Valencia MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa secures pole with record lap time

Valencia MotoGP

• Venue: Circuito de la Comunitat Valenciana, Valencia
• Sunday 11 November: Moto2 & 3 races, Red Button/online 09:50-12:00; MotoGP race BBC2 & BBC HD 12:30-14:00 and on BBC Sport website. MotoGP Extra, 1400-1430, Red Button/online

Local favourite Dani Pedrosa broke the Valencia circuit record in Saturday's qualifying on his way to pole position for the season-ending MotoGP race.

The Honda rider powered round in one minute 30.844 secs in a dry qualifying session at the Cheste circuit.
Pedrosa's time beat the previous pole record of 1:31.002, set by Valentino Rossi back in 2006.

Newly-crowned world champion Jorge Lorenzo was second and Casey Stoner was third, ahead of his last ever MotoGP.

Britain's Cal Crutchlow, Germany's Stefan Bradl and Italian Andrea Dovizioso will start from the second row on the grid.
Pedrosa said: "We are happy with the pole and the record. Maybe it will rain tomorrow, so I will try to do my best and have a good race."
Spain's Lorenzo was was 0.361 sec behind Pedrosa and Stoner was a third of a second behind on his Honda in his last outing before retirement.
The 27-year-old Stoner looked set to secure a dream pole in his last race as he topped the timesheets heading into the final moments of the qualifying session.
But Pedrosa's record time and a decent final effort from Lorenzo secured a Spanish one-two, relegating the Australian to third.
Stoner said: "We had hoped to do a little better than we did. The bike has more potential than it showed today."

MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa wins in Valencia as Jorge Lorenzo crashes

That left Pedrosa clear to win his seventh race of the season, while British rider Cal Crutchlow, who had been set for a best-ever finish of second, crashed out late on to give Nakasuga a place on the podium.
In the day's earlier races, Danny Kent took victory in the Moto3 class before Marc Marquez produced a remarkable ride to win the Moto2 race.
World champion Marquez started from 33rd and last on the grid but managed to scythe through to 11th by the end of the first lap.
The 19-year-old - who will replace Stoner in MotoGP next year - eventually worked his way through to win the 26th grand prix of his young career.
"My eyes were the size of dinner plates the whole race. With a couple of laps to go I decided to go for it and it's a fantastic way to end it. I want to thank all my supporters down the years."
With riders starting on different tyres, the first few laps were chaotic as Aleix Espargaro took a shock lead to become the first CRT rider to lead a MotoGP race.
Within a few laps it was clear that the slick tyres were quicker, and as riders came into the pits to change bikes Lorenzo was able to stay out and take the lead.
Lorenzo and Pedrosa, who lined up on wets before changing his mind on the warm-up lap and coming in to change tyres and start the race from the pit lane, pulled clear before Lorenzo's huge crash.
The Spaniard was trying to lap British rider James Ellison when he got off line, weaved several times before being catapulted into the air and landed on his head before coming to a stop.

That allowed Pedrosa to win, with Katsuyuki Nakasuga second and Casey Stoner, in his last MotoGP race, third.

Lorenzo, who was not injured in his spill despite landing on his head and sliding into the gravel trap, picked up his world title at an awards ceremony later on Sunday.
Stoner, who won the championship in 2007 and 2011, produced a late spurt to finish on the podium in his final race after retiring from the sport at the age of just 27.
The Australian told BBC Sport: "I took the easy way out by starting on wet tyres and to be honest, I was scared of crashing.
"I didn't want to injure my foot any more than I have already, especially in my last race. You can see there were a lot of crashes today.

Dani Pedrosa ended the MotoGP season with a win in Valencia after newly-crowned world champion Jorge Lorenzo spectacularly crashed out.

The Spaniard, who won the title last month, opted to start on slick tyres on a wet track and took the lead as other riders changed from wet tyres.
However, he was catapulted off while attempting to lap a backmarker.

