During the press conference before the start of the Le Mans GP this weekend he stated that as of the end of the season he will retire. Recently becoming a father who can blame him. He is at the top of his game and as they say go out when you’re at the top.

He has been with both Ducati and Honda but has never tried the Yamaha that Rossi won the Championship with it would have been nice to see the difference between both him and Rossi as they both tried to win a title on all three manufacturers.

Stoner was one of the riders that didn’t like the introduction of the slower CRT bikes and riders to the grid but Ezpeleta is trying to make the sport more accessible to more people and teams by bringing the costs down.

My question would be will he still retire if he isn’t at the top of the standings come November?

Anyway, I can’t believe that it is nearly time for the third round of the eighteen rounds.

Round Two – Jerez

So, Jerez was round number two but I never got the chance to report on this as I was busy away on a break. I still managed to watch the race and I have recorded it to watch again this week to digest the ins and outs of the entire race.

The first session was just a carbon copy of last years. Rain and bad weather hit the circuit and saw most of the field sit out the first session. Bautista was the only prototype to hit the circuit while the CRTs were out in force. Edwards was once again the slowest, as he was in Qatar a fortnight ago.

MotoGP FP2- Still Wet

The second session saw the weather improve slightly and all 21 of the riders took to the circuit. Pedrosa was the fastest of them all. Rossi, a wet weather specialist some would say, was the early pace setter but Pedrosa put his name at the top of the sheet going 0.660 seconds quicker than the Italian.

Lorenzo was a further 0.433 seconds behind Rossi, but crucially for the Mallorcan he was in front of Stoner. Is this a sign of things to come?

Hayden managed fifth in front of Dovizioso, Bautista and Crutchlow who was 2.572 seconds off of the pace. Edwards improved his placing by being 15^th fastest

FP3 another Rain Affected Session

The tyres were tested out as the riders managed long runs to see how the wet Bridgestone tyres would be able to cope with a race distance. With Sunday forecast to be wet once again judging the performance of the tyres would be a critical strategy to how to ride the race.

Pedrosa was again the fastest as he bettered his FP2 time by over half a second. Lorenzo was 0.111 seconds behind him followed by Stoner and Hayden. Crutchlow moved up the order to fifth with Rossi behind him.

Randy de Puniet was the fastest of the CRT guys for the second session running showing that the Power Electronics Aspar is the one to beat. He was 1.851 seconds slower than Pedrosa.

Qualifying Session from Jerez

Lorenzo took full advantage of the dry track for the qualifying session. Times dropped by 11 seconds as the riders weren’t struggling with the wet slippery surface.

Lorenzo topped the qualifying time sheet just 0.135 seconds in front of Pedrosa, who was the quickest in the rest of the sessions. Hayden joins them on the front row of the grid, but his teammate, Rossi could only manage 13^th on the dry track.

Crutchlow qualified fourth, 0.007 seconds in front of Stoner and 0.007 Seconds behind Hayden. Ben Spies completed the second row.

Dovizioso, Bautista and Bradl qualified on the third row as the highest of the CRT riders, Randy de Puniet headed up the fourth row ahead of Abraham and Barbera.

I’ll write about the race later as well as Moto2 and Moto3.

Pedrosa gets the best of the start as he rockets to second. Crutchlow drops to seventh. Jorge holds it to the end of the first lap followed by the Repsol Hondas. The next riders are Dovi and Crutchlow as the guy from Coventry has cut through the field.

Honda’s Early Pace

Shots from the front of the two Hondas down the finish straight show them closing on Jorge but he holds them off into turn one. Stoner is looking to take Jorge.

Stoner gets him on the finish straight at the end of lap three. So the line-up is Stoner, Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Dovizioso and Crutchlow. The Tech 3 guys are trying to gain on the leading three. Stefan Bradl is chasing the on the LCR Honda. Rossi is running 12^th, while Hayden is the highest Ducati running in 8^th.

