MotoGP 2012 Season

[scuderiafan]

can someone please explain what CRT is? thanks.

[Ste]

can someone please explain what CRT is? thanks.

2012 will see the introduction of Claiming Rule Teams (CRT) to allow for participation by independent teams with lower budgets. CRTs will be given twelve engines per rider, six more than the other teams and more fuel – 24 litres (5.3 imperial gallons) instead of 21 litres (4.6 imperial gallons) – but will be subject to a factory team buying, or "claiming", their engines for €15,000, or €20,000 with the transmission.^[3] The sport's governing body has received applications from sixteen new teams looking to join the MotoGP class.^[4

[scuderiafan]

right so, they would buy their engines off a factory team, then.

[Ste]

I think that's how it works mate, yes.

[scuderiafan]

right, thanks. pretty confusing, but interesting.

[theforce]

'I cannot ride this Ducati' declares Valentino Rossi after Qatar MotoGP struggle

Horrible to see the Doc giving up like this, Ducati clearly can't provide a decent bike for him though - even with his influence.

Kinda like Alonso at Ferrari I feel for both of them. Hopefully things turn around soon. The front is no fun without Rossi.

[Suzie]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99214

Jorge Lorenzo edged fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa in an extremely tight battle for MotoGP pole position at Jerez.

With the expected rain never truly materialising, the track was able to dry throughout the hour-long session, leading to a flurry of improvements in the final minutes.

Pole turned out to be a straight fight between the Yamaha of Lorenzo and the Honda of Pedrosa, both of whom lowered the benchmark and traded places on an almost lap-by-lap basis in the final five minutes.

Lorenzo's penultimate effort, a 1m39.532s, ultimately proved enough, putting him just over one tenth clear of Pedrosa.

No other rider was able to get within one second of Lorenzo, with Ducati's Nicky Hayden 1.031s down in third.

"We are very happy with this pole," Lorenzo said. "It was a strange session because of the water so you had to pay a lot of attention and not crash. I was patient and started late, and now we see what happens in the race."

Hayden's late effort served to deprive Tech 3 Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow of a front row start, the Briton having been fastest at the halfway mark. A fall disrupted his rhythm, but on the second chassis and worn slicks he was able to do enough to secure fourth, ahead of the second works Honda of reigning champion Casey Stoner.

The Australian was never able to match his team-mate's pace, and had to abandon his final tour when he ran wide at Turn 1.

Ben Spies (Yamaha) completes the second row, ahead of Crutchlow's Tech 3 team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, Gresini's Alvaro Bautista and LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl.

It was another disastrous session for Valentino Rossi. Despite going out in the final minutes - prime conditions - he wound up 13th fastest, 2.3s down on his team-mate Hayden.

That means he starts behind the lead CRT bike of Randy de Puniet, who was 10th for Aspar, and both satellite Ducati bikes.

Colin Edwards finished bottom of the pile after crashing heavily at the halfway mark.

Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap
1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m39.532s
2. Daniel Pedrosa Honda 1m39.667s + 0.135s
3. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m40.563s + 1.031s
4. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m40.570s + 1.038s
5. Casey Stoner Honda 1m40.577s + 1.045s
6. Ben Spies Yamaha 1m41.090s + 1.558s
7. Andrea Dovizioso Tech 3 Yamaha 1m41.180s + 1.648s
8. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 1m41.447s + 1.915s
9. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1m41.550s + 2.018s
10. Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia 1m41.700s + 2.168s
11. Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati 1m41.724s + 2.192s
12. Hector Barbera Pramac Ducati 1m41.871s + 2.339s
13. Valentino Rossi Ducati 1m42.961s + 3.429s
14. Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia 1m43.135s + 3.603s
15. Michele Pirro Gresini FTR-Honda 1m43.363s + 3.831s
16. Mattia Pasini Speed Master Aprilia 1m44.308s + 4.776s
17. Yonni Hernandez Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m44.467s + 4.935s
18. Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Aprilia 1m44.645s + 5.113s
19. Ivan Silva Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki 1m44.717s + 5.185s
20. James Ellison Forward Suter-BMW 1m45.724s + 6.192s
21. Colin Edwards Forward Suter-BMW 1m46.200s + 6.668s

Looking forward to the start tomorrow! I didn't see quali but I'm happy to see both Dani and Nicky on the front row.
But Valentino...

[Rob]

Rossi pin-points corner entry speed after qualifying 13th, two seconds down on Hayden, in Jerez


Saturday, April 28th 2012, 18:33 GMT

Valentino Rossi says corner entry speed is the fundamental reason for his continued struggles on the Ducati GP12.

