Ducati Monster Forum

FP1....

Pos.   Num.   Rider   Nation   Team   Bike   Km/h   Time   Gap 1st/Prev.
1   93   Marc MARQUEZ   SPA   Repsol Honda Team   Honda   291.9   1'33.328   
2   99   Jorge LORENZO   SPA   Movistar Yamaha MotoGP   Yamaha   290.1   1'33.422   0.094 / 0.094
3   51   Michele PIRRO   ITA   Ducati Team   Ducati   290.4   1'33.797   0.469 / 0.375
4   26   Dani PEDROSA   SPA   Repsol Honda Team   Honda   293.6   1'33.930   0.602 / 0.133
5   4   Andrea DOVIZIOSO   ITA   Ducati Team   Ducati   296.6   1'34.015   0.687 / 0.085
6   46   Valentino ROSSI   ITA   Movistar Yamaha MotoGP   Yamaha   288.0   1'34.086   0.758 / 0.071
7   44   Pol ESPARGARO   SPA   Monster Yamaha Tech 3   Yamaha   291.6   1'34.094   0.766 / 0.008
8   38   Bradley SMITH   GBR   Monster Yamaha Tech 3   Yamaha   291.0   1'34.266   0.938 / 0.172
9   35   Cal CRUTCHLOW   GBR   LCR Honda   Honda   290.3   1'34.282   0.954 / 0.016
10   29   Andrea IANNONE   ITA   Ducati Team   Ducati   295.4   1'34.319   0.991 / 0.037
11   45   Scott REDDING   GBR   EG 0,0 Marc VDS   Honda   285.8   1'34.482   1.154 / 0.163
12   8   Hector BARBERA   SPA   Avintia Racing   Ducati   288.7   1'34.590   1.262 / 0.108
13   9   Danilo PETRUCCI   ITA   Octo Pramac Racing   Ducati   292.4   1'34.748   1.420 / 0.158
14   25   Maverick VIÑALES   SPA   Team SUZUKI ECSTAR   Suzuki   285.7   1'34.869   1.541 / 0.121
15   50   Eugene LAVERTY   IRL   Aspar MotoGP Team   Honda   282.1   1'34.885   1.557 / 0.016
16   68   Yonny HERNANDEZ   COL   Octo Pramac Racing   Ducati   289.3   1'34.931   1.603 / 0.046
17   19   Alvaro BAUTISTA   SPA   Aprilia Racing Team Gresini   Aprilia   283.1   1'34.988   1.660 / 0.057
18   76   Loris BAZ   FRA   Forward Racing   Yamaha Forward   279.9   1'35.048   1.720 / 0.060
19   41   Aleix ESPARGARO   SPA   Team SUZUKI ECSTAR   Suzuki   280.5   1'35.063   1.735 / 0.015
20   63   Mike DI MEGLIO   FRA   Avintia Racing   Ducati   286.3   1'35.226   1.898 / 0.163
21   43   Jack MILLER   AUS   LCR Honda   Honda   281.6   1'35.421   2.093 / 0.195
22   69   Nicky HAYDEN   USA   Aspar MotoGP Team   Honda   277.4   1'35.427   2.099 / 0.006
23   17   Karel ABRAHAM   CZE   AB Motoracing   Honda   283.2   1'35.628   2.300 / 0.201
24   6   Stefan BRADL   GER   Aprilia Racing Team Gresini   Aprilia   282.4   1'35.992   2.664 / 0.364
25   15   Alex DE ANGELIS   RSM   E-Motion IodaRacing Team   ART   280.4   1'36.239   2.911 / 0.247
26   71   Claudio CORTI   ITA   Forward Racing   Yamaha Forward   276.8   1'38.358   5.030 / 2.119

FP 2...

