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Post by truenorth on Sept 13, 2018 9:18:16 GMT -8
GP18: the best Ducati ever? With six victories between Dovizioso and Lorenzo already this season, is this the greatest Desmosedici we’ve seen on the MotoGP™ grid? After Andrea Dovizioso’s (Ducati Team) third victory of the season at the Gran Premio Octo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, the Bologna factory’s win tally increased to six in 2018 with teammate Jorge Lorenzo also standing on the top step three times this season. This takes them into the realms of MotoGP™ Legend Casey Stoner, who achieved the same amount of victories across the entire 2008 season on his Ducati and with six rounds of still to go this year, ‘DesmoDovi’ and the ‘Spartan’ could well match - or better - the Australian’s 2007 title winning total of 10 wins. But is this the best Desmosedici machine ever, even if they don’t reach Stoner’s tally? Maybe. Maybe: a word also used by Dovizioso in the post-race Press Conference when asked if the GP18 is currently the best bike on the grid, having won the last three races in succession: “Nobody can really know. Maybe yes, maybe no,” said the Italian. “It’s very difficult to know this because it’s always a mix between the riders and the bike. For sure we’ve improved the situation because we are faster in a track where in the past we weren’t. But the only two Ducati riders are me and Jorge, the other Ducatis have good bikes but sometimes for them it’s very difficult so… I don’t know. Maybe, maybe. I don’t know.” Dovizioso continued, suggesting the improvements made this season have been a result of lots of intricate changes on every area of the bike, not a couple of big ones: “We didn’t change something big or something in the last few months. It’s just about working together and to adapt to the tyres and the rules of the Championship. And this is nice because when you have a really good base, it’s very difficult to create something and make a step. You can improve if you, step by step, work in every detail, and if you improve a little bit in a few details, at the end of the race it’s a big thing. “This is what happened. The tyres have a characteristic, the electronics have a characteristic, the riders have to adapt to the situation. The tyre working in a different way, last year was a bit different to this year, we are using the tyre in a different way. It’s constantly a change, a small change, and when you put everything together it can make a difference. So, it wasn’t like something Jorge said in Mugello, it’s the work of everybody, in every area, and when you put everything together you can fight for the victory.” Ducati went almost six years without tasting victory between Stoner’s 2010 Australian GP win and Andrea Iannone’s triumph at the 2016 Austrian GP. Since the Italian’s victory at the Red Bull Ring, the Desmosedici has continued to improve and last year saw Dovizioso take the title fight with Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) down the wire. Despite this though, on numerous occasions this season Dovi has claimed the GP18 is better than last season’s GP17. But what does Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali think of this year’s Desmosedici compared to previous machines? “I think that, from a sporting point of view, it is the best moment in our history,” admitted Domenicali, who has been with the Italian factory for 26 years. “The bike has an exceptional performance, not only in the circuits that are more favourable where the engine makes a difference, but also on circuits like Misano. This really shows the balance and the great work done by the Ducati Corse engineers to give a very balanced bike to our riders.” Ducati Corse General Manager Gigi Dall’Igna also spoke after Dovi notched up their sixth win of the season: “We have to be happy with the result and performance of our bike. We did a great job over the weekend both technically and with our riders. Dovizioso won, playing out a fantastic race and Lorenzo, despite the fall, made a wonderful race. Winning both Mugello and Misano in the same season is something very special.” So, is the GP18 the best Ducati MotoGP™ bike we’ve seen? Only time will tell if Ducati will reach double figure race wins in 2018, but if Domenicali believes so, then it’s hard to think otherwise.
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Post by truenorth on Sept 13, 2018 16:06:01 GMT -8
No wildcards allowed in Moto2 in 2019: Some of the new rules introduced by the GP Commission: a standard to prevent manipulation of a rider's engine quota, shorter races in the case of a Wet Start Procedure'
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Post by truenorth on Sept 17, 2018 18:29:09 GMT -8
Mat Oxley
Aragon could also be a big weekend for Ducati - they've never won 4 consecutive MotoGP races.
