With eight right-hand corners, most of which are long and fast, and only five left-handers, most of which are much slower, the Circuit de Catalunya provides a worthy puzzle for all the tire manufacturers, but this weekend Bridgestone has a secret weapon up its sleeve. For the Catalan GP, Bridgestone has made a special asymmetrical tire that will be composed of different compounds on each side of the tire in order to meet the demanding conditions of the Spanish track.
Dani Pedrosa announced today that he has sufficiently recovered from from Mugello, and will be racing at Barcelona for the Catalan GP.
This announcement shows truly how determined riders like Dani are, as the Spainard would easily qualify for any sport’s disabled list. Pedrosa was given the “all clear” after doctors conduct a trial of injecting the Repsol Honda rider with painkillers, and then testing him for sensitivities to pain and motion.
In case you don’t follow the series, Formula 1 has been in state of flux for the past few years. 2009 saw a host of new rules introduced to make the sport once again exciting. Adding to the on-track drama has been the discourse off the track by the teams, race promoters, and drivers. Currently, Bernie Ecclestone (Formula One Management) and Max Mosley (FIM) are attempting to impose a £40 million budget cap on the teams, which follows their attempt to instigate a two-tier technical rule system for capped and uncapped teams.
Unwilling to follow such a system, the newly formed Formula One Teams Association (FOTA), has come together as a collective bargaining group aganst Ecclestone and Mosley. FOTA has raised the ante in their negotiations, and has now threatened to pull out of the 2010 Formula 1 season. Taking their toys and going home, FOTA plans on starting its own series, with perhaps Carmelo Ezpeleta, of Dorna fame, as its head.
Friday, Donington Park announced two major developments. The first announcement is that Donington Park has passed FIM inspection, just ahead of this month’s WSBK stop, and next month’s MotoGP stop at the historic British track.
The second announcement is that DVLL, the track operator which leases the premises from landowner Tom Wheatcroft, has settled on , thus insuring the continued use of the track for motoring events.
It would seem that the Dorna might be interested in adding Imola to the list of venues MotoGP attends this year. The Italian daily newspaper has reported that FIM’s Race Director Paul Butler recently visited the Imola race circuit, and seemed to approve of the track, and is considering it as a replacement to the dropped Hungarian GP.
How could we talk about , and not touch on the slowest man of Mugello? No we don’t mean Sete Gibernau who has had a remarkably unremarkable season. We mean the Luxors of Late Braking, the Princes of Passing, and the Bastards of Barging in, those rider who hold on for just a split second longer than the rest before grabbing a fistful of brake after a long straight away.
Well, he clever folk at Brembo did some analytic interpretations from the data-logging the teams used at Mugello, and have figured out who the best brakers were at the Italian circuit this weekend. Results after the jump.
If you’re a close watcher of MotoGP, you may know that Dani Pedrosa suffered a bad crash in the second Free Practice session of the Mugello GP that severely injured the Spaniard’s hip. In the incident, Pedrosa was nearly flicked off his Repsol Honda, and landed poorly on the groun, causing a tearing of a tendon at the top of his thigh.
Pedrosa would go on to race in the Italian GP, but crashed out midway through. Fortunately, the second crash didn’t aggrivate his hip/thigh injury.
The Repsol Honda team has just issued a press release on Pedrosa’s condition. It is enclosed after the jump.
Just like LeMans two weeks ago, the starting of today’s GP at Mugello was a mixture of both wet and then dry, which meant that once again tire choice and pit strategy would decide the winner. With Valentino Rossi clearly being the biggest loser in Le Mans when this situation last presented itself, would he be able to make the right choices and win his eighth victory at his home track? Continue reading for the spoilers and find out.
The fans at Mugello were treated to a great battle in qualifying action on Saturday afternoon with Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo upstaging his teammate Valentino Rossi on the World Champion’s home track of Mugello, by taking the pole position at the Italian GP.
Keeping with his personal tradition of having a special edition helmet while racing at Mugello, Valentino Rossi released a new lid at Friday’s Free Practice session. This year’s edition can be considered an answer to , with Rossi replacing his face with his hands.
This year’s theme features Valentino’s gloved hands holding the side of this his head/helmet. On the back of the helmet, Rossi’s two bulldogs Cesare and Cecilia are featured with their paws also on their heads.
For Rossi right now, Mugello feels like more show than go, with the MotoGP Demi-God qualifying only 4th in today’s session.
With 34 teams signed up for the inaugrial Moto2 season, the series is over-subscribed for its launch in 2010. Adding itself to the fray allegedly is the French MotoGP team, Tech3. With Moto2 being such an enticing series for lower budget satellite teams, does MotoGP risk losing teams to Moto2 more than WSBK?