Just five weeks after the masterful victory by Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC212V) in the U.S. Grand Prix in Monterey, California, the MotoGP World Championship returns to America, this time with all three championship classes and at one of the most famous racing venues in the world.
The fourth running of the Indianapolis Grand Prix will be held on the famed and improved Indianapolis Motor Speedway. At the request of the riders, the Speedway repaved most of the infield, which gives the track a consistent surface over its entire 4.218Km length. The bumps on corner entry claimed a number of riders last year, including Stoner, but not Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V), who won last year?s Indy GP, one of a career season best four wins. Stoner and Pedrosa, along with fellow Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso, return to the American Midwest looking to be first across the ?Yard of Bricks? at the end of the 12th round of the MotoGP World Championship.
Stoner?s dream season continued in the Czech Grand Prix where he made short work of the field and cruised to a dominant victory. The 25-year-old Australian had support from his Honda team-mates in leading the company?s first podium sweep since the U.S. Grand Prix in 2006. Dovizioso was second and a jubilant Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) earned a long-awaited and well-deserved first MotoGP podium in third. Stoner?s sixth win out of 11 tries gives him a 32 point championship lead over Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha).
For Stoner to continue his record of podium appearances in every race he?s finished this year he?ll have to conquer one of his least welcoming tracks. The Brickyard may well be Stoner?s worst track over the past three years and the only current track where he?s never finished on the podium. In the inaugural 2008 running he was a distant fourth in the hurricane-shortened race. The following year he was on a brief hiatus while treating a medical issue and last year he crashed. Considering his accomplishments this season, his history at IMS shouldn?t mean much.
Dovizioso has been consistently near the podium in the three previous Indianapolis races. He was fifth in 2008, fourth in 2009, and fifth again in last year?s searing heat. Dovi had expected to do better in 2010, but with grip compromised by the afternoon heat the 25?year-old Italian wasn?t able to match his pace in qualifying. Coming off his best finish of the season in Brno, Dovizioso will be looking to strengthen his third place in the championship.
Pedrosa is ready to bounce back from a disappointing weekend in Brno. The Spaniard had taken his first pole of the season and was second to team-mate Stoner when he fell, unhurt, on the third lap. To that point he?d been strong in the previous races, winning in Germany and finishing third in the U.S. Grand Prix prior to the summer break.
Indy has been welcoming to Pedrosa. In 2009 he qualified on pole and last year did even better. From fifth on the grid, and half a second off the pace, Pedrosa took the lead from pole-sitting American Ben Spies on the seventh of 28 laps and romped to victory, the third of his four on the season.
Simoncelli was also affected by last year?s conditions and cautious not to fall prey to the slippery surface. The MotoGP rookie fought with a trio of other riders that was reduced to one in the battle for seventh. It took a perfect last lap for the then 23-year-old Italian to prevail in seventh place, and just by .085s. ?Super Sic? likes the Indy layout as evidenced by his win here on a 250 in 2009 and his pole position in 2008.
More will be expected of the former 250cc World Champion now that he?s shown he?s a legitimate podium contender.
The 2010 Indy race was one of the more difficult of Hiroshi Aoyama?s (San Carlo Honda Gresini) rookie MotoGP campaign. It was here that he returned to racing following a two-month injury layoff after breaking his back in morning warm-up at the British Grand Prix. The Japanese star wasn?t fully fit, which made dealing with the hot climate especially difficult.
Aoyama was also injured this season-he was one of several riders to get caught out on cold tyres at the Dutch TT, but has since recovered. His best showing at Indianapolis came en route to the 2009 250cc World Championship, when he finished second to Simoncelli.
Toni Elias (LCR Honda MotoGP RC212V) sped to the fifth of his seven Moto2 wins here last year, despite being at less than peak fitness. The Spaniard rode bravely with a fever and body pains that made the heat unbearable. And when he left Indianapolis he was well on his way to the inaugural Moto2 World Championship.
This year has been less successful for the veteran from Manresa, though he put in one of his best showings of the season in Brno. The team has worked tirelessly to find a technical solution for Elias, whose difficulty getting heat into the rear tyre is well documented.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway is one of the world?s great sporting venues, the largest and highest capacity sporting venue in the world, though not a great motorcycle race track. Epic in scale, it boasts 250,000 permanent seats on its vast, more than 100-year-old campus. The Indianapolis 500 and the NASCAR Brickyard 400 are the two signature events on the 2.5-mile four-corner oval, with crowds of hundreds of thousands filling most of the seats and the infield. The track known as ?The Brickyard? has plenty of history for the four wheel set, including hosting Formula One for several years, but its flat, featureless nature will never be a favourite of the MotoGP crowd. Instead it?s the history, hospitality and atmosphere the riders soak up, especially the Americans who were raised in an era when the Indianapolis 500 was the most important auto race of the year.