Rossi’s Race So Far

Rossi runs on after losing out to Abraham but replays show the Italian had an incident with Hector Barbera. James Ellison was running in 20^th but he runs wide at the first turn and drops to 21^st. He is promoted to 20^th again as Abraham has an issue.

Lap eight and it sees the first of the riders coming into the pits as Michele Pirro comes in. Stoner is leading the way as he leads by 1.5 seconds over Lorenzo after 8 laps. Abraham comes back into the pits and gets off the bike to be the first retirement of the race.

Hayden takes Bautista to grab seventh will he push and see if he can catch the young German, Stefan Bradl? Time will tell.

Stretching the Lead

Stoner is increasing his lead. Rossi is the fastest on track as he is doing 1:51 lap times but as he is running in tenth after taking Spies he has some time to make up and some ground too. Will the tyres be having issues after the abuse of the first eleven laps or will the better riders be able to manage them better than the younger ones?

Crutchlow looks like he is looking to get past Dovizioso but isn’t able to do such just yet.

Stoner still leads and has over 2 seconds advantage over the Yamaha Factory Racing rider Lorenzo. On Jorge’s tail is Pedrosa but then there are another eight seconds until the Tech 3 guys.

Jorge is pulling in the gap on Stoner as we reach 8 laps to go. Hayden takes Bautista and is up to seventh. Rossi is six seconds behind Hector Barbera but is lapping slower than the Spaniard. Luckily for Rossi Spies is also lapping two seconds slower than the Italian.

Hayden and Bradl

Hayden is a second behind Stefan Bradl in a group that contains the two of them, Bautista and Barbera. Edwards is seven seconds behind Spies and Edwards is lapping quicker than his fellow American, the question there is will there be a battle for eleventh.

Lap 17 Crutchlow gets in front of Dovizioso. Was it an error by the Italian or is it his turn to watch his team mate. Stoner’s lead is just over a second but Lorenzo is being pushed by Pedrosa. Danilo Petrucci comes into the pits to retire.

As we reach the end of the race the front three look as though they are going to be battling for the win as Lorenzo and Pedrosa are pulling in Stoner. Pedrosa does over take Lorenzo but they are both within a second of the leader. Lorenzo takes Pedrosa at the hairpin as they are wheel to wheel with the Aussie.

Hayden drops two places as he fights in the four way battle for sixth.

Last Corner Pass

Last corner of the 19^th lap Lorenzo takes Stoner, the Hondas power towards to one alongside the Spaniard’s Yamaha but he nearly takes the front off of Stoner’s bike as they turn into turn one. Lorenzo then starts to build a lead as Stoner worries about his team mate.

Pedrosa then takes Stoner relegating him to third. The Tech 3 guys are still fourth and fifth as the four rider battle still ensues behind for sixth. Hayden is trying to be the first of the Ducati’s as h battles against Bradl, Barbera and Bautista.

The victory goes to Lorenzo as he finishes nearly a second in front of Pedrosa.

So the final standings of the race were:

1. Lorenzo
2. Pedrosa
3. Stoner
4. Crutchlow
5. Dovizioso
6. Hayden
7. Bautista
8. Bradl
9. Barbera
10. Rossi
11. Spies
12. Edwards
13. De Puniet
14. Hernandez
15. Espargaro
16. Silva
17. Pasini
18. Ellison

Three non-finishers were Petrucci, Pirro and Abraham.

In the Moto2 class there were all 32 of the riders out on track for the whole three days.

Moto2 – Day One

During the first day the temperatures weren’t as warm as the teams were hoping for, this meant that many couldn’t test the machines as planned. This didn’t stop the guys though as they hit the circuit testing all manner of different parts and setups in preparation for the upcoming season.

The morning session was plagued by red flags and crashes as the riders tried to work with the cool track temperatures. At least five of the riders went down: Corsi, di Meglio, Krummenacher, Cardus and Simeon all crashed forcing red flags for the session.

Thomas Luthi was at the top of the time sheets for the first day with a 1:42.627 lap time. The top thirteen were all covered by a second that included riders such as Marquez, Elias and Redding. Bradley Smith and Gino Rea were 1.177 and 1.524 seconds slower than Luthi being 17^th and 22^nd respectively.

