The MotoGP World Championship returns to the U.S. for the second time in five weeks for the third annual Indianapolis Grand Prix in the American heartland.
The 11th round of the MotoGP World Championship comes two weeks after the Czech Grand Prix, a race in which Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) started from his third pole position of the year and raced to a second place finish.
Pedrosa has been the dominant rider of the six strong Honda contingent, with two wins and six podiums, a record which puts him second in the title chase, albeit at a gap of 77 points as the season approaches the two-thirds mark. But if there?s a track where Pedrosa can begin the process of closing the gap, it?s Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
A simple scan of the Spaniard?s results at the Brickyard don?t tell the entire story. In 2008 he finished second in the race which was run in, and finally stopped by, the torrential rains and howling winds of Hurricane Ike. Last year the 24-year-old from Sabadell was the fastest rider from the minute he rolled out onto the track. He was fastest in the opening practice, fastest by a second in the second practice, and rode a record lap in qualifying that was best by over half a second. Starting from pole position, Pedrosa was in the lead when his front end slid away on the fourth lap. Undeterred, Pedrosa lifted up his Honda RC212V and rejoined the fight. Racing with a damaged handlebar and foot peg, Pedrosa gradually picked up his pace and raced from dead last, 17th place, to finish 10th, making his last pass for position on the final lap. He finished with the second fastest lap time.
Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) wants to put the disappointment of the Czech Grand Prix behind him as soon as possible. Dovizioso had a strong race pace and was a fighting fourth early in the race when he slid off. Now, less than two weeks and an ocean away, Dovizioso has a chance for redemption on a track where he made progress over the first two years.
The Italian improved from the first to the second year of the Indy GP. Fifth the first year, Dovizioso finished half a second off the podium in 2009, having closed the gap on third place right up until the final lap. Dovi arrives in Indianapolis within four points of third place in the championship.
No one was looking forward to the weekend off after Brno more than Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda). The Frenchman finished a creditable tenth after making a miraculous recovery from a broken left leg suffered four weeks earlier in Germany. Still, he wasn?t at full strength and won?t be for some time, but just making it through the race was an exercise in courage.
The Indianapolis road course is predominantly left-biased, which will tax de Puniet?s still mending left leg. Of the track?s 16 corners, ten are left-handed, to go with six rights. Unlike Brno, which features near constant elevation changes, the Indy track is completely flat, with a number of 90 degree corners and relatively few that demand a quick side-to-side transition.
San Carlo Honda Gresini team-mates Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli will both be racing in Honda colors for the first time at IMS. Melandri raced a different brand each of the past two years, which means the 2010 race will be his third in a row on a different motorcycle. Melandri is fortunate to be aboard the satellite Honda RC212V this year. This season the team has enjoyed the benefit of a revised chassis, swingarm, and, most recently, electronics.
The Brickyard has been good to Simoncelli the past two years. In 2008, the tall, lanky Italian was on the pole in the 250cc race. But the same hurricane that shortened the MotoGP race to 20 laps from the scheduled 28 made the track unfit for racing, and the 250 final was canceled. The following year Simoncelli qualified second, jetted into the lead on the fourth of 26 laps and sped to victory.
The rider who finished second to Simoncelli last year was Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP). Aoyama hounded Simoncelli much of the race before the Italian stretched his lead to over a second three laps from the end. The 2010 Indianapolis Grand Prix will not only be Aoyama?s first on a MotoGP bike at the famed Speedway, but it will also mark his return to racing.
The Japanese rider has been mostly out of action since breaking the T12 vertebra in his back in a violent high-side during morning warm-up for the June 20 British Grand Prix. Aoyama returned to the track last week when he tested his RC212V on the Brno Circuit the day after the Czech Grand Prix. Following the rain-abbreviated test, Aoyama didn?t want to commit to racing in Indianapolis. But a week on he and his doctors decided his fitness level was such that he felt confident in returning.
Aoyama knows that, even though he?s been cleared to race, he doesn?t know how he?ll feel after riding the Honda RC212V and that he?ll still have to be cautious. Having missed six races, he doesn?t want to do anything that would risk re-aggravating the injury or suffering a setback as the championship heads towards its climax.
The two American venues couldn?t be more different. The late-July U.S. Grand Prix was held at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the shortest and tightest GP venue, a rollicking, yet intimate, 3.610k natural road course draped over the hills of Monterey, California. By contrast, the Indianapolis Grand Prix is held on a 4.218k road course which is mostly built within, and utilizes stretches of, the famed 2.5-mile/4.02k Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval. The road course was originally conceived for Formula One, with a few fixes added to accommodate motorcycles. Because of the mixture the new and the old, the track has several different surfaces, and therefore varying degrees of grip, though the differences become less noticeable with each passing year.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway is epic in scale, the world?s largest spectator sporting facility with more than 250,000 permanent seats. Home to the famed Indianapolis 500, the more than 100-year-old facility sprawls over an area so vast that you could fit Wembley Stadium, San Siro, Camp Nou, the Roman Colosseum, and Vatican City inside. The first ever motorized competition at the venue was a motorcycle race held in 1909 on a crushed stone surface sprayed with tar. Just a few days later the first car race was held, but the track surface produced so many accidents that a decision was made to cover the crushed rock and tar surface with 3.2 million paving bricks.
