MotoGP – The Italian Grand Prix 125 lap by lap –

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The Italian Grand Prix 125 lap by lap

MotoGP - The Italian Grand Prix 125 lap by lap -

First part of the Italian fiesta, the GP 125 promises its dose of suspense until the last corner: local riders, unleashed tifosis and a fiery atmosphere make the Italian meeting a legendary place of motorcycle racing… Story, analysis … and turn by turn.

Friday: first qualifying session
It is in front of a smaller crowd than usual – due to the high price of the ticket (167 euros for three days!) And the bad weather – that the young Pol Espargaro (16 years old!) Sets the best time of sitting on a wet track.

The Spaniard is closely followed by Scott Redding and his Aprilia Bluesens, as well as our recent French GP winner Mike di Meglio (read and).

Follow Raffaele de Rosa, Sandro Cortese, Bradley Smith, Gabor Talmacsi, Joan Olive, Andrea Iannone, Danny Webb, Nicolas Terol and Simone Corsi. Alexis Masbou is 17th, Louis Rossi 32nd and Jules Cluzel (who has just come back from injury) distant 37th.

Saturday: second qualifying session
The Tuscan weather having returned to the sun, the qualifying session is contested on a dry track and is distinguished by a magnificent mano to mano between De Rosa and Talmacsi, the latter having to give up the pole to the Italian and his KTM for 0.165 second only !

The two drivers are followed by a Mike di Meglio eager to also shine in the dry, Pol Espargaro, Sergio Gadea, Sandro Cortese, Bradley Smith, Simone Corsi, Nicolas Terol, Tomoyoshi Koyama, Stefan Bradl, Andrea Iannone and Steve Bonsey. Jules Cluzel corrects the shot in the dry and will start from 24th position, while Louis Rossi signs a modest 2’03.414 (five seconds more than pole) which puts him in 37th place. We are a long way from the confidence acquired at Le Mans…

Zoom on…

Raffaele de Rosa, 20 years old, who signed the first pole position of his young career, which began in 2004 at the British GP. The Naples native delights an audience rallying to his cause and smashes the track record by almost four tenths of a second !

Sunday: race !
Departure : It is the reigning world champion, Gabor Talmacsi, who signs the hole shot in front of Mike di Meglio! The temptation is already great for the French clan to dream, as the Toulouse resident seemed serene during the tests! But never has a French driver imposed himself in front of the Mugello audience … Will the Latin-sounding surname of n ° 63 make his job easier? ?

Just behind the two men, Andrea Iannone tries not to be dropped while a little further we find Terol, Smith, de Rosa, Corsi, Gadea and Espargaro.

Mike attacks Talmacsi from the inside in a right from the back of the track and takes the lead of the race! Surprised, the Hungarian straightens up slightly, opening at the same time the door to the obstinate Iannone who passes in force under the wheels of n ° 1! The first round is not yet over as the battle is already panting !

2nd round : Having certainly acquired a taste for leading the race after his success at Le Mans, Mike di Meglio crosses the timing line in first position, with in his aspi the formidable Talmacsi who got rid of an overtaken Iannone in two turns by Terol and Smith !

Gabor Talmacsi and Nicolas Terol climb up to Toulouse when braking the long straight and together pass a Di Meglio a little wide at the start of the curve. Iannone will not be long in getting inside on the Derbi of the French driver, relegated in three turns to fourth position! He is ahead of Smith, Corsi, Espargaro, De Rosa, Bradl, Gadea, Ranseder, Olive, Cortese and Koyama. Jules Cluzel on his Loncin is 21st … halfway through the peloton since no less than 39 pilots are involved in the Italian event! Alexis Masbou struggles for 33rd place and Louis Rossi for 35th.

Bradley Smith comes out a little wide on the left and loses several positions: here is the 17-year-old Englishman relegated to tenth position !

3rd round : Very fast in the straight line of 1141 m, Mike di Meglio returns to Iannone, the double and goes up to Nicolas Terol, to whom he will not however try to brake: Mike had a very powerful motorcycle on Sunday , but he did not want to take all the risks, first place in the provisional classification requires !

