Jorge Lorenzo – Fiat Yamaha – 1st with 41 points:
“My motivation is high because I am arriving as the World Championship leader in my own home. I can’t ask for more! I had a very good feeling in Japan, and I enjoyed riding the bike in every corner. I have to be careful however because I am still learning all the time how to ride with the new Bridgestone tires. I think that Jerez is maybe one of the most special circuits in the world, to be a MotoGP rider there is like a dream, all the people surrounding you… The last test in Jerez was very good. I was always in the three first positions so I hope to be fast from the start this weekend. I would like another podium, like last year in Jerez and like the first two races in 2009. I am confident!”
It seems fitting that the Spaniard
Jorge Lorenzo leads the charge into his home Grand Prix at Jerez de la Frontera circuit in Southern Spain. One of the most traditional and popular dates on the MotoGP calendar, the Grand Prix of Spain regularly attracts a festive crowd of more than 200,000 fans that create a carnival atmosphere in Jerez and surrounding towns on Spain's southern coast. After two weather-hit races in Japan and Qatar the whole MotoGP field and throng of passionate fans will be hoping for calmer weather as the MotoGP paddock returns to its traditional European base for Round 3 of the series.
The Fiat Yamaha Team has wind in their sails after a one-two from Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi in Japan last weekend. Last year Lorenzo took his second pole position and went on to finish third at Jerez. As a native to the Spanish island of Mallorca, he started his career riding at Jerez, being the youngest rider to qualify for the Grand Prix in 2002, while later taking a victory there in 2006 and 2007 on the way to his two 250cc titles.
Valentino Rossi has an impressive six victories in all classes to his name at Jerez, two of which have come with Yamaha in 2005 and 2006. The 30-year-old finished runner-up there last year, his opening podium of the season and his first on Bridgestone tires. After two second places this year he will be out to claim his first win and wrest the championship lead from his teammate, who he currently trails by just one point.
Valentino Rossi – Fiat Yamaha – 2nd with 40 points:
"We’ve made a good start to the season with two podiums which shows we are consistent, but now we need to make the step up. Motegi was a good race but we had one or two problems, which we need to fix. We have a lot of data from Jerez because we tested there twice in the winter so I hope that this will help us to find a good setting straight away. I also hope that the weather is good because we’ve had two difficult races for this and I have had enough of the rain now! As a rule we are very strong at the track and it is always great fun riding there. I love Jerez, it’s always a brilliant atmosphere and the fans make a big, big party for three days; I hope I can be part of the party this time! The championship is becoming very interesting now so let’s hope for an exciting race this weekend.”
Just three points behind the Fiat Yamaha front-runner is factory Ducati’s
Casey Stoner in third. Stoner has made his best ever start to a MotoGP season thanks to victory in Qatar and fourth-place in Japan. The Australian will be looking to improve upon his best place finish at Jerez, which was fifth in 2007. With just a four-day break between the last round and Jerez the Ducati factory crew will be pressed for time to sort chatter problems that arose in the 23-year-old’s Desmosedici GP9 at Motegi.
Stoner’s teammate
Nicky Hayden has had a less fortunate start to the season, with Yuki Takahashi knocking him off track at Motegi on the opening lap and forcing him to retire from the race. However, the American is confident that he made progress with the team and the GP9 in Japan and can’t wait to get back on track in Spain. Hayden was third on the podium in 2006 and fourth last year.
Another fan favorite will be the Spanish hero
Dani Pedrosa. The Repsol Honda rider won last year’s Grand Prix at Jerez and showed that he could overcome lingering problems from recent knee and wrist injuries by taking third-place in Japan. Pedrosa has enjoyed some amazing successes at the challenging track in the heart of Andalusia. He won the 2005 Jerez 250 GP and has scored podium finishes in each of his visits on a MotoGP bike – second in 2006 and 2007 and an impressive victory in 2008.
Casey Stoner - Ducati Marlboro - 3rd with 38 points:
“I’ve never really done well at Jerez but in the winter test we worked well and set some quick times so we’ll try to use that as the base for a positive weekend. You need good handling at this track and a bike that allows you to get into the corner quickly and then onto the gas straight away, as well as having good stability. I think we’ve taken a step forward in this area with the GP9 and as long as we don’t get bad weather or some other kind of setback then we should find a good set-up for Jerez. Some of our better tracks are coming up later in the season but if we stay focused and keep working as we are doing then we can still put some decent results on the board. The start of the season has been better for us this year than it was last year so we have to try and keep our standards up.”
