Sorry for not giving any updates in the last couple of weeks, been a crazy time here. But Mugello weekend is starting (and unfortunately I'm not there), but here is some updates and some news from our favorite boys before the weekend starts.
Mugello: Record Lap
C. Stoner (Ducati) 2008, 1′50.003
Mugello: Best Lap
V. Rossi (Yamaha) 2008, 1′48.130
Grand Prix Results: Mugello 2008
1. V. Rossi (Yamaha) 42′31.153
2. C. Stoner (Ducati) +2.201
3. D.Pedrosa (Honda) +4.867
. J. Lorenzo (Yamaha) NF
Gran Premio d’Italia Alice racing numbers
Thursday, 28 May 2009- motogp.com
Some key numbers ahead of round five of the 2009 MotoGP World Championship.
996 - Following his 12th place finish at Le Mans, Nicky Hayden has a career total of 996 points. A top twelve finish at Mugello would make him the 16th rider of all-time to reach the milestone of 1000 career points in the premier-class.
343 - The highest recorded maximum speed at Mugello is 343 kph (213.1 mph) set by Alex Barros on a factory Honda during the race in 2004.
24 - This is the 24th occasion that a GP has been held at Mugello, including 19 consecutive years from 1991.
16 - Valentino Rossi’s 16th place at Le Mans is the first time that he has ever finished last in a Grand Prix race and the first time he has ever finished a race outside a point scoring position.
13 - There has been at least one Italian rider on the podium in the premier-class at Mugello for the last thirteen years.
8 – The last eight riders who have started from pole position across all three classes have failed to convert the pole into a race victory. In fact from the last eight poles only two riders have finished on the podium – Rossi in Japan and Dani Pedrosa at Le Mans.
4 – The first four races of the year in the 250cc class have been won by four different riders (Héctor Barberá, Álvaro Bautista, Hiroshi Aoyama and Marco Simoncelli) which last occurred in 1999 (Loris Capirossi, Shinya Nakano, Valentino Rossi, Tohru Ukawa).
4 – Mugello is one of just four circuits on this year’s calendar where Ducati have not had a MotoGP win. The others are Indianapolis, Estoril and Le Mans.
3 – Last year at Mugello Italian riders won all three GP races: Rossi, Simoncelli and Simone Corsi. This was the first time that Italian riders won all these three classes at the same GP event on home soil since 1975 at Imola.
3 – For the first time in the 60-year history of Grand Prix racing, all three championship classes currently have Spanish riders topping the championship standings.
http://www.rossifiles.com
The Fiat Yamaha Team head to the spectacular Italian circuit of Mugello this weekend flying high at the top of the championship after a formidable start to the season. Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi lie first and second in the riders’ standings while the team, which is based at Gerno di Lesmo, just outside Milan, is leading the team table and Yamaha the Manufacturers’.
22-year-old Lorenzo comes to Italy this weekend in stunning form, lying first in the championship after two wins from four races, with the second having come at the last round in Le Mans. The Spaniard has a good record at Mugello and took victory there from pole in 2006 on the way to his first world championship, but he has a score to settle with the track this time around after sliding out on lap seven on his MotoGP debut there last year. This time he is fully fit and determined to continue the momentum of his season with another trip to the podium.
Rossi shares an unmatched relationship with this Tuscan track, having won there an incredible nine times in thirteen years. The last seven victories have been consecutive, including the last five with Yamaha and this weekend he will be more determined than ever to add another victory to his stunning record. Last time out saw a rare error from Rossi when he fell at Le Mans and he eventually finished last in a race for the first time in his career, meaning he took zero points and surrendered his championship lead to his team-mate, albeit by just one point. This weekend he will put all that behind him in pursuit of more home glory and a second win of the season, when tens of thousands of his passionate Italian fans fill the Mugello amphitheatre and turn the hillsides yellow.
Mugello is one of the fastest and most spectacular circuits in the world, with the 1,141m main straight seeing the 800cc machines reach speeds of over 320km/h before braking into the fearsome downhill right-hander. The track 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 and generally leading to some spectacular racing in an unrivalled atmosphere.