1   99   Jorge LORENZO   SPA   Movistar Yamaha MotoGP   Yamaha   287.8   1'32.871   
2   93   Marc MARQUEZ   SPA   Repsol Honda Team   Honda   289.9   1'32.924   0.053 / 0.053
3   26   Dani PEDROSA   SPA   Repsol Honda Team   Honda   290.6   1'33.258   0.387 / 0.334
4   4   Andrea DOVIZIOSO   ITA   Ducati Team   Ducati   292.4   1'33.291   0.420 / 0.033
5   46   Valentino ROSSI   ITA   Movistar Yamaha MotoGP   Yamaha   285.3   1'33.469   0.598 / 0.178
6   44   Pol ESPARGARO   SPA   Monster Yamaha Tech 3   Yamaha   289.1   1'33.552   0.681 / 0.083
7   9   Danilo PETRUCCI   ITA   Octo Pramac Racing   Ducati   289.6   1'33.553   0.682 / 0.001
8   38   Bradley SMITH   GBR   Monster Yamaha Tech 3   Yamaha   288.0   1'33.595   0.724 / 0.042
9   51   Michele PIRRO   ITA   Ducati Team   Ducati   288.8   1'33.674   0.803 / 0.079
10   35   Cal CRUTCHLOW   GBR   LCR Honda   Honda   286.2   1'33.785   0.914 / 0.111
11   45   Scott REDDING   GBR   EG 0,0 Marc VDS   Honda   282.4   1'33.808   0.937 / 0.023
12   41   Aleix ESPARGARO   SPA   Team SUZUKI ECSTAR   Suzuki   278.8   1'33.840   0.969 / 0.032
13   29   Andrea IANNONE   ITA   Ducati Team   Ducati   295.0   1'34.132   1.261 / 0.292
14   25   Maverick VIÑALES   SPA   Team SUZUKI ECSTAR   Suzuki   282.3   1'34.215   1.344 / 0.083
15   50   Eugene LAVERTY   IRL   Aspar MotoGP Team   Honda   278.8   1'34.345   1.474 / 0.130
16   76   Loris BAZ   FRA   Forward Racing   Yamaha Forward   276.2   1'34.500   1.629 / 0.155
17   68   Yonny HERNANDEZ   COL   Octo Pramac Racing   Ducati   286.6   1'34.595   1.724 / 0.095
18   19   Alvaro BAUTISTA   SPA   Aprilia Racing Team Gresini   Aprilia   280.4   1'34.727   1.856 / 0.132
19   43   Jack MILLER   AUS   LCR Honda   Honda   280.2   1'34.856   1.985 / 0.129
20   8   Hector BARBERA   SPA   Avintia Racing   Ducati   286.2   1'35.011   2.140 / 0.155
21   6   Stefan BRADL   GER   Aprilia Racing Team Gresini   Aprilia   280.3   1'35.036   2.165 / 0.025
22   69   Nicky HAYDEN   USA   Aspar MotoGP Team   Honda   275.0   1'35.394   2.523 / 0.358
23   15   Alex DE ANGELIS   RSM   E-Motion IodaRacing Team   ART   275.7   1'35.735   2.864 / 0.341
24   63   Mike DI MEGLIO   FRA   Avintia Racing   Ducati   281.5   1'35.853   2.982 / 0.118
25   71   Claudio CORTI   ITA   Forward Racing   Yamaha Forward   278.6   1'36.326   3.455 / 0.473
26   17   Karel ABRAHAM   CZE   AB Motoracing   Honda   276.1   1'36.530   3.659 / 0.204

Lap record for Jorge...will probably get broken tomorrow.

Abraham highsided in FP 2 and walked away very very slowly.

Based on the qualifying times, it looks like it'll be a good race. The top guys are all pretty close. 

I hope it's a good race and not a boring display of running continuous repetitive flawless laps.   

No winglets for the Yamahas in qualifying, it would be cheeky if either Rossi or JLO showed up with them on the grid tomorrow.

Q2: The Aliens is pretty close to each other and Rossi starting on the second row is always dangerous as long as he doesn't mess up the start.

Pos.   Num.   Rider   Nation   Team   Bike   Km/h   Time   Gap 1st/Prev.
1   99   Jorge LORENZO   SPA   Movistar Yamaha MotoGP   Yamaha   288.0   1'32.146   
2   93   Marc MARQUEZ   SPA   Repsol Honda Team   Honda   286.3   1'32.252   0.106 / 0.106
3   46   Valentino ROSSI   ITA   Movistar Yamaha MotoGP   Yamaha   285.7   1'32.358   0.212 / 0.106
4   26   Dani PEDROSA   SPA   Repsol Honda Team   Honda   288.8   1'32.434   0.288 / 0.076
5   51   Michele PIRRO   ITA   Ducati Team   Ducati   289.5   1'32.736   0.590 / 0.302
6   38   Bradley SMITH   GBR   Monster Yamaha Tech 3   Yamaha   288.4   1'32.801   0.655 / 0.065
7   29   Andrea IANNONE   ITA   Ducati Team   Ducati   294.0   1'32.821   0.675 / 0.020
8   4   Andrea DOVIZIOSO   ITA   Ducati Team   Ducati   294.1   1'32.934   0.788 / 0.113
9   9   Danilo PETRUCCI   ITA   Octo Pramac Racing   Ducati   289.0   1'33.169   1.023 / 0.235
10   41   Aleix ESPARGARO   SPA   Team SUZUKI ECSTAR   Suzuki   280.9   1'33.187   1.041 / 0.018
11   35   Cal CRUTCHLOW   GBR   LCR Honda   Honda   286.7   1'33.220   1.074 / 0.033
12   44   Pol ESPARGARO   SPA   Monster Yamaha Tech 3   Yamaha   287.7   1'33.222   1.076 / 0.002

Jorge will take off from the line like his pants are on fire.

