MotoGP – The Spanish Grand Prix turn by turn –

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The Spanish Grand Prix turn by turn

MotoGP - The Spanish Grand Prix turn by turn -

We’re off again for one turn … by turn! Like last year, Moto-Net’s turn-based look back at the Grand Prix the day before. Round 1: the Spanish Grand Prix at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in Andalusia…

The first Grand Prix of the season, which was held yesterday in Jerez de la Frontera, Andalusia, had everything to reserve some surprises. In 125, the usual tenors had to give way to the young wolves because of the new regulations limiting the age.

A little less suspense in the 250, where the two best in the category, Pedrosa and Porto, are expected at the forefront. But Randy de Puniet was going to have to wear the tricolor colors high, the other French having no official motorcycles or, like Arnaud Vincent and his brand new Fantic, having practically no chance of playing the podiums..

Finally, in the premier class, even if everyone knows that Rossi has every chance, the competition is even tougher this year, Honda having put a lot of resources into trying to erase the snub suffered in 2004, and the others , Ducati, Suzuki and Kawasaki, progressing and getting closer to the best lap times. Pilot sides, the new guard, with the Melandri, Hayden, Hopkins, Nakano, show the end of their fairing to the old ones like Gibernau, Capirossi and others.

For his part, Max Biaggi remains the great unknown of the season: author of good winter tests, he seems to be struggling to adjust his machine for Jerez, to the point of giving serious doubts about his ability to appear honorably in this first Grand 2005 prices.

The other rule change requires a smaller amount of gasoline and in case of rain, there will be no more stoppage of the race in MotoGP (read). In short, the show promises! Especially since the weather, too, is whimsical: no rain in sight, but a strong enough wind which disturbs the bikes on the angle at the most critical moments, and which brings back a lot of dust on the track. Enough to take risks outside the ideal trajectory, and therefore complicate the task for overtaking !

125 cc category

Most of the drivers set their best times on the first qualifying day on Friday. It is Simoncelli who takes the pole being the only one to go below 1’47 ". Pasini, Luthi and lai accompany him on the first row. In the second row we find Kallio, Talmacsi, Faubel and De Rosa, the rookie who makes his second GP there! Zanetti, Koyama, Poggiali – back in 125 after his poor results with the official Aprilia 250 last year (read our) – and Pesek form the third place. Mike Di Meglio will start from the 4th row with the 16th time while Alexis Masbou achieved the 28th time of the 39 qualified.

During the warm-up, with a background of very fresh air which complicates the task since the temperature is expected to be around ten degrees higher at the end of the morning, it is again Simoncelli who is the fastest in front Pasini, Poggiali, Faubel, Talmacsi, Luthi, Carchano, Simon, Kallio, Olive, Lai, Hernandez, Nieto, De Rosa and Pesek. Di Meglio, him, achieves the 21st stopwatch in the morning.

Departure. On the two KTMs, Talmagsi and Kallio emerge from the second row and enter the first corner in the lead! Pasini, Lai, Faubel, Simoncelli, Luthi, Simon and Nieto follow. Bautista crashed at the first corner, set off again last, then retired. Pasini passed 2nd on the second braking, then took the lead in 3rd! Luthi, meanwhile, passes Simoncelli, Faubel and Pasini at the same time, Lai taking 4th position. Luthi passed 4th ahead of Lai and Faubel 6th ahead of Simoncelli, Simon and Nieto. Pirro, Bonache and Zzanetti will not finish the first round !

In the first pass, Pasini took a step ahead of Talmacsi, Kallio, Luthi, Lai, Faubel, Simoncellli, Simon, Nieto, Espargaro, Koyama, Poggiali, Di Meglio, Masbou, Gadea, Pesel, Hernandez and Garchano. Luthi passed 3rd under braking at the end of the straight line. Behind Nieto, Espargaro and Koyama are three to four lengths behind. The pursuers, the two French just behind him, are led by Poggiali. Luthi continues his ascent and passes 2nd in front of Kallio, Lai passing 4th in front of Talmacsi at the same time. Luthi immediately reunites Pasini, Lai passes Talmacsi in 3rd position. On the 2nd lap, Lai having set the best time, Pasini goes too wide at the end of the straight line and sees Luthi and Lai pass him immediately! Faubel passed 5th in front of Kallio. Lai took the lead in front of Luthi, Simoncelli came back to 6th. Luthi takes the lead again.

