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ZitatAlles anzeigen2014 FIM Roadracing World Championship Grand Prix Round 13 of 18, San Marino and Rimini Riviera Grand Prix, Misano World Circuit
12-14 September, 2014
Preview: MotoGP, Moto3 and Moto3DOMINANT HONDA GOES FOR BAKER’S DOZEN IN ITALY
The factory Repsol Honda team has been unbeaten in the 2014 season, a perfect 12 out of 12 record so far. This weekend’s trip to the Italian Adriatic holiday coast is race number 13. The team and its riders are focused on adding yet another win, to make a baker’s dozen.
The most successful rider of the season is defending champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V), already the youngest premier-class champion in history, winning at his first attempt in 2013. He also has a record to equal: 12 wins in a season, set by Repsol Honda NSR500 rider Mick Doohan in 1997.
Riding high, the 21-year-old overcame off-season injury to win the first ten races of 2014, in a variety of circumstances. But at round 11, the Czech Republic GP at Brno, there was a hiccup – with set-up issues (solved at tests the next day) dropping him to fourth. It was the first time in MotoGP that he had not finished in the top three.
It was back to normality at the next race, a week later, at Silverstone in the United Kingdom.
Marquez qualified on pole position, his tenth of the year and fourth in a row, and returned to the winner’s circle for the eleventh time, after a close-fought race with Yamaha-mounted rival Jorge Lorenzo.Marquez has an enviable record at the Misano World Circuit. In the past four years he has claimed three wins. His first visits were in 2008 and 2009 in the 125cc class, and he was a podium third in 2009. Next year he was first, going on to take the title.
He returned in 2011 and 2012 in Moto2, winning both times, the second from pole position. He went on to add the Moto2 title to his trophy cabinet.
Last year he was on pole again in MotoGP, finishing second in the race.
Experienced team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda
RC213V) was the rider to break the spell at Brno.
The former 125cc and double 250cc champion claimed a clear first win of the year after clocking up several rostrums include three Honda one-two finishes. His win preserved Honda’s perfect score.His own Misano record includes a race win in 2010; and he has not finished off the podium since 2009 – though a chance of another victory in 2012 was cut short after another rider crashed into him in the opening stages. He had qualified on pole.
Pedrosa had a more troubled start to his ninth premier-class season on the factory Honda, but came back strongly after corrective surgery to solve arm-pump problems; challenging his team-mate strongly at their Catalunyan home race, where he was on pole position.
With seven more podium finishes to add to that Brno win, including three second places, the revived Honda rider lies second overall in the championship, underlining the superiority of the dominant RC213V factory machine.
Two satellite teams also field the class-leading Hondas, with German former Moto2 champion Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda RC213V) the more successful.
Bradl lies ninth overall, with a best of fourth at round two, and two fifth places. Crashes and other misfortunes have robbed him of points, however. His best Misano finish of second came in
Moto2 in 2011, while in MotoGP he has finished sixth and then a strong fifth.Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Gresini Honda RC213V) is a former Misano winner, winning the 250 race in 2008, two years after becoming 125cc World Champion. Two more Misano podium finishes since include third place in MotoGP in 2012, riding a Honda; and he has claimed another third place this year, in France. But an erratic score line including six crashes puts him eleventh overall.
Redding (GO&FUN Gresini Honda RC213V) rides one of four of the new Honda RCV1000R production racers – a for-sale replica of the V4 factory machines – and is the most successful, in his own debut MotoGP season. The youngest-ever GP winner was fresh from a fierce title fight in Moto2, but had adapted quickly to the premier class, and is a thorn in the side of the lesser factory machines.
Redding has finished in the points in every race but one, with a best of seventh in Qatar, and lies 12th overall, only five points behind his experienced team-mate.
Next-best in the points is former 250cc World Champion Hiroshi Aoyama (Drive M7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R), 14th overall and just one point behind the factory Ducati of Cal Crutchlow. Aoyama has also been a model of consistency, with two top tens among 11 points scores.
His team-mate Nicky Hayden lies 16th, but the American 2006 World Champion has missed the last three rounds recuperating from wrist surgery, and at Misano his place on the Drive M7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R will again be taken by British MotoGP-class novice Leon Camier. The former 125cc GP racer has made a good impression, and finished in the points at only his second attempt.
The fourth Honda production-racer is campaigned by Czech racer Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing Honda RVC1000R). Ten times in the points and eager to claim top RCV stop, Abraham is one place and one point behind Hayden.
The Moto2 class is all-Honda powered, with the series organisers providing all competitors with identical race-tuned Honda CRB600 engines. Close and reliable racing is the hallmark of the intermediate grand prix class.