Dani’s new Repsol Honda teammate
Andrea Dovizioso also rode well at Motegi, taking a strong fifth place just nine seconds behind the winner. The Italian’s second consecutive fifth-place result puts himself fourth in the current point standings. Dovizioso also goes well there, having scored podium finishes in the 2006 and 2007 Jerez 250 GPs. Last year he was eighth in his Jerez MotoGP debut.
Pramac Racing’s Mika Kallio finished with another eighth place in Japan, proving the privateer can consistently ride his Ducati Desmosedici GP9 with the fastest half of the paddock. The Finnish rider’s teammate, Niccolo Canepa, will also be looking to show his true value on the Ducati after a lackluster 14th in Motegi. Unlike in Japan, the Italian will have the advantage of having ridden at Jerez in the past.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider
James Toseland gave himself a welcome confidence boost with a determined ride to ninth place in Motegi. His American teammate
Colin Edwards is looking to recover from minor set-up issues in Japan with something better than 12th in Spain.
Rizla Suzuki’s
Chris Vermeulen is currently sitting in the middle of the pack in eighth. The Australian put in a good display on his Suzuki GSV-R to take fifth position in the first round, but an electrical fault that impaired his
Nicky Hayden - Ducati Marlboro - 15th:
“I can’t deny that it’s been a tough start to the season, especially in Japan, but we have to move on and look ahead. Now we go to Jerez and even though we didn’t have a great test there in March, things are different now. At Motegi I felt as though the communication within the team had improved, the work we’re doing together as a group is becoming more smooth, so I’m looking forward to starting again at Jerez with a clear and positive mind. I don’t even want to think about the possibility of it raining again there! At the moment it looks like the forecast is good but it seems as though somebody upstairs likes seeing MotoGP riders in the wet! Joking aside, it would be nice to have a ‘normal’ weekend so that we can work properly on the bike. I want my season to finally get going!”
gear shifting dropped him to 10th in Motegi. Fortune’s whim will hopefully treat him more kindly this round. His teammate
Loris Capirossi has a real shot this go around if he avoids being boxed in like at Motegi. The Italian showed that he has the speed to compete when he recorded the third-fastest lap during a timed 45-minute official pre-season test at Jerez.
Alex De Angelis (San Carlo Gresini Honda RC212V) will be working hard to rediscover the pace he had in Qatar but lacked in Japan, having dropped from sixth to 13th. His team is working on a set-up that puts more heat into the rear tire.
LCR Honda’s
Randy de Puniet is also trying to dial-in his tire settings. The Frenchman has shown steady progress since the start of the season despite having limited preseason testing on the new Bridgestone tires.
San Carlo Gresini Honda’s
Toni Elias will be another Spanish hero at Jerez. Bolstered by fan support he will be doing everything in his power to get closer to the front after difficult rides at the opening GPs.
Scot Honda’s Yuki Takahashi is another man who needs time to dial in his bike. The Japanese former 250 hotshot is one of three rookies in this year’s MotoGP series and is still learning to get the best out of his RCV. An unlucky first-lap crash with Nicky Hayden at Motegi did little to boost his confidence.
Round 2 showed that the 2009 MotoGP season may not be a run-away duel between Stoner and Rossi as many people expected. Jorge Lorenzo has displayed the form and riding maturity of a champion, while Dovizioso and Pedrosa are also within striking range of the front-runners. There could also be some fight yet from Nicky Hayden, assuming the American can break his spell of bad luck.
Other MotoGP Rider Quotations
Andrea Dovizioso - Repsol Honda – 4th with 22 points:
“After the race in Japan we arrive in Jerez with more confidence. At Motegi we proved that we can fight hard for the whole race and run at the frontrunners’ pace. I was happy about the race result in Japan because we succeeded in closing the gap to first place, but we still have to work to improve the machine package. In Japan we couldn’t actually do any development work on the bike because of the bad weather conditions which affected most of the sessions. So there’s still a lot of things we need to test including some new parts. Obviously we’ll have to see what we can get done at Jerez , while also working on the set-up for the race. The Jerez circuit is not one of my favourite tracks, but I will still give it my all this weekend. The atmosphere here is always incredible – there are so many spectators and they have a great passion for bikes, so it’s always a great experience to race in front of them. The Spanish GP is also the home GP for Repsol so I’ll be doing my best to get a good result for them too.”
Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda – 5th with 21 points:
“It was great to get such an encouraging result in Japan right before we go to Jerez because now we have some momentum which we must try to maintain. Still, despite getting on the podium at Motegi, which I was really pleased with, we mustn’t kid ourselves that we are fully competitive just yet. We struggled quite a lot in the practice sessions at Motegi and we’re under no illusions that we have to keep working hard to bring our package up to its full potential. Still, I’m really looking forward to Jerez and it’s always a very special experience for me to race there. The fans are so passionate and give me and all the Spanish riders great support. I like the Jerez track and have had some great moments there. Having got that result in Motegi, and now that my physical condition is improving, I hope I can give the fans and the team something to celebrate this weekend.”
Mika Kallio - Pramac Racing – 7th with 16 points:
"If they would have told me I would have finished in eights position my first two MotoGP races in January, I would have probably sign for it. Of course my objectives are others, but to arrive in the top level of road motorcycling racing as a rookie and be able to confirm in the top 10 it isn't bad at all. On this circuit, in Jerez, I often found my self at ease and I hope to be able to confirm it this year. The Team is putting my self in the ideal condition to ride and show my qualities and for this I want to thank them publically. I hope to give them many satisfactions during this long season."
Chris Vermeulen – Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – 8th with15 points:
"I'm really looking forward to this weekend in Jerez, it's a great circuit and has an iconic feel to it - I've certainly watched many of my heroes race around there! We had a very good pre-season test there and I am looking forward to getting back on track and making the most of what we discovered there last month, in terms of set-up and tire performance - especially as the track had just been re-surfaced. I hope that I can qualify on at least the front two rows and then I'll be able to challenge at the front right from the start and try to get on the podium!"
Alex De Angelis - San Carlo Gresini Honda – 9th with 13 points:
“
After Motegi it would be silly to try and predict what could happen at Jerez but we definitely won’t struggle as much as we did in Japan. We really need to work hard on finding some traction because this is the only area we are missing - other than that my feeling with the bike is great. We didn’t have a great preseason test at Jerez but hopefully it can be a similar situation to Qatar, where we had a poor test but the higher temperature and extra base setting data helped us to improve the situation for the race. After two very strange races in Qatar and Japan it will be nice to head back to Europe, where hopefully things will be a little more back to normal!”
Randy de Puniet - LCR Honda – 11th with 11 points:
“I like the Jerez track because it is very technical and the Spanish fans are really warm. After the last races I am really hoping for some good weather conditions so that we can develop our base set-up in the dry. Honestly, I could get a better result in Japan, but we missed some track time in the dry, and that’s why I want to concentrate on our machine setting during practice at Jerez. We have already been to Jerez for winter testing but bad weather did not give us the chance to adjust the bike package as we planned.”
Loris Capirossi – Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – 12th with 9 points:
"I have been very disappointed with the first two races because the weather has meant we haven't been able to get the work done that we have wanted to on the bike, so it is good to go to a track where we have done some testing at already this year. We are going there with a good base setting and that should make the bike work pretty well straight out of the box. I am aiming for a high position this week, not just for me, but for all my crew and everyone at Suzuki because they really deserve it!"
Toni Elias - San Carlo Gresini Honda – 13th with 8 points:
“We improved at Motegi but not as much as I would have liked and we’re not in the ideal situation going into my home Grand Prix at Jerez. However, the important thing is that I believe we are on the right path and by continuing to work hard in the way we are doing, along with a bit of help from Honda, we should be there soon. I’ve had some great races at Jerez in the past, the crowd there definitely give the Spanish riders a big lift and with the data we have from preseason testing there is no reason not to go into this Grand Prix feeling excited and optimistic.”
Niccolò Canepa - Pramac Racing – 17th with 2 points:
"The first World Championship points have arrived, but for sure it isn't because of my performances. In Japan I had a complicated weekend for various reasons. At Jerez circuit, not like Motegi, I have ridden quite some times and it will be my occasion to achieve a good result. Both, in Japan and Qatar, I was too far from the firsts: I know I can do much better and I will give my best to demonstrate it."
Yuki Takahashi - Scot Racing Team Honda – 18th with1 point:
“I like Jerez. Here we tested during last winter. This means that we already have a few data, and it helps a lot as this is my first year in the class. In the last two GPs we understood several things about the bike – especially in Motegi, a track that I know well. The main point, in Spain, will be to avoid the wheeling, which can come out in a track with short segments like this.”
