HONDA RACING INFORMATION 2014 FIM MotoGP/Moto2/Moto3 World Championships Round 13 of 18, San Marino & Rimini Riviera GP, Misano World Circuit Race Report: 14 September, 2014 Weather: Dry Temperature: Air 25 degrees C / Track 37 degrees C MARQUEZ FALTERS, BUT PEDROSA PRESERVES HONDA’S RECORD Honda’s defending World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V) had his worst race of the season at Misano today, scoring only one point after crashing and remounting in a distant last place ... but Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa preserved Honda’s perfect podium record, finishing third. It was the 28-year-old Spaniard’s eighth top-three finish of the season, including a race win at Brno, and came after a steadfast ride from the second row of the grid. Pedrosa lies second overall in the championship table behind Marquez, but his margin shrank to just one point over today’s winner Valentino Rossi, with Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo second. It sets the scene for a strong fight for second overall over the remaining five races. The former 125cc and double 250cc World Champion’s campaign suffered a set-back earlier in the season when he had to undergo remedial surgery for arm-pump problems. But Pedrosa has come back strongly, and is more than ready to fight for the rest of the year. Marquez’s stumble was a rare mistake for a rider who has won every race this year except for the Brno event, where he was fourth. Unfortunately for the Spaniard, who last year became the youngest premier-class champion in history, although the crash was at a slow corner, the engine stopped and by the time he got it restarted he was almost a full lap behind. Nothing daunted, he pressed on, finally claiming a single point when he gained 15th place on the final lap. The former 125cc and Moto2 champion’s points lead over Pedrosa shrank by 15 points, but is still a massive 74 – almost a three-race margin, with five races left on the calendar. The race took place in blazing sunshine in front of a highly partisan Italian crowd of more than 54,500 – a relief after the first of two days of practice was lost to heavy rain, belying the 4.226-km circuit’s location close to the Rimini holiday beaches. Two more riders campaign the awesomely successful Honda RC213V in satellite teams, but while former Moto2 champion Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda RC213V) crashed out in the early stages of the 28-lap race round the tortuous Misano World Circuit, former 125cc champion Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Gresini Honda RC213V) finished eighth after a long battle with two other riders. His last rival, Aleix Espargaro (Yamaha) crashed out on the final lap, leaving him unmolested. The best of the close replicas of the factory V4 today was that of Czech racer Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing Honda RCV1000R). Law graduate Abraham was 11th, after catching and passing the similarly mounted former 250cc champion Hiroshi Aoyama (Drive M7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R). He was the first Open-class bike home. A third of the new-this-year machines took the next position, with Briton Scott Redding (GO&FUN Gresini Honda RCV1000R) placed 13th, after an unusually troubled weekend for the youngest-ever GP winner. All four Honda production racers would have been in the points, had Leon Camier (Drive M7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R) not been overtaken for 15th place by Marquez on the final lap. The British former 125cc GP and World Superbike racer was taking the place of the recuperating Nicky Hayden for a fourth race. The Moto2 class is exclusively powered by Honda, with identical race-tuned Honda CBR600 engines supplied by the organisers. The aim is to ensure reliable and closely matched racing, Today’s race was a repeat of the last round at Silverstone. Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex rider Mika Kallio, starting from pole, seized an early lead, pursued by his team-mate Tito Rabat. At one stage Kallio was a full second clear, but as the race wore on Rabat closed up again, and on lap 18 of 26 he finally pounced, to take a lead he would hold to the finish. He won by an eventual 2.2 seconds – his seventh victory of the year, compared with Kallio’s three. The identically mounted pair are dominating the championship, with Rabat leading from the start, in Qatar, and stretching his advantage today to 22 points. After the first-lap shuffling behind the pair, there were few changes of position, with French rider Johann Zarco (AirAsia Caterham Caterham-Suter) taking third place on the fourth lap. By now he was out of touch with the leaders, but at the finish Zarco was still less than five seconds adrift. It was his second top-three finish of the year. German GP winner Dominique Aegerter (Technomag carXpert Suter) held fourth until after half distance, but dropped back to sixth at the finish. The place went to class rookie and Argentine GP winner Maverick Vinales (Paginas Amarillas HP 40 Kalex). Vinales is reigning Moto3 champion, and lies third overall on points. Former 125cc champion Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2 Suter) was fifth. Rookie Franco Morbidelli (Italtrans Racing Team Kalex) won a long battle for seventh by less than half a second from team-mate Julian Simon, a former 125cc champion, Axel Pons (AGR Team Kalex) and Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia Kalex), the quartet over the line within just over two seconds. In Moto3, Honda faces rival manufacturers, and at Misano the two top Honda riders claimed a second one-two finish in succession, and in the same order as Silverstone. Estrella Galicia 0,0 team-mates Alex Rins and Alex Marquez finished in that order almost side by side. Rins’s second win of the season was by 0.042 of a second. Starting from the front row of the grid, Rins took the lead on the fourth of 23 laps, and with Marquez slotting into second they rapidly drew clear of the pursuit, taking Miguel Oliveira (Mahindra) with them, until the Portuguese rider crashed on the 12th of 23 laps. Rins opened up an advantage of 1.2 seconds after ten laps, but Marquez closed up again, and took the lead on the penultimate lap. But Rins reversed the positions next time round, and narrowly held on for the win. Title points leader Jack Miller (KTM) was three seconds away in third, losing four points of his advantage to his closest challenger Marquez, who is now just nine behind, with third-placed Rins another 11 points away. Four more riders campaign the new-this-year Honda NSF250RW. The best finisher today was experienced Frenchman Alexis Masbou (Ongetta-Rivacold Honda), winner at Brno, and seventh today, in a blazing ride through after starting from 24th on the grid. Indianapolis race winner Efren Vazquez (SaxoPrint-RTG Honda) was tenth, his team-mate John McPhee 13th, one place ahead of Malaysia’s Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Ongetta-AirAsia Honda). The next race is the Aragon GP at the Motorland Aragon in Spain, on September 28, the last race in Europe before three consecutive flyaway events in Japan, Australia and Malaysia. Honda MotoGP rider quotes Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 3rd “Today’s race was a very difficult one, and it was hard to do any more. Marc attempted to keep up with Valentino and Jorge but eventually he crashed trying – they were very strong here. This race also saw many problems for us with the front and rear, so there was little that we could do. From the opening laps I lost a lot of time in traffic, and that affected my entire race. I tried to do the best I could and still had difficulty passing Dovizioso, because he also lapped very quickly; eventually we were going as fast as the Valentino and Jorge. Now we have to take the positives from this weekend