The original road course was designed for Formula One, which ran clockwise compared to MotoGP?s anti-clockwise. The motorcycle layout uses only 872m of the front straight before tucking into the road course, which is heavily stop-start and lacking in character. The first sequence of corners was designed specifically for MotoGP, after which the track rejoins the F-1 layout that was last used in 2007. There are virtually none of the high speed corners that riders enjoy, and rarely do the MotoGP bikes get to stretch their legs. Passing zones are limited and overtaking is mostly done under braking. The final sequence is a pair of back-to-back 90 degree corners which exit onto the front stretch.
That said, the MotoGP field of 17 should enjoy the track more than it has in the past. The paving eliminated the track?s many bumps, though a recent test by American riders found the surface to be slippery and abrasive, which is often the case with new asphalt. That should change once some rubber gets laid down on the racing line, but tyre technicians will be on the alert for excessive wear on Friday. The track now has a mostly consistent racing surface, except across the ?Yard of Bricks? at the finish line, which have been in place since a 1961 repaving when all but that one meter of the original paving stones was replaced. Tradition dictates that the race winner and his team kiss the bricks, a tradition the Honda riders would like to continue this year.
HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES
Repsol Honda Casey Stoner says:
?In the past seasons the track at Indy has been extremely bumpy and also slightly dangerous, so I'm looking forward to going there and riding the new surface. It will also be nice to ride the Honda there, as it took a lot of work to get the set up right on the Ducati at such a peculiar circuit. I've only ridden the circuit in 2008 and 2010 and we were pretty competitive there last year, but then I lost the front in the race, so it will be good to get there, test the new surface and get to work on the set up on my RC212V.?
Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso says:
?We arrive in Indy after a podium finish in Brno and I hope we can continue this momentum. The Indianapolis racetrack is a typical American venue with great facilities and huge grandstands. The track is not particularly interesting, but all in all it?s a very nice event. This year the track has been resurfaced in some parts, so for sure it will be much more fun to ride, as in the past it was very bumpy and there were different kind of asphalts. Last year in the practice and qualifying sessions we were fast but we struggled in the race, finishing fifth. I?m confident we can be competitive again this year. We are very motivated and focused.?
Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa says:
?I'm heading to Indianapolis and really looking forward to the race. Last year we had a good race there and I hope I can repeat this again. The asphalt has changed, so we will have to adapt to the new surface, check how the tyres are working there and look for the best race setup possible. Physically I'm improving little by little; already in Brno I felt better than in the past months, so I hope I can be in good shape for the race. Obviously the last race result was very disappointing for me and my team after such a good weekend, but we take the positive things from it and move forward.?
San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli says:
?A weight was lifted off my shoulders at Brno with my first ever podium in MotoGP and my 30th podium in all categories. It was a huge source of satisfaction because we have been chasing it since the opening race of the season and didn't quite manage it for various reasons. We needed it and I am happy for myself, the team, Honda and everybody who has believed in me. That kind of cloud is no longer hanging over us and hopefully that will make everything easier in the second half of the season. I am feeling strong and determined and I travel to America in the right mood to continue this positive progress. Indianapolis is a circuit I like overall, although I do tend to struggle a little compared to the other smaller riders because of the first gear final corner that leads onto a really long straight. This is a problem for us, but we will do our best to work it out and try to ensure it hinders us as little as possible. I took the win at Indianapolis in 250 in 2009 and I was on pole in 2008 when the race was cancelled because of the hurricane. The team and I are highly motivated and hope to continue in the same way we found in Brno.?
San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Hiroshi Aoyama says:
?Ninth place at Brno wasn't an amazing result, but it was positive for me because I recovered my physical condition and my confidence with the bike. After the Czech Republic Grand Prix I am feeling more motivated and determined for the second half of the season. I needed to rediscover my confidence in myself and in the RC212V, and I think Brno was a positive weekend in that respect. Now I go to Indianapolis in a different mood. I finished second here behind Marco Simoncelli in the 250cc race a couple of years ago and returned to action here last year after missing six races through injury. It wasn't an easy weekend for me, but I managed to finish the race and I enjoyed the track so I am very much looking forward to a stronger showing this weekend.?
LCR Honda rider Toni Elias says:
?Indianapolis is another race track that I like very much including his history and the warmth of the American fans. It has always been a tough track with many bumps and mixed tarmac, but it suits my riding style. Last year I won the race aboard the Moto2. After the positive result of the last race in Brno and the good performance of the test in Brno, I am leaving Spain with a high motivation. We have closed the gap to the front riders and with more adjustments we can aim to stay with (Nicky) Hayden, (Colin) Edwards and (Hiroshi) Aoyama.?
