans for three teams present at the circuit. The Power Electronics Aspar, Avintia Racing and Paul Bird Motorsport teams saw their riders spending much of the day in the shelter of their garages.

In the morning, Jorge ‘Aspar’ Martinez used the weak sunshine for a photo session with riders Randy de Puniet and Aleix Espargaró, who donned their official team wear for the first time and posed next to their bikes painted with this year’s team colors. The most active riders on the track were James Ellison of the Paul Bird Motorsport team and Ivan Silva (Avintia Racing MotoGP), who managed two and three laps, respectively, in the harsh conditions.

The afternoon session produced almost no on track activity, except for one sighting lap made by Ellison. In the constant wind, the riders decided to postpone their testing programs until tomorrow when they will work with revised and compressed schedules.

The Alcañiz track will be open on Friday from 9:30 to 17:30 with the hope that better weather allows a more productive second and final day of practice.

source: MotoGP Official
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Tuesday, March 6, 2012

CRTs meet for testing at MotorLand



One month ahead of the start of the new MotoGP™ World Championship season, various premier class teams will be testing this week to continue preparations for the 2012 Championship. Over the course of two days—Thursday and Friday, the 8th and 9th of March—the Aragon MotorLand circuit will bring together several teams registered as CRT for another important test, one of the last of the preseason.

Teams confirmed thus far for the test are the Power Electronic Aspar team, with riders Randy de Puniet and Aleix Espargaró, Speed Master with Mattia Pasini, Paul Bird Motorsport with rider James Ellison, and Ioda Racing Project with Danilo Petrucci. After returning last week from Malaysia, Avintia Racing’s Ivan Silva and Yonny Hernandez will be present for further testing of their BQR-FTR machine.

The MotorLand circuit in Alcañiz could possibly see the debut of Michele Pirro, who has not yet ridden his 1000cc Honda CRT of the Gresini Team, although the outfit has not yet confirmed their attendance.

For those fans who wish to attend the test, the Aragon circuit is allowing access to grandstand 1, located on the home straight of the circuit. Access is free and is open from 9:00 am until 17:30 pm.

source: MotoGP 
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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Motorland provides Christmas gifts and discounts for advance ticket purchase



With Christmas comes the time of gifts and Motorland Aragon has launched an interesting campaign advance ticket sales both MotoGP (September 28 to 30) and SBK (June 29-July 1)

For every adult ticket you purchase (MotoGP, Superbike or pack of two) to the January 6 you can take a free MotorLand shirt, plus a nice discount if you buy the pack of tickets MotoGP and Superbikes

You can also buy gift vouchers worth of tickets to give to friends and family and for 10 € more than send the gift certificate printed on a greeting card, where you can add your message.

The entries will go on sale until February, when it will begin to redeem the checks.

More information on the web Motorland

source: motocuatro
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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Masao Azuma, Bridgestone, analyzes Aragon GP


After last year's inaugural event in MotorLand, the second edition of the GP of Aragon gave the drivers and teams, as well as Bridgestone, the advantage of experience. But there are always imponderables in any race weekend. On Friday and Saturday were developed with very high temperatures, but the race day had lots of clouds blocking the sun's rays and blew a strong wind that kept much lower temperatures. However, Casey Stoner set a record for the pole and a new lap record on his way to victory, beating Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo. The tire wear was a major element in the race and therefore a good management of them and efficient tuning were particularly relevant.

Commenting on these aspects and their impact on the race, Masao Azuma, Chief Engineer Field Bridgestone Motorsport , said:

"The tire wear was, of course, a crucial factor in the race, but was within our expectations. Was faster for some than for others, as expected, but for example we can see that Casey, though filmed in slower times from mid career, completed in a consistent and seamless manageability. "

"In this high level of competition, the choice of tire compounds is always a balance between performance to take temperature and durability in the race distance. Optimise one at the expense of the other. This season the drivers have specifically requested improve the performance tires the heating phase to improve security in the early laps, and for that we have been willing to sacrifice some durability in the race distance, that is exactly what we've seen that happening on Sunday "Japanese coach continues.

