Brno MotoGP – The Battle resumes! - Moto GP - iSport

iSport's MotoGP expert Kunal Ghate gives insights into the new rules that MotoGP riders will have to ride with starting in Brno.

2009 has probably been the most entertaining season of MotoGP as far as I can recollect, and now the riders are all set to resume racing after a short summer break. The Czech Republic GP marks the point from where the new engine rules apply, hence will be a good one to watch out for as now the riders also need to have a strategy in place to conserve their engines.

bruno Donington was the previous race which was once again a tricky one due to partially wet track which neither dried up and nor did it rain during the race. This is where Ducati made a grave tactical error of sending their riders out on full wet tyres hoping that it would according to their calculations rain in the first lap itself. Ducati accepted their mistakes as the gamble didn’t work out in their favour, even called themselves ‘idiots’.

Team Fiat Yamaha also did not have a good race as Lorenzo crashed while he was leading the race, the paint used for white lines at the tracked edge is to be blamed for his crash, retired but were not hurt by the crash. Rossi too crashed in fourth position, but quickly regained a position down the order and managed to finish fifth.

Repsol Honda with their new engine and chassis had a mixed experience, the best one out of the top three constructors I`d say though. Andrea Dovizioso who is in his second season of MotoGP won the race. And the win wasn’t by chance as the top riders were not in completion. Andrea has finally found some pace in his upgraded Honda, he was flawless, strategically as well as the way he was pushing the bike to the limits in the tricky wet condition. Dani Pedrosa on the other hand was not able to find enough grip with the setup on his bike.

The battle ground this weekend is the Brno circuit of Czech Republic, possibly one of the most beautiful circuits, in terms of layout. The track has some interesting facts and figures:

Length: 5,403 metres (3.4 mi)
Width: 15 metres (49 ft)
Corners: 14
Difference in elevation: 74 metres (243 ft)
Track capacity: 55 motorcycles or 40 cars

Elevation and width are the once to read into. This particular circuit requires the rider to be absolutely at the limit at all times as there are no very slow corners and the width of the track allows the machines to be pushed even harder. One who is totally brutal on the engine and at the same time can execute the corners with finesse will be rewarded.

The massive difference in elevation makes it a roller coaster ride for the riders. The circuit surface has been laid down again in 2008 which makes it very abrasive as well.

This unique combination of elevation changes, fast corners and abrasive surface will make tyre selection very difficult for the riders. Bridgestone has come up with hard and very hard compounds for the front and medium hard to hard for the read tyres for Brno.

Rossi will go to Brno as championship leader followed by Lorenzo and Stoner, though Stoner will skip the next three races due to his health problems. His doctor has advised him to take rest and allow someone else to race for Ducati instead of him.

Mika Kallio who is part of the Pramac Racing team has been chosen by Ducati for the task. Pramac being the satellite Ducati team and the level of collaboration they have with each other has made this possible.

The next three races are going to be a head to head battle for Mika Kallio and Nicky Hayden (read interview for Mika & proving period for Nicky). Both these riders know it and should be able to get Ducati some more points together in the following races.

Select Driver Quotes:

Valentino Rossi on Stoner missing the next few races "It's a real pity for Casey and the championship because I like battling with him. I hope he'll return quickly."

Jorge Lorenzo on Dani Pedrosa’s performance so far “Dani is currently more than 70 points behind but you can not rule him out, because in this championship a thousand and one different things could happen,” said Lorenzo. “It looks like there are two riders with a real chance, especially Valentino, but mathematically you can't rule any of the top guys out.”

Valentino Rossi on the new engine usage rules “It will change a little bit the way to work on the bike. Now you need to plan more which bike to use during practice and you have to always take care of the engine during practice and also after the race”

World Championship

Pos.	Rider	Nation	Team	Points
1	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Fiat Yamaha Team	187
2	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Fiat Yamaha Team	162
3	Casey STONER	AUS	Ducati Marlboro Team	150
4	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	115
5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	103
6	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Repsol Honda Team	94
7	Marco MELANDRI	ITA	Hayate Racing Team	79
8	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	LCR Honda MotoGP	74
9	Chris VERMEULEN	AUS	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	67
10	Loris CAPIROSSI	ITA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	66
11	Alex DE ANGELIS	RSM	San Carlo Honda Gresini	60
12	James TOSELAND	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	55
13	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Marlboro Team	47
14	Toni ELIAS	SPA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	47
15	Mika KALLIO	FIN	Pramac Racing	34
16	Niccolo CANEPA	ITA	Pramac Racing	28
17	Sete GIBERNAU	SPA	Grupo Francisco Hernando	12
18	Yuki TAKAHASHI	JPN	Scot Racing Team MotoGP	9
19	Gabor TALMACSI	HUN	Scot Racing Team MotoGP	5