At the 3rd lap, Luthi leads ahead of Lai, Kallio, Pasini, Simoncelli, Talmacsi, Faubel and Nieto. Di Meglio is 14th. Simoncelli passed 4th ahead of Pasini. De Rosa is wrong. Luthi took off and took several steps ahead, passing with the fastest lap in the race on the 4th lap ahead of Lai, Kallio, Simoncelli, Nieto, Pasini, Talmacsi and Simon. The wind picks up again on the circuit and brings back clouds of dust above the track. Luthi maintains his forcing in the lead, followed by a trio of Lai, Kallio and Simoncelli. Then Nieto, Pasini, Talmacsi, Simon and Faubel are a few additional lengths. Poggiali is still leading the chase ahead of Espargaro, Koyama, Di Meglio and Masbou clinging to their 13th and 14th places. Nieto puts on some charcoal and comes back to Simoncelli, scavenging meter after meter. In the lead, it’s Kallio who brings Simoncelli and Lai back to Luthi.

On the 6th lap, Luthi saw his lead reduced to two or three lengths … Nieto always came back, then Talmacsi, Simon and Faubel. Halfway through, Luthi, Kallio, Simoncelli, Lai and Nieto are grouped together. Angel Rodriguez falls and gives up. On the 7th lap, Luthi still leads ahead of Kallio, Simoncelli, Lai and Nieto, who set the fastest lap. Pasini, Talmacsi, Simon and Faubel are left behind. Kallio takes the lead in front of Luthi, Simoncelli tries to follow him but comes out too wide and must let Lai and Nieto pass. Two bends later, Lai comes out wide and sees Nieto benefit immediately. Taking advantage of the fight, Pasini brings Talmacsi back to contact !

On the 8th lap, seven pilots lead the race together: Kallio, Luthi, Nieto, Lai, Simoncelli, Pasini and Talmacsi. Gadea takes 13th place from Di Meglio, Masbou being 17th. At the 9th pass, Kallio who had tried to leave sees Luthi put him back on, but their five pursuers are still in contact. The first are already arriving on the first retarded! As the said retarded passes, Kallio goes inside, Luthi outside, but Luthi made the wrong choice and sees Nieto pass, who takes the opportunity to steal Kallio’s head in the process! Gadea falls and starts again, leaving Di Meglio to return to 14th, Masbou back on his wheel. Lai and Simonceli play Luthi.

In the 10th lap, Nieto leads ahead of Kallio, Lai, Simoncelli, Luthi, Pasini and Talmacsi. Lai passes 2nd in front of Kallio. Masbou passed 13th ahead of Hernandez and Di Meglio, just behind Poggiali! Lai attacks and passes Nieto in the lead, but slips and must let Nieto pass again … Lai passes Nieto and forces him to move away, which benefits from his momentum Simoncelli who had just passed Kallio.

At the 11th lap, Lai leads ahead of Simoncelli, Kallio, Nieto, Luthi and Talmacsi who passed in front of Pasini. Simoncelli went inside and took the lead in front of Lai, who was polite again on the next turn. Luthi passes in force 4th in front of Nieto. Talmacsi takes 5th place from Nieto under braking which commands the 12th straight line. When crossing the line, Simoncelli leads but Lai sucks him in with Kallio, Luthi, Talmacsi, Nieto and Pasini in ambush. Simoncelli took the lead again, but Lai came back again at the next turn. Luthi takes third place ahead of Kallio at the cost of a superb exterior! In the process, he brakes at Simoncelli and goes 2nd! In the momentum, he took the lead from Lai, Simoncelli taking the opportunity to take the wheel of the young Swiss.

