REPSOL HONDA’S PEDROSA BRINGS TITLE LEAD TO LE MANS
HAYDEN AIMS FOR FIRST PODIUM
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT PREVIEW
FRENCH GRAND PRIX, LE MANS
May 16/17/18 2008, round 5 of 18
Repsol Honda RC212V rider Dani Pedrosa returns to Europe
for the French GP holding a seven point lead at the top of
the 2008 MotoGP World Championship. The Spaniard has made
an impressive start to this season with a win, two second-pace
finishes and a third from the first four races. Team-mate
Nicky Hayden meanwhile comes to Le Mans gunning for his first
podium of the year. The American has already come close, taking
a hard-fought fourth place at Jerez and sliding off at Estoril
while in the running for a top-three result.
Le Mans’ Bugatti circuit is one of the oldest tracks
on the MotoGP calendar. Constructed in 1965, it is much shorter
than the mostly public roads course used for the famous Le
Mans 24 car race. The Bugatti circuit has hosted motorcycle
GPs on and off since 1969. The layout is characterised by
low-speed corners and straights, making acceleration and braking
performance primordial. This year’s French Grand Prix
commences a gruelling midseason run of seven races over ten
weekends which will test riders, bikes and teams to the limit.
Le Mans is followed in quick-fire order by the Italian, Catalan,
British, Dutch, German and American world rounds.
Following post-French GP tests at Le Mans, Hayden will return
to the USA to ride a demo lap aboard a 2007 Repsol Honda RC212V
just before the start of the 92nd Indy 500 car race. This
prime-time spot, in front of a huge trackside and TV audience,
will promote the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix
on September 14.
Dani Pedrosa
World Championship leader with 81 points
“I’m looking forward to getting to Le Mans. We
will have a lot of work to do and we want to work hard to
prepare as well as possible for the race. This is the fifth
race of the year and it is also the start of the busiest part
of the season with seven grands prix over ten weekends. The
most exciting part of the Le Mans track is after the first
chicane, going downhill and through the long-right hander.
The most complicated section is the final few corners after
the second chicane. The most important factors at Le Mans
are good acceleration and good brakes. You also need to make
sure that you choose exactly the right gearbox ratios. And
you need to ride aggressively. The weather can be a worry
because it often rains. It’s usually cold as well, so
we normally use intermediate tyres. You get a lot of fans
there, the grandstands are full on Sunday and the atmosphere
is always great, it seems like they are really enthusiastic
motorcycling fans.”
Nicky Hayden
8th in World Championship with 29 points
“We’ll be aiming to step it up at Le Mans. We’ve
not quite been there the last few races and we need to change
that. I like Le Mans but there’s not a whole lot to
be said about the track. I like going over the top of the
hill after the first chicane and dropping down into that right-hander,
then accelerating out of there; that’s probably my favourite
part of the track. There’s not a lot of flow to the
layout. I’d say the last little bit looks like something
they threw together just to finish the lap, like they were
in a hurry to get it done. You need the bike to be stable
on the brakes, for sure, you definitely need something for
some hard braking. You also need good acceleration from the
engine, something that’s smooth and controllable off
the bottom. The weather can change a lot too, so your tyre
picks on Thursday are pretty crucial. The track can generate
some pretty high temperatures in the tyres and you need good
traction accelerating out of all the hairpins because the
asphalt at Le Mans can be quite slippery.”
LE MANS - CIRCUIT DATA
Circuit Lenght: 4,185 metres
Width: 13m
Pole position: Left
Right corners: 9
Left corners: 4
Longest straight: 450m
Fastest Lap: 1'33"616 C. Edwards (Yamaha) 2007
Circuit best lap: 1'35"087 V.Rossi (Yamaha) 2006
World champioship classification Rider
1 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team 81
2 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team 74
3 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 72
4 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 56
5 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 33
6 James TOSELAND GBR Tech 3 Yamaha 33
7 Colin EDWARDS USA Tech 3 Yamaha 31
8 Nicky HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team 29
9 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP 26
10 John HOPKINS USA Kawasaki Racing Team 26
11 Marco MELANDRI ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 23
12 Shinya NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini 22
13 Toni ELIAS SPA Alice Team 15
14 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 14
15 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 11
16 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini 7
17 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team 4
18 Anthony WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team 3
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