Pol Espargaro in his yellow and red Derbi climbs like a cannonball on the leading men, just like Stefan Bradl who sets the fastest lap in the race. Nicolas Terol interferes in front of Gabor Talmacsi just before the double right which precedes the last chicane of the circuit. Louis Rossi has lost a few places and is now riding in penultimate position: difficult for a pilot of the French Motorcycling Federation (FFM) who discovers, circuit after circuit, the enormity of the step to be taken between the French championship and that of the world…

4th round : As in the previous lap, Mike passed his opponents in the straight line and made a magnificent braking on Terol at the entrance to the first straight of the Tuscan layout! Pol Espargaro took the opportunity to overtake Talmacsi, slower despite his official machine, while Iannone remained threatening, even if Bradl had come back from afar already starting to turn around him…

"Magic Mike" leads this fifth GP of the 2008 season and tries to forge a slight lead over Terol, Espargaro, Talmacsi, Iannone and Bradl…

5th round : Presenting four abreast at the first braking of the circuit, the leading quartet offers us a fantastic illustration of the biker expression "the one who brakes is a coward !"… Flirting with the limits, it is the incredible Stefan Bradl who will win at this little game, ahead of Iannone, Talmacsi, Di Meglio and Espargaro. Gabor Talmacsi will pass Iannone at the next turn to start hunting again at the first position, while just behind, Mike is a little heckled by Corsi who returns to 4th.

6th round : Mike di Meglio once again benefits from the good health of his Derbi engine to return to second position behind Stefan Bradl.

The Toulouse man is followed like his shadow by Iannone, Talmacsi and Espargaro. Corsi is slightly behind. Very keen on cornering entries, Mike infiltrates Bradl’s machine, followed immediately by Iannone! He does not hesitate for a second to repeat the same attack on the French driver, who sees himself stealing the head of the race..

7th, 8th and 9th rounds : Fighting tooth and nail throughout the pit straight with the overpowered Aprilia of German Stefan Bradl, Mike succeeds in winning the brakes on the first straight! The two pilots are followed by Iannone, Talmacsi, Corsi and Espargaro. Bradley Smith is 10th, despite his fastest race lap just before.

Iannone and Talmasci succeeded in getting rid of the young Grizzly rider: Bradl finds himself struggling with the two teammates Corsi and Terol, who precede Espargaro and Smith.

Gabor Talmacsi makes all his experience as reigning world champion speak by gluing back to the exhaust of Di Meglio’s machine: wanting to enter very wide in the 180 ° which serves the straight line (in order to stand out and stick to the machine of Mike), Talmacsi gets overwhelmed by the inexhaustible Andrea Iannone !

10th round : Returning blow for blow, the former Hungarian boxer however manages to regain his good thanks to the suction, while Pol Espargaro takes advantage of the braking to grab a few places and turn in third position in front of Iannone, Corsi and Terol !

The unfortunate Pablo Nieto returns to the pits, decidedly not varnished this season which will be for him the last in 125 … Jules Cluzel is only 22 seconds behind the leader, which represents a good performance for the French driver since his machine Chinese is still in the development phase and gives very high km / h to its competitors on the long straight line of Mugello.

11th, 12th, 13th and 14th laps : Mike di Meglio gives way to Gabor Talmacsi then Pol Espargaro, while Terol, Iannone, Smith, Corsi and Gadea remain threatening. Nicolas Terol passes the Toulouse driver by squeezing him a little on the vibrator, which does the business of Corsi who in turn overtakes the Derbi n ° 63 !

Nicolas Terol, visibly in great shape, passes through a mouse hole on the inside of Pol Espargaro and comes out of 180 ° before the last chicane in second position! Very swift in the long stretch of the right, the Aprilia de Terol took the lead braking the first straight, followed by Corsi, Espargaro and the unfortunate Talmacsi who lost three places in the aspiration game. !

Emerging from fifth place at the same place in the next loop, Mike di Meglio brakes anthology and takes the lead in the race ahead of Talmacsi, Espargaro and the two team drivers Jack and Jones! Stefan Bradl is tenth behind Joan Olive.