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Post by truenorth on Sept 18, 2018 8:15:46 GMT -8
Espargaró: "After the Misano tests I hope to be back in the Top Ten": Last year the Aprilia rider took one of his best results of the season in Aragón: "Repeating that performance won't be easy"
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Post by truenorth on Sept 18, 2018 8:25:31 GMT -8
Mat Oxley Turn ten at Aragon will be named in Marquez's honour this weekend. It's a fast downhill left and his favourite corner of the championship. Lorenzo is the only other current rider with a corner names after him - the last turn at Jerez
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Post by truenorth on Sept 18, 2018 8:45:27 GMT -8
Aragon MotoGP: Marquez: If they gain 5 points every race, no problem Peter McLaren 18 Sep 2018 'He [Dovi] wants to push me to do a mistake!' - Marc Marquez, Aragon MotoGP. Aragon MotoGP: Marquez: If they gain 5 points every race, no problem Even if Marc Marquez loses eleven points to Andrea Dovizioso in each of the remaining six rounds, he would still win the 2018 MotoGP title. "Luckily for us Ducati [only] come very, very strong in the second part of the season. So we have 67 points advantage. If they gain 5 points every race, no problem," Marquez said after finishing runner-up to Dovizioso last time at Misano. But is the Repsol Honda rider really prepared to show such patience? Especially with Turn 10 of the Aragon circuit being renamed in Marquez's honour on Thursday. "This year will be special because it will be the first time that a circuit dedicates a corner to me, and I’m very excited about that," he said. "Luckily for us Ducati [only] come very, very strong in the second part of the season. So we have 67 points advantage. If they gain 5 points every race, no problem," Marquez said after finishing runner-up to Dovizioso last time at Misano. But is the Repsol Honda rider really prepared to show such patience? Especially with Turn 10 of the Aragon circuit being renamed in Marquez's honour on Thursday. "This year will be special because it will be the first time that a circuit dedicates a corner to me, and I’m very excited about that," he said.
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Post by truenorth on Sept 18, 2018 9:02:47 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Sept 18, 2018 9:34:27 GMT -8
Marquez: “Ducati has a little more compared to Honda”: Marc readies his weapon for Aragon: “The championship is not over yet. We need to find something to be as fast as them."
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Post by truenorth on Sept 18, 2018 9:49:20 GMT -8
Dovizioso and Giribuola: MotoGP’s best pitlane partnership? by Mat Oxley on 18th September 2018 In conversation with the man behind Andrea Dovizioso’s late title push, crew chief and mechatronics expert Alberto Giribuola Since the summer break Andrea Dovizioso has been the strongest rider in MotoGP, with two wins and one third place finish. His Misano victory moved him into second overall. The title is a long shot but not entirely out of range for the Italian and his crew chief Alberto Giribuola (above with Ducati general manager Gigi Dall’Igna). Andrea and Alberto, who have worked together since 2016, comprise arguably the cleverest pitlane partnership in MotoGP. They challenged for last year’s title by understanding the bike/tyre combination better than most. This year it has taken them longer to build their challenge because a slight change in Michelin’s rear slick had them confused for the first half of the season. How did you get into bikes? I’ve loved bikes since I was six years old. When I was 10 we were on holiday on the Adriatic coast and I saw a minimoto track, so I had to have a go! From then my dream was to be a rider, but there was no opportunity to grow up as a rider around Turin. I wanted to do something like the Aprilia Challenge, but we didn’t have enough money, so my father said, ‘go study!’ What did you study to get into racing? I did three years learning electronics at Turin University, the final two years focused on mechatronics. It’s a mixture of mechanics and electronics, so more and more people are studying it because most mechanical things are electronically controlled. In my first years in racing I was a data engineer at Pramac with Niccolò Canepa, Aleix Espargaró and Randy de Puniet. My dream was to be a crew chief, so I moved to Ducati’s World Superbike programme working with Jakub Smrž. When Andrea arrived at Ducati at the end of 2012 his team needed a data engineer to work with his crew chief Christian Pupulin, so I worked with them in 2013 and 2014. When Gigi Dall’Igna arrived he moved me to Pramac, working as team technical coordinator. This helped increase my experience because I had to manage the set-up of both riders – Danilo Petrucci and Yonny Hernández – by helping their crew chiefs, while also looking after spare parts and so on. I learned a lot about everything, so by the time I became Andrea’s crew chief in 2016 I had done a bit of everything. What’s it like being a crew chief in MotoGP? There’s a big difference between being an electronics engineer and a crew chief. The electronics guy has a lot of exact numbers, so he tries to reach the right numbers for rear wheelspin and so on that give maximum performance, but the rider’s feeling may be completely different. To understand what your rider needs, you must be like him, think like him and understand his riding