In the 13th lap, Luthi and Simoncelli were three steps ahead of Lai, Kallio, Talmacsi, Nieto and Pasini. Di Meglio is 15th, Masbou 17th. Braking from the front straight line, Kallio, seeing Luthi and Simoncelli take off, took 3rd place from Lai, passing the 14th line ahead of Pasini, Talmacsi and Nieto. On the next lap, Simoncelli, who took the lead, saw himself relieved of Luthi, forced to retire due to a mechanical problem … Lai then passed 2nd to 2 seconds ahead of Kallio, Pasini, Nieto and Talmacsi. Koyama passed 7th in front of Faubel, more than 10s behind the leader. Kallio took 2nd place from Lai ahead of Nieto, Pasini and Talmacsi. At the cost of a superb interior, Nieto passed 3rd in front of the.

On the 16th lap, Simoncelli was almost 3 seconds ahead of Kallio, Nieto, Lai, Pasini and Talmacsi. At the end of the straight line, Nieto, seeing Simoncelli take off, took 2nd place from Kallio. Talmacsi struggled to keep up with the pace imposed by the Spanish who accelerated to come back. Giusepetti takes a big fall and gives up, groggy but unharmed. On the 17th lap, Lai came back to 2nd under braking in front of Nieto, only Kallio managing to follow the two men within 2 seconds of Simoncelli, Pasini being in turn slightly behind. Di Meglio is 13th, Masbou 15th.

On the 18th lap, Simoncelli still leads, 1.6 seconds ahead of Lai, Nieto and Kallio. Pasini and Talmacsi are left behind. Poggiali came back 7th in front of Faubel. Di Meglio is 13th just ahead of Masbou. Shortly before the 20th round, Lai came out too wide and had to let Nieto pass. On the line, Simoncelli is 1.7 s ahead of Nieto, Lai and Kallio, Pasini and Talmacsi are at 5.8 s, Poggiali, Faubel, Simon and Koyama at 13 s, Olive at 16 s. Carchano passed 14th ahead of Masbou, who reported an engine problem to his pit! Nieto, who leads the pursuit again, brings Lai and Kallio back to Simoncelli, who is only 1.2 seconds ahead.

At the last braking before the 21st passage on the line, Nieto loses the front and goes to the fault! The Spaniard takes the track again and crosses the line in 11th position, more than 22 seconds behind the leader. Lai took a few steps ahead of Kallio for second place. Alexis Masbou is forced to retire after a superb first race. Kallio puts pressure on him and comes back on Lai’s heels. At the start of the last lap, Simoncelli leads with a comfortable lead over Lai and Kallio returned. Koyama in turn gives up. At the last corner, Simoncelli secured his lead but Kallio poked Lai inside under braking and managed to keep the advantage until the line, despite Lai’s best efforts. Pasini takes 4th place ahead of Talmacsi, Poggiali is 6th ahead of Faubel, Olive, Simon, Hernandez, Di Meglio 11th ahead of Nieto, then Carchano, Espargaro and Terol. Only 25 drivers out of the 39 starters finished the race, with many engine problems leading to dropping out.

Simoncelli thus concludes the weekend he dominated in practice, taking his second Grand Prix victory. The one who had already won the Spanish Grand Prix in 2004, in the rain (read), asserts himself as a serious contender for the 2005 title !

250 cc category

The inevitable Dani Pedrosa, with his number 1, is domineering from practice. Author of the best time and still improving on the second day of testing, he is ahead of Porto who did not improve on Saturday. Stoner and De Puniet complete the first line. In second row, we find De Angelis, Aoyama, Barbera and Locatelli. Lorenzo, Dovizioso, Takahashi and Corsi form the 3rd row. Sylvain Guintoli is 16th in fastest time, Gregory Leblanc 25th, Hugo Marchand 26th and Arnaud Vincent, whose Fantic is at the very beginning of development, qualified with forceps in 28th and last position..

In the warm-up, Pedrosa was once again the fastest ahead of Porto, Stoner, De Angelis, De Puniet, Locatell, Aoyama, Barbera, Takahashi, Lorenzo, Dovizioso, Debon and Corsi. Guintoli was the 18th fastest, Leblanc the 21st and Marchand the 22nd. Vincent, victim of a rear brake blocking that made it seem like it was tightening, only drove six laps and clocked the 27th fastest time. Leblanc injured his hand on Friday and Marchand in his foot on Saturday.