Rossi cast a downbeat figure after the season opener in Qatar, conceding that he could not get to grips with his 2012 bike after finishing a lowly 10th.

His woes continued in a dry qualifying at Jerez, the Italian qualifying 13th - behind both satellite Ducatis and more than two seconds down on team-mate Nicky Hayden, who was third.

Rossi said that, while conditions had proved tricky, the real issue remained with his turn-in feel and speed on the GP12.

"The conditions were quite difficult because it was cold and the asphalt was dry, but not completely; anyway it was like that for everyone, so that wasn't the problem," Rossi said.

"Unfortunately, I'm still having a very hard time riding and entering corners, both on the brakes and off. I'm slow to achieve maximum lean angle and don't carry the necessary corner speed, so when it's time to accelerate, I've already lost too much ground.

"We've been trying to solve this situation for a while, but we haven't managed it yet."

Rossi said comparison with Hayden had pin-pointed corner entry as the area responsible for his deficit.

"We have to keep working on the setup because Nicky had a nice session today and really did a good job," he added. "Comparing the data, we've confirmed that we're losing all our time on corner entry. Anyway, we went a bit better in the wet, so we'll see what conditions we have for the race."

Hayden said he and Ducati had been able to take advantage of the strange conditions on their way to the squad's first front row since Stoner's pole performance at Valencia in 2010.

"To be on the front row is really good for us," Hayden said. "The track conditions were quite strange, different compared to what we've had the whole weekend, [and]. It certainly helped that we tested here in the dry not too long ago as we had a relatively good base setup.

"In the end, we took advantage of the strange situation and made the front row, so I'm really happy for my team. Now we'll try to make it happen when it counts tomorrow.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99236

[Aussie]

Kinda like Alonso at Ferrari I feel for both of them. Hopefully things turn around soon. The front is no fun without Rossi.

Screw Rossi he had had his day. It's time for the Stoner turn and follow in Legend Mick Doohan direction

[Suzie]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99387

Casey Stoner captured his first pole position of his 2012 MotoGP title defence as a late red flag produced a frantic finish to qualifying at Estoril.

Five riders were in contention in what became a thrilling pole battle, fought out between the works Hondas and Yamahas and Tech 3 Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow, who played a starring role.

For a long while it had seemed that Jorge Lorenzo's early benchmark might just be enough for pole, the Spaniard surviving repeated attempts from the other quartet to best his time.

With 12 minutes to run the complexion of the session changed as Randy de Puniet lost the front of his Aspar Aprilia at Turn 4 and slid into Colin Edwards, who fell heavily. Qualifying was red-flagged as medical crews attended to both riders.

After a short break the session was restarted and Stoner made an emphatic start, claiming pole position on his very first flyer.

Still there a surprise in store as Crutchlow guided his satellite Yamaha to the top with a 1m37.289s.

Stoner had two laps to respond however: on the first he was under for much of the lap but fell away, while on the second he did enough to pip Crutchlow by just 0.101 seconds.

Pedrosa too was out and on his final tour managed to jump into second behind Honda team-mate Stoner, with Crutchlow therefore third. It is the second time in three races he has started on the front row.

Lorenzo was unable to improve in the final minutes and will therefore line up fourth for the Portuguese Grand Prix, ahead of Yamaha team-mate Spies.

The Texan was plagued by bad luck, hitting traffic on at least two occasions when he was inside the pole time. He eventually had to settle for fifth.

Alvaro Bautista claimed the final spot on the second row for Gresini Honda, less than three hundredths of a second ahead of Andrea Dovisioso's Tech 3 Yamaha.

Hector Barbera finished as the fastest Ducati in eighth for Pramac, a similarly tiny margin ahead of Valentino Rossi on the works machine.

Aleix Espargaro (Aspar) not only claimed top CRT honours in 12th but also outqualified Karel Abraham on the satellite Cardion Ducati of Karel Abraham.

Espargaro's team-mate de Puniet did enough to qualify 14th despite his accident, while Edwards - whose participation in the race is in doubt after he landed heavily on his collarbone - was 18th fastest.

Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap
1. Casey Stoner Honda 1m37.188s
2. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m37.201s + 0.013s
3. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m37.289s + 0.101s
4. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m37.466s + 0.278s
5. Ben Spies Yamaha 1m37.723s + 0.535s
6. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 1m37.917s + 0.729s
7. Andrea Dovizioso Tech 3 Yamaha 1m37.943s + 0.755s
8. Hector Barbera Pramac Ducati 1m38.006s + 0.818s
9. Valentino Rossi Ducati 1m38.059s + 0.871s
10. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m38.253s + 1.065s
11. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1m38.265s + 1.077s
12. Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia 1m39.353s + 2.165s
13. Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati 1m39.398s + 2.210s
14. Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia 1m39.586s + 2.398s
15. Yonny Hernandez Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m40.029s + 2.841s
16. Michele Pirro Gresini FTR-Honda 1m40.225s + 3.037s
17. Mattia Pasini Speed Master Aprilia 1m40.387s + 3.199s
18. Colin Edwards Forward Suter-BMW 1m40.964s + 3.776s
19. James Ellison Paul Bird Aprilia 1m41.394s + 4.206s
20. Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Aprilia 1m41.486s + 4.298s
21. Ivan Silva Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki 1m41.490s + 4.302s

I hope to see Dani and Cal getting past Stoner at the start

Shame for Colin Edwards, another fractured collarbone. No way to avoid that crash with de Puniet in quali sadly.

[Bonjers]

Come on Jorge, Ben and Cal. Or just anybody but Casey.

[Suzie]

Or just anybody but Casey.

That's my philosophy right there.

[Aussie]

Lol at the anti Casey Stoner I just hope he wins big and easy race for him.
Go the flying Kangeroo

[Sianellen]

Gooooo Dani!

[scuderiafan]

Screw Rossi he had had his day. It's time for the Lorenzo turn and follow in Legend Mick Doohan direction

fixed

[Aussie]

fixed

Will awesome win by the Australian.

[Bonjers]

Stoner retiring! What the hell?

[Tifoso]

Stoner retiring! What the hell?

Huh?

[Cheeseman]

Huh?

Yeah he is retiring at the end of 2012

Stoner to retire at end of 2012

Reigning MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner has announced that he is to sensationally walk away from the sport at the end of the 2012 season. The decision, which was made public personally in France on Thursday, follows the birth of the Australian’s first child in February.


Winning with Ducati, 2007
250cc championship runner-up of 2005, Stoner made his MotoGP class debut a year later before claiming his maiden title with Ducati in 2007. The switch to Honda came for 2011, resulting in a highly successfully second title season in which he also won ten races. After two victories out of three so far this year, he leads the World Championship by a sole point.

“After a long time thinking, a lot of time talking with my family and my wife, this has been coming for a couple of years now but at the end of this 2012 season I will be not racing in the 2013 championship,” he told the press at Le Mans ahead of this weekend’s race.


'I am not enjoying it' - Stoner at Le Mans on Thursday
“I will be finishing my career at the end of this season in MotoGP and go forward in different things in my life. After so many years of doing this sport which I love, and which myself and my family made so many sacrifices for, after so many years of trying to get to where we have gotten to at this point, this sport has changed a lot and it has changed to the point where I am not enjoying it. I don't have the passion for it and so at this time it's better if I retire now.

“There are a lot of things that have disappointed me and also a lot of things I have loved about this sport, but unfortunately the balance has gone in the wrong direction; and so, basically, we won't be continuing any more. It would be nice if I could say I would stay one more year, but then where does it stop? So we decided to finish everything as we are now.”

To date, Stoner has won a total of 35 Grands Prix. In 2009, he missed a handful of races due to illness and was eventually diagnosed as lactose intolerant.

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/motogp-ne...t-end-of-2012/


I suppose it's sad for MotoGP as he is one of the best riders but I can't say I will miss his whining much. Maybe Rossi said something to upset him and he is just throwing his toys out of the cot again

[Tifoso]

Wow. Thanks. I thank Casey for the Ducati WDC/WCC.

Although Rossi has been talking a little mess against Ducati lately (if reports are to be believed).

[Cheeseman]

Wow. Thanks. I thank Casey for the Ducati WDC/WCC.

Although Rossi has been talking a little mess against Ducati lately (if reports are to be believed).

Yeah it's a weird situation with Rossi at Ducati. Last season turned into a massive testing session for him to develop a good bike for this year but Nicky Hayden seems to be more comfortable on the 2012 bike. It's not a confidence problem, he just isn't happy with the bike.


Valentino Rossi 'suffering' but won’t leave Ducati

Valentino Rossi has played down rumours he is considering walking away from Ducati in the wake of the scathing comments he made about his GP12 machine after the Qatar Grand Prix.

The Italian endured a dismal opening weekend at Losail on the way to a lowly tenth place finish at the chequered flag, the former champion venting his frustration in post-race comments by declaring 'the problems with the bike haven't changed, and neither have my requests. It's unrideable, and it doesn't make much difference what track we are on.”

Such comments have raised speculation that Rossi is considering leaving Ducati, but the man himself has now moved to quell such rumours, even if he reiterates his unhappiness with the current situation.

Speaking after receiving the infamous Tapiro d'Oro, a prize handed out to Italian celebrities who have endured 'a week to forget', Rossi insists he will continue to work on finding a solution.