"Looking at the lap times, we see that the performance of the tires in the initial phase was very good, although the track temperature was 13 º C cooler than at the Grand Prix last year. Casey rolled under record when he had just made two laps in the race and set a new record on lap four. And the ten fastest drivers signed their best times in the first six laps, you can not ask for much more in terms of heating. And as I said, the other side of this, as you know the drivers, is that the tire performance will fall later in the race because durability is not so good. "

"The asphalt and the conditions in Aragon also contributed to the tire wear. The track was very dirty on Friday when it started to run, and tire wear was very high, again as expected. In the end week went clean, but when the race was still disputed dirty off line main, so that pilots were kept more for this battle since they rolled off the ideal line to have to attack or defend . The tire wear was not an issue in the race, but it was a factor. "

Why was there a step forward in the medium compound front and the extra drive? Azuma explains:

"From our experience last year, we knew that the stability of the front tire would be crucial, especially when braking downhill, and would need to achieve good wear resistance and durability. Half and extra hard compounds operate in temperatures well similar and can thus be used in a same environment, but we chose the medium compound for pilots who want a better grip, and gave good results for Alvaro and Suzuki, while the harder compound offering better stability and greater resistance wear. Given the conditions he had on Sunday, the extra hard rubber was chosen by most of the drivers for the race. "

source: motogp official website
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Three styles, three champions


You see. And you think they are equal. Similar, of course. And, no, they have nothing to do. And all three will be champions, you'll see. And will be, as are all champions in their own right. Because, friends, after nine months of competition and after 17 (18 in MotoGP) always win great prizes the best. By far. And then look at it. And you see Nico Terol. Keep looking and you find Marc Márquez. And just seeing Casey Stoner.

And then you think that there are no better candidates or future champions. Because if you see them running in Motorland in Alcaniz, at 63,327 'motards', you think you are going to be street titles. And that there was a moment that the three, yes, even thought it had an uphill struggle. I do not even tell them when the good Terol shattered hand. Or when the filigranero Marquez, who started with three consecutive zeros, Stefan Bradl thought had escaped him altogether. Or when Stoner ran out of forces in Misano and Jorge Lorenzo, another such, ran over.

But, no, came to Aragon and the north wind makes little difference. Terol, who now has eight wins and is on track record, wins because it dominates the whole weekend. And when not done with the controls of the race. True, because it is Marquez, but for 'champions' must master as master Terol. That's how champions dominated Cervera. "Moreover, every time I see Marc in Moto2 run, I think, last year, I behaved like a hero because he managed to bring that champion Marquez, until the last race and force him to make the best of himself to win. I feel proud, yea, and his great role in Moto2 shows that my pulse was worth it. " So this year Terol believe rightly deserves to go down in history as the last champion of 125cc. No one better than him to close such a record, peppered with Spanish.

And you go up a step and see how the whole newsroom Motorland, word of honor, the race ended with applause Moto2 bestial, closed, with which the experts wanted to reward the extraordinary career of Marquez, who broke his face and occasional brush with the fairing, elbows, six brave tried miserable race. There were, yes, Stefan Bradl, Andrea Iannone, Simone Corsi, Alex de Angelis and Aleix Espargaro trying to make life difficult for Marquez. "We begin to know all and want me nervous," said Marquez, who knows he can not gamble with Iannone, the brash Italian came to recognize that the only way to win "or trying to beat" Marquez is "tight, nervous putting , going for him. "" But again, I will not enter the cloth, so when I saw danger, I escaped. " Little joke at Marquez, who has recovered 76 points in the last seven races and is now only six of Bradl, while still remaining to play four Grands Prix (100 points).

The Stoner is similar, but being a leader from day one. Otherwise, yes, master, but the same style of saying "here I am." And Stoner, who, as Terol, could run with the calculator and has decided, above all aware that it has one of the best bikes of the decade, running to win, to dominate. Stoner Because not only wants to snatch the crown to Lorenzo, but become the No. 1 driver of Honda, that's what came in the Italian Livio Suppo, causing some concern in the team of Dani Pedrosa and Alberto Puig.