Marc is just there to have a good time now.  He'll be a fly in the ointment which will bother Jorge.  Marc will slowly follow him and eventually pass him.

Rossi is in a good position.  He should have enough to time and laps to catch up to Jorge and Marc and pass them both. 

And Iannone and Dani will finish fourth or fifth. 

The top three will be Jorge, Marc and Rossi.  Shuffle them however you want.

Rossi completes the front row in 3rd yes?

Yup.

I'm already feeling apprehensive about Lorenzo pulling a huge gap in the first lap.

Should be a good one.
A pretty pivotal race with JL needing to pull it back and Rossi possibly stamping his authority on the season with MM ready bugger it up for either of them.
It'll be on the telly about 9.30-10pm here so be great to watch with a glass or two.

make the beast with two backsing Dorna...race dropped out just as it was getting crazy. [bang]

¿Que?

Yup...they were racing in the rain and the connection dropped out...

Came back with about 4 laps to go.

I contacted motogp and they admitted having an issue.

No need to cuss Dorna.  :P

Who is motogp.com?

 :D

Wow. I miss all the fun. Saw last six laps only.   Huge effect on championship

Wow. Didn't expect any of that but great drama for this race. This season has been amazing so far.

 [bang] [bang] [bang] why didn't Rossi pit sooner  [bang] [bang] [bang]

True, Rossi seemed overly conservative by staying out one lap longer than JLo and two longer than Marquez but, in hindsight, kept his rubber-side down.  'Copter views of the track (Fox Sports actually good coverage this race) showed a drying (narrow) race line, but still wet to either side when the riders started back in for the slicks-equipped bikes. JLo changed bike one lap earlier than Rossi, and he crashed out (looked like he lost the rear) on the slicks.

Does anyone know what happened between Rossi and Marquez exiting the pits after the first bike change?  Rossi just in front and then suddenly 3-4 seconds behind?

Worked out ok with regard to the championship, but really could have been a big screw up on his part...

When I first saw he wasn't pitting after he took the lead, I thought (still do) that he realized JLo would follow him and since he is better on a wet bike he figured he'd extend his lead, which he did (it was + a few seconds when JLo decided to pit).  Pitting would give those seconds back as they would likely exit pit row nearly neck and neck.

By the end, though, he was losing 20s/lap (!!!) to riders on slicks, according to commentators.  So by pitting earlier, JLo was gaining +10-20/s lap until Rossi pitted.

Still, I enjoyed the game of chicken, which I read as Rossi saying "I know I'm better than you in the current situation, Jorge, so I'm going to dare you to keep up with me."

...and when George re-entered the race...

he panicked and didn't have the patience to let the tires come to him.

Seems Rossi's tactics worked.

It's the Jedi master tricks of Vale at work again. Marquez with fresh slicks was gaining on Rossi incredibly fast BUT the fight is not with Marquez it's with JLO so I can see why he really didn't care about the MM factor. I have to watch it again and see when JLO pit

I was curious to see what would happen if both yammies pitted at the same time.  The bikes were so close that it would have created potential for an issue for at least one rider.

What is the rule/etiquette?  Do they put the bike that is ahead in front of the other bike, or do they just put them out according to where their half of the Yamaha garage is?  If the latter case, then if Rossi came in with Jorge on his heels but Jorge's bike was the one in front, wouldn't Jorge's pitting effectively cut off and disrupt Rossi's switch 'n exit?  I'm talking when they were close and would pit within a second of each other---with a 4-5 second gap none of this would matter.

I know this is all speculation and kinda irrelevant now, but as they were showing the bikes warmed up and ready for the switch I kept thinking that there was going to be an incident.

The bikes stay in front of the garage they roll in to...

and you're overthinking it...

I think. ;)

I think the garage locations are assigned randomly.
Factory teams have adjoining garages, no idea how things get assigned between the two.
I'm looking for that info, as it did have some bearing on how things worked out.

Impressive ride by Bradley, doing the entire race on slicks.
Leading lap 8, 21st by lap 11, then back to 2nd by lap 21.

Slo-mo footage of the front tires transforming into disintegrating furballs, really shocking.

That was a wicked crash for Jlo.
That will likely strengthen his aquaphobia...

Another example of Rossi's ability to think pretty clearly about strategy while riding at 100% speed.
MM is slowly acquiring that skill.
JLo doesn't seem to have much of that skill, he's like the needle on a turntable, in the groove and the music is sweet, but even a small disturbance results in a skreeyawk-zzzryip-pop.

Oh ya, that's exactly what Lorenzo is.