Departure. Pedrosa retained the advantage ahead of Porto from the start. Both are followed by Aoyama, Barbera, De Puniet, Takahashi, De Angelis, Dovizioso and Locatelli. Pedrosa and Porto quickly took two to three lengths on Aoyama. Randy passes 4th in front of Barbera. On the first lap, Pedrosa and Porto are around thirty meters ahead of Aoyama, himself several lengths ahead of Barbera, De Angelis who passed De Puniet, Dovizioso, Takahashi, Locatelli, Stoner, Lorenzo, Debon, Corsi, Guintoli and Jenkner. Marchand is 20th. Randy attacks and passes De Angelis, then Barbera at the next turn.

On the second lap, Pedrosa, who had the best time, and Porto lead detached ahead of Aoyama, De Puniet, De Angelis who in turn overtook Barbera, Dovizioso and Stoner. Cardenas falls and gives up. Randy attacks and returns to Aoyama, having left De Angelis leading the chase. Randy De Puniet passes 3rd in front of Aoyama, then sets off immediately in pursuit of Pedrosa and Porto, dropping Aoyama immediately.

On the 3rd lap, Pedrosa and Porto lead, but it is Randy who does the best lap in the race and returns to the leaders who had taken 2 s in advance in two laps! De Angelis returns to Aoyama. Guintoli gives up, candle broken. When braking on entering the straight line, De Angelis passes Aoyama who resists and transplanted inside. On the line, Pedrosa, Porto and De Puniet once again set the fastest time lead, Aoyama and De Angelis a little further, then Stoner who furiously climbs back in front of Barbera. De Angelis passes Aoyama who resists and passes again. De Puniet is almost back in the wheels of Porto.

When braking at the start of the 5th straight line, Stoner got back into Aoyama’s wheels and hits him under braking: hot ahead! On the line, Pedrosa was 0.7 seconds ahead of Porto and Randy, who set another fastest lap in the race. De Angelis is a little further, a few lengths ahead of Aoyama, Stoner, Barbera and Dovizioso. Barbera passes Stoner in force: it feels like 125 last season !

On the 7th lap, Pedrosa was 1 s ahead of Porto and De Puniet, whose bike moved significantly more than that of the two leaders: the price of his recovery! 3 s later, De Angelis was 4th just ahead of Stoner, who got rid of Aoyama, Barbera, Lorenzo and Dovizioso. On the 8th lap, Pedrosa was still 1 s ahead of Porto and De Puniet. Stoner passed De Angelis 6.4 seconds from the leader, then Aoyama, 7.5 seconds, was chased by Barbera, Lorenzo and Dovizioso. Locatelli is almost 10 s, then Debon and Corsi more than 12 s. Aoyama, wrestling with Barbera, fall and give up.

On lap 9, Pedrosa further increased his lead over Porto and De Puniet. Stoner and De Angelis are a little further, then Lorenzo has let go of Barbera following a collision with Aoyama. Arnaud Vincent gives up with the only qualified Fantic. Pedrosa was 1.8 s ahead on the 10th lap over Porto and De Puniet. Stoner lets go of De Angelis and tries to get back on Randy, whose bike is moving more and more … On the 11th row, Pedrosa has further increased his lead over Porto, which De Puniet is visibly struggling to keep up: his tires have undoubtedly been undermined by its recovery at the start of the race. At the end of the straight line, Randy loses the front at the start of braking and gives up! Porto then have the field free to secure their 2nd place.

On the 12th lap, Pedrosa leads alone ahead of Porto alone 2nd, Stoner alone 3rd and De Angelis alone 4th! Dovizioso is 5th ahead of Lorenzo and Locatelli, then Debon is again the best private in 8th position. Marchand is 20th, Leblanc 21st. Pedrosa is very hot, loses the front but manages to control the glide. On the 13th lap, the positions remain unchanged but Stoner in turn makes a mistake, leaving the 3rd place to De Angelis.

