Jerez MotoGP: Winning Circuit for Lorenzo

With his second-place finish at the opening round in Qatar, Jorge Lorenzo has a strong start to defend his title in the 2011 MotoGP Championship.

And the Jerez circuit in his homeland of Spain may easily add some big points as Lorenzo chases the title; he has much luck there. Lorenzo won at Jerez in 2006 and 2007 while in the 250cc MotoGP class; he also took the 250cc titles both of those years.

And last year Lorenzo had a spectacular win after passing his then teammate Valentino Rossi, and then taking Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa at the end of the race to take the win.

As for Lorenzo's teammate Ben Spies, the 2010 MotoGP "Rookie of the Year" has shown promise on the factory Yamaha M1, taking sixth at Qatar after battling with Rossi for the position. In 2010, during his second MotoGP race on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3, Spies had a DNF after 20 laps.

Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP) says: "I am ready to come back to Jerez. We started the Championship so well in Qatar and I believe it is a great moment to ride for my people and my Fan Club here in Spain.

"Last year the situation was quite similar and perhaps I got the best victory of my career, closing a big gap in the last few laps. We can't make predictions for Sunday, but my crew and I will work as much as possible to be in front. Jerez is a special place for me, maybe the best track in the world. When I was only 15, the day right after my birthday, I raced for the first time in front of 100.000 people here."

Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP) says: "I have unfinished business here at Jerez. I really enjoyed riding here last year and was disappointed not to be able to take some points from the race. Now I'm back with a full factory machine so I believe the outcome should be a little different!

"We have track knowledge from last year so we can focus straight away on getting the 2011 M1 set up and we'll see what we can do. It's my team mate's home race so I'm expecting a great atmosphere."

Wilco Zeelenberg (Yamaha MotoGP Team Manager) says: "After a great first race we are actually quite keen to get to Jerez because we know Jorge has good speed here, especially compared to Casey. He won his first ever Spanish MotoGP race here last year so we can't wait to see if we can fight like we did in Qatar, maybe even a little better! The results from the first race give us extra confidence, we know we can be fast and Jorge has the talent to fight with the best for the podium."

Massimo Meregalli (Yamaha MotoGP Team Director) says: "I think Jerez can be a good circuit for Yamaha, after seeing what we achieved in Qatar we are going there with good optimism. It's the home race for Jorge and a great victory for him here last year, when you ride in front of your fans it can give you an additional boost.

"Last year was unfortunate for Ben during the race but during the practice and qualifying the times weren't so bad. For sure he knows the circuit so he can be immediately focused on finding the right set up and concentrating on a decent tyre choice. The fast corners of Jerez are good for us, our bike works well and we have always had good results here with the M1." (Sam Sims)

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Mercedes Improvements Excite Michael Schumacher

At age 42, and after an inglorious return to Formula One last year, few would have guessed that Michael Schumacher and Mercedes would be touted as a potential championship team for the upcoming season.

Schumacher, who came out of retirement after three years to join Mercedes last season, ended ninth in the 2010 standings, without a single podium finish.

But ahead of Sunday’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix, and after an impressive winter of testing, Schumacher may soon get a taste of the glory that drew him back to the sport.

Schumacher struggled to adapt to the durable Bridgestone tires on his return to racing and said on Thursday he had high hopes of performing better with the more degradable Pirelli rubber introduced this year.

“What’s most important is what I want to prove to myself,” he said. “Whether it was only the tire. Whether it was me after three years out, not knowing all the switches and positions, and what I had to do to make the whole package work together, I don’t know.

“I just know that now I do feel it and I’m back on it.”

Red Bull’s Mark Webber was quick to identify Mercedes as a race-winning team this season. “Mercedes have had a good finish to the winter testing and they’re going to be winning some races for sure this year,” Webber said.

“The car’s improved, to our predictions,” Schumacher said on Thursday. “We knew we weren’t on the pace for the first tests, but we were focusing on a particular package … it was only in the last tests that we were able to see that everything works out.”

Tires aren’t the only changes to F1 that Schumacher has had to adapt to since making his debut with the Jordan team back in 1991. “In the time that I’ve been racing I’ve gone through many different development phases,” he said.

“From the very standard days of manual gear shifting when I started, there has been the days of active suspension, traction control, ABS and so on.

“And there have been all the electronics you can adjust on the steering wheel. … Now we have this year [adjustable] rear wings and KERS.

“I can only say that anything that makes me go quicker, and I can adapt and adjust in the car, that’s what I like.”

Now Schumacher is looking forward to ending the speculation and seeing exactly what the new car and new tires can do in Sunday’s race.

“We get on with it this weekend and see what is the reality,” he said. “Testing is one thing and racing is another thing.” AP

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McLaren, Ferrari Right on Red Bull's Bumper

Melbourne - McLaren and Ferrari threw down the challenge to the world champion Red Bull team in Friday's practice for this weekend's season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne.

The Red Bull pair of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel dominated first free practice with Webber clocking a best lap of one minute 26.831 seconds, before Jenson Button led a McLaren one-two in the late afternoon hit-out.