The track was covered by macadam in phases, but the ?Yard of Bricks? at the finish line have remained intact since late in 1961 when all but that one meter of bricks was replaced. The race winner has a tradition of kissing the bricks, a tradition the Honda riders would like to enjoy this year.
From Indianapolis, the teams immediately return to the Continent for the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano the following weekend.
HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES
Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa says:?I?m going to Indianapolis in a very good mood and I?m feeling ready to finish the job we weren?t able to complete in the race there last time. I felt really comfortable riding in Indy last year. I was on top of the timesheets from the first practice, I took pole position and the only mistake I made was in the race. So I hope this time we can put together a strong weekend and take another good result. We were fast and consistent at the last race in Brno and we?ll be aiming to get straight back on that pace again this weekend. It will be important, as always, to establish a good machine setting quickly on Friday, and I think we have a useful base from last year that will help us to find the right direction straight away. We were ready to win again in Brno and this will be our goal in Indianapolis too. Riding in America is different, the Indianapolis circuit is very impressive and I feel very good racing in the States because the support I get from the fans is always very positive. So I?m really looking forward to get out there.?
Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso says:?I always look forward to racing in the U.S.A. and this time is no different. I like visiting America, and the Indianapolis race track is a typical American venue with great facilities and huge grandstands. The MotoGP track is not particularly interesting but the atmosphere is always special. The circuit has many different surface types and last year this was a bit difficult for us, but I think that with this year?s machine package - and especially with the current weight distribution - the variety of asphalt and different levels of grip won?t be an issue. If I look back to the Brno GP I have to say that - except for the final result - it was a good weekend. We were competitive, our race pace was good but the result did not come. So we go to Indy determined to transform this good performance into a result. We need strong results for the team and for the championship position. Last year I was fourth at Indy in the race, but we weren?t as fast as the front runners - Dani especially was very fast. But this means that we have the potential to do well and this is an extra motivation for the weekend.?
LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet says:
?Indianapolis is almost a new track for us and we do not have so many data to check. The grip level is different in every part of the surface. I do not like this track so much and in my opinion it is not safe enough. Last year I was there despite the injury of my left ankle and once again this year I am not at 100%, but I am not worried about it. Indy has a lot of left corners which is not helpful for my leg but in the last 10 days I made a lot of sport to reinforce the muscles so I feel confident ahead the American GP. I will try to finish in the top eight this time.?
San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Melandri says:
?After disappointing performances on Friday and Saturday at Brno, the race in the Czech Republic restored some faith. In the second part I managed to find the right feeling with the bike, which gave me more enthusiasm and conviction to tackle the Monday tests, during which we made small but significant progress. We found some things with the suspension that bode well for the rest of the season. If we work with the same determination from Friday in Indianapolis we can score a good result in the race. The circuit is quite difficult to ride, but if I can find a good feeling with my Honda RC212V I can be close to the lead group."
San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli says:
I came away from Brno feeling somewhat disappointed by the final result but quite happy with the first part of the race. Unfortunately the drop in engine power in the second part did not allow me to be as fast and aggressive and it left a sour taste in my mouth. In any case we did not lose heart and we went into the test on Monday with great determination and managed to make some important steps forward. We gained more confidence with the electronics and were able to better interpret the engine management system. It was a shame that the rain brought it to a premature end because it was a very important test for me and my team and we still have some work to do on the chassis, which we didn't get time for. I still go to Indianapolis in the right spirit, I like the track and I won the first and only 250 race to take place here. I expect to have a good race and aim to finish inside the top six."
Interwetten Honda MotoGP rider Hiroshi Aoyama says:
?Today I had another x-ray after nine weeks since the crash. The damaged vertebra is still in the same shape, so it means that the bone is stable and the doctor gave me the okay for riding the bike in Indianapolis. Normally this state after an injury like mine is quite delicate, as the shape of the bone can change and lose some of its heights, but my bone looks good and is stable. I am so happy to come back and ride my bike again, but still I have to be careful. I want to be fast, but it will not be easy after this long time, because I will have to gain strength again first. First I want to get the feeling back with the bike, then I can concentrate on being fast. I missed six races-that is a lot-and I am so happy that finally I am back with my team and with my bike. In Indianapolis I have to see how much I will be capable of riding the bike and how much pain I will have. I am confident that I will have the feeling back quick, but we will have to see my physical condition once I am in action again. I can`t wait to come back.?
