MotoGP World Championship. French GP. Races
THE REPSOL RIDERS, LUCKLESS PROTAGONISTS OF THE FRENCH
GRAND PRIX
 Dani
Pedrosa in MotoGP, Julián Simón in the 250cc
category, and Esteve Rabat in the 125cc category were on the
brink of taking a podium position, but were finally left out
of the top positions at Le Mans
The French Grand Prix shall not be remembered by the Repsol
riders as one of the best of the 2008 season. In spite of
the brilliant performance shown by all of them during the
two days of training -especially Dani Pedrosa, with two impeccable
days-. In the end the aspiration of making it to the podium
or even fighting for the victory was ever more distant this
morning. Once again, the weather marked the day: rain during
the 125cc race, a wet track during the 250cc race, though
it dried out as the laps wore on, and a dry track for the
MotoGP race apart from light rain 10 minutes from the end.
In MotoGP, Dani Pedrosa started out as the favourite after
showing he was the fastest rider on the French track over
these last two days of training, including yesterday afternoon's
timed session. Starting from the foremost position on the
starting grid, when he reached the first turn he had to concede
his position to Stoner, who took command of the race. The
fast pace set by the Australian, current World Champion, soon
gave way to a pack at the lead of the race, with Stoner, Pedrosa,
Edwards and Rossi leaving the rest of the riders behind. It
looked like the race was to be decided among these four riders,
but there were still many laps to go and many things were
yet to happen.
Rossi took command of the race in the eighth lap after overtaking
Stoner, who defended himself against the attempts by Pedrosa
at overtaking him in order not to lose Rossi's wheel. However,
the Australian defended well his second position, and when
Pedrosa finally overtook him -lap 11-, Valentino Rossi was
already two seconds ahead of the Repsol Honda Team rider.
Even so, Pedrosa tried hard to chase the Italian, and though
he put a second's distance between himself and Stoner and
Edwards, he did not have a single chance of contending for
the victory with Rossi. A problem with the performance of
the front tyre of Pedrosa's Honda RC212V prevented him from
fighting for the victory, or even for a podium position. Ten
laps away from the end, the rain started to fall lightly on
the Le Mans track, and two laps later Stoner headed to make
a pitstop, Lorenzo caught up with and overtook Pedrosa and
Edwards, and the latter did the same with the Spaniard. Finally,
a victory for Rossi, Lorenzo was second, Edwards was third,
and the Repsol Honda Team rider was fourth. In the general
classification, Valentino Rossi is now in the lead, followed
by Lorenzo and Pedrosa -with the same score-, 3 points behind
the Italian.
For Nicky Hayden the French Grand Prix was an event to forget.
After completing the three training sessions in quite a low
position, the American Repsol Honda Team rider took a few
risks yesterday afternoon in order to make room for himself
on the second row today, after running the sixth fastest time.
But today, Hayden was uncapable of defending his position,
in spite of completing his first lap in fourth position. The
rider from Kentucky lost positions until he crossed the finish
line in eighth position.
In the quater-litre category, Julián Simón
was unable to give a good performance due to mechanical problems
which dragged him down to eighth position. The Repsol rider
maintained his eighth position after starting off, and was
cautious during the first laps due to the rain fallen during
the 125cc race, which left the track totally wet. All riders
decided to ride with intermediate tyres except Debón,
Simoncelli and Pasini, who in the end were the riders who
took the podium, riding with treadless tyres. As the track
dried out, Simón increased his pace and climbed positions
in the classification, crossing the finish line in sixth position
after the third lap, fourth in the fifth, and third in the
seventh, after overtaking Pasini, Barberá, Kallio and
Aoyama. Little by little, he got closer to Takahashi, and
in the tenth lap took second position. Just two laps later,
the Japanese rider overtook him again and the Repsol rider
started to lose his advantage over the group in chase. Five
laps away from the end, this group overtook him in its entirety,
without him able to offer any resistance, and finished the
race in eighth position. Mika Kallio and Hiroshi Aoyama, riders
who receive technical support from Repsol, finished fifth
and seventh, respectively.
In the 125cc category, mixed feelings for Esteve Rabat and
Marc Márquez after a positive weekend which ended in
a fall for both. Bad luck put an end to Esteve Rabat's hopes
in a race where he managed to climb to third position, fighting
for the lead. The Repsol rider, after a good start from ninth
position, climbed to fourth position in a leading pack comprised
of eight riders, confirming the improvements made during the
training sessions. However, it started to rain during lap
sixteen and the race manager decided to wave the red flag,
stop the race, and recontinue the race thirty minutes later,
declaring the race in wet conditions. Once the race restarted,
Rabat started from seventh position and got off to another
good start, taking first position at the end of the straight.
The Repsol rider reached the bend too fast, and when he took
the second bend he fell when he tried to correct his course.
He got up and managed to finish the race, but in seventeenth
position, without any points.
For teammate Marc Márquez, the race finished much
sooner, when in the sixth lap he was involved in an accident
along with Scott Redding and Tomoyoshi Koyama. In what was
his third Grand Prix, the Repsol rider progressed spectacularly,
and today, at the start of the race, maintained his position
among the first ten riders, leading the chasing pack, but
a few laps later, on the fourth bend -a long right-hander
hairpin-, he was invloved in a fall with a number of other
riders. Fortunately he was unhurt and has the next race in
mind, which will be held in a fortnight on the Mugello Circuit
in Italy.