On the 14th lap, we still had Pedrosa well in the lead ahead of Porto who kept the pressure under 2s, De Angelis, then Dovizioso and Lorenzo, Locatelli trying to come back a few lengths. Debon and Barbera are a little further. Steve Jenkner is in turn trapped by the dusty track and gives up. Pedrosa further increased his lead, bringing it to 2.8 seconds over Porto on the 16th lap. De Angelis is 3rd, Dovizioso 4th.

On the 17th lap, Barbera passed 7th ahead of Debon. On the 18th lap, Pedrosa was 3 seconds ahead of Porto, 19 seconds over De Angelis, 22 seconds over Dovizioso, 24 seconds over Lorenzo, 26 seconds over Locatelli, 30 seconds over Barbera, 31 seconds over Debon and 37 seconds over Corsi. Pedrosa arrives on the retarded and takes a turn for Gregory Leblanc, who rides with Rizmayer. Pedrosa controlled and maintained his 3s lead over Porto in the 19th and 20th laps. Marchand gives up, his broken toe (and asleep to ease the pain) not allowing him to feel his selector during the race !

On lap 23, Pedrosa and Porto are still 3.5s apart, never letting go, the bikes sliding and shifting at every turn. De Angelis is firmly established in 3rd position. At the start of the last lap, Pedrosa held on and his domination was complete from this first race. The positions are unchanged until the end and Dani Pedrosa celebrates with dignity his number one, as one would expect, with a splendid victory. Sebastian Porto takes 2nd place, De Angelis 3rd. Behind them, Dovizioso is very happy with his 4th place, first among the defectors from the 125 ahead of Barbera, Lorenzo and Locatelli. Debon 8th is again first private then Corsi, Giansanti, Davies, Rous, Baldolini, Ballerini and Gregory Leblanc 15th and only French at the finish, who scores his first point despite his hand injury! As in 125, many riders were forced to retire: only 16 were classified at the finish, for 27 qualified !

MotoGP Category

During the now only qualifying practice session on Saturday (read), Rossi, whose tests were more devoted to the tuning than to the stopwatch, still struck a big blow by slamming a record time qualifying him in pole for the 26th time in the premier class, relegating Gibernau to half a second! Melandri, for his first race on Honda, qualifies 3rd alongside them in the first row. In second row we find Hayden, Nakano who does wonders with his Kawasaki "big bang" and Capirossi. Tamada, Barros and Bayliss form a 3rd row 100% Honda while Hofmann, Hopkins and Checa are in 4th place followed by Elias, Roberts and Edwards in 5th. Biaggi, who has floundered all weekend in the setup of his official Honda, is only 16th on the grid alongside Xaus and Rolfo! If the 16th position of the Roman Emperor is his worst since he was in the premier class, Toni Elias on the other hand is the second best Yamaha rider in qualifying for his first MotoGP race, while Colin Edwards becomes the first rider to have driven on three different brands: Aprilia in 2003, Honda in 2004 and Yamaha in 2005.

During the warm-up, Rossi inexplicably falls. He remained in the pit to recover and had to be satisfied with the 16th fastest time. Gibernau was the fastest ahead of Melandri, who confirmed his excellent form, Barros, Hayden, Biaggi, Hofmann, Edwards, Hopkins, Nakano, Roberts, Bayliss, Checa, Tamada, Capirossi and Elias.

Departure. Gibernau made an excellent start ahead of Rossi, Hayden and Melandri. Rossi took the lead from the first braking but came out wide and Gibernau took the opportunity to pass immediately. Hayden is 3rd ahead of Bayliss, Nakano, Capirossi, Checa, Hofmann, Elias, Tamada, Barros, Edwards, Roberts and Hopkins. Hayden passed Rossi in the second quarter of the circuit, Nakano taking 4th place from Bayliss. Melandri in turn tries to attack Rossi, but without success.

On the first pass, Gibernau and Hayden are in the lead with around thirty meters ahead of Rossi, Melandri, Nakano a little further, Bayliss then, ahead of Capirossi, Checa, Hofmann, Elias, Tamada, Barros, Edwards, Roberts, Hopkins , Rolfo, Biaggi, Byrne, Ellison and Battaini. Xaus falls but leaves again in this first lap. Rossi and Melandri reconnect with Gibernau and Hayden.