style. If you only use science you won’t find the best way. In car racing you can simulate everything, but with bikes it’s more about the sensation. But your electronics background helps? It’s good that I studied mechatronics because when we have problems I can speak with our electronics guys and understand. The thing is not to think of the bike and the electronics separately. For example, if Andrea says he has too much wheelie we can fit a longer swingarm and the electronics guys can take out some power, so we’ve made two steps in the same direction, which is wrong. So it’s step by step, 50/50, mechanics and electronics. What’s it like working with Andrea? I often go to his house – he’s only 20km from me in Ravenna – have a coffee and watch the races and practice sessions. We look at everything. Sometimes I say, ‘you aren’t leaning off the bike enough!’ Many riders have changed their riding position in recent years but it’s not easy to change the way you’ve ridden all your life. The rider/crew chief relationship grows up race by race. At the beginning, for sure, Andrea wasn’t sure I was a good crew chief because I was young. But from the first tests of 2016 we understood we could work together. We have similar minds and similar ages, which helps a lot. Now we are more similar compared to the first time we worked together, because I’ve become a bit like him and he’s become a bit like me. So it’s a bit like we are one brain! Of course, this depends on each rider: some riders only want a working relationship but for Andrea it’s good to have a friend inside the box because if something goes wrong we can talk about it in a very relaxed way. Now he trusts me when I tell him he made a mistake. My job is probably 50 per cent psychological, because if I say we need to make a change to the bike he needs to trust me. How do you prepare for each race? After every race we check the data and understand something new. We try to have a normal programme of work at all the races. We adjust the bike track by track, depending on the problems, but I don’t like to make big changes between sessions because it’s easy to lose your way. The Ducati is very good in braking and acceleration, but the best improvement we made last year was discovering a good base setting that worked well at every circuit. This made it easy to get ready for each race. When you don’t have a good base setting you have to modify the bike at one track and then you can be completely wrong at the next track. Andrea made his big breakthrough last year, how come? Last year we discovered a good compromise from Jerez, so the bike stayed quite similar at other tracks. A good compromise for Andrea allows him to brake very hard and then lose the rear end in a controlled way, so he can enter the corner with the rear sliding a little to help him turn. Finding the way to enter the corner sliding the rear fixes the Ducati’s biggest problem, which is turning. We discovered we could gain a lot in the first part of the corner, which can make the difference. In other words, his stop-and-go technique suits the Ducati? Andrea’s style isn’t the best for corner speed, which is why tracks like Phillip Island and Termas aren’t good for him, but his style is good for tyre consumption because if you stay on the edge of the tyres for a long time then you consume the tyre. I think this is Yamaha’s biggest problem – they use long lines through the corner with a lot of lean, so they really use the tyres. How do you manage the Michelins? Everything has changed since MotoGP changed tyres. With Bridgestone you were always pretty sure what would happen and the riders could push 100 per cent from beginning to end, but with Michelins they cannot push all the way. Plus, the tyres change according to how the track and the temperature change during a race, so it’s very complicated. With the Michelins you have to study the tyres a lot more over the weekend and you have to understand many things. Like in Austria last year we used a medium rear for qualifying and a soft for the race. Everyone thought we were crazy, but we understood that, with the temperature in qualifying, the medium would be better. We need to try and understand exactly how the tyre will go down in the race. It’s tricky, but it’s also a good chance, because if you work in a good way and understand more than your rivals then you can make the difference in the race. The situation was similar in Barcelona last year. Everyone had a big problem with tyre consumption. In qualifying we were one second off the pace, but after FP4 we understood that we had a chance to win the race because we had a setting that was good for the tyre, not so much for the lap time. We concentrated on saving the tyre for the whole race, so Andrea could be consistent every lap, but at other tracks where tyre life isn’t a problem you can concentrate on keeping maximum speed all through the race. And the switch to control software has changed things? Yes, a lot. Before the control software it was like PlayStation for the riders, but now they really have to play with the throttle. It’s good because a good rider can make the difference. What are Andrea’s secrets to success? Andrea is very controlled, but he really wants to win. The only difference between him and most of the others is that he just wants to be a normal guy. He doesn’t think he’s Superman; he just thinks he’s very good at riding bikes. He uses his brain a lot and doesn’t want to take too many risks when it’s not necessary.