The fight for the title is cast in the same
mould: two team-mates neck and neck, with everything still to play for.Experienced Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex riders Tito Rabat (25), from Spain, and Finn Mika Kallio
(32) have shared most of the wins, with Rabat holding the advantage, six victories against three. But Kallio has been more consistently on the podium, with five more top three finishes to Rabat’s two. The points margin between the two experienced riders is only 17, Rabat in front.A strong third in the standings is the best of a strong group of class rookies, Maverick Vinales (Paginas Amarillas HP 40 Kalex). The Spanish teenager moved into Moto2 after winning the Moto3 championship last year, and took a race win at only the second attempt. Vinales has added three second places, and was third at the last round at Silverstone.
Swiss ace Dominique Aegerter (Technomag carXpert
Suter) edged away to an equally strong fourth place after claiming his first GP win in Germany, although a costly no-score in Britain dented his homes of immediate improvement.Two more class veterans are disputing fifth, with Italian Simone Corsi (NGM Forward Racing Kalex) only eight points clear of former 125cc World Champion Thomas Luthi. Johann Zarco (AirAsia Caterham Caterham-Suter) is seventh; then Assen winner Anthony West (QMMF Speed Up), class rookie Luis Salom (Paginas Amarillas HP 40 Kalex) and former Moto3 champion Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP Kalex) complete the top ten.
Honda is up against rival manufacturers in the lively Moto3 class, where 250cc single-cylinder four-strokes regularly provide the biggest battles and closest finishes in the MotoGP series.
Honda’s new NSF250RW has played a leading role in the excitement, with four of the six Honda riders taking five wins between them so far. Three of those riders are in the championship top four; the fourth lies sixth overall.
The title fight is a battle royal: and the leader of the Honda pack is Alex Marquez, younger brother of Marc, with two victories putting him only 13 points behind series leader Jack Miller (KTM). His Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda team-mate Alex Rins moved to third overall with his first win at the last round at Silverstone, and still has Miller in sight. Likewise SaxoPrint-RTG Honda rider Efren Vazquez, Indianapolis winner, who was displaced after an unlucky non-finish at Silverstone. All three are from Spain.
A career-first victory at Brno boosted French veteran Alexis Masbou’s chances, a week after he had ridden from last place to a close fourth (after even holding the lead) at Indianapolis.
The Ongetta-Rivacold Honda rider lies a close sixth overall.Second SaxoPrint-RTG Honda rider John McPhee, in his second season, is 13th overall, with the Barcelona lap record in his pocket; Malaysia’s Zulfahmi Khairuddin is in the pack at 21st, in his first season on the Ongetta-AirAsia Honda.
The 4.226-km Misano circuit was first used for motorcycle grand prix racing in 1980, becoming a regular fixture until 1993, when triple champion Wayne Rainey suffered serious injuries at the circuit. It was taken off the calendar directly.
Almost 15 years later, the redesigned Misano World Circuit rejoined the calendar with the rebirth of the San Marino GP in 2007. The greatest change was a reversal of direction to become a clockwise circuit. This introduced a particular challenge at the end of the back straight, where a series of progressively slower right-hand corners require precise judgement, and also test tyres and machine set-up.
The overall layout is tight with a number of slow (below 100 km/h) corners, six left-handers and ten to the right.
The next round, two weeks later, is the Aragon GP at Motorland Aragon.
Honda Rider Quotes
Repsol Honda rider Marc Marquez says:
“It was nice to be back on the top step of the podium in Silverstone: the team did a great job the whole weekend. Now we head to Misano which is a smaller and slower track compared to others on the calendar. We will have to work hard from Friday to get the setup on the bike just right, to suit the demands on braking at this twisty track and let’s hope the weather is also nice!”Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa says:
“I’m looking forward to Misano this weekend.
There is always a nice crowd over the three days and a good atmosphere with the Italian fans.
Hopefully we’ll have good weather from the Friday and get things going in the right direction. It’s a short lap but intense with many overtaking points and it’s quite bumpy, so set up is key.
