Round 3 of the
MotoGP championship is upon us as the paddock rolls onto the Le Mans circuit. Who will be the fantasy ace come Sunday? Here’s our take for this week's
Fantasy GP racing:
Jorge Lorenzo has a 2-1 byline for 2010, and is looking for consecutive wins at Le Mans.
Sure Thing
Jorge Lorenzo – the Mallorcan’s worst finish at Le Mans in the MotoGP class is a disappointing second during his rookie season. He won last year at the French circuit and he won last round at Jerez. Well, somebody’s got to knock Rossi off the top of the MotoGP heap one day – maybe this is the guy.
Valentino Rossi – multi-time Le Mans winner, the GOAT is always sure-thing status.
Dani Pedrosa – only finished off the Le Mans rostrum twice in career, in fourth place.
Maybe
Colin Edwards – we’re picking Colin Edwards ahead of the rest of the uber-stacked A-Rider field?! No, but maybe, just maybe, this is the time to deploy a Texas Tornado pick. After all, Edwards has two of his 11 career podiums at Le Mans… plus now you won’t feel like the jerk who passes on their best buddy when picking teams by continually letting CE ride the fantasy pine.
Casey Stoner – only one career podium at the French circuit.
Andrea Dovizioso – winner and frequent podium finisher at Le Mans in support class days.
You can't see them under the Oakley's, but eye of the tiger.
Barring injury, they’re all good. That’s why they’re A-Riders. For what it’s worth, Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner – almost always de facto sure things – have had uncharacteristically poor 16th-place results at Le Mans in recent years (Rossi ’09 and Stoner ’08). Could lightning strike twice?
B-RIDERS
Sure Thing
Nicky Hayden – the Kentucky Kid has sweet string of fourth-place finishes going. That’s about as good as you can expect from the B-rider troop. The next closest average finish in this lot is the 7.0 tallied by Mr. Randy de Puniet (see below).
Maybe
Randy de Puniet – Sometimes there’s cold logic for a rider performing well on his home soil. Take for example Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards, who have raced Laguna Seca far more times than their GP paddock mates. Other times, there’s no rhyme or reason to the local boys wowing the home crowd. It just happens. Remember Toni Elias, who went into rut every time GP hit the Iberian peninsula? But is Randy de Puniet a stud at Le Mans? Clearly not. His four MotoGP results at Le Mans speak for themselves: 12th, 9th, DNF, DNF. Still the LCR Honda man has shown some flash this season, at least by B-Rider standards. Plus, he does have four career podiums at Le Mans from his 250 days. Worth a start in our opinion
Randy de Puniet has yet to excel at his home GP in the premier class.
.
Ben Spies – retired, disappointingly, last round for mechanical reasons.
Mika Kallio – seventh-place at Jerez much closer to the rider who exhibited the best 2009 rookie form.
Marco Melandri – eighth-place at Jerez got Supermarco back in the top 10, where his talent belongs
Scratch
Rookies, as usual, Aleix Espargaro, in particular. Given the sparse nature of the Grand Prix paddock, it takes a special type of bad luck or ineptitude to score only one point. Espargaro has one point, and we’re guessing not a whole lot of picks from the fantasy racing world.
TEAMS
Sure Thing
Dani Pedrosa has a solid history at Le Mans, and the Repsol Honda team remains the most consistent performers, second only to the dominating Fiat Yamaha squad.
. This one’s too easy. The team’s average finishing position is 1.8! If we were statisticians we’d crunch the actual numbers, but since we’re not, we’ll just say a 1-2 result from the Fiat Yamaha duo of Rossi and Lorenzo is more likely than any other GP combination in recent memory.
Repsol Honda – second only to Fiat team in consistency and excellence.
Marlboro Ducati – continues to be a safe bet thanks to Hayden, no thanks to Stoner.
Maybe
Monster Tech 3 Yamaha. We already tapped Edwards as a maybe pick in the A-Riders. Spies is almost always good for performing beyond his rookie expectations. You get three picks for teams, and we got Tech 3 pegged for Indy and Laguna, but maybe Le Mans is a good number 3.
Scratch
Pramac Racing. Espargaro’s woes are already highlighted, but Mika Kallio has struggled too. However, a seventh-place finish at Jerez by Kallio is promising and if/when the second half of the Pramac equation gets into more reliable points down the line – picking the Pramac team may yield a respectable benefit.
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