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Post by truenorth on Sept 18, 2018 9:55:01 GMT -8
Tuesday, September 18th 2018 Round 14 Gran Premio de Aragón
The Repsol Honda Team en route to Aragón, leading the Championship Standings Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa are on their way to Aragón, host of round 14 of the 2018 season and one of the five circuits on the current calendar that run in an anti-clockwise direction, along with Austin, Sachsenring, Phillip Island and Valencia.
Honda and the Repsol Honda Team are the most successful manufacturer and team at the Aragón circuit, with five MotoGP victories (Casey Stoner in 2011, Dani Pedrosa in 2012 and Marc Marquez in 2013, 2016 and 2017). It follows that Marquez is the most successful rider at the track, with four wins and six poles across all classes.
Marc’s well-known love for the track will be reciprocated on Thursday, when MotorLand Aragón will rename Turn 10 on the circuit, dedicating it to the six-time World Champion in recognition of his sporting success in the MotoGP World Championship.
Whereas last year saw Marc arrive at his home race sharing the Championship lead with Andrea Dovizioso, this season finds the young Spaniard heading the standings with an advantage of 67 points over the same rider, 221-154.
At the Gran Premio de Aragón
Marc Marquez has 4 wins—1xMoto2 (2011), 3xMotoGP (2013, 2016, 2017)—plus 1 podium and 6 pole positions. Dani Pedrosa has 1 win in MotoGP (2012), plus an additional 3 podiums.
Marc Marquez “Aragón is one of my favourite circuits on the calendar, a track where I normally feel at ease and I can ride very well. I look forward to racing in front of my home crowd, and this year will be special because it will be the first time that a circuit dedicates a corner to me, and I’m very excited about that. Last year we arrived there equal on points in the Championship, but this season we have an advantage. This doesn’t mean that it’s over though; on the contrary, we must keep working hard because it seems that Ducati are fast and consistent at every track. We must find something that allows us to fight with them as well as possible. In Aragón we’ll try and be competitive from the beginning. We’ll try to find soon a good base and prepare well for the weekend.”
Dani Pedrosa “I always enjoy going to Aragón like every time I race in front of my fan club and my home crowd. I also like the track; I’ve had good results there in the past and it would be good to achieve another one. Can’t wait to get there and enjoy one more Spanish GP!”
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Post by truenorth on Sept 19, 2018 8:21:52 GMT -8
Ezpeleta seeks a saddle for Fenati The boss of Dorna would have liked to see Romano on the track already at Motegi. Soft line of the FIM: the pilot testimonial for safety GPone Wed, 09/19/2018 The president Vito Ippolito had confirmed a few days ago in the occasion of our interview : "the FIM will not crucify Fenati ". Today Romano presented himself in Geneva, Switzerland, at the International Motorcycling Federation headquarters to be heard on the events in Misano, where, during the race, the Ascoli had pulled the brakes of rival Manzi on the straight. The FIM Stewards Panel had already punished Fenati with two disqualification GPs, over the black flag in the Misano GP, but the Federation still considered it appropriate to speak directly with the pilot. The former president Zerbi, during his term, had in fact guaranteed to the FIM the opportunity to intervene on any judgment taken. As mentioned, there was no desire to exacerbate the sentence, but to have a clearer view of what happened. At the end of the meeting there was no official communication, but from what we have come to know the Federation has decided to use Fenati in a campaign to promote motorcycle racing and fairness on the track. A sort of "socially useful work", we allow the comparison, to make Romano understand his mistake and, at the same time, rehabilitate the image. On the other side, Carmelo Ezpeleta, the number one of Dorna, is working at the same front, who has undertaken to get Fenati back on track as soon as possible. The Spanish CEO would have even wanted to see Romano in the GP race in Motegi , that is in the first GP useful once the disqualification was granted. The operation is not so simple, because the Snipers team has already fired Fenati (in its place until the end of the season will run Xavier Cardelus) and there are no other seats available at the moment. Ezpeleta, however, has shown his firm intention to bring back Fenati in the World Cup and, easily, will find a solution. On the one hand, it would be a gesture that would serve to rehabilitate the image of the Ascoli. On the other hand, Romano's return would have an undeniable media impact. There will remain 4 races to run after the disqualification, we will see if Fenati will have a second chance already this year.