If Terol has an income of 36 points on the 100 at stake, and Marquez has yet to recover to 6 dots Bradl, Stoner is 44 points away from Lorenzo but never mind, it will not stop running to win. Lorenzo will loosen Nor has even agreed to travel to Japan (Motegi), despite being the first pilot, the first champion, who said he would not.

credit to Emilio Perez de Rozas
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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Pictures: Dani Pedrosa Aragon MotoGP 2011




Dani Pedrosa Aragon MotoGP pictures

Dani Pedrosa Aragon MotoGP pictures

Dani Pedrosa Aragon MotoGP pictures

Dani Pedrosa Aragon MotoGP pictures

Dani Pedrosa Aragon MotoGP pictures

Dani Pedrosa Aragon MotoGP pictures
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Pictures: Casey Stoner Aragon MotoGP 2011






















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Pictures: Jorge Lorenzo Aragon MotoGP 2011



Jorge Lorenzo Aragon 2011

Jorge Lorenzo Aragon 2011

Jorge Lorenzo Aragon 2011

Jorge Lorenzo Aragon 2011

Jorge Lorenzo Aragon 2011

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Pictures: Marco SImoncelli Aragon MotoGP 2011



Marco Simoncelli Aragon MotoGP 2011

Marco Simoncelli Aragon MotoGP 2011

Marco Simoncelli Aragon MotoGP 2011

Marco Simoncelli Aragon MotoGP 2011

Marco Simoncelli Aragon MotoGP 2011
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Pictures: Alvaro Bautista Aragon MotoGP 2011



Alvaro Bautista Aragon MotoGP 2011

Alvaro Bautista Aragon MotoGP 2011

Alvaro Bautista Aragon MotoGP 2011

Alvaro Bautista Aragon MotoGP 2011

Alvaro Bautista Aragon MotoGP 2011
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Monday, September 19, 2011

Casey Stoner hails Dani Pedrosa’s development skills


Casey Stoner praised Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa’s development skills after he continued his relentless charge to the 2011 MotoGP world title at the Motorland Aragon track yesterday (Sunday).

The Australian dominated the 23-lap encounter to win for the eighth time this season in another processional MotoGP race.

And the 25-year-old, who has now won 31 races to equal the number of wins recorded by American legend Eddie Lawson, said his startling success in 2011 had been helped by the development work carried out by Spanish team-mate Pedrosa on the RC212V.

Stoner, who has already won more than half the victories claimed by Pedrosa in six years at HRC, said: “I respect Dani a lot as a racer and the work that he did with this bike is evident. I only rode it last year so I only change a few settings. This is why I also wanted his opinion with the 1000.

"I don’t think that any bike should be developed around one rider. I think it is evident that the Honda has improved over the last few years and Dani being their strongest rider, I’m sure most of the development was coming from him, so it is a big credit to Dani that the bike is working so well now.”

Stoner’s latest triumph moved him 44-points clear of closest title rival Jorge Lorenzo with just four races remaining.

The next race is at the Twin Ring Motegi in Japan where Stoner won on the Ducati GP10 last season. The Japanese round is followed by his home race at Phillip Island, where Stoner has never been beaten in the 800cc era.

He is an overwhelming favourite to clinch the title for the second time and he said: “It is a really healthy situation at this moment but anything can happen and Jorge is there week in and week out. If I make any mistakes he will pounce, so we’ve got to make sure we don’t make any mistakes.

"But like every weekend I’ll be going out there and trying to win and not settle for positions just to make sure we get points. But it can still turn around very quickly.”

Assessing his prospects ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, Stoner added: “It is somewhere I’ve always done reasonably well at and it is very challenging with a lot of braking and acceleration points. It is pretty important to have a good bike on the brakes and good for acceleration.

"We had a fantastic race there last year and probably one of my best. It was a hard race to win and I think this year with the Honda we should be competitive.”

source: MCN
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Valentino Rossi baffled by struggling Ducati


Valentino Rossi admitted he is starting to run out of ideas of how to transform Ducati’s fortunes after he slumped to a bitterly disappointing 10th place at the Motorland Aragon track.

The Italian was hoping a new aluminium frame rushed out for the Aragon weekend would help give him the confident front-end feeling he so desperately craves.

