With impressive results like second at Silverstone and third at Assen in the Moto2 category, Tom Lüthi has made fantastic progress considering he raced in both events with a healing dislocated collarbone.

The Swiss competitor of the Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2 squad dislocated his left clavicle in a motocross incident prior to Silverstone, however still appeared on stage at the British track and at Assen a week later. In Saturday’s event he then snapped the collarbone as he attempted to control his machine, with the pressure of his shoulder adding extra injury but amazingly still unable to prevent him from claiming another top three finish.

Lüthi had an operation in Switzerland by Doctor Marc Mettler later that night to replace the titanium plate he received following the original incident, he is now recovering at home. The 24 year old is focussed on racing in this weekend’s Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya, as he attempts to defend third position in the Championship rankings.

“I will definitely try to race in Barcelona. I am third in the World Championship standings right now and I will do all I can to not risk this position,” says Lüthi. “I’ve already had one race with no points this season and I won't risk losing more important points.”

Lüthi adds, “I will speak to the doctors in Barcelona and hope that I will be on the bike for the first free practice on Friday.

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Rizla Suzuki MotoGP are preparing for this weekend’s Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya in Barcelona following a tough event at the TIM TT Assen on Saturday that left the squad with much work ahead. Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista ended in 13th and 14th positions respectively, these places being under their expectations at the Dutch track.

Capirossi struggled with his Suzuki GSV-R as the problems he incurred at Silverstone last week carried on in the warmer temperatures of Assen. He was instantly liaising with his squad following the race to assess the issues and endure modifications to assist with the bike being more competitive at Catalunya.

Bautista tried his best as he struggled with a shoulder injury on the physically demanding track. He started the event in major discomfort and though he pushed hard, was unable to locate the strength required to battle with the other competitors. He raced a lonely ride following 26 difficult laps.

Loris Capirossi explains, “I just don’t know what to say after this weekend - when I try to go quicker than I did today I feel like I will crash and when I try to make a race I end up almost last. The effort we are putting in is a lot and I am really angry and annoyed, because the whole team is trying really hard, we make so many changes to try to find the best solution and we just cannot find it. We just had no feeling at the start of the race and we needed three or four laps to get any kind of feel in the tyres, but by then it was too late. It is the same to finish 11th or 13th, both positions feel the same and it is just not good enough, we need to make some big changes for the weekend so we can try to be more competitive.”

Álvaro Bautista adds, “This has been a very bad race for us for a couple of reasons. On Friday in qualifying it looked like we had improved the bike, but when I woke up on race morning I felt more pain in my left arm. I think that I did too much on Friday and my left arm was very tired and painful. This was a bad start for a race, but I tried to be positive and have a good race. From the first lap though it felt very difficult riding the bike, because it felt like the tyres were still not warm enough, so I tried to push and find my rhythm like in practice, but the bike just moved around much more than it did in practice – I don’t know why. I struggled a lot in the race and I just tried to do the best I could. I hope that the feeling is better for the next race because it is my home GP.

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The first day at Assen was a close challenge in the MotoGP opening practice session as Jorge Lorenzo beat Casey Stoner to the fastest time by 0.011s. Gavin Emmett commented on his early views of how round six could progress.

“It’s good to see the Ducati Marlboro riders up there and Stoner’s time was so close to Lorenzo’s” states Emmett. “Lorenzo looks good, smooth and confident and the Yamaha always goes so well, and Colin Edwards’ time was up there too. Ben Spies looked good as well. Andrea Dovizioso was saying to me that his bike feels really strong, so you hope there will be more of a race than Lorenzo escaping at the front.”

Asked for his prediction, Gavin adds, “I think Lorenzo will probably win, and then Stoner has to get a podium sooner rather than later. It’s between Hayden and Edwards for third!”

The Moto2 session was taken by Andrea Iannone, at 0.222s in front of Championship leader Toni Elías, Gavin believes the intermediate session will also be tight.

“I think tomorrow will be when you start seeing everyone getting their settings down, and we should be able to tell more then,” he comments. “After Silverstone I’m not predicting anything!”

The 125cc category was headed by Nico Terol, however with Marc Márquez going for a third successive victory, Gavin thinks the young racer could be a contendor.

“I don’t see any reason why Márquez cannot make it a third win in a row, he certainly is very quick,” adds Gavin.

