MotoGP – The Grand Prix of Catalonia MotoGP turn by turn –

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The Catalan MotoGP Grand Prix turn by turn

MotoGP - The Grand Prix of Catalonia MotoGP turn by turn -

After two races without a national victory, Spain has its eyes on Dani Pedrosa, clearly named as the favorite for the race. Will Rossi and Stoner be able to dismantle this well-oiled machine? MotoGP report, analysis and lap by lap.

Friday: second free practice session
Dani Pedrosa slams the best clock in front of a whole crowd committed to his cause! Confirming the Suzuki’s return to form – at least on a few quick laps – Loris Capirossi follows young Asimo behind and precedes his compatriot Valentino Rossi, reigning world champion Casey Stoner, Alex de Angelis, Chris Vermeulen, Shinya Nakano, James Toseland, Nicky Hayden, Colin Edwards, Andrea Dovizioso and Randy de Puniet. Sylvain Guintoli is 16th ahead of Melandri and West.

Zoom on…

The new fall of Jorge Lorenzo : left at the fault in a fast right, the Spaniard gets up with a concussion, some bruises to his left ankle and torn skin on his right hand … Even if the scans reveal no damage to the brain, the doctors decide to keep the boiling No. 48 under observation until Monday at the Universitari Dexeus Institute, condemning the Spanish not to shine on its lands…

Saturday: qualifying session
Incredibly swift, Casey Stoner lives up to his No.1 plaque by signing his first pole since Misano last year and setting the new track record !

Next are the two HRC officials Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden, Randy de Puniet, Colin Edwards, James Toseland, Andrea Dovizioso, Chris Vermeulen and Valentino Rossi, clearly withdrawn during the session: by his own admission, the Italian star is facing concerns in Barcelona and is preparing for a difficult race … Sylvain Guintoli is 15th in front of Melandri and Anthony West, the usual red lantern…

Zoom on…

Casey Stoner’s surprise at his performance : "It’s a bit unexpected! We thought we could put in a decent performance today, but when I used my last qualifying tire I thought we would be lucky to qualify on the front row".

Sunday: race !
Departure : It’s almost become a habit for the little Spaniard: Dani Pedrosa has the best start, ahead – by a small margin – Casey Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso, Colin Edwards and Randy de Puniet who also had an excellent start !

Follow Nicky Hayden, James Toseland, Marco Melandri, Valentino Rossi who did not win a place, Loris Capirossi, Shinya Nakano and Chris Vermeulen. Very fast and nervous on the changes of angles, the reigning world champion misses the entry of a right and is forced to widen: Andrea Dovizioso immediately takes the opportunity to steal second place from him !

2nd lap: Dani Pedrosa has already widened a slight gap on Dovizioso and Stoner: the Spaniard has 2.6 seconds ahead of Valentino Rossi, who nevertheless remains on eleven consecutive podiums on the Montmello track !

Colin Edwards is grappling with a Randy de Puniet found, under the helpless gaze of ex-world champion Nicky Hayden, unable to join in the fight. Just behind them, Rossi passed Toseland and returned to n ° 69.

3rd, 4th and 5th laps: Dani Pedrosa is now 1.7 seconds ahead of Andrea Dovizioso who tastes the power of Stoner’s GP8: well wedged behind his bubble, the Australian dislocates n ° 4 and tries to leave hunting Pedrosa …

Follow Edwards, De Puniet, Hayden and a little further Rossi who does not manage to come back. But Toni Elias is encountering even more difficulties: Sylvain Guintoli’s teammate stole the start and will therefore have to return to the pit lane … Hard, when you are already in the penultimate position !

The HRC official continues his crazy ride at the front of the race, beating the lap record by almost four tenths: the little Spaniard seems untouchable today and already has two seconds ahead of the second, Casey Stoner. Valentino Rossi brakes Nicky Hayden at the start of this loop, but the American fights, stays outside the Italian, then abdicates, poorly positioned at the entrance to the next right !

6th and 7th laps: Pedrosa now has a 3.3 second lead over Stoner, who is doing all he can to come back. In its wake, Dovizioso and Edwards fight for fourth place, ahead of Randy de Puniet, Rossi and Hayden. Sylvain Guintoli is 17th.

Rossi passes De Puniet at the entrance of a right and immediately sticks in Edwards’ exhausts: he doubles him when braking from the pit straight line, at the cost of a big risk-taking: the Yamaha moves a lot before to rush under the wheels of n ° 5 !

The Italian finds himself behind Casey Stoner who has just been passed by Dovizioso, following a further gap by the Ducati rider in a long left.

8th lap: Dani Pedrosa continues to disgust his opponents (not to mention the spectators eager to fight!) By crossing the line with 5.574 seconds ahead of his rivals! Andrea Dovizioso still contains Stoner, himself under threat from Rossi. Follow Edwards, Randy de Puniet very good sixth and Nicky Hayden.

Casey Stoner makes the powder speak in the straight line and gets rid of Dovizioso, certainly hoping to slow down the Rossi threat which lurks just behind: a waste of time, since the n ° 46 makes short work of his compatriot and resets in the backsplash from the GP8! A vision that the Italian obviously does not want to feast on, since he shifts slightly at the exit of a right to dive under the wheels of Stoner to the next big left! If the Doctor does not seem to be able to win the race against the Pedrosa rocket, its rise will have been spectacular. !

Not having seen the instruction ordering him to return to the pits, Toni Elias is forced to leave the race: the black flag is waved, as a reminder to the difficulties of the Catalan since the start of the season…

9th and 10th laps: Casey Stoner tries to get the best of Rossi with the help of the straight line, but nothing helps: the n ° 46 brakes very late and keeps his second place, behind the official HRC. Randy de Puniet, always very urgent on Edwards, would gladly offer himself the points of the fifth place … even more if affinities !