But the new frame was hardly any better than its carbon fibre predecessor as Rossi spent the majority of the race locked in a close battle with British rookie Cal Crutchlow and Hiroshi Aoyama.

Rossi had to start the race from pitlane and 10 seconds after the race had commenced after he went over his six-engine allowance for the season.

That was the least of his worries though and while he recovered to the top 10, his lap times would not have been good enough to fight inside the top six had he started on the grid.

The 32-year-old told MCN: “I'm not sure what is the real problem. It is maybe a problem to match between me and the bike and I'm not sure if with this new chassis if the situation improves or if it really is a problem of the material.

"It is very difficult to say. Unfortunately I am not an engineer and I don't know. This answer must arrive from Ducati.”

A lack of front-end grip once again prevented Rossi from riding close to anything like his preferred style and he added: “The feeling with the front was not so bad and I am quite good in braking and the entry but I remain slow in the change of direction.”

The biggest issue for Rossi in the 23-lap race was a severe lack of rear grip and he said: “The rear grip was the main issue of the weekend. This became bigger with the race tyre and from the second lap I had an amount of spin that I never saw in practice.

"It was completely destroyed and I’ve never seen a Bridgestone tyre like this. But it is another thing and I don't want to say that with a good tyre I would arrive on the podium. I thought we would have a better pace but I lost a lot in the final eight laps because of the problem with the rear tyre.

"I have to slow down because I had a lot of vibration and it was very scary to ride the bike, but even with the right rear tyre we cannot be fast like we want to be. The problem is that we work a lot and in many different ways but it looks like we don't fix a lot.

"We continue to be quite slow apart from some good races we are not constant and we don't fix the problem. We have to concentrate to work hard and understand the way to improve the feeling of the bike because I am not able to be as fast as I want or ride like I want.”

source: MCN
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Nicky Hayden vows to fight through Ducati struggles


Nicky Hayden said he would not get too disheartened by yet another nightmare MotoGP race for Ducati’s factory squad at the Motorland Aragon track in Spain.

The American finished in a lowly seventh place, while Valentino Rossi was only 10th in a low key debut for Ducati’s new aluminium chassis that the nine-times world champion raced for the first time.

The 2010 Motorland Aragon race was the best of the season for Ducati, with Casey Stoner romping to victory and Hayden finishing third.

But the 2006 world champion was a massive 25 seconds slower than his overall race time set 12 months ago.

Hayden admitted it was frustrating to see a raft of radical new parts fail to move Ducati any closer to challenging Honda and Yamaha’s domination of the 2011 world championship.

He told MCN: “We’re not going to stay at home and give up.”

Hayden said he expected the new aluminium frame to have given Rossi much more confidence with his Desmosedici machine.

The new frame was engineered to try and solve some of Ducati’s severe front-end issues, but Rossi’s early weekend optimism quickly dwindled and he finished in a lowly 10th.

He did start from pitlane after incurring a penalty for exceeding his six-engine limit for the season but Hayden said: “I expected him to be faster after the comments they had. He was pretty excited when I talked to him on Thursday. Also it is hard for him coming in and trying to learn a new chassis.”

Hayden’s race was largely dictated by a rear grip issue, which also blunted compatriot Ben Spies’ pace and that of Rossi.

He said: “It was really bad for me. I knew I was going to have some tyre issues and after about five laps I felt a really big drop and that is strange because lately Bridgestone has been too good.

"The rain on Saturday night took a lot of the rubber off the track and the cooler conditions caused it to spin too much and I used up a lot of rubber. The right side of my tyre was completely destroyed.

"The left side I knew we’d be in trouble but the right side we didn’t expect it. It was giving me problems on entry and I was running wide everywhere.”

source: MCN
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Elías out of luck on home soil


LCR Honda MotoGP rider Toni Elías started from the 17th on the grid for the 23-lap Gran Premio de Aragón race but the Spaniard was expecting a different result at one of his home tracks.

The Spaniard lacked corner-exit drive during qualifying on Saturday, but took a very good start from the last row finishing the first lap in 9th position. Unfortunately the reigning Moto2 World Champion could not maintain the same pace for the whole race and his competitors caught him lap by lap. With 7 laps to go Elías and Capirossi collided and both crashed out of the race.