Moto2 – Second Day

Tuesday saw the guys heading out in the windier conditions which made things tricky again. Luthi again was the quickest of the riders during the testing session, his time was nearly half a second quicker at 1:42.158.

Turn 10 claimed the sessions for Redding and Marquez both escaping uninjured from the crashes.

It was the top 12 today that were all within a second of the leader. Riders included in this were Smith, Rabat, Elias and de Angelis.

Gino Rea took a huge leap as he climbed the times to be 14^th for the second day with a time of 1:43.486. Nico Terol was circulating about two seconds slower than the Swiss rider.

Moto2 – Final Day

The final day saw the weather improve which saw two0 of the riders under 1:42. They were Corti, 1:41.983, and Luthi with a 1:41.987. Again a massive fourteen riders were within a second of the quickest time.

Again it was the same suspects near the front with Marquez, Iannone, Elias, Redding and Smith all there. Gino Rea continued his good form but he couldn’t improve on his times from the first two sessions dropping him down to 25^th in the bunch.

Let’s start the round up with the moto3 riders and teams.

First Moto3 Session, Monday

Romano Fenati of Team Italia FMI was quickest as all 32 of the riders hit the circuit in Spain. The Italian rookie blasted to the top of the time sheet as he put in a 1:47.414 which was 0.341 seconds quicker than the 2011 sensation, Maverick Vinales.

Third and fourth on the first day were the Red Bull KTM duo of Danny Kent and Sandro Cortese, both of which couldn’t get within half a second of the Italians time.

The rest of the Moto3 field were closer together with the odd 0.100 second sometimes between them.  That was until Jasper Iwema in 26^th was 0.716 seconds slower than Efren Vazquez.

Danny Webb put his Mahindra fourteenth on the sheet. Aussie Jack Miller was 20^th behind South African Brad Binder. Miller was the last of the riders within three seconds of the quickest time.

Second Moto3 Session, Tuesday

Maverick Vinales was able to shave 0.028 seconds from the time of Fenati from the first day as he went quickest. He was followed by both the Red Bull KTM riders again with Cortese edging out his teammate by 0.229 seconds. Fenati was nearly a second slower than Vinales as he had another impressive day of testing.

Jack Miller was 19^th over two and a half seconds slower than Vinales while Danny Webb ended the session 22^nd on the sheet over three seconds slower than the young Spaniard.

There was a red flag incident briefly after the Spanish rider Ivan Moreno crashed out but was unhurt.

Third Moto3 Session, Wednesday

Maverick Vinales showed why he is being touted as one of the favourites to win the Moto3 championship this year as he went fastest for the second consecutive day. He shaved 0.452 seconds off of his time from day two as he continues to impress on the four stroke bikes.

It was the same top four as he, Kent, Fenati and Cortese all finished the session well. Cortese who was fourth was 0.599 seconds slower than the Spaniard but only 0.029 seconds slower than Italian Fenati.

Danny Webb of the Mahindra Racing team was 22^nd while Brad Binder had his quickest day as he rose to 18^th with a time of 1:49.317.

All attention will be turning to the first race of the season in Qatar on the 8^th of April.

MotoGP Unveiling

The two rider team was presented to the world by Jorge ‘Aspar’ Martinez who presented Randy de Puniet and Aleix Espargaro to the public sporting their blue and white livery.

“For myself and for the Power Electronics Aspar Team the CRT project is an exciting challenge, We had one rider in the premier class before and now we have two, so I am delighted with this. The concept and regulations of the premier class have changed a lot and there is a lot of future in MotoGP. Our tests have been excellent and we are highly motivated. I want to thank Power Electronics for the confidence that they have placed in this project.” said Martinez.

Espargaro ready for the Challenge

After a season in the Moto2 class Espargaro has come back to the MotoGP class highly motivated for the season opener in Qatar on the 8^th of April.