"This is one of the most deserving of these prizes given history,” Rossi told Italian television station Canale 5, who gave him the dubious 'accolade'. “I am very 'attapirato' [I have a long face] because I am not competitive. I cannot ride at 100 per cent, while the others are stronger. I want to win and I suffer when we are so far behind.

"I will stay with Ducati. We will do everything we can to make Rossi-Ducati work. We'll try for every race and never give up.”

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/178...ve_ducati.html

[Rishu]

Yeah he is retiring at the end of 2012

Stoner to retire at end of 2012

Reigning MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner has announced that he is to sensationally walk away from the sport at the end of the 2012 season. The decision, which was made public personally in France on Thursday, follows the birth of the Australian’s first child in February.


Winning with Ducati, 2007
250cc championship runner-up of 2005, Stoner made his MotoGP class debut a year later before claiming his maiden title with Ducati in 2007. The switch to Honda came for 2011, resulting in a highly successfully second title season in which he also won ten races. After two victories out of three so far this year, he leads the World Championship by a sole point.

“After a long time thinking, a lot of time talking with my family and my wife, this has been coming for a couple of years now but at the end of this 2012 season I will be not racing in the 2013 championship,” he told the press at Le Mans ahead of this weekend’s race.


'I am not enjoying it' - Stoner at Le Mans on Thursday
“I will be finishing my career at the end of this season in MotoGP and go forward in different things in my life. After so many years of doing this sport which I love, and which myself and my family made so many sacrifices for, after so many years of trying to get to where we have gotten to at this point, this sport has changed a lot and it has changed to the point where I am not enjoying it. I don't have the passion for it and so at this time it's better if I retire now.

“There are a lot of things that have disappointed me and also a lot of things I have loved about this sport, but unfortunately the balance has gone in the wrong direction; and so, basically, we won't be continuing any more. It would be nice if I could say I would stay one more year, but then where does it stop? So we decided to finish everything as we are now.”

To date, Stoner has won a total of 35 Grands Prix. In 2009, he missed a handful of races due to illness and was eventually diagnosed as lactose intolerant.

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/motogp-ne...t-end-of-2012/

[Ferrarichamp]

I guess Lorenzo will be relieved

[Rob]

In overcast, yet dry and cool conditions, most riders headed out for the first free practice on soft tyres to get ready for the fourth round of the MotoGP™ championship this season. Stoner set the quickest time of 1.34’321 to lay down an early marker ahead of Pedrosa, who was a full half second behind.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso was on the pace early on, as he went third quickest just under a tenth behind Pedrosa, in front of Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies in fourth, who will be looking to get his season back on track this weekend with a good result.

In fifth, Pramac Racing Team’s Héctor Barberá was the surprise inclusion on-board his satellite Ducati. He finished ahead of Spies’ teammate Jorge Lorenzo, who will be seeking a marked improvement to challenge for the win on Sunday.

Seventh spot was occupied by Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow, who managed to oust San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista into eighth, whilst the top ten was rounded out by Ducati Team pair Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi. Rossi, who has stated that he plans to stay in MotoGP until at least 2014, will be looking for some similar form to last year, where he scored his only Ducati podium at the French track.

Highest CRT finish went to local Power Electronics Aspar rider Randy de Puniet, while Chris Vermeulen, who is replacing the injured Colin Edwards at NGM Mobile Forward Racing, finished the session last in 21st.

Aspar’s Aleix Espargaró crashed out of the session with 30 minutes to go, while San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Michele Pirro came off with 25 minutes left in Museum corner. Both riders managed to get back out on track towards the end of the session.

[Rob]

nice interview with Vale..

http://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2012...sk+Valentino+1

[Rob]

Really surprised by Stoner retiring. Least he going to go out at the top.

[Aussie]

Very up set about stoner.
He finish on top. What a champ

[Tobes]

Really surprised by Stoner retiring. Least he going to go out at the top.

Not really surprised, hasn't looked like he's been enjoying it for a while, MotoGP has become more of a procession than F1 was a few yrs ago, and the death of Sic robbed us of the biggest character in MotoGP, the good old days of Vale getting past Sete on the final corner in Spain are long gone, think MotoGP needs to take a look at itself or it will lose it's casual followers...

[Sianellen]

It's a shame he is retiring. I've never been as keen on him as other riders, but I still wish he was there. He has a great talent but if he is not enjoying it anymore though it is the right thing for him to do. MotoGP is in desperate need of some characters though.

[Tifoso]

nice interview with Vale..

http://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2012...sk+Valentino+1

Thanks, amico mio!

The background is a tad distracting