Toni Elías: 
“Despite the crash I feel satisfied because I pushed hard for the whole race. Once again I had a very good start and the first laps I tried hard to follow the group. But, as has happened in the past races, I lacked traction control and the guys started to pass me. I couldn’t maintain the same pace and then Loris hit me with 7 laps to go. We both went out in the gravel, but I’m not angry because this is racing. I’m just happy we are both okay”.

LCR Honda press release.
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Painful end to Aragón race for Abraham


Karel Abraham’s heavy opening-lap crash at Aragón on Sunday resulted in a light head concussion for the MotoGP rookie, but fortunately the Czech rider escaped serious injury.

Going into Turn 1 on the first lap Abraham landed heavily when he was thrown from his Cardion ab Motoracing Ducati machine, and was later taken to hospital as a precautionary measure.

After undergoing a series of medical checks it was confirmed that the 21 year-old had escaped serious injury, and he was kept in hospital close to the Aragón MotorLand circuit overnight for observation.

Abraham is due to leave hospital this evening (Monday).

source: MotoGP official website
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Challenging weekend for the Ducati Team at Aragon


On one hand, the choice to use a seventh engine for Valentino Rossi enables his team to have two identical motorcycles available to work on during the last races of the season, but on the other hand, he was obliged to start from pit lane today, ten seconds after the race start. That didn’t prevent the Italian from stubbornly climbing to ninth place, even if a worn rear tyre prompted him to subsequently lose a position to Cal Crutchlow.

Nicky Hayden started very well from the third row and finished in seventh place after a nice battle with Hector Barbera that lasted until the final corner.

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 7th
“I had a good start and was decent at the very beginning. We knew tyre wear was going to be an issue, and we had a drop in performance after the first couple of laps. It lost grip, and I also wasn’t able to load the bike well for turning. I was okay in parts of the track, but compared to the fast guys, I was losing time in the last corner. I hoped to hang onto the second group for a while, but it just wasn’t possible. I’d like to have fought with Bautista on the last lap because he was on our pace, but Barbera and I were going back and forth, which hurt both of us and let him escape. It’s unfortunate, because coming here we hoped that we could put up a better fight. Still, this is the first race I’ve finished normally with the GP11.1, since at Indy I reentered just to get points. Hopefully that will help us to get some data and be better off in the future.”

Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 10th
“It was definitely a difficult race, even if objectively speaking, we could have done a little better than we did. We used the setup from yesterday morning, with which I had done some good laps with a very used tyre. Unfortunately, in the race the rear tyre was sliding much more than it did in practice. It was almost used up just when I was catching Nicky and his group. That said, we’re still not where we should be. We’re working on several fronts, with short-term solutions that haven’t been conclusive, and others that are longer-term and that I still hope can bring more substantial improvements. We’ll see what they think at the factory. For now, we’re still pretty far, and given that time is our biggest enemy, we’ll continue also working on development during the races.”

Vittoriano Guareschi (Team Manager)
“This race was very difficult for us, but it was also important because we began a project that, while it caused a penalty for Valentino, is also one of the first steps in the direction of the Desmosedici’s development. We know that it’s not easy for a rider to knowingly sacrifice any chance of having a better performance, and this gives us enormous motivation to try to speed up our work as much as possible. Nicky and his team are also trying extremely hard to gather as much information as possible on his GP11.1 which, despite not having the updated front chassis part like Valentino’s, is still a new bike with a lot of margin for improvement with regards to its setup.”

Press release courtesy of Ducati Team
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Double podium for Repsol Honda Team’s 100th win


Not only did Stoner celebrate recording the fastest pole position (1'48.451) and fastest race lap (1'49.046) at the MotorLand circuit, but he also took the 100th victory for the Respol Honda Team since the partnership was formed in 1995 where fellow Australian Mick Doohan won the very first race for the factory HRC team in Eastern Creek.

Dani Pedrosa completed a 1-2 podium finish for the team with a comfortable margin over Jorge Lorenzo. Unfortunately, team mate Andrea Dovizioso fell on the first lap and was unable to continue.

