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After a rain-hit
Mediterranean jaunt through Italy and Spain the Fiat Yamaha
Team start a Northern-European triple-header this weekend,
hoping that the British Grand Prix can be the unlikely
purveyor of summer to the MotoGP World Championship paddock.
Despite dry races at Mugello and Barcelona, mixed conditions
during practice certainly haven’t helped with machine set-up
and were a contributing factor to a series of crashes for
Jorge Lorenzo that ultimately led to him missing the last
race in Catalunya.
Thankfully Lorenzo is fit to return for a crucial run of
three races in four weekends in England, Holland and
Germany, followed immediately by his first ever race in the
USA. The youngster has benefited from a week of complete
rest since being ruled out of his home race with concussion,
although he will ride at Donington Park through the
discomfort of a fresh skin graft to the fourth and fifth
fingers of his right hand. He will wear a special silk glove
underneath a larger racing glove this weekend and will
require treatment after each practice session. This weekend
the Mallorcan and his crew will be focusing on recovery and
regaining confidence, rather than results, although Lorenzo
has had success at the Leicestershire circuit in the past,
having won from pole position in the 250cc class in 2006.
His team-mate Valentino Rossi is the most successful Grand
Prix rider ever at Donington, having won there on no fewer
than seven occasions in all classes - including his first
ever 500cc win back in 2000. This year the 29-year-old
arrives on top form, on top of the World Championship and
expecting the usual fanatical level of home support despite
recently moving from London back to his native Italy. Rossi
lived in the English capital from 1999 to last year and
built up an army of local fans, but hasn’t had the
opportunity to celebrate with them since 2005 – a situation
he will aim to remedy on Sunday as he defends a seven-point
series lead from Dani Pedrosa.
Donington Park sits inside an amphitheatre style setting,
with the spectators banked on the grass verges that surround
the track. The prevalent off-camber nature of the circuit is
one of the main factors at play, with a large tendency for
the front tyre to push, making the right, left, right flick
down the Craner Curve a critical but rewarding section of
track. The stop-and-go nature of the final section, which
features three hard braking zones, means the bike also has
to be good under braking and makes set-up a quest for
compromise between agility and stability.
Valentino
Rossi - A fantastic track
“Without doubt, Donington is one of my favourite race tracks
in the world and I have some fantastic memories of it,
including of course my first 500cc win in 2000, when I had a
fantastic battle with Jeremy McWilliams and Kenny Roberts.
It’s a track that has everything; it’s fast and flowing but
also technical, although like most people I’m not so keen on
the last section! Racing in the UK is also very special for
me because for a long time I lived there and, even though
now I live in Italy again, I would still like to think of it
as a second home and I hope the fans will give me as much
support as they always do. I was very disappointed to miss
the podium last year because the Donington podium is
something special, so I will be aiming to get back on it
this year!”
Jorge Lorenzo
- Starting from scratch
“It has been a tough couple of weeks for me and watching the
Barcelona race from my hospital bed wasn’t much fun so I’m
looking forward to getting back on the bike, although I
think I have to ride a little more cautiously this weekend!
It is like starting again from scratch so I have to change
my approach. What I can say about Donington is that I have
got great memories from there – I took 250cc victory in 2006
and last year I was riding really well in the wet. It is a
fast circuit, other than the final section, and it will be
interesting to ride there on a MotoGP bike for the first
time.”
Davide Brivio
- A four-way fight
”We have a lot of great memories of Donington Park and it is
traditionally a good track for Valentino so we’re looking
forward to this weekend. We arrive there leading the
championship but Pedrosa is very close behind us so it is
going to be a close and exciting battle. As far as the
points situation is concerned Dani is looking like the most
dangerous rival right now but Lorenzo and Stoner are still
in the fight. Stoner is in fourth place but only 50 points
behind and over eleven races that is not an impossible gap,
so our target is to keep finishing on the podium. We also
want to improve and when you look at Barcelona you can see
we need to do this at the start of the race. On Friday and
Saturday we didn’t find the best setting for the bike, which
restricted our qualifying position, and even though the team
did a good job overnight we suffered for it in the race.
However, we gathered a lot of information at the test and
tried out some solutions with the qualifying tyre so
hopefully this can help us be even more competitive at
Donington.”
Daniele
Romagnoli - No pressure
“This weekend we will concentrate on Jorge’s recovery and
not his results. For us the British Grand Prix is about
Jorge getting back on the bike and getting a good feeling
for it again. We want to make set-up work as easy as
possible for him, not make too many changes and just let him
get back into the swing of riding. There was never any
pressure on Jorge but it is important we stress that now and
let him get through a couple of weekends without any
problems. Donington is quite a physical track, especially in
the second half where there are lots of hard braking areas,
so we will have to wait and see how much strength he has in
his hand and how much that affects him. Doctor Mir says he
is okay to ride but we know he won’t be at 100%, so our
greatest wish is to see him there soon. Unfortunately
crashing is a part of this game. Jorge started the season
well – more than well – but in any season you have to go
through bad moments too. I am confident he will come back
even stronger and I can promise everybody that will happen
very soon.”
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