and hope that for the next race at Aragon, which is a track that I like, we have a better feeling and a better race.” Alvaro Bautista, GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 8th “Today we were not able to solve the problems we had during the weekend and it was very difficult to stop the bike into the corners; in addition, I lacked contact feeling with the tyres. I got the best we could under these conditions, fighting with some riders, then with ten laps to go I also had a problem with my visor, which prevented me from seeing well and keeping my pace. For this reason, I couldn’t stay with Espargaro; Aleix then crashed on the last lap so I gained a position, closing eighth. I was not having a good feeling, but at least we finished the race and we collected some points. We must of course continue to work to better understand the reason for all these problems and try to find a solution, because at the moment the gap from the other riders remains high even if we push hard.” Karel Abraham, Cardion AB Motoracing Honda: 11th “I have finished in 11th once before this season, but this must be my best race this year. I not only achieved my goal of being top production Honda, but I was also top Open-class bike, going to the Parc Ferme after the race for the first time in four years. I was able to catch and pass Aoyama’s Honda, then get ahead of him. Now I want to do it again next time.” Hiroshi Aoyama, Drive M7 Aspar Honda: 12th “The race was pretty hard, but my team did a great job of making sure the bike was very stable today. That allowed me to ride really comfortably and push hard in the first part of the race and I could keep a good position. In the second half I lost front grip. It was unexpected: it hasn’t happened all weekend. I tried to ride around the problems, but I was losing half a second a lap. That meant Abraham could catch and pass me. I tried to get him back, but I was losing a lot in the fast corners so it was impossible. Anyway we must be optimistic, because this weekend we improved from Silverstone.” Scott Redding, GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 13th “Disaster is the word for this weekend! Sometimes you have weekends like this and the race just proved to me that this was one of them… My start was not great, but I was not worried about it, because this time I knew that it was not possible to go with some of the Factory guys, I just wanted to be the top Open Class Honda and I was in a pretty good position for that. I was feeling good, but on the third lap I had a problem with the rear brake and I went off the track. After that it was difficult to ride, especially on the fast corners where we use the rear brake to keep the rear down to the floor. I thought to enter the pit, but then I decided not to give up: I passed Laverty, Camier and De Angelis, keeping a quite good rhythm even though I was always on the limit. I’m just happy to finish the weekend in one piece. Now we need to focus on the next races to come back a bit, because we had three crashes this weekend, but today we managed to get a good feeling with the bike despite the problem.” Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda: 15th “I’m happy with how today went, despite the crash due to my first mistake of the season, because yesterday I did not think that I would be capable of sticking with Valentino and Jorge. They had a little bit more pace, but today we were able to get fairly close to them. I saw the possibility of fighting with Valentino for the victory, but that was not possible in the end because of the mistake; I was riding over the inside of the rumble strip and that meant that I lost the front. Luckily I was able to rejoin the race, continue with a good pace and score a point that could always come in handy in the future.” Leon Camier, Drive M7 Aspar Honda: 16th “I’m happy because I managed to make a very good start, but there is something in my style that means I am punishing the front tyre. Perhaps I have too much weight too far forward, because I was almost losing the front wheel on every corner. It seems that the increase in temperature today and a full fuel tank were not a good combination. It is something that I have to keep working on to adapt to this bike, I must also learn to manage speed on corner entry. Clearly I am learning and have assimilated a lot in a short time, but I could be even faster.” Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda MotoGP: DNF “I am very disappointed because we crashed in a very good situation. The race was good from the beginning because I took a good start from the fourth row. I saw that I was faster than Aleix Espargaro but it took a while to pass him. Finally I made it and managed to close the gap with the front group quickly but suddenly, in turn 13 in a left corner, I lost the front. I am very sorry, especially for Lucio, because the whole team made an excellent job this weekend. We could have done a good job finishing in fifth or sixth, because our lap time was quite fast.” Moto2 Rider quotes Tito Rabat, Marc VDS Racing Team: 1st “I’m happy to leave here with a win, because it hasn’t been an easy weekend. The rain on Friday lost us time and it was difficult to find a good dry setting for the bike in only two sessions on Saturday, but the team did a great job. I got a good start in the race, but not as good as Mika. He was away like thunder and his first few laps were unbelievable. But I managed to hold then close the gap, but very slowly. It was hard, not just physically but psychologically too, as it’s difficult to maintain focus when you’re on your own. Once I caught him I had a quick breather, before passing him when he made a mistake into turn four. Then I pushed until the end, as he did too, but I managed to pull away for the win. We did a good job this weekend, but it’s a long way until Valencia, so we need to keep focussed and keep working.” Mika Kallio, Marc VDS Racing Team: 2nd “We know we have an advantage for the first five laps, so the plan today was the same as for Silverstone; to get away at the front and then manage the gap. Today after five laps I knew Tito was coming. First he matched my times then he started taking a few tenths each lap, so I knew it was going to be like the last few laps at Silverstone. This time, however, I was sure I could hold him off, but I made a small mistake at turn four and he went through. I could match his lap times, but then I had a big moment at turn six and he pulled a gap. I chased hard for two laps and was closing once again, when the rear grip just suddenly disappeared. It was strange, because it was so sudden. After that there was no way I could catch him and I had to settle for second. Not what I wanted, but now we must find something so that we can reverse the situation in Aragon.” Johann Zarco, AirAsia Caterham: 3rd “We have had two good races in succession now, and my second podium of the year was a reward for myself and the team. They have got the bike settings dialled in well now, in the wet on Friday and in the dry. It was impossible to catch the leaders, but also nobody could catch me, and that is satisfying.” Honda Moto3 Rider quotes Alex Rins, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Team: 1st “It was a very nice race, although it dragged on a bit for me because, from the beginning, I spent a long time riding by myself at the front. Initially I could open a small gap over my teammate, but in the last three laps he managed to catch me. Eventually I was able to think about the right strategy, just how it happened to me last year, and in the end it went well. I was able to take the win, so I’m very happy.” Alex Marquez, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Team, 2nd “It was a pretty tough weekend for us, with four crashes – one of which was a heavy one in the warmup. So in the end second place is very important for