Marc Marquez has the talent to become MotoGP champion

The sport will miss him. There is no doubt about that.
But we didn't have to look too far on Sunday to see where the sport's new star is coming from.
Moto2 world champion Marc Marquez started in 33rd place on the grid in Sunday's Moto2 race after he was penalised for an incident in practice on Friday.
He stormed through into 11th by the end of lap one with some amazing riding. And then went on to win.

Watch the clip of that opening lap from the overhead camera at the top of this page. It is extraordinary to see his speed, confidence and aggression.

He made everyone else look like club racers. He has to go on and be a world champion in MotoGP.
A lot of people see him as a bit of a lunatic but he has got Casey Stoner talent. He has got so much raw speed.

Valencia MotoGP: Valentino Rossi says last Ducati ride a great pity

Valentino Rossi labelled his final ride for Ducati, a dreary ride to 10th that included being lapped and finishing behind three CRT bikes, a 'great pity'. The Italian's two-year spell on the Desmosedici has brought just three podiums for a rider who had previously never failed to win at least once during a season.
For a while at Valencia he did at least enjoy running in the top three, staying out longer than the majority of the field in the hope that forecasted rain would fall and play into his decision to start on wets.
Rossi said the fact the race stayed dry contributed to what was an inglorious end to a once dream marriage with the Italian outfit.
"It was a very bad race," Rossi conceded.
"It was a pity we finished like this because this morning in the warm-up I had a very good feeling, so we were hoping a lot for the rain, the worst conditions.
"We waited and waited for water but it didn't arrive and unfortunately the conditions were half and half [and] very difficult, with just a narrow dry line.
"I was very slow because I was not able to put the bike where I want and the dry line was very narrow.
"I just tried to arrive at the end: I was already very far from the guys in front. It was a pity because in the rain we could maybe do a good race so we waited but it didn't arrive."
Rossi admitted it would be hard to say goodbye to some within the Ducati camp, but said he was at the same time excited about joining Yamaha for the first post-season test in just two days time.
"I would have liked to finish these two years with Ducati better," he explained.
"They were two difficult seasons, but I nonetheless leave behind many people that I enjoyed working with, and with whom it was nice to go racing.
"It's a great pity but we are here to try and get the best results so it's better like this. This adventure is finished after two difficult seasons and now we move forward.
"It will be very important if we are able to do one or two dry days in [the] test to understand our potential, but I am happy [to join Yamaha]."

Espargaro leads a MotoGP race, takes CRT crown

Aleix Espargaro made a small piece of history by becoming the first CRT rider to lead a MotoGP race at Valencia on Sunday, en route to securing the top 2012 privateer title.

Granted it was in special circumstances, due to the drying track, but the prototype riders Espargaro overtook on the opening lap were also using wet tyres.

The home star remained at the front of the MotoGP field - ahead of Andrea Dovizioso, Casey Stoner, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo (slicks) - until lap 3 when he began dropping back and, like the other wet tyre starters, was forced to pit for his dry bike.

Espargaro went onto finish eleventh, one place ahead of Aspar Aprilia team-mate Randy de Puniet, who was the only rider that could have beaten him to top CRT in the final 2012 standings.

“I am very happy, because finally we were able to claim the prize for best CRT riders of the year,” said Espargaro, who finished twelve points ahead of de Puniet and twelfth out of 27 riders in the overall MotoGP Riders' Championship.

“The race was very strange, as on the grid I was a little nervous about the tyre choice. I knew that I could go faster with the slicks, but it was very risky so I used the wets.

“Once the race began, I focused on going as hard as I could until the tyre went off, then I changed bikes. I concentrated on catching Randy [who started on slicks] and when I passed him I relaxed a bit to enjoy the race and finish as high up as possible.

“I think that we have had a formidable season and that this has been reflected with the best CRT prize.

“The most important thing is that the team has supported me, which I value a lot. Jorge gave me a lot of confidence from the start and I want to thank him and enjoy having reached our goal.”