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Post by truenorth on Sept 19, 2018 8:45:20 GMT -8
Aragon weather this weekend
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Post by truenorth on Sept 19, 2018 8:46:30 GMT -8
Claudio Domenicali Misano was one week ago but still emotion is high. Ducati Corse improved a lot and learned many things. Cannot wait to release all this to our future versions of production V4’s. Frame stiffness, swing arm construction, traction control strategy, aerodynamic package...
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Post by truenorth on Sept 20, 2018 6:54:04 GMT -8
Rossi expecting ‘intense’ race at unfavoured track
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Post by truenorth on Sept 20, 2018 10:15:13 GMT -8
Rossi: Fenati did not deserve the ' lynching ': "more importance to his gesture than to the victory of Dovi on Ducati, I do not understand." On the problems of the M1: "The motor is a part, but you will not see a V4"
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Post by truenorth on Sept 20, 2018 10:28:00 GMT -8
On Fenati: "He needed a strong penalty, but the things in the media is too much. In the past that kind of thing has happened with different riders in different times, when one of the riders fell. The penalty should be strong, but media talking like he killed somebody is too much"
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Post by truenorth on Sept 20, 2018 10:44:39 GMT -8
Money can not be enough to run in MotoGP Jack replies to Ponsson: "you need a filter to decide who can drive in the queen class or create situations of poor safety" Matteo Aglio Thu, 20/09/2018 Jack Miller in recent days had been brought up by Christophe Ponsson who had indicated him and Cal Crutchlow as the main culprits of his exclusion from the MotoGP starting from the race in Aragon. The Australian Pramac, already in the weekend of Misano, had expressed his opinion, not benevolent, on the debut in the premier class of a driver without any experience in the world championship. " I do not think I'm the only one to have that opinion, the point is that he paid and ran - explains Jack - I think it is not professional, either for him or for the championship, to be doubled, for more on a track like Misano . In other circuits, such as Phillip Island, it would be even easier. We have seen what happened in free practice, many have risked contact with him ". Miller does not make it a personal matter, but he would like to make a selection in the future on the riders who can race in MotoGP, without thinking only of their suitcase. "I think it takes experience, Ponsson raced in SBK but without ever making a podium - he continues - You need an upstream filter before allowing a rider to race in MotoGP, you can not just bring money. The free tests are now like qualifications, when you do not know trajectories and references do not say you're dangerous, but you can create situations of poor security . " A super license could be a good solution? " I do not know, but we need to think about it - your answer - I think a rider to have the chance to race in MotoGP must have achieved minimal results, but it varies from case to case . For example, some Japanese testers are very strong on the tracks they know. I went from Moto3 to MotoGP myself, but he did the tests before running, I was not just thrown into it. I believe that there are some pilots with experience to be able to hire, for example Torres, who will be competing this weekend, has never raced in MotoGP, but won in Moto2 and made podiums in SBK ". Miller, before saying goodbye, comments on the one done by Fenati in Misano. " His gesture can not be excusable, it's not good - his opinion - I fought with him in Moto3 and he was not the cleanest rider, but we can say the same of Manzi. I saw the images, Stefano when he came back on track after the contact cut the trajectory to Romano. I can understand that something has happened that has made angry at Misano, who was also running the GP at home, but what he did is not absolutely good ".
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Post by truenorth on Sept 21, 2018 4:22:30 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Sept 21, 2018 4:25:52 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Sept 21, 2018 4:31:16 GMT -8
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