Espargaro confirmed his excitement to start the season by saying:

“The pre-season seemed to fly by for me, so now I just want to get the final test over and done with and get to Qatar. I am really excited to be part of this new CRT project. I hope that both my team-mate and I have a good season and that we fight to be the best CRT riders.”

De Puniet also Ready

His experienced team mate, de Puniet also said:

“The start of the season is fast approaching and I consider that we are ready to go. We only have the weekend test at Jerez to go, at which we will get a better idea of what awaits us at the opening race.”

Tornado Jokes

The American MotoGP rider was late due to being delayed departing the United States due to bad weather. He finally arrived at Madrid airport and then dashed from the hire car to the jerez circuit where the launch was being held.

As he entered the presentation he said: “Sorry for being late but there was a tornado bigger than me preventing me from flying as planned.”

Hard Task For CRT

At the ensuing press conference Edwards touched on the arduous task of the upcoming season that all the CRT entries are facing. Talking about the upcoming season he said:

“We know we have got a lot of work to do but we are ready for it. Nobody said it was going to be easy but everybody is working really hard. At the last test in Sepang we made a big step with the Bosch electronics. When we started I’d say they were at 60% but we found something at the last test and we are now around 90%. We still need to make it smoother and more friendly but as I’ve said, we know Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

MotoGP Takes Centre Stage

The improvement in the electronics has increased chatter from the bike which will be something that they will look at in the next test at Jerez tomorrow. This is the last chance for any testing as the first race of the season is on the 8^th of April at the Losail circuit in Qatar which is sure to be explosive for all involved.

With the MotoGP season on the verge of starting let’s maybe take a look at the runners, riders and teams that will be contesting to be the best in the world.

MotoGP Teams

There are fourteen teams that will be contesting the championship with 21 riders. These consist of three factory teams, five satellite teams and six ‘Claims Rule Teams’.

So the factory teams of Ducati, Honda and Yamaha will be fighting out for the sharp end of the grid and will be looking to capitalise on the new 1000cc engines that have come into play this year. These teams have six of the best riders in the world on the bikes that are:

• Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team)
• Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team)
• Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda Team)
• Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team)
• Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing)
• Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing)

These are probably the names that you will hear often in the MotoGP class.  These have the full Prototype machines that the factories have created and will be testing any new parts that are developed before the rest of the field.

Satellite Riders

When it comes to the satellite teams, these are teams that have a prototype bike that they are leasing from the factory. The upgrades are tested by the factory riders before they are passed on to these teams so sometimes they are slower down to this. Despite this, they were often high up in the field last season due to some of the factory guys not being able to make the bikes work under them. These teams are Cardion AB Motoracing, LCR Honda MotoGP, Monster Yamaha Tech 3, Pramac Racing Team and San Carlo Honda Gresini.

• Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing)
• Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP)
• Andrea Dovizioso (Monster Yamaha Tech 3)
• Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3)
• Hector Barbera (Pramac Racing Team)
• Alvaro Bautista (San Carlo Honda Gresini)

Claims Rule Teams

This year there is a twist, similar to the Evo class in Superbike, with the entry of the CRT guys. The Claims Rule Teams are able to utilise a 1000cc road legal engine but they have to have this in a prototype frame. This has seen some fascinating combinations such as Colin Edwards’ BMW engine in a Suter Frame. The only down fall to this is that currently they are around three or four seconds a lap slower than the factory bikes.

This being said though the more experienced riders will be fighting hard and near the sharp end of the field I think anyway. That being said many of the riders on the CRT bikes have taken a step up from the Moto2 class and may show their inexperience on the track.

The CRT riders are:

• Ivan Silva (Avintia Racing MotoGP)
• Yonny Hernandez (Avintia Racing MotoGP)
• Danilo Petrucci (Came IodaRacing Project)
• Colin Edwards (NGM Mobile Forward Racing)
• James Ellison (Paul Bird Motorsport)
• Randy de Puniet (Power Electronics Aspar)
• Aleix Espargaro (Power Electronics Aspar)
• Michele Pirro (San Carlo Honda Gresini)
• Mattia Pasini (Speed Master)

Predictions

Now the battle for the front if the testing sessions are an indication of things to come show that the Repsol Honda riders and the Yamaha Factory Team will be trading blows at the front with the Ducati riders behind as they work on developing the GP12 machine that they have created for the 2012 season.

