If I were to pick out one race amongst all of 2009 MotoGP season which decided the championship result, I would say the Czech Republic GP!
There are multiple reasons for my point of view, even though the season isn’t over yet, the race result and the performances by individual riders and teams say much about what’s going to happen here onwards.
Also it’s that time of year again when the riders seek for a position in better team, money is one criteria but riding a better bike is above all. Likewise, the best teams look out for the young and promising riders either in the same class or the 250cc class.
This trend will change a bit next season as no rookie rider will be allowed to join a ‘factory team’, he will have to race in a satellite team first (exception for Suzuki as they don’t have a satellite team). Implications of this? No young rider from the 250cc class will be able to jump onto a factory Honda, Yamaha or Ducati. Is the rule in interest of the pro riders not loosing their jobs too soon or is it for safety reasons? Not quiet clear!
The previous GP was a disaster for Lorenzo, crashed out while leading the race due to wet weather. Brno was the time for him to spring back into action, he knew he has the bike for the job and the speed around the track as well; his only rival is Valentino Rossi.
We have seen till now that Lorenzo is definitely the next big thing in MotoGP after his stunning performances and results at Le Mans, Catalunya and Laguna Seca where he was riding with a partially dislocated shoulder and yet finished second! proving his skills and level of determination as well.
Rossi has used all his cards against Lorenzo, made his best move at Catalunya’s penultimate corner, Lorenzo is now well aware of Rossi’s abilities but the only thing he lags behind in is composure aka experience. Hence the DNF at Donington.
Lorenzo has been a bit verbal about his team preference for 2010 season and he has not signed any contract with Yamaha as yet. Honda had made an offer, but the factory team has already signed their current riders for 2010. Lorenzo has used his Honda offer to persuade Yamaha in paying him more. Publicly stating “Yamaha M1 is the best bike in MotoGP” but was previously a bit arrogant while saying “I like it here at Yamaha, but its how much Yamaha wants me that’s what matter”.
Rumors say Ducati is willing to pay Lorenzo 8 million as opposed to Valentino Rossi’s 14 million. Considering Nicky Hayden’s current form and Casey Stoner’s fitness levels, there definitely is one place that is going to be filled up in 2010.
With so much happening off the tracks, Lorenzo surely wanted to impress Yamaha and other possible teams as well.
Friday practice session: Jorge Lorenzo as always, set a blazing fast lap time of 1’56.331s. The Spaniard was working hard to get back on the podium after a DNF in previous race at Donington Park. Second fastest was the Repsol Honda star Dani Pedrosa and third was Valentino Rossi.
Saturday qualifying was pretty simple, Rossi lapped the Brno circuit in 1’56.145 which was 0.05s faster than Lorenzo, in spite of a rare qualifying crash. This is somewhat become a trend for the Italian now, he is fast on practice but not the fastest but takes pole position the day after. He will strike only when it matters and not display his abilities during qualifying sessions as they don’t count.
Race Day: Front row has the top three riders, but of courseJ! Valentino Rossi on pole, Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa third. Dani as always did not care for a better position than third, front row position is more important, for he can make that Repsol Honda RCV 212 fly past others and take lead at turn 1 and that’s exactly what happened. But his leader position was short lived as Rossi soon dived in under late braking at turn 2 of lap 1. Usually one waits for the tyres to get upto the temperature & bike to settle in the race and then perform such maneuvers, but it seemed like Rossi’s bike was already there.
Soon Rossi was leading and pulling away from Pedrosa and at a great pace. Lorenzo, still in third position could see this and had to get past slower Dani Pedrosa. Once he did that, the gap between Rossi and team mate Lorenzo was already 4 seconds.
This is where two things were clear, one: Lorenzo can beat Rossi by the way he was closing in on Rossi and two: Yamaha M1 is the best MotoGP bike, since Dani Pedrosa revealed later after race “I was pushing the bike to the maximum and the Yamaha’s were still pulling away”.
Soon the wait and watch game was over for Rossi, who was literally waiting for Lorenzo to catch up and start the real race.
A small reminder here, new engine rules are effective from the Brno GP. This means that the riders are not allowed to use the complete potential of the engine (detuned on purpose) and will have to also conserve the engine. A change in engine more than the permissible times will result a penalty of 10 points!
The two Yamaha riders seemed like they did not bother, especially Lorenzo and he was at speed towards end of the race. Just five laps to go, Lorenzo got inside Rossi’s line and took the left hander earlier than Rossi (FYI: this is Rossi’s favourite way of overtaking).
About to loose to Rossi again in the next lap, Lorenzo pushed harder than he should had and locked his front wheel under heavy late braking and crashed out, engine had stopped running by the time he went to pick up his bike. DNF!
Dani Pedrosa was riding a lonely race in second position now, some 7.5s behind Rossi and 5s ahead of Toni Elias. Speaking of whom, Toni has lost his ride in the satellite Honda team for 2010 season and has no future in MotoGP as yet. May be that’s what made him push harder and keep Andrae Dovizioso behind him.
Post race Lorenzo apologized to his team for letting them down yet again; Toni went verbal about finishing on podium yet not having a good bike and now a position in the team for next season.
The next morning was the second official Monday testing of the season for all at Brno, something that all riders have been looking forward to get a taste of what the next seasons prototype feels like, and especially Dani Pedrosa for team Repsol Honda has made some radical changes to the chassis, got a new engine and changed their suspension from Showa to Ohlins. A steep change Id say, but the results were in favour as the Spaniard clocked second fastest times on Monday.
The fastest man during testing was of course Jorge Lorenzo, committed to do whatever it takes to win his teams confidence back, not that they have lost any in him.
Daniele Romagnoli who is Lorenzo’s team manager said post race “It will be another important lesson for Jorge and we are confident that he will learn from it continue to be just as fast and to keep improving. He’s got many more races to show his potential so now we will get back to work with a day’s testing tomorrow and make sure we’re in the best shape possible for Indianapolis.”
One more big news that came just minutes before the Brno GP, Suzuki announced signing the current 250cc championship frontrunner Álvaro Bautista for 2010 and 2011 season. Bautista is former 2006 125cc champion and moved to 250cc in 2007. The 24 years old Spaniard si set to replace either of the current Suzuki riders.
Lorenzo’s aggressive riding style is one reason why he cannot beat Rossi to become champion this season.
The sheer different in pace the Yamaha’s have over the Honda’s is another.
The absence of Stoner due to his fatigue disease and Nicky Hayden failing to even finish in top five in the races is just letting Ducati down this year, though their GP9 machine is very competitive compared to the Yamaha M1.
All these factors reached a critical point at Brno, and now for Lorenzo to win championship “something miraculous has to happen” as he himself puts it, miraculous as in bad to Rossi or good to himself is what I`ve been thinking.
All eyes are set towards the next race at Indianapolis, home ground for Nicky Hayden and Collin Edwards. Bigger news than that being, Aleix Espargaró has been given a chance to debut in MotoGP for the Pramac Racing to add to his remarkable year. The former 125cc and 250cc regular has been without a permanent World Championship ride this year, but has impressed with substitute appearances at Assen and Sachsenring for the Balatonring Team and in his role as a Moto2 development rider.
Last years race result at Indianapolis were in favour of Rossi, Lorenzo and Nicky Hayden, lets see how they perform this year.
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Kunal Shah
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... Doctor!! But watch out for Lorenzo as he matures!! He will surely put up an equal fight. |
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