Championship leader Stoner now enjoys a 44 point margin over Lorenzo in second place, with Dovizioso in third position and Pedrosa close behind in fourth.

The Championship now heads east to Japan for round fifteen in Motegi on October 2nd where alongside it's contracted riders, HRC will enter Shinichi Ito as a wild card entry in a HRC Team while Kousuke Akiyoshi will ride alongside Toni Elias for LCR as a show of support for the affected East Japan area.

Casey Stoner:
"Before the race everyone was a little cautious with the wind picking up after the morning warm up and conditions being a lot different to those we have seen all weekend. This was on our minds, also warming the hard tyres to make sure everything was good for the beginning of the race. Our start was pretty average, I pulled to the left a little on the start and managed to avoid hitting Dani, but Ben came around the outside and I ended up third or fourth going into turn one but from there we were able to settle down and feel comfortable with the bike. I wanted to get to the front as soon as possible as the bike has been working perfect all weekend and it was our race to lose, so I tried to get in front and pull a gap. I passed Dani as soon as I could and tried to pull that gap, Dani kept with me for the first few laps, but slowly I was able to put in a gap and manage the race. I think everyone was struggling with tyres to some degree, but the bike was fantastic and I don't mind when the bike slides around a little! A big, big thank you to the whole team and to take this hundredth win for Repsol Honda is something special."

Dani Pedrosa:
"We already saw in practice that Casey was very fast here and it was also like this in the race. I was losing some tenths in the first sector and I was unable to reduce the gap in the other parts of the lap. The second half of the race I was sliding the whole time and I had some fun, but it was a shame not to be closer to Casey, I had many problems with the rear tyre for the whole race. My priority was to control the gap to Spies and Jorge in the final laps and get another podium. We've been second in the last three races, which is not so bad, but we want to keep improving in the coming races."

Andrea Dovizioso: 
“I made a small but fast slide at the first right turn, all the weight went on the front, I wasn't able to control the bike and I immediately lost it as the front tyre was still not at temperature. It’s so disappointing to see your race over on turn two of the first lap after all the hard work done during the weekend. It’s a pity because we had the pace to fight for the podium and the team did a good job. Leaving Aragón without scoring any points is also so bad for the Championship. We are still third, with a fifteen point advantage over Dani, but now we need to return on the podium and have good results. Last year we had a strong end of the season, especially in Japan and Malaysia, so I look forward to the next GPs.”

Repsol Honda press release.
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Great finish for Barberá in Aragón


Héctor Barberá went from fourteenth on the grid to seventh in a single lap at his home race, the Gran Premio de Aragón. His best start of the season had much to do with it, as he finally managed to get off the line with the speed he has been looking for. The Spaniard established a strong pace throughout the race battling with Alvaro Bautista and Nicky Hayden.

A technical mistake when looking at his rival's pitboard at the end of the race confused him into a premature slowdown -unsure as to how many laps remained- and he lost a place as a result. Eighth was nonetheless an excellent result for a rider finding form in the home straight of the season.

Héctor Barberá:
"Today's race was difficult, because the temperature was a lot different to that which we experienced in practice. The bike behaved a little differently and we had to adjust to the situation. I think that my start was good and I am satisfied with that, because I hadn't done so before this season. There was a moment in which I was up to sixth place, but Hayden and I traded positions over the course of a lap and Bautista escaped. With two laps remaining, I accidentally focused on Hayden's pitboard, and saw that they had put one less lap up for him. I got confused and Hayden took the advantage to pass me; I got back ahead but ran wide just after and lost my chance to keep up with him. It was a shame not to have finished as the best Ducati, but our hard work was shown in today's race. I want to emphasize that my team did a great job today, and gave me a great setup. I am on a run of successful races, and want it to continue."

MAPFRE Aspar press release.
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Top 10 for Crutchlow at MotorLand Aragón


The British MotoGP rookie passed Rossi and Aoyama on lap 18 and despite coming under intense pressure from the more experienced duo, he managed to keep them at bay to claim his best result since the Catalunya race in early June. The seven valuable points collected today moved Crutchlow two places up the World Championship rankings into 13th position and he moved back ahead of Karel Abraham in the coveted Rookie of the Year classification.