15th, 16th and 17th laps : Mike di Meglio seems to want to take the powder and set the circuit record in 1’58.570! In these conditions, to say that the Ajo Motosport rider has reached a milestone this season is an understatement. !

Gabor Talmacsi and Pol Espargaro, however, do not give up to the French driver, while behind, a slight break formed between the leading men and the group made up of Corsi, Terol, Smith (injured in the finger following a violent fall during the essays), Gadea and Olive.

Nicolas Terol and Simone Corsi attack in the same series of turns: the first will force Espargaro to slightly raise his Derbi, while the second comes back second at the cost of braking from beyond the grave !

Trying his luck braking from the pit straight line, the Italian came up against the determination of "Dimeg ‘", fiercely attached to the idea of ​​being the first French to shine on the Mugello circuit since the integration of the Tuscan track at the world championship !

Andrea Iannone, a time leader of the leading peloton, seems to have problems since he passes through Cortese, now pointing tenth.

The seven leading pilots once again pass the timing cell with a gap of less than a second, despite all the efforts of our French representative to try to escape! Much further behind, Alexis Masbou is 23rd, Jules Cluzel 26th and Louis Rossi 34th.

Simone Corsi tries a very manly interior on the leading man, but once again, Mike resists and retains the leadership! Thanks to dazzling braking, Bradley Smith took second place, just ahead of Corsi and Talmacsi who explained themselves fiercely, even going as far as contact! Pol Espargaro is ahead of Gadea and Nicolas Terol, whom he has literally ejected from the trajectory in the first straight of the circuit !

18th round : Bradley Smith rushes into the exhaust of the Toulouse Derbi at the start of the long straight line and places it quite logically at the finish line. Simone Corsi takes the opportunity to pass Mike under braking, but he is slightly better placed to re-accelerate and manages to tackle the next left in front of the Italian !

Pol Espargaro, Gabor Talmacsi and Sergio Gadea follow a few cables away, preceding the unfortunate Terol, slightly lonely following his contact with Espargaro. This one infiltrates under the wheels of Corsi, followed by the obstinate Talmacsi! The poor 20-year-old Italian lost two places in the blink of an eye, an action that perfectly illustrates the degree of competitiveness that reigns in this category. !

Last round : Mike di Meglio tries to regain command in the straight line but Corsi, really overexcited on his land, appears under braking and passes all his fighting comrades! Talmacsi and Espargaro see the opportunity and take the opportunity to infiltrate in turn under the fairing of Mike, who precedes Englishman Bradley Smith !

The first three drivers have widened a slight gap and despite the significant number of laps made in the lead by our French driver, it seems that Mike should in the end be content to finish at the foot of the podium … Unless Bradley Smith, very pressing behind the Toulouse, do not attack in the last curves !

Of rare intensity (so much the suction game is in full swing until the last centimeter!), The finish sees the crowning of Italian Simone Corsi ahead of Gabor Talmacsi, Pol Espargaro and Mike di Meglio, moderately rewarded afterwards. a brilliant race of talent and daring !

The rest of the French clan ranks 23rd for Jules Cluzel, 27th for Alexis Masbou and 32nd for Louis Rossi…

Corsi and Di Meglio are therefore tied for the lead in the world championship, ahead of Nicolas Terol, Joan Olive, Stefan Bradl and Pol Espargaro.

Italian Grand Prix classification 125
1- CORSI S. 6- GADEA S. 11- BONSEY S.
2- TALMACSI G. 7- TEROL N. 12- IANNONE A.
3- ESPARGARO P. 8- CORTESE S. 13- DE ROSA R.
4- DI MEGLIO M 9- OLIVE J. 14- REDDING S.
5- SMITH B. 10- BRADL S. 15- RANSEDER M.
23rd: CLUZEL J. – 27th: MASBOU A. – 32nd: ROSSI L.

To be continued: the round by round 250 and MotoGP. Stay connected !

Alexandre BARDIN – Photos DR and F. KIRN

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