James Toseland and Alex de Angelis get rid of Loris Capirossi but the two drivers are now more than 12 seconds behind the leader of the race! A situation that will not get better for the San Marinese pilot, since De Angelis and his RCV are at fault, without damage but without hope of being able to set off again. At the same time, the valiant Loris Capirossi is picked up in the gravel and gets up unscathed: the two brawling pilots have apparently hung on…

11th, 12th and 13th laps: Reconnecting with his demons, it is now a Randy de Puniet furious with himself that we discover in the gravel pit: a catastrophic result for n ° 14, which achieves a worse start of the season in 2007: the patience of his team manager must be put to the test…

Dani Pedrosa is now more than seven seconds ahead of Rossi, who does not seem able to improve his lap times: the Italian loses time on the Spaniard at each lap and barring a sudden turn of events, the race seems to have been won for young Asimo. Marco Melandri is in the fight with Anthony West, preceding by several lengths the unfortunate Sylvain Guintoli who brings up the rear.

14th and 15th laps: The leading order does not change, with Rossi and Stoner still fighting for the second step of the podium ahead of the excellent Doviziso and veteran Colin Edwards. Hayden follows almost four seconds behind as Toseland passes Vermeulen under braking, once again demonstrating the full extent of his talent !

Stoner puts pressure on Rossi and tries to pass in favor of the straight line: Rossi keeps his place, but he is well aware that the world champion will not let go in the ten remaining laps !

16th, 17th and 18th laps: Well placed at the Yamaha’s aspiration, the world champion Ducati this time makes short work of Rossi’s M1 "football" which nevertheless made a slight delay under braking: if the tires of the two pilots go the distance, we should witness a superb final fight !

Behind, James Toseland is forcing himself to return to the official Honda of Nicky Hayden: tenth by tenth, the Englishman is catching up again, aiming for the points of sixth place. Marco Melandri is in distress: he is overtaken by Anthony West and finds himself under the threat of Sylvain Guintoli who has nevertheless lost a lot of time because of a straight.

19th and 20th laps: Pedrosa still prances in the lead with nearly eight seconds in advance and the crowd encourages his driver by cracking firecrackers and smoke: the atmosphere is hot in the Catalan stands, which should finally be able to celebrate the victory of a Spanish today! Rossi is still under observation behind Stoner…

James Toseland has returned to Hayden’s RCV212, as well as Chris Vermeulen’s Suzuki: the American risks suffering in the last laps of the race…

21st, 22nd and 23rd laps: Valentino Rossi is the fastest man on the track, but he seems to have to struggle lightly with his Yamaha entering the turn. Conversely, Stoner’s Ducati starts to move a lot when accelerating. Toseland and Vermeulen swallowed the 2006 world champion and the n ° 52 now appears in a very honest sixth place.

Valentino Rossi returns to Stoner under braking from the straight line: the star’s fan club (and a good part of the crowd) are on their feet to encourage this pass of arms !

Last lap: Dani Pedrosa starts his last lap 4.4 seconds ahead of Rossi: the Spaniard has won the race now and manages his substantial lead. Vale slams an impressive lap (his best of the race), sticking a second to the leader: would the Michelin have a slack at the end of the race, or the Bridgestones a boost? ?

Pedrosa crosses the finish line shaking his head with joy in front of Rossi, Stoner, Dovizioso, Edwards, Toseland, Vermeulen, Hayden, Nakano, Hopkins, Melandri, West and Sylvain Guintoli.

MotoGP Ranking
1- PEDROSA D. 6- TOSELAND J. 11- MELANDRI M.
2- ROSSI V. 7- VERMEULEN C. 12- WEST A.
3- STONER C. 8- HAYDEN N. 13- GUINTOLI S.
4- DOVIZIOSO A. 9- NAKANO S. 14-
5- EDWARDS C. 10- HOPKINS J. 15-

In the championship, Valentino Rossi does not do too bad an operation as he retains the leadership with seven points ahead of the brilliant winner Dani Pedrosa.

Behind the two drivers follow the unfortunate Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner (who is now 50 points behind Rossi), Colin Edwards, Andrea Dovizioso and James Toseland. Catastrophe for the French clan, since Randy de Puniet fell to 16th place, preceding Sylvain Guintoli by three meager points…

They explain themselves

Dani Pedrosa (1st) : "I don’t know where this rhythm comes from! The race was fantastic, it’s a great victory. I won here in the 125cc and 250cc categories so it’s fantastic to win the MotoGP race! The other two were pushing hard but I had chosen a different setting for today and I was right !"

Valentino Rossi (2nd) : "What a race! I am very happy, I had a lot of fun overtaking. I’m happy with my 20 points, but I knew that to beat Dani it would have been necessary to start from the front row. We had a good duel with Casey, which I appreciated !"

Casey Stoner (3rd) : "Strangely, we didn’t have a feeling with the rear tire on the first lap. I lost a lot of confidence, because here you have to brake hard when cornering. Overall, I’m not happy with my race at all. The end comes down to the duel against Vale. He approached me several times, I could feel him … Anyway, I’m happy to be on the podium !"

Randy de Puniet (abandonment) : "I was behind Edwards, I wasn’t taking any chances. I was waiting for him to make a mistake to pass it, because on a regular basis I had no chance, his Yamaha being more efficient than my Honda under acceleration. I had a good start and negotiated my start to the race well. And then at the start of the twelfth lap, at the end of the pit straight, in turn number one, my front tire stalled suddenly, without warning. Frankly, I don’t understand what happened. I was no faster than the previous lap. It’s exactly the same fall that I experienced in testing. I didn’t hurt myself, but I still find myself without a point. I really have the balls !"

Alexandre BARDIN – Photos DR

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