The race proved to be a difficult affair for Edwards, who struggled to find the right set-up to give him the rear grip he needed to push with his normal confidence. He made more weight distribution modifications to his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1 machine ahead of the race, but the tweaks didn't have the desired effect and he finished in 13th.

Cal Crutchlow:
“I'm really pleased with how the race went today because I was back inside the top and having an enjoyable fight with two of the best riders on the grid, who have had a lot of success in Grand Prix racing. It's a shame I lost a couple of places at the first corner because I'm sure with a better start I could have been battling with Bautista and Hayden. I got on the inside on the dirty part of the track and when I braked, I locked the front wheel and nearly crashed. What pleases me the most is that I could make up for the lack of speed on the straight in the corners because the Yamaha handles brilliantly and my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team gave me a really good bike today. But to hold off Valentino and Hiroshi at the end took a massive effort. I think if they'd started the final lap in front of me on the straight it would have been hard for me to slipstream. There are a lot of positives to take from this weekend because I've got back in the top 10 on a track I'd never seen before and beaten two guys with a lot more experience than me. I gained a lot of experience today riding with Valentino and that has given me a lot of confidence for the next few races.”

Colin Edwards:
“That certainly wasn't a great way to celebrate my 150th race in MotoGP. We tried to get the bike right all weekend but we were pretty much chasing our tails the whole time. We were trying to improve the rear grip to compensate for the speed we lose on the straight and for the race we altered the weight distribution again. We put a lot of weight on the rear but it never really worked. After about five laps the grip just went down and I wasn't expecting it to drop off that quickly. Once that happened I couldn't stay in that group I was in and I just went backwards. If somebody gave me 10 million Euros to do a 1.51 right now, there is no way I could do it. The last two races have been pretty tough, so we'll get our heads together and try and come up with a solution for Japan and aim to be fighting back in the top 10 where I have been all season.”

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team press release
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Lorenzo takes his first Aragón Grand Prix podium


After dropped from fourth on the grid in the early laps, the reigning World Champion gradually picked up the pace, running well under his qualifying time to gradually reel in the front runners. By lap 10 he had caught both his team mate Ben Spies and Marco Simoncelli, passing them both to take third which he held to the line. The results mean the gap to Championship leader Stoner has now increased again to 44 with four races remaining of the season.

Fellow Yamaha Factory Racing rider Spies had probably his best start of the season so far, shooting off the line to outride both Stoner and Dani Pedrosa for the lead into turn one. Having then dropped to third the Texan was maintaining a gap to fourth, scoring the third fastest lap of the race on lap four with a 1’49.593. A dramatic drop off in grip on the sixth lap then affected his pace. He was passed by team mate Lorenzo and then Simoncelli, dropping to fifth place. The result sees Spies retain fifth in the Championship standings, now 24 points behind Pedrosa in fourth as they head to Motegi next week.

Jorge Lorenzo: 
“We struggled a lot from the beginning of the race, losing positions and having to recover step by step. We couldn’t get more than a podium; that is the best result we could get today! I didn’t have confidence in the rear and it is impossible to catch Dani on this track. It's a pity, but at least I got the podium I couldn't get last year. We are still fighting for the Championship and that's the most important thing, we are going to Japan with hope still alive."

Ben Spies: 
“I knew the start wasn’t going to last long the way Casey and Dani were riding but I felt pretty good in the beginning. Even when we got to the fourth or fifth lap I thought our advantage to fourth place was growing. I felt really comfortable and thought we had a podium fight in us. Then the sixth or seventh lap the tyre just made a huge drop and just kept going down. Usually they make one drop then stay consistent. I had no confidence in the rear and no grip. I’m frustrated as before that we were riding well and the bike was working great.”

Massimo Meregalli - Team Director: 
“The drop in temperature this afternoon probably compromised the work we’ve done up to this morning in set up. Ben really couldn’t do more because the rear tyre was really bad after just a few laps. Jorge achieved the best result possible, I think he did good job and thinking about the final championship standings, third place is still a good result. For sure it doesn’t make it so easy but we’ll keep going to the end.”

Yamaha Factory Racing press release
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