On the second lap, Gibernau still leads ahead of Hayden, Rossi, who scored the fastest lap, and Melandri. Nakano remains alone in 5th, Bayliss leading the chase ahead of the two Ducatis de Capirossi and Checa. Rossi comes out wide under braking, Melandri takes the opportunity to pass but Rossi immediately passes through a mouse hole inside. Xaus stops at the pit where the mechanics are busy allowing him to start again, while Byrne gives up with the KTM-powered Proton.

On the 3rd lap, Hayden sets the best time. Rossi and Melandri were again slightly behind. Biaggi passed 16th ahead of Rolfo, 11.5 s behind Gibernau. On the 4th lap, Rossi caught up on Hayden again. Melandri is slightly behind. Checa passed 7th in front of Capirossi. Rossi won under braking and took 2nd place from Hayden who seemed to be struggling to follow Gibernau. Barros passes 12th ahead of Elias.

On the 5th lap, Rossi sets the lap record. He returns to Gibernau and lets go of Hayden. Melandri is 1.4 seconds behind the leader. Tamada moved up to 8th position. On the 6th lap, Gibernau and Rossi lead in front of Hayden who hangs on and Melandri behind, Nakano is solid and only 5th. As usual, Rossi begins to put pressure on Gibernau. Hayden took the opportunity to pick up the passage of the 7th lap. Melandri and Nakano are driving alone while Checa and Tamada are chasing in front of Bayliss. Biaggi passed Hopkins, who is probably feeling the consequences of his fall, for 15th position. Gibernau picks up the pace and Rossi, whose bike moves a lot, is attacked by Hayden.

On the 8th lap, Gibernau was almost a second ahead of Rossi and Hayden. Biaggi continues his ascent and passes 13th ahead of Roberts and Capirossi. On lap 9, Gibernau was 0.8 s ahead of Rossi and Hayden. Melandri is at 2.6 s, Nakano at 10 s, Tamada, Checa, Bayliss and Barros at 12 s, Edwards at 13.4 s, Hofmann at 14.5 s and Elias at 16.4 s. Rossi puts in some coal and returns to Gibernau, outdistancing Hayden. Biaggi passed 12th.

On the 11th lap, Rossi almost caught up with Gibernau, who seemed to be going faster in the first part of the circuit while Rossi made up for it in the second half. Hayden is pushing to stay in touch with the two leaders. In the 12th straight line, Rossi is behind Gibernau’s aspiration: the Honda takes down the Yamaha when accelerating and Rossi makes the connection again when braking. Roberts returns to the pits. In the right turn commanding the pit straight, Rossi extends the inside leg as if he wanted to test the grip, then repeats the operation on each lap…

On the 14th lap, Barros passed Tamada for 7th position. Gibernau has regained a few steps ahead of Rossi, Hayden is still hanging on to his 3rd place, Melandri is riding alone 4th. Nakano 5th sees Barros, Tamada and Bayliss return. Edwards, Checa, Capirossi and Hofmann are a little further. On the 15th lap, Gibernau was 0.4 s ahead of Rossi, from whom he took 1 / 10th. Barros, he returned to contact with Nakano. Biaggi passed 11th ahead of Hofmann. On the 16th lap, Rossi came back 0.3 s from Gibernau! Barros was 5th ahead of Nakano and Biaggi 9th ahead of Checa. At the start of the 18th straight line, Rossi came back in contact with Gibernau…

On the 19th lap, Rossi is in Gibernau’s wheel and sticks him throughout the circuit, except when accelerating in the straight line. Nicky Hayden falls under braking on the last corner … and sets off again. On the 21st lap, Gibernau and Rossi take a turn at Ellison. Melandri is therefore 3rd, Barros 4th, Nakano 5th, Bayliss 6th, Tamada 7th and Biaggi 8th. Hayden retires after falling on lap 22.