us. We tried our best and managed to cut the gap to the series leader for the third race in succession, so we should be happy and continue in this way. Now comes a home race and hopefully the circuit is full, so that the fans can push us at every turn. At Motorland, where we have done three tests, we will try to be competitive from day one.” Alexis Masbou, Ongetta Rivacold Honda: 7th “Today was a very difficult day. This morning we tried something different but it wasn’t good. Finally in the race I started with another different setting, and it was quite good. For sure the bike wasn’t perfect, but when I was alone the bike was fast and I could make a good lap time. Finally we made the bike work, and I think I had a good ride.” RESULTS MOTOGP RACE: (28 laps = 118.328 Km) POS / RIDER / NAT. / TEAM / MOTORCYCLE / TIME / KM/H / GAP 1 / Valentino ROSSI / ITA / Movistar Yamaha MotoGP / YAMAHA / 4414.586 / 160.4 / 2 / Jorge LORENZO / SPA / Movistar Yamaha MotoGP / YAMAHA / 4416.164 / 160.3 / 1.578 3 / Dani PEDROSA / SPA / Repsol Honda Team / HONDA / 4418.862 / 160.2 / 4.276 4 / Andrea DOVIZIOSO / ITA / Ducati Team / DUCATI / 4420.096 / 160.1 / 5.510 5 / Andrea IANNONE / ITA / Pramac Racing / DUCATI / 4426.357 / 159.7 / 11.771 6 / Pol ESPARGARO / SPA / Monster Yamaha Tech 3 / YAMAHA / 4433.585 / 159.3 / 18.999 7 / Bradley SMITH / GBR / Monster Yamaha Tech 3 / YAMAHA / 4437.686 / 159.0 / 23.100 8 / Alvaro BAUTISTA / SPA / GO&FUN Honda Gresini / HONDA / 4451.044 / 158.2 / 36.458 9 / Cal CRUTCHLOW / GBR / Ducati Team / DUCATI / 4453.066 / 158.1 / 38.480 10 / Yonny HERNANDEZ / COL / Energy T.I. Pramac Racing / DUCATI / 4500.464 / 157.7 / 45.878 11 / Karel ABRAHAM / CZE / Cardion AB Motoracing / HONDA / 4509.351 / 157.2 / 54.765 12 / Hiroshi AOYAMA / JPN / Drive M7 Aspar / HONDA / 4511.361 / 157.1 / 56.775 13 / Scott REDDING / GBR / GO&FUN Honda Gresini / HONDA / 4517.320 / 156.7 / 102.734 14 / Alex DE ANGELIS / RSM / NGM Forward Racing / FORWARD YAMAHA / 4528.132 / 156.1 / 113.546 15 / Marc MARQUEZ / SPA / Repsol Honda Team / HONDA / 4530.534 / 156.0 / 115.948 16 / Leon CAMIER / GBR / Drive M7 Aspar / HONDA / 4535.346 / 155.7 / 120.760 17 / Michael LAVERTY / GBR / Paul Bird Motorsport / PBM / 4541.008 / 155.4 / 126.422 18 / Broc PARKES / AUS / Paul Bird Motorsport / PBM / 4417.702 / 154.5 / 1 lap 19 / Hector BARBERA / SPA / Avintia Racing / AVINTIA / 4417.921 / 154.5 / 1 lap Pole Position: Jorge LORENZO 133.238 163.1 Km/h Fastest Lap: Marc MARQUEZ 134.108 161.6 Km/h Lap 4 Circuit Record Lap: Jorge LORENZO 133.906 162.0 Km/h 2011 Circuit Best Lap: Marc MARQUEZ 132.915 163.7 Km/h 2013 CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS TILL DATE: 1 MARQUEZ 289, 2 PEDROSA 215, 3 ROSSI 214, 4 LORENZO 177, 5 DOVIZIOSO 142, 6 P. ESPARGARO 98, 7 A. ESPARGARO 92, 8 IANNONE 92, 9 BRADL 74, 10 SMITH 74, 11 BAUTISTA 64, 12 REDDING 54, 13 CRUTCHLOW 47, 14 AOYAMA 43, 15 HERNANDEZ 38, 16 ABRAHAM 33, 17 HAYDEN 29, 18 EDWARDS 11, 19 PIRRO 11, 20 PARKES 7. MOTO2 RACE: (26 laps = 109.876 Km) POS / RIDER / NAT. / TEAM / MOTORCYCLE / TIME / KM/H / GAP 1 / Esteve RABAT / SPA / Marc VDS Racing Team / KALEX / 4248.724 / 153.9 / 2 / Mika KALLIO / FIN / Marc VDS Racing Team / KALEX / 4250.995 / 153.8 / 2.271 3 / Johann ZARCO / FRA / AirAsia Caterham / CATERHAM SUTER / 4252.992 / 153.7 / 4.268 4 / Maverick VIÑALES / SPA / Paginas Amarillas HP 40 / KALEX / 4256.172 / 153.5 / 7.448 5 / Thomas LUTHI / SWI / Interwetten Paddock Moto2 / SUTER / 4258.403 / 153.4 / 9.679 6 / Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / Technomag carXpert / SUTER / 4300.311 / 153.2 / 11.587 7 / Franco MORBIDELLI / ITA / Italtrans Racing Team / KALEX / 4310.623 / 152.6 / 21.899 8 / Julian SIMON / SPA / Italtrans Racing Team / KALEX / 4311.127 / 152.6 / 22.403 9 / Axel PONS / SPA / AGR Team / KALEX / 4311.468 / 152.6 / 22.744 10 / Takaaki NAKAGAMI / JPN / IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia / KALEX / 4312.768 / 152.5 / 