Button, bidding for a hat-trick of Melbourne victories in Sunday's race, clocked 1:25.854, just 0.132secs ahead of 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was lurking with the third quickest time in both practice sessions, indicating that the 16-time constructors' champion team will be thereabouts in the first race.

"We were able to complete a lot of laps today, but the weather was a bit difficult," said Vettel, who at 23 became the youngest F1 world drivers' champion last year.

"Despite that, I think we got a good idea as to where we are compared to our competitors.

"All in all, I think we can be pleased, it seems we are not too bad, but we have to wait and see."

Local hope Webber, bidding to improve on his best placing of fifth in a 12th attempt at winning his home GP, said Ferrari and McLaren looked in good shape.

"McLaren look quick, but with Ferrari you can never tell, as they always run a bit more fuel on a Friday," Webber said.

Button, who is bidding to equal Michael Schumacher's record of three consecutive Australian victories at Albert Park, was encouraged by McLaren's advanced showing.

"Today showed that we?ve got reliability, which is great," Button said.

"That?s something we?ve not had all winter so to have a car that runs for as many laps as we want it to is very satisfying. It also means we can get stuck into our set-up work and improve the car.

"We?re encouraged by the step we?ve made today."

Alonso, a winner here five years ago with Renault, looks Ferrari's best hope of landing their seventh Australian GP in 12 years.

"I am happy with the way the car is going," Alonso said. "At the start there was a bit of understeer and we still are a way off from having perfect grip at the front, but it went better than I was expecting."

Vettel said the first use of the abrasive Albert Park street circuit gave all the teams a better sense of how the faster-degrading Pirelli tyres will perform in the first race.

"We expected worse conditions here in terms of how long the tyres would last, but this morning and this afternoon was quite useful in helping us to understand what to do in the race on Sunday.

"So far everything is positive, we can't race with one stop only, I think we will have to come in a couple of times.

"Melbourne is a rough track with a lot of bumps and a lot of corners, and you really feel the speed here in some corners and you don't have much time in between the corners and everything follows up quickly. It keeps you busy."

Seven-time world champion Schumacher had a best lap of 1:26.590 in his Mercedes, which gave him the sixth best time in the second practice session.

"My first impressions are quite positive. We learned a lot today, and are more or less where we thought we would be," Schumacher said.

"We will sort out some issues on our car for the rest of the weekend but I am still happy with what we have seen here so far."

At the other end of the spectrum, Hispania Racing Team mechanics slaved all day to try to get their cars out on to the track but all they could manage was to squeeze half a lap for Vitantonio Liuzzi just in the final minutes of second practice to ironic applause in the media room.

Qualifying for Sunday's Melbourne race takes place on Saturday. AFP (Robert Smith)

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Alonso Says Ferrari Off Pace in New Season

While disappointed not to start the Formula One season with a podium finish, Fernando Alonso says his Ferrari never had the speed to win the Australian Grand Prix.

Alonso finished fourth on Sunday, while teammate Felipe Massa came in seventh.

Alonso lost out on the tight first corner, squeezed onto the grass and pushed down to ninth in the running order.

Despite the setback, he managed to race his way back into contention, but admits his car was not quick enough to challenge the leaders.

The Spaniard said Ferrari now has its work cut out to catch up with the speed and reliability of pacesetters Red Bull and McLaren.

“We got off to a good start, although it was a bit chaotic,” the two-time world champion said. “We could have come third but no higher.”

Both Ferraris went with a three-pit stop strategy during the race, while the podium finishers only took two.

“I was eighth or ninth at one point; thanks to the stops we overtook two cars,” Alonso said. “We did make an extra stop but we regained our position.”

Team assistant technical director Pat Fry said Ferrari employed the right pitting tactics for the circumstances Alonso found himself in.

“With Fernando we made the right choices given what happened on the opening lap, when he found himself back in ninth place,” Fry said.

“Thanks to the pit stops and some good passing moves ... he was fighting for a podium finish right up to the final lap,” he added.

He said the team had plenty of room for improvement heading into the next race, which will take place in Malaysia on April 10.

“We are in the right zone for us to be able to win a title, but definitely not if we keep finishing third or fourth,” Alonso said.

Massa, who had his official result improved from ninth to seventh after both Saubers were disqualified for a technical breach, said Ferrari was a better team than it was able to show in Melbourne.

“We have to get down to work to understand fully what happened, because we have not shown our true potential.” AP

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Valentino Rossi improves Ducati pace

By Matthew Birt - MotoGP

Valentino Rossi had arguably his best day on board the new factory Ducati GP11 machine today when he finished the opening day of practice in Jerez with the third fastest time.

The 32-year-old set a best time of 1.40.077 in this morning’s opening session to end the first day of the Spanish Grand Prix just over half-a-second behind Repsol Honda rival Casey Stoner.

He was third in cool conditions this morning and fifth in the afternoon session and the nine-times world champion said he was much happier with the performance of the GP11 than he was when he struggled to a lowly seventh in the season’s opening race in Qatar last month.