From the Satellite teams you have to look at Crutchlow, Dovizioso and Bautista to be swapping on the track and in the championship too as they take a few years’ experience into the season. The fastest man in the CRT class is Edwards and he will be hot on the heels of the Satellite riders all season long.

Other CRT riders to watch would include Randy de Puniet and possibly James Ellison as an outside chance too. Ellison used to race in the MotoGP class so is aware of how things work and what setups to use to try and get the best out of the bike.

Ultimately the winner of the Championship will be either Jorge Lorenzo or Casey Stoner. Ducati will be looking to get the machine working under the experienced Rossi and Hayden however indications are that the bike is still slightly slower than the other factory machines.

Time will tell though….

Ducati are no exception to this and they unveiled their livery yesterday. The new factory GP12, which Ducati hopes Rossi will be able to utilise and win another title on. Both Ducati riders, Hayden and Rossi were present at the unveiling which took place on the New Ducati Facebook Page, sponsored by TIM.

Ducati Failed to Launch

After the Ducati team failed to show the machine off at the spectacular Madonna di Campiglio ski resort in Italy they turned to a digital version of the launch. This also brought about more coverage on the social media sites which would help to create a buzz around the machines unveiling.

The Ducati GP12 wasn’t ready in time for the winter event as it usually is after the team took it upon themselves to completely revamp the Ducati after the terrible season that both riders had last year. With this delay in the manufacturing process, the bike took longer than predicted to design and develop into the new machine that we see before us.

MotoGP Testing

The Ducati will be on show at the Jerez testing later this week as the team attend the final testing session of the pre-season. This is where Rossi and Hayden will try to be the fastest of the Ducati’s as well as the fastest on the track too.

The test will conclude on Sunday with a week-long break before the first round at the Qatar circuit of Losail on the 8^th of April. Hopefully all the riders will be there this weekend and we will finally be able to see the difference in the CRT and Factory bikes.

Well the let’s take a look. Let’s look at the data to start with. At Qatar last year Stoner won the race in 42:38.569 minutes for the 22 laps, that’s an average of around 1.55 minutes a lap.

CRT Current Pace

With the current pace of the CRT machines being around 4 seconds slower making it around 1.59 minutes a lap the race would take someone on a CRT machine This would be a difference of 1.28 minutes which would not mean that the leaders would be able to catch the back markers at Qatar.

I aren’t saying that they won’t catch them as sometimes the race doesn’t go to plan and issues occur that can slow anyone down not just the CRT riders.

Gap Isn’t an Issue

This issue has been brought up by the riders and Edwards has denied the gap would be dangerous. He was 3.2 seconds slower than Stoner at the recent testing session in Sepang. The BQR-FTR riders were over six seconds behind the Aussie though which could be a problem. This would equate to a 2:12 difference which would mean that these guys would be caught.

The issue I foresee is that the slower riders on the CRT bikes have mainly stepped up from Moto2 and don’t have the MotoGP experience which may show if they are being caught. They will learn to get out of the way of the faster riders as they do in Formula 1.

Edwards told MCN: “Valentino and Nicky passed me at the first test in Sepang and Ben passed me at the second and they didn’t scare the s**t out of me. They had to work to motor by me. As far as safety, it is not like we are 30 or 40ks down. They were passing me with three to five kilometres per hour on me but not scaring the crap out of me. If you go 30 laps in Jerez and you are three or four seconds off the pace then those top guys are going to be getting into some lapped traffic and that’s not something people have had to deal with. But those other guys will learn pretty quick to get the hell out of the way.”

New Challenge

As he says this is something that the front runners have not had to deal with so it will be a good spectacle if it is happening as the front runner could also make a mistake and lose time or places.

But that would open up a new debate on the CRT machines….