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For the initial time in 14 years, Valentino Rossi had no participation in a Grand Prix at Silverstone last weekend, however the injured 31 year old was in good spirits as his Fiat Yamaha squad garage displayed a signed t-shirt from the World Champion with the message “Torno Subito” (I’ll be back soon).

Together with his two Yamaha M1 prototypes, Rossi’s t-shirt made sure of a good reminder that he is currently healing and made a sincere contribution to Riders for Health, the official charity of MotoGP.

The t-shirt, which has a picture of Rossi laying on his hospital bed with an injured leg in cast, has been donated to Riders by Rossi for auction. The bidding will commence on Sunday afternoon, there will also be a jacket that belonged to Jorge Lorenzo on sale also.

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Dani Pedrosa was an unhappy rider after claiming eighth position at Silverstone on Sunday, grip problems on his RC212V stopped him from pushing for a higher place.

The quickest lap time in second practice had shown signs that Pedrosa was preparing for good pace after qualifying later that day, he took third spot on the starting grid before crashing at the end of the session.

Suffering bruises to both knees, Pedrosa was able to race on Sunday but issues with the bike proved to be difficult. “Eighth is obviously a disappointing result because we were looking quite strong here on Saturday and I was confident,” he said.

“However, we were lacking some grip from the beginning of the race and we couldn’t replicate the pace we were able to achieve in practice. The rear was spinning and sliding quite a lot and the front was pushing which meant that, even though I was pushing really hard, I wasn’t able to maintain my pace. It was frustrating because I could see the riders in front and I could stay with them but it was impossible to fight for position.”

Pedrosa also had fallen in the warm up on Sunday morning, but he praised the work of his squad in repairing his bike. He was also lucky to escape without any serious injury.

“The one positive thing from the weekend is that even though I had two crashes I wasn’t injured and I didn’t feel pain during the race today,” he states. “This means we can quickly put this weekend behind us and move on to the next races - the first one being Assen next weekend.

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MotoGP’s competitors will be racing on a new track this weekend when they appear for the AirAsia British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

The newly developed site is spectacular, and is classed as one of the quickest tracks on the 2010 calendar. 

 

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Ducati Marlboro competitors Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden both arrived to the sixth edition of the event, which unites ‘Ducatisti’ nationally.

A record crowd of 60,000 spectators were present at the World Ducati Week 2010 at the Misano track from last Thursday to Sunday, in an occassion that brings together fans of the Bologna factory from 29 nations over five continents in a festival of sound, noise and excitement.

Adding to the huge presence, dedicated aficionados from as far as Europe, USA, Australia, Russia, India, Brazil, China, Malaysia and even Gabon and Nepal, joined together to show their passion for the Ducati brand.

The sunny four days ended on Sunday with an amazing knock-out drag race competition with participating Ducati riders, both MotoGP and superbike, on the Ducati Streetfighter bike. Battaini, Bayliss, Byrne, Checa, Fabrizio, Haga, Hayden and Stoner put on a wow-factor show for the crowd.

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Dani Pedrosa’s initial victory of 2010 at Mugello gave the Spaniard second place in the World Championship rankings, the Repsol Honda racer is now focused on a string of good results to support his place as he looks forward to the AirAsia British Grand Prix this weekend.

Pedrosa is sitting 25 points behind Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo, the fact that they will be both racing at the freshly developed Silverstone means the ability to quickly adapt to the circuit could be crucial in gaining ground.

“We arrive at Silverstone in good shape after the victory in Mugello,” says Pedrosa. “We had a very good weekend in Italy and myself and the team need to make the most of it to maintain this momentum.”

“I cannot say much about Silverstone,” he continues. “From what I've seen it's a fast circuit, high speed overall, with many right-hand corners which are taken with the throttle open. It looks like an old-fashioned circuit, maybe comparable to Assen before they shortened it. We will start on Friday without prior knowledge, but it's the same for everyone so I hope we can adapt as quickly as possible to prepare for the race.”

Silverstone hosts the first race, following 2 more events, it will be a very hectic time for the MotoGP competitors. “We will have three races in a row now – Britain, Holland and Catalunya – and it will be very important not to make mistakes and to maintain consistency in the results," states Pedrosa.

Colleage Andrea Dovizioso is also very keen ahead of the fifth round. The Italian has claimed his best beginning to a MotoGP session after finishing on the stage in three of the four opening events, plus he took his first premier class win in last season’s British GP at Donington.