Quotes
MotoGP
Dani Pedrosa >> 4th at 10.157 secs.
“I am sorry because we could have been on the podium
but in the race I wasn’t able to go as fast as I had
gone during practice. From the beginning of the race I had
some issues with the front tyre, I couldn’t brake the
way I wanted to brake.
When we chose our race tyres we tried hard to choose the best
tyres for the race, so we didn’t expect things to turn
out like they did. Then in the second half of the race I started
to lack some rear grip. When Lorenzo passed me I tried to
go with him and not lose contact but I couldn’t manage
it. I gave my maximum and despite the problems we finished
fourth, which isn’t so bad. We are second equal in the
championship and we will continue to work hard to achieve
better results at the next races. We stay here tomorrow for
one day of testing when we will try to understand what happened
today and make another step forward.”
Nicky Hayden >> 8th at 27.995 secs.
“That wasn’t too pretty. All weekend we’ve
been missing something, the pace hasn’t been there.
I got a good start and recovered a couple of positions but
couldn’t go with the group I needed to go with. I was
hanging in there, then I ran off the track in turn six, got
in just a little bit hot, didn’t make it and that lost
me three positions.
I came back on, had a little dice with Loris over the last
few laps but it wasn’t the result we wanted. It was
definitely tough conditions, it wasn’t just a few drops
of rain it was straight-up raining through some parts of the
track. With the tyres being that hot the lap times didn’t
suffer too bad, but I was kinda hoping the rain would come
down and let us swap bikes and try something different, but
it didn’t happen. This has never been an easy track
for me, I’d say Le Mans is the worst track for me on
the calendar. Tomorrow we’ll work on chassis stuff.
I need to try getting some momentum going, especially for
the tracks I really love that are coming up. I need to be
strong when I get to them, I need to use the people around
me to find what I need.”
250cc
Julián Simón >> 8th at 17.526 secs.
I'm convinced I could have opted for the podium, because I
was having a good race. I got off to a good start and kept
my calm during the first few laps on a wet track. Bit by bit
it dried out and I started to ride faster, though I found
the last partial a bit tough.
I was feeling good, but halfway through the race I had a problem
with my rear brake. The bike started to lose oil and I was
unable to ride, because the footrest was slippery, I couldn't
brake properly, and had a few big frights. Even so we finished
the race in eighth position, satisfied with the work done
over the weekend. We were ahead of our main rivals in all
of the training sessions, and during the race we held a good
pace. Now we have to concentrate on Mugello.”
125cc
Esteve Rabat >> 17th at 26.411 secs.
“I started off in ninth position in the first race and
got off to a good start, reaching fourth place. The truth
is that the bike has improved a lot, mainly on the bends,
where it is superior to the Aprilias. Near the end of the
race I had a brush with Gadea and they escaped ahead a bit,
but I felt capable of catching up with them again.
Then it was a shame, because that's when it started raining
and the race was stopped. This time I started off in seventh
position, from the second row, and did well. I took first
position, but made a mistake in the first bend, tried to correct
my course in the second, and when I stepped on the gas I fell.
In any case, I think this weekend has been very positive,
because I've recovered my confidence and know what was happening,
unlike last year when I got a good result, and didn't really
know how. This time I had to work towards it. I'd like to
thank the team for all their work, KTM, for providing me with
a competitive bike, and Repsol.”
Marc Márquez >> suffered a fall
“The truth is it didn't go well today, because I fell.
But we have to concentrate on the positive side, which is
the fact that we've gradually improved over the weekend. In
the race I'd got off to a good start, and after my first lap
I was sixth. Later on I kept my distance with regards to the
leading pack, and wanted to wait and see if I could bother
them.
But then, I don't know if I fell or if someone knocked me
over, but I ended up hiiting the ground and was unable to
finish the race. During the whole weekend, both the team and
I have done a lot of work to try and make the bike as comfortable
as possible. Now we're thinking about Italy, which is the
next race, and we'll try to improve some more. I'm getting
more and more comfortable on the bike and am polishing off
my riding, so let's see if I can improve throughout this season,
and take a step forward by the end of it.”
Official Results
MotoGP
1. Valentino ROSSI (YAMAHA) 44:30.799
2. Jorge LORENZO (YAMAHA) at 4.997
3. Colin EDWARDS (YAMAHA) at 6.805
4. Dani PEDROSA (REPSOL HONDA) at 10.157
5. Chris VERMEULEN (SUZUKI) at 21.762
8. Nicky HAYDEN (REPSOL HONDA) at 27.995
250cc
1. Alex DEBON (APRILIA) 47:27.406
2. Marco SIMONCELLI (GILERA) at 4.816
3. Mattia PASINI (APRILIA) at 4.998
4. Yuki TAKAHASHI (HONDA) at 5.770
5. Mika KALLIO (KTM) at 6.197
8. Julián SIMÓN (REPSOL KTM) at 17.526
125cc
1. Mike DI MEGLIO (DERBI) 10:08.574
2. Bradley SMITH (APRILIA) at 0.800
3. Nicolás TEROL (APRILIA) at 3.077
4. Pol ESPARGARÓ (DERBI) at 10.407
5. Andrea IANNONE (APRILIA) at 11.697
17. Esteve RABAT (REPSOL KTM) at 26.411
NC. Marc MÁRQUEZ (REPSOL KTM)
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