Jorge Lorenzo - “A beautiful circuit”
“Mugello is, along with Phillip Island, the most beautiful circuit that we race at; I love it! Plus I am feeling very confident after our good race in Le Mans. We have had some very strange races with the weather conditions and I would never have expected to recover 24 points in one go. Now we arrive in Italy (where the weather I hope will be better) as leaders, but the most important thing is that I am confident and feeling fit. Last year was not easy for me; I already had problems with my ankles and then I crashed when trying to pass Andrea Dovizioso. Mugello and Montmeló were horrible for me and finished that period of the season having taken no points. This year, just to take some points at this track and at Catalunya will be an improvement and that’s my aim! On Wednesday I will be in Rome, watching Champions League Final with my team, Barcelona, against Manchester United. I hope the weekend begins perfectly for me with that title!”
Valentino Rossi - “Something incredible”
“Racing at Mugello is something incredible for me, but every year it gets more difficult to keep my record going and seven wins in a row is already a lot! I do feel pressure going there, but at the same time it is always amazing and the fans give me an extra motivation that helps me to perform in a different way there. I hope it’s the same again this year, because after Le Mans I really need a good result! It was disappointing but everyone has the occasional bad day and that was ours. Everything possible went wrong but hopefully that is all our bad luck for now and this time, at our home race, we will be back to our best. I always look forward to this race; it’s very busy for me but I have so many amazing memories. Let’s hope to create some more this weekend.”
Daniele Romagnoli - “Motivation is high”
“Heading to race in Mugello after the great victory in Le Mans gives high motivation to Jorge and the entire team. This year the top riders are very close and to stay at the top of the championship we are going to have to make sure we’re always on the podium, so we have to keep a high level of concentration and our feet on the ground. Last year Jorge crashed in the race when he lost the front but we feel confident of a good result this time around because our technical package has been improved and Jorge is much stronger and of course fully fit. It’s the home race for a lot of the guys in our team so we’re looking forward to a great weekend.”
Davide Brivio - “Excited by the challenge”
“Mugello is of course a great and important race for us, but each year it gets a bit harder to keep the winning record. Now we try for Valentino’s eighth in a row but it will be tough because everyone will be out to stop him – he is the man to beat there! It will be difficult but we’re excited by the challenge. After Le Mans we need to get back to the form we showed in Spain; we’re close to the lead but we need to keep the momentum going and try to get as many points as possible. Let’s hope for another Mugello party!”
Stoner: Expect the unexpected
Casey Stoner isn't underestimating the task ahead of him if he is to end Valentino Rossi's seven-race win streak at the Italian's home grand prix - and hand Ducati a long awaited Mugello victory on Sunday.“We know Valentino is fast, he's won so many times here. Last year we gave it out best, but it wasn't good enough,” said Stoner, who lost out to Rossi by 2.2sec last season.
“Valentino is going to be very, very difficult to beat here. He's got a lot of pressure on him, but he normally performs very well at this circuit.
“I've never had a victory here but I've always been quite fast. We've usually had mixed fortunes; bad qualifying and good race, good race after bad qualifying. So we'll see what happens this year. I really enjoy this circuit.
“It depends what mood its in!” joked Stoner, when asked if Mugello suits the Ducati. “Sometimes we come here and don't have to touch the setting. Just fine tune it. Other times we've had to go upside-down and back-to-front just to be competitive with the front guys.
“But I believe we've got a more competitive package than we've had for the past two seasons and I'm quite confident that we can at least be competitive. Whether we can win the race or not is another thing.”
Stoner starts this weekend's race joint second with Rossi and just one point behind Jorge Lorenzo. Fourth placed Dani Pedrosa is a further eight points behind.
“After four races, compared with last year, we're the only rider in the top four who has actually improved in points,” highlighted Stoner.
“Everyone was saying at the start of the season it was between myself and Valentino but I've always said 'expect the unexpected'. No-one expected me to be up front in 2007 and we won the championship.
“Jorge was fast last year and now he has one year of confidence, Dani had problems with his knee and people discarded him but he's had three podiums. Everybody is riding really well at the moment so we've just got to try and step it up.”
Mugello is used frequently by Ducati for testing.(http://www.crash.ne)
Melandri pushing Kawasaki for new parts
Marco Melandri is hoping to further increase the pressure on Kawasaki to supply new 'go faster' parts for his privately run ZX-RR, after his stunning second place finish last time out at Le Mans.Melandri's runner-up result in only his fourth grand prix for the Hayate Racing Team - formed to run the Italian after Kawasaki's factory withdraw - equaled the best ever MotoGP result by a factory-run ZX-RR.