But I have to say, he managed to keep it together longer than I expected. I thought he was going to lose it as soon as the light rain started.

Rossi's inside Lorenzo's head now....  ;D

Doesn't mean squat if: 1) weather holds up for remaining races, and 2) Lorenzo continues to get great starts from the front wherein he can take off.

Rossi isn't in anyone's head...the rain is in JLo's head though.

Had it stayed dry he would most likely have crushed everyone.

+1

I think he was not patient enough heating up the tires. The rain dropped the temp and even though he came out with the medium, I doubt the tires had a chance to get up to temp. That or he hit a wet patch cause he went flying.

Rossi did well keeping the bike rubber side down considering the amount of rubber that was flying off those wets.

Love that Redding crashed at the beginning and ended up 3rd. He was way too calm for his first podium. I would be kissing everyone I saw.

I was thinking after the race that surely Redding was a lap down. Was an upside down race for sure.

JLo says if he wins the next 3 races he will clinch the championship regardless what Vale does. I haven't done the math to look into it yet.

He says if he wins the remaining races (5), then it doesn't matter. Rossi is currently ahead by 23 points. The difference between 1st and 2nd is 5 points. So, to not worry about Rossi he has to reel off 5 in a row. Possible, but not likely.

He's still very much in it though. But...if Rossi finishes the next 5 races, there's a good chance he'll pick up #10. Completing an entire season without a DNF/DNS is a great way to win a championship! Since being in the premier class, Rossi has only had 2 seasons where he finished all races...and he won the WC both times.

Should be fun. [thumbsup]

For sure! It would be good with just JLo and Rossi. Throw in Marquez as spoiler, and it has the potential to be epic!

Well lets say the points are equal but JLo has more wins, technically JLo is the champ, I think he was maybe leaning towards that scenario

I predict he will not win 5. 3 max. Even then 3 will be tough. Rossi can sit back and let MM spoil. That will however be tough for him to do.

We keep forgetting that MM is still around. Rossi can use him as a buffer. Now it's math time. Let's assume that Rossi decides that 3rd place is a good place to be, how many wins would it take for Jorghey to overtake Vale? The answer is he would need to win all 5. So Rossi can use the same logic and say that if he can get at least 1 second place finish and the rest 3rd, it won't matter what Jorghey does.

 [thumbsup] great job duccarlos, I'm sure Vale's camp have crunched the numbers as well. Can't wait for the next race  [popcorn]

Isn't the difference 23 pts?  And 1st to 3rd is 9 points.  So by my math, 3 races finished JL-MM-VR are enough for Jorge to take the lead.



But regardless, I think with 5 races remaining, we are getting a little ahead of ourselves on doing the math.  So much can happen.  In the end, Rossi just has to make sure not to crash out of any races and he will ensure he at least has a chance (if not the lead) with 2 races to go.  Then the math speculation game gets fun.

I was assuming the worse. I tried to keep it simple, but now I'm forced to get more into it. This is the math I used:

First = 25pts
Third = 16pts

16*5 = 80pts then add the 23pts = 103

To make up those 103pts Jorghey would need 3 wins, a third and a forth. The problem is that we're assuming Rossi settles for 3rd. If Jorghey is in 3rd, it is reasonable to believe that Rossi is probably finishing in a higher position. This is all assuming that the races are only between MM, Jorghey and Vale. So... using that logic, if MM wins the races that Jorghey does not, he would need to finish second to Rossi's third and never finish behind Rossi.

I think my math is easier.   ;D

Been away for a few days....


Fox broadcast showed Lorenzo's pit crew putting up the board and directing him in to change to the dry bike for, I believe, two laps - but, he chose to stay out and follow Rossi.  Marquez had gone in yet Lorenzo kept going around....

That is why I believe Rossi's tactics confused Lorenzo and, essentially, got to him....if it was Lorenzo's fear of the wet that drove him, then it sure looks like Rossi played on that fear by staying out at the risk of trashing his own front time, which was evident on TV....just sayin'

Anyone know off hand how many engines each has gone through so far this year?

I looked on the motogp site and there'[s no mention of engine usage at all.

Must not be a problem.

That's been my working theory on why Rossi kept putting off pitting. JLo's known weaknesses are close racing (doesnt let him start his perfect runs) and wet racing. Rossi making him push harder and harder on tires that were chunking away in a mixes wet race must have played hell with his mindset.

That's strategy, not being in someone's head. They both stayed out too long, wanting the other to make the 1st move. They only came in when they really had no choice.

Rossi's mind games are over emphasized IMO. These guys didn't get to the top level by being intimidated.

MM had nothing to lose by going in.

+1 Jorghey and Vale are fighting for a championship. They were probably thinking the same thing, if we pit, will the other guy have an advantage. They stayed out as much as they felt comfortable.