Let’s hope for an exciting race!”LCR Honda MotoGP rider Stefan Bradl says:
“Misano is another exciting race track for me and it’s nice to race there because the Italian crowd is awesome. They do have many racers to support and they keep celebrating Sic’s memory which is something very emotional. It’s an important race for my team too but I do not feel the pressure. I have been fast on this track since my debut in the premier class so I am optimistic.”GO&FUN Honda Gresini rider Alvaro Bautista says:
“At Silverstone our weekend ended with a fall, however we try to collect the positive things also from a negative race: during the Sunday morning warm up we found a solution that allowed me to improve my feeling with the bike and as a result my race pace was not so bad. Therefore we arrive at Misano knowing that we are on the right
path: we will continue to try this set-up solution hoping to make further progress. Misano is a special place, not only because it hosts the team’s home Grand Prix, but also because I have always had good results there in the last few
years: if we will have more luck, we will try to exploit it! The important thing, as always, is to keep working hard without becoming demoralized.”GO&FUN Honda Gresini rider Scott Redding says:
“At Silverstone we were expecting an uphill race weekend because of the long straights, but actually our gap from some of the Factory bikes proved to be not so high; on the contrary, on a quite small track like Misano we need to see if we can be competitive. Paradoxically, we might face more difficulties compared to what we saw in England. In any case, we will keep the same approach we had at Silverstone, which means to try to catch some of the Factory bikes, to see if we can fight with them”.Drive M7 Aspar Honda rider Hiroshi Aoyama says:
“The last race didn’t go to plan, I don’t like Silverstone much and we struggled to find a good set-up there. I am sure this weekend will be different because I really like Misano and my feeling is usually very good there. It is a tight track and quite unique, you need a good set-up because there are some sections where you can lose a lot of time. Hopefully we can enjoy the weekend at Misano and I am sure the team will do a great job a usual. As usual my goal will be to fight for a top ten finish.”Cardion AB Motoracing Honda rider Karel Abraham says:
“Following our Silverstone experience we know that we can fight for the top ten in upcoming races. But we can´t do that without completing two crucial targets – make a good qualifying and a good start. We stay focused on it and this is our main target for Misano. It won´t be easy, because I haven´t seen the finish line here since 2011. Last year I missed the race because of the injury, in 2012 we suffered some technical problems. I hope to finish with this series this weekend.”Drive M7 Aspar Honda rider Leon Camier says:
“I rode at Misano for three years in World Superbikes and it is quite a strange track. It is demanding, with some hard braking, some tight and slow corners, and we are going to have to work very hard to adapt the set-up of the bike. We struggled to get on the pace at Silverstone, maybe because we went the wrong way with the set-up at the start of the weekend and never managed to recover. We have a very clear plan for Misano, we know which direction we need to go in for me to continue learning about this category and this bike. I’ll try to complete as many laps as I can and hopefully we can show our best on Sunday.”
Moto2 Rider Quotes
Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex rider Tito Rabat says:
“The win at Silverstone was important, because we won when others had a better set up than we did.
We worked hard all weekend to improve the bike, but we were still a little way off compared to others when we lined up for the start. But now we need to focus on Misano, a different track, a different weekend and a different country. Our approach this weekend will be the same as always and the aim also remains the same; to go out on Sunday and win the race.”Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex rider Mika Kallio says:
“When the championship battle is this close it’s important that, when you can’t win, you finish on the podium and limit the damage. That’s what I’ve done the last two races, but I know I need to start finishing in front of Tito if I’m to close the points gap over the next few rounds. Misano is a more technical track than Silverstone, which will suit both our bike and our settings better, so it would be good to come away from there with a race win. We will have to see how the weekend works out, but that’s certainly the goal.”Paginas Amarillas HP 40 Kalex rider Maverick Vinales says:
“Last year I missed victory in Moto3 at Misano by a few millimetres – 0.050 of a second, so I can say the track is good for my style. The important thing is always to qualify well: it is a tight circuit and there is a lot of traffic in the first corners, which can cause problems.”
Moto3 Honda Rider Quotes
Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda rider Alex Marquez says:
“Last year I came third in San Marino and I remember that, whilst during practice it took a while to set the bike up, ultimately the evaluation of the Grand Prix was positive. Misano is not one of my favourite tracks, but it suits me fairly well. What is certain is that it will be a weekend of hard work. At Silverstone we had a bit of an advantage with the Honda, but at this track I think the times are going to be very tight –because there are places where acceleration is important, at which we will be very close to the KTMs. We go to Misano after a private test at Motorland Aragón last week, which helped us to try out different settings for the Honda which we think may be useful for this Grand Prix.”Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda rider Alex Rins says:
“After the great result at Silverstone, we arrive at Misano raring to go. It’s a circuit where I have good memories, because I managed to win there last year. Together with the team we are working in the right direction and the results are coming. The test at Aragon last week allowed us to draw some good conclusions, which will help us to make the overall package even better.”SaxoPrint-RTG Honda rider Efren Vazquez says:
“I was put out of the Silverstone race on the first lap with a collision when another rider slowed in front of me, so I got zero points. I need to recover my position at Misano, and I will be completely focused on getting the maximum, in qualifying and on every lap.”