24.044 11 / Marcel SCHROTTER / GER / Tech 3 / TECH 3 / 4314.435 / 152.4 / 25.711 12 / Sandro CORTESE / GER / Dynavolt Intact GP / KALEX / 4318.197 / 152.2 / 29.473 13 / Mattia PASINI / ITA / NGM Forward Racing / KALEX / 4320.653 / 152.0 / 31.929 14 / Randy KRUMMENACHER / SWI / Octo IodaRacing Team / SUTER / 4323.791 / 151.9 / 35.067 15 / Luis SALOM / SPA / Paginas Amarillas HP 40 / KALEX / 4324.018 / 151.9 / 35.294 16 / Xavier SIMEON / BEL / Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 / SUTER / 4326.137 / 151.7 / 37.413 17 / Anthony WEST / AUS / QMMF Racing Team / SPEED UP / 4326.552 / 151.7 / 37.828 18 / Sam LOWES / GBR / Speed Up / SPEED UP / 4327.027 / 151.7 / 38.303 19 / Jonas FOLGER / GER / AGR Team / KALEX / 4331.524 / 151.4 / 42.800 20 / Hafizh SYAHRIN / MAL / Petronas Raceline Malaysia / KALEX / 4331.660 / 151.4 / 42.936 Pole Position: Mika KALLIO 138.043 155.1 Km/h Fastest Lap: Esteve RABAT 138.265 154.8 Km/h Lap 4 Circuit Record Lap: Pol ESPARGARO 138.070 155.1 Km/h 2013 Circuit Best Lap: Pol ESPARGARO 137.666 155.7 Km/h 2013 CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS TILL DATE: 1 RABAT 258, 2 KALLIO 236, 3 VIÑALES 179, 4 AEGERTER 133, 5 LUTHI 103, 6 CORSI 100, 7 ZARCO 88, 8 WEST 65, 9 SALOM 63, 10 CORTESE 62, 11 MORBIDELLI 52, 12 SCHROTTER 51, 13 FOLGER 48, 14 LOWES 42, 15 SIMEON 39, 16 DE ANGELIS 37, 17 SIMON 36, 18 PASINI 32, 19 TORRES 32, 20 SYAHRIN 29. MOTO3 RACE: (23 laps = 97.198 Km) POS / RIDER / NAT. / TEAM / MOTORCYCLE / TIME / KM/H / GAP 1 / Alex RINS / SPA / Estrella Galicia 0,0 / HONDA / 3950.694 / 146.3 / 2 / Alex MARQUEZ / SPA / Estrella Galicia 0,0 / HONDA / 3950.736 / 146.3 / 0.042 3 / Jack MILLER / AUS / Red Bull KTM Ajo / KTM / 3954.097 / 146.1 / 3.403 4 / Isaac VIÑALES / SPA / Calvo Team / KTM / 3955.153 / 146.0 / 4.459 5 / Enea BASTIANINI / ITA / Junior Team GO&FUN Moto3 / KTM / 3955.179 / 146.0 / 4.485 6 / Brad BINDER / RSA / Ambrogio Racing / MAHINDRA / 3955.365 / 146.0 / 4.671 7 / Alexis MASBOU / FRA / Ongetta-Rivacold / HONDA / 4000.100 / 145.7 / 9.406 8 / Andrea MIGNO / ITA / Mahindra Racing / MAHINDRA / 4000.237 / 145.7 / 9.543 9 / Juanfran GUEVARA / SPA / Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3 / KALEX KTM / 4000.400 / 145.7 / 9.706 10 / Efren VAZQUEZ / SPA / SaxoPrint-RTG / HONDA / 4000.737 / 145.7 / 10.043 11 / Romano FENATI / ITA / SKY Racing Team VR46 / KTM / 4000.802 / 145.7 / 10.108 12 / Danny KENT / GBR / Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo / HUSQVARNA / 4003.246 / 145.6 / 12.552 13 / John MCPHEE / GBR / SaxoPrint-RTG / HONDA / 4005.108 / 145.4 / 14.414 14 / Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN / MAL / Ongetta-AirAsia / HONDA / 4006.179 / 145.4 / 15.485 15 / Jorge NAVARRO / SPA / Marc VDS Racing Team / KALEX KTM / 4006.869 / 145.3 / 16.175 16 / Niccolò ANTONELLI / ITA / Junior Team GO&FUN Moto3 / KTM / 4011.648 / 145.0 / 20.954 17 / Jakub KORNFEIL / CZE / Calvo Team / KTM / 4012.823 / 145.0 / 22.129 18 / Alessandro TONUCCI / ITA / CIP / MAHINDRA / 4012.851 / 145.0 / 22.157 19 / Philipp OETTL / GER / Interwetten Paddock Moto3 / KALEX KTM / 4028.066 / 144.1 / 37.372 20 / Bryan SCHOUTEN / NED / CIP / MAHINDRA / 4033.489 / 143.7 / 42.795 Pole Position: Jack MILLER 142.974 147.7 Km/h Fastest Lap (New record): Juanfran GUEVARA 143.196 147.4 Km/h Lap 4 Old Circuit Record Lap: Alex MARQUEZ 143.293 147.2 Km/h 2013 Circuit Best Lap: Jonas FOLGER 142.707 148.1 Km/h 2013 CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS TILL DATE: 1 MILLER 195, 2 MARQUEZ 186, 3 RINS 175, 4 VAZQUEZ 151, 5 FENATI 140, 6 MASBOU 134, 7 VIÑALES 112, 8 BASTIANINI 98, 9 OLIVEIRA 84, 10 BINDER 77, 11 KENT 77, 12 KORNFEIL 67, 13 MCPHEE 53, 14 AJO 45, 15 BAGNAIA 42, 16 GUEVARA 40, 17 ANTONELLI 30, 18 HANIKA 24, 19 LOI 17, 20 KHAIRUDDIN 16. NEXT EVENT: ROUND14, SEPT28, MOTORLAND ARAGON, ARAGON
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 09:47:09 +0000
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