“We used to race at Donington Park, which was a track that I really liked and where only myself and Valentino had won in all the Grand Prix classes – 125cc, 250cc and MotoGP,” he says. “But despite this I’m very much looking forward to Silverstone. It’s a new track for everyone and we have no previous reference data for the circuit, which gives us one more challenge for the race weekend.”

Dovizioso is looking to challenge for a victory in 2010, after gaining confidence from his excellent start to the year.

“We arrive at this race in very good shape, with three podiums from four races, and we’re feeling especially good after the podium at Mugello – my home race – because this was really significant for me,” he states.

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The Gran Premio d’Italia TIM gave the Ducati Marlboro squad another fourth position, this is the fourth successive time this year. At Mugello, Casey Stoner claimed the position as he attempted a different front suspension on his Desmosedici GP10, while colleague Nicky Hayden smashed out on lap five with a problem with his front end.

The squad were expecting more solidness from their home event, it has been a trying beginning to the season for Stoner, who endured 2 DNF's prior to Mugello. However, the management pair of Vittoriano Guareschi and Claudio Domenicali are very confident they will improve.

“We had a big problem this weekend because we put a new fork in the bike, and we worked a lot to improve and develop this new part,” explains Guareschi. “At the end of the weekend we took fourth position. It’s not a podium but it’s a good result and it’s the best position this year for Casey.”

General Director of Ducati Domenicali adds, “A fourth place at Mugello is obviously not totally satisfactory for us but it was a good race nevertheless, especially at the end. Casey showed his character, he knew he didn’t have the pace to fight for the podium so he waited for the right moment to secure the best possible result.”

“For some reason, which we are going to analyse, he didn’t have the grip we expected him to have after the changes we made this morning but he definitely got the best out of what he had.”

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Héctor Barberá discusses the importance of a strong qualifying category following his fourth premier class event, the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM, in 12th position on Sunday. Another good race from the Páginas Amarillas Aspar rookie, continues to see his development progress in the premier class on the satellite Ducati.

Having claimed an eighth spot in the previous event at Le Mans, Barberá’s hopes to improve going into the Mugello weekend.  He will want to qualify higher than the 13th he began from in Italy, to allow himself the best opportunity of taking more top ten results.

"The same thing that happened to me in Qatar and Jerez occurred here,” he states. “On the opening laps I saw that I could ride in eighth or seventh, but I got ahead of myself. It's what you get for qualifying low down the order, keeping me away from the others at the start and requiring me to push harder to recover. That's when I make mistakes. So now I've learnt that I have to do a single fast lap in qualifying to avoid this situation.”

“At the start of the race I overran my braking point, but I returned to the track and tried to take a progressive approach in finding a strong pace.

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Randy de Puniet had an enjoyable battle for fourth position in the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM on Sunday, before finally ending sixth in the event, a result which enables him to hold on to sixth position in the Championship rankings.

Beginning from sixth on the grid De Puniet moved forward to fourth spot at one point, then was involved in an exciting contest with Casey Stoner and Marco Melandri, eventually arriving behind the duo.

“It was a very good battle and I enjoyed the race,” De Puniet states. “I’m a little bit disappointed because I had the potential to be fourth today, but after a bad first lap I caught the first group and had a good battle with Marco and Casey. Two laps before the end I was fourth but I made a little mistake before the straight, and then it was impossible to try something at the end.”

He adds, “It’s a good result, I keep my position of sixth in the Championship and we need to continue in this direction. It’s my target to be around the top six and I think the next three races can be good for us.”

It has been a good beginning to the year for De Puniet, with positions of sixth, ninth, seventh and now sixth again, the Frenchman is happy with the consistency.

“I’m satisfied because last year I was consistent but maybe around eighth or ninth. Now I’m closer to sixth and even fourth,” he continues.

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Randy de Puniet and his LCR Honda squad are getting ready for another difficult weekend at the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM, the Frenchman is aiming for a new personal result at the Mugello track.

De Puniet claimed his highest premier session Mugello finish at the Italian track last year after his eigth place, and is now focussing on progressing further to consolidate his hold in sixth spot in the Championship rankings.

“I like Mugello very much but I have never experienced a podium there in my career, and I’ve never obtained a very good result in the premier class... so far!” says De Puniet. “Last year I finished the race in eighth position in strange conditions but I feel more confident this year on this bike.”

Being the highest placed private team racer in the Championship so far, De Puniet adds, “There’s the longest straight of the season and you need to have a really good bike set-up to exit the last corner because during the race you can easily get passed by other riders.

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