Rossi said: “Third and fifth today is a good step compared to Qatar, but also in Qatar we started quite well and weren’t able to improve enough. I like this track and I prefer the Ducati in Jerez compared to Qatar, so I’m happy.

"The two Hondas are quite far but from Lorenzo we are not so far and we are very close to Simoncelli, so we can fight for better positions.

"The shoulder, unfortunately the power is not enough but it looks like the resistance improves, so this is very important for Sunday. It looks like I lose less power lap by lap.”

The improvement compared to Qatar was Rossi had more grip and his bike was easier to manage in the change of direction and braking zone.

But the top seven were all unable to improve their lap times in hotter and windier conditions in this afternoon’s second session and Rossi explained why to MCN.

“The wind for sure was a reason but also the track temperature. Jerez is always famous for being a fast track with a bit less degrees. We suffer a bit more compared to the other guys because we lose 0.9s, while the others lose five or six tenths,“ added Rossi.

Tweaks to the electronics of Rossi’s GP11 had also helped, though today’s result won’t stop Ducati working frantically to prep a heavily revamped Desmosedici for Rossi to assess in a one-day test immediately after the Estoril round in Portugal.

He said: “We made improvements in some systems. We have started to work with the electronics – I gave some advice what I like from the bike when I open the throttle, because the first system was a bit rude. For the software we have made some improvement but the hardware is exactly the same.”

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Casey Stoner continues fast form

By Matthew Birt - MotoGP

Casey Stoner’s exceptional start to the 2011 MotoGP world championship showed no sign of relenting today when he topped the opening practice timesheets in Jerez.

A best lap of 1.39.551 set in cooler conditions this morning put the Aussie on top of the leaderboard by just 0.028s from Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa.

Stoner, who has never finished higher than third in a MotoGP race at the Jerez circuit, said the Honda RC212V was an easier bike to ride at the Spanish venue than the Ducati he rode between 2007 and 2010.

Stoner, who claimed a stunning debut victory for Honda at the season’s opening round in Qatar last month, said: “It seems to be a bit smoother to ride Jerez this year than in the past although this afternoon wasn't the best conditions, it was windy and it helped in some corners but in other corners it was pushing you wide.

"I felt the wind picking up in the final two laps of the morning session so I expected it this afternoon. It was a bit disappointing we couldn't improve the setting because it was quite difficult in the conditions.

"We need to wait for tomorrow to get a good understanding for the race. In the morning it is quite cold and difficult to find a feeling and then it becomes so windy in the afternoon."

For the second race in succession, Stoner and Pedrosa took each other on in their own private duel. Nobody else in the field could lap inside of 0.5s of Stoner’s quickest lap today but he refused to rule out another determined fight from reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo in Sunday’s 27-lap race.

He said: “As we saw in Qatar you just don't know. Dani and I seem a little more confident and ahead of the others but anything can happen, as we saw with Jorge in Qatar.

"He made a big step in qualifying and warm-up and in the race he was much faster than in practice. At the moment we have to focus on ourselves.”

Stoner also denied that he would have an advantage over Spaniard Pedrosa in Sunday’s race. Pedrosa will undergo surgery early next week to try and solve a long-running issue with his left arm that he suffered after a big practice crash in Japan last October.

Pedrosa was fighting for the victory in Qatar when he faded to third having complained of a numbness issue with his left hand and arm.

He has no idea how long he will make it in Sunday’s race before the problem strikes but Stoner said: “Sometimes riders are able to overcome a lot of different things.

"We know Dani is having more trouble at the end of race but if he is really determined and can block out the problem, maybe this weekend he can fight right until the last lap.

"You don't think about one rider who has a disability because they will do something special that you don't expect, this is a big mistake."

Stoner also expects new factory Ducati recruit Valentino Rossi to pose a stronger challenge this weekend after the Italian finished third fastest today.

Making some progress with the finicky GP11 machine, Rossi was five places higher up the rankings than the next best Ducati with Randy de Puniet eighth.

And Stoner said: "In the first session everybody is getting comfortable and if he had a good feeling he looked like he was pushing quite hard. He looked like he was angry with (Cal) Crutchlow, which is not normally Valentino's style. He's normally calm.

"Every week I think his shoulder is coming better so you never know. I won races with this bike at the end of last year so I'm sure Valentino can win races when the shoulder comes better, he'll be competitive."

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Mercedes GP launch MGP W01 at Valencia

The Mercedes GP F1 team launched today at Valencia their new car, the MGP W01.

Mercedes GP drivers Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg along with team principal Ross Brawn unveiled the team’s challenger for the 2010 season, before the start of the scheduled testing session.

On the first day of Formula One winter testing, the Mercedes GP Petronas garage doors opened at 08:50am for the new car to make its entrance in front of the assembled photographers and camera crews.

Michael, Nico and Team Principal Ross Brawn posed for photos with the new Silver Arrow in its silver and green livery before the car went back into the garage to prepare for the start of the test session at 10:00am.

Rosberg will be the first of the Mercedes GP drivers to try out the new car with Schumacher taking over later today.

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