On the 23rd lap, Rossi seemed to be slightly behind Gibernau but he made up for lost time by braking harder at each entry into the curve. At the entrance of the 24th straight line, he is again in contact with the Spanish. Nakano, sensing the Bayliss threat, accelerates and turns faster than Bayliss and Biaggi! Under the braking which commands the 25th straight line, Rossi takes the lead at the cost of a masterful braking and manages to contain Gibernau who was trying to accelerate again! His Holiness then tries to accelerate to let go of Gibernau, at the cost of spectacular slides, but Sete hangs on. At the start of the last lap, Rossi is 10 meters ahead…

Halfway through the circuit, Gibernau returned and Rossi deviated from the path of the slowest right: Gibernau then went inside to regain the lead. Rossi comes back, brakes again but comes out wide and lets Gibernau take him back at the exit of the curve.

There is only the last corner which controls the straight line: Rossi brakes from beyond the grave and seems for a moment unable to take the corner. Gibernau, on his path, crashes into Rossi’s motorcycle while trying to close the door. Rossi then takes the path and Gibernau, forced to straighten his bike, goes out into the sandbox but returns to the track to take 2nd position, leaving the victory to a Rossi who, at the cost of his phenomenal fighting spirit, can celebrate his victory. of a masterful wheeling: hot boiling !

Melandri takes 3rd place on the podium for his first race on Honda: the two best Honda of this race are therefore the two teammates of Telefonica. Barros is 4th, Nakano very handsome 5th, Bayliss 6th, Biaggi 7th after a good comeback, Tamada 8th, Edwards 9th, Checa 10th, Hofmann 11th, Elias 12th for his first race in the premier class, Capirossi 13th, Hopkins 14th and Rolfo takes 15th place for his first race in the Ducati D’Antin.

The MotoGP season promises to be particularly hot and as Rossi will say after the race, there is a good chance there will be more fights between Rossi and the Hondas, Gibernau once again asserting himself as the number one opponent of the Italian prodigy. .. "The race was very good, very hard, especially for me after having fallen in the morning during the warm up very fortunately without damage", thus explains His Holiness:"the team was excellent since my bike was working very well for the race, where the level was very high. Gibernau set a very fast pace and pulled away straight away. I attacked a few laps from the end, but halfway through the last lap I made a mistake: at the end of the straight, I came too wide. From then on, it was a very hard fight: Sete and I passed each other several times and we even touched each other. I’m sure Sete is angry on the spot, but the season will be very tough anyway and there will be more battles.", warns Rossi.

For his part, Sete Gibernau also foresees "a very long and difficult championship"."We kept a really high pace and at the end I slowed down a bit to see where Rossi was better.", explains the Catalan again:"We put the pressure on each other and in the end, I’m satisfied to have given everything and to see that from the first race, our level is very high.".

Cutting short an emerging controversy from which neither of the two champions would have emerged grown up, Sete specifies that he does "not want this great race to be all about the last corner! I am passionate about this sport and there is nothing to be said for controversy. We just have to continue to be strong and calm to achieve our dream. I led the race from the start, wanted to see Rossi’s pace and I believe my strategy was the right one. We must continue forward".

See you in Estoril next week for the second Grand Prix of this season which promises to be very eventful in 125 and MotoGP. Let’s hope that in 250, Randy De Puniet can once again show off his speed, but while staying on his wheels! Otherwise, we risk reliving an overwhelming domination of Pedrosa, who once again asserted his incredible superiority during this first race. !

Last minute

Despite the rather fair-play attitude of Rossi and Gibernau following their collision, the entourage of the Catalan pilot is publishing a strangely alarmist statement this evening according to which "his participation in the next race (in Estoril next Sunday, Editor’s note) is currently still uncertain".

According to the medical examination spent this morning in Barcelona, ​​Sete is indeed in pain, "following the impact suffered in the last lap of the Spanish Grand Prix", from an injury to the left shoulder."A particularly weak shoulder"already weakened by two operations, specifies the medical assessment which recommends"rest and anti-inflammatory and analgesic treatment"."Aspirin and in bed !", Dottore Rossi could certainly have prescribed…

J. ARSOUILLE (with Eric MICHEL) – Photos DR and O. BERGAMASCHI

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