The CRT ('Claiming Rule Team') category was introduced for MotoGP this season, without which there would have only been twelve factory-built bikes on the grid.

The nine CRTs used modified superbike engines in a prototype chassis and were given fuel and engine change concessions relative to the 'full' manufacturer prototypes from Honda, Yamaha and Ducati.

The Aprilia ART comfortably won the CRT Constructors' title, scoring 100 points relative to 43 for FTR.

Rossi heads back to Yamaha for 2013 on two-year contract

Friday, 10 August 2012

Yamaha Motor Racing has confirmed the signing of Valentino Rossi to ride for the Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP Team for 2013 and 2014.

Valentino Rossi first joined Yamaha in 2004 and achieved four MotoGP World Champion titles with the Yamaha YZR-M1 in 2004 & 2005 and again in 2008 & 2009. He won 46 Grand Prix races with Yamaha over a 7-year period before leaving at the end of the 2010 MotoGP season.
Rossi, who is presently 8th in the Championship standings, will partner Jorge Lorenzo who currently leads the 2012 MotoGP World Championship by 23 points, having taken five victories from the first ten completed races of the 18 race series.
Lin Jarvis, Managing Director, Yamaha Motor Racing

"This announcement is once again excellent news for Yamaha. In June we were able to sign Jorge Lorenzo for the 2013-14 campaign and now we are able to confirm Valentino Rossi for the next two years. In doing so we have been able to put together the strongest possible team to challenge for victories and to promote the Yamaha brand.

We have run this ‘super team’ together in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and during that time we achieved the ‘triple crown’ titles with Rider, Manufacturer and Team World Championship victories for three consecutive years.

The target for the future is obvious and we will do our utmost to achieve our goals.

I have no doubt that with the experience, knowledge, skills and speed of these two great champion riders we will be able to challenge for many race wins and for the 2013 & 2014 World Championship titles.

The signing of Valentino completes our future planning for the Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP Team. Now that this is done we will put our 100% efforts into completing the job at hand and to supporting Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo in their search for race victories and for Jorge’s 2012 World Championship title challenge."

Stoner says goodbye to MotoGP as V8s loom

Life after MotoGP for Casey Stoner will involve driving a V8 Supercar.
It's just a question of when.
Stoner pulled down the shutters on his celebrated bike racing career with third place in the season-ending Valencia Grand Prix in Spain on Sunday, finishing third in the world championship following an injury-hit season.
The 27-year-old can now adjourn to his NSW farm or his home in Switzerland to spend the time he craves with wife Adriana and baby daughter Alessandra after tiring of MotoGP circuit life.
When he returns to the track on four wheels remains unclear.
Stoner looks certain to link with Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes at Triple Eight Racing when he does step into a V8, having tested successfully for the team in the past.
Stoner could make his racing debut - which would be in the second-tier V8 development series - as soon as February on the undercard of Adelaide's Clipsal 500.
But he could also opt to pick and choose his races throughout 2013 and start a fulltime V8 career in 2014.
The development series is likely to have seven races next year.
Stoner could drive in any or all of those, as well as test himself in the V8 Supercars top tier as a co-driver in the Sandown and Bathurst endurance races.
Walking away from MotoGP a dual world champion and inducted as the sport's 20th official legend after Sunday's race, Stoner admitted he lacked confidence on his Honda in miserable weather conditions at Valencia.
The Australian is still carrying an ankle injury following surgery after a crash in August.
"I took the easy way out today by starting on wet tyres and to be honest, I was scared of crashing in these conditions," Stoner said.
"There were a lot of crashes today and it was difficult.
"I put on slick tyres but my eyes were dinner plates as I didn't want to take my bike off the dry patch.
"I didn't want to take any risks out there."
But Stoner was happy with the final chapter of a career that ended on a high late last month with his sixth successive Australian MotoGP win.
Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, who started from pole, won in Valencia after world champion Jorge Lorenzo crashed out.
Lorenzo had wrapped up the world championship at Phillip Island in the previous race and finished the year with 350 points to Pedrosa's 332.