It also placed Melandri fifth in the riders' championship, and his 43 points are the highest achieved by any Kawasaki rider after the opening four races of the season. Those 43 points have also put Kawasaki ahead of Suzuki in the constructors' championship and are more than Kawasaki had scored after nine rounds last season.
But despite such success, it seems Kawasaki still has no plans to up its support for Melandri and Hayate, which at present is limited to supplying and maintaining machinery.
Melandri's only option for improving performance is through set-up changes, but he hopes to keep increasing the pressure on the Japanese manufacturer and is keeping his fingers crossed for next month's post-Catalan Grand Prix test.
“The good point for us is that everybody else cannot test a lot, so they don't go forward like in the past,” said Marco. “And we can still maybe improve the bike just by set-up, but I'd really like to push Kawasaki to get some new parts for the bike by getting some more good results.
“We have the one day test coming up after the next race in Barcelona. I don't really expect to get any new parts, but I hope they [Kawasaki] are going to think about something good after the podium at the last race,” he confirmed.
Melandri's Le Mans second means only he and Alex Barros have finished on the podium on four-stroke machines from three different manufacturers since the introduction of the MotoGP formula at the start of 2002.
Last year, while struggling on a factory Ducati, it took Melandri until round twelve to reach 41 points and he hadn't been on the MotoGP podium since 2007.
“It was only my dream to get a podium this year, but when I saw the weather conditions before the race I knew it would be very tricky and that I had to use the situation to do my best,” he said of Le Mans. “I changed bike very early and it was very dangerous and scary because I almost went down at the same corner as Valentino. I was just focused and maybe had a little luck.”
Looking forward to this weekend's home Mugello round, Melandri believes a top ten finish is a realistic goal in the dry.
“I did my first 125 race in the Italian championship here. It is beautiful circuit and one of the best in the world,” he said of the circuit. “I've never been on the podium here in MotoGP so I'm a little disappointed with that but I just want to do a good race and have some nice fights. I hope to be in the top ten... We still need to improve one second to catch the leading guys. Every night I dream about doing that!” (http://www.crash.ne)
No replacement for Gibernau at Mugello
The Grupo Francesco Hernando MotoGP team will not replace the injured Sete Gibernau at this weekend's Italian Grand Prix at Mugello.Gibernau fractured his left collarbone in a practice accident at Le Mans and will be out of action until at least round six, to be held at Barcelona on June 14.
The withdraw means that the Italian Grand Prix grid has been reduced to just 17 riders.
36-year-old Gibernau returned to MotoGP this season after two years in retirement, and had been approaching full strength in his left shoulder after ligament damage during pre-season training. (http://www.crash.ne)
Hayden hopes for Mugello progress
| By Matt Beer | Monday, May 25th 2009, 14:13 GMT |
Nicky Hayden is desperate to improve his form at this week's Italian Grand Prix so that the home crowd does not have to see a Ducati in the midfield.
The former world champion has made gradual progress with acclimatising to the Ducati GP9 after joining from Honda this year, but has been hampered by the repeated weather interruptions in practice sessions and a heavy accident in Qatar.
Hayden, who has yet to qualify or finish in the top ten this year, said he had been looking forward to racing a Ducati in Italy for the first time, but did not like the thought of struggling for the team at its most important race.
"It is going to be really nice for me to race at Mugello as a Ducati rider because I can remember from past seasons seeing all the fans dressed in red and cheering on their riders from the grandstand," he said.
"It is an honour and a privilege for me to now be a part of this team and this tradition. I hope with all my heart that I can be competitive because those fans don't deserve to see a Ducati at the back."
He hopes that Friday practice will run smoothly so he can be better prepared for qualifying than he has at this year's opening rounds.
"I'd really like to have some better results on the board and be going into the factory's home race with some more experience under our belts but we are making progress and now I hope we can make a good step on Friday so that we can build on it over the rest of the weekend," Hayden said.
Team boss Livio Suppo is optimistic about Ducati's Mugello prospects following a strong test at the track recently with retired Superbike legend Troy Bayliss and test rider Vitto Guareschi.
"It will be tough, like always, but I think we can do well - as the impressive lap times recorded by Troy and Vitto in the recent test demonstrated," said Suppo.
Ducati is seeking to end arch-rival Valentino Rossi's seven-year winning streak at its home circuit.(http://www.autosport.com)
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