Archive - Interview

Yamaha today issued a press release containing an interview with Wilco Zeelenberg, the team manager for Jorge Lorenzo. Zeelenberg plays a pivotal role in Lorenzo's success, advising Lorenzo and crew chief Ramon Forcada on where the 2012 World Champion is gaining or losing time at a circuit. He acts as both a rider advisor, as well as providing key set up input for Forcada. He is always worth listening to, and the press release interview, shown below, is no exception:

Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager Wilco Zeleenberg Q&A

Yamaha Racing caught up with Yamaha Factory Racing's Team Manager Wilco Zeelenberg recently at Assen to ask a few questions about the current season in MotoGP and his continuing role alongside reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo...

Has your season started as you expected?

“Well, I would say better! After the first two races we’re leading on points tied with Marquez which is a bit of a surprise as we expected Dani to be there, closer anyway than Marc. For the Championship it’s great to have another guy instead of Casey up there which is what was needed.”

Jorge is a very accomplished rider, is there another step forward in his learning this season?

To celebrate Chaz Davies' impressive first double win in World Superbikes at the Motorland Aragon circuit, BMW issued the following press release, containing an interview with the Welshman. In the interview, Davies talks about the improvements BMW has made to their S1000RR for this season, the crucial advances made at the Jerez WSBK test, and his thoughts on being a contender for the 2013 WSBK title.

The press release from BMW is shown below:

Chaz Davies: “BMW has done an awesome job.”

BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team rider Chaz Davies speaks about his great first double victory in the FIM Superbike World Championship at Aragón.

At the presentation of Yamaha's 2013 MotoGP campaign, where the bike which Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi will ride in the coming season was unveiled, it was clear that there was one thing missing from the bike: this season, as for the last two years, Yamaha's MotoGP team will not have a title sponsor, but will campaign in corporate colors once again. Though the news hardly came as a surprise - the colors being used throughout the winter testing period suggested that Yamaha would be racing without a title sponsor - we were interested to find out whether the current situation is sustainable.

To that end, we cornered Yamaha Racing's Managing Director Lin Jarvis, and put a few questions to him. Firstly, we asked, could Yamaha's MotoGP team manage without a title sponsor, or was the expanded support from non-title sponsors sufficient? The answer to those questions was "yes and yes" Jarvis quipped. "We can manage, because we are a factory team, and so the basic point of us racing is not to make a profit the basic idea is to promote Yamaha's brand image around the world, to generate excitement in our industry and to develop our engineers and our technologies. Certainly, having more income definitely helps us, so we're constantly searching for new sponsorships, new partners."

"What I'm happy about is that we have retained almost all of our sponsors from last year, and some of them have stepped up. IVECO have stepped up, and increased. We've got Monster Energy on board now. They've been with the riders in the past, with Ben, but Monster coming on board has been a real boost, and has enabled us to put both riders together under the same Monster umbrella. That's completed what I call the Monster pyramid, because they support us in so many classes, but they missed that top class of MotoGP with the factory team. Our situation is better than last year in terms of income, but we still are constantly looking and pushing, not only for income, but also for new partners to promote."

The Repsol Media Service issued yet another Youtube video interview from the Austin test, in what is becoming a daily occurrence. This time, it is the turn of Repsol Honda team prinicipal Livio Suppo, and in this interview, Suppo talks about how the testing has progressed so far, what Honda's expectations are for Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez for 2013, and how this year's RC213V compares to last year's bike.

Below is the video interview, and a transcription of it:

Livio Suppo: "Repsol Honda is the most successful team in the series, we know that expectations are high and our goal is to win the title"

Livio Suppo, Team Principal for Repsol Honda, analyses Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez’ preseason so far. After the Austin test, Suppo reflects positively on the times taken by both riders.

After previous interviews with the Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez, and Pedrosa's crew chief Mike Leitner, it was the turn of Marquez' crew chief Santi Hernandez to answer questions on the Austin MotoGP test in a Repsol Media Service video interview. In the interview, Hernandez talks about how the test went, how Marquez is adapting to MotoGP, and how the team has changed since the last time Hernandez worked in the premier class, with 1999 World Champion Alex Criville. The video and transcript and translation follows below:

"Marc is a very hardworking rider. He knows what he needs in order to go fast and give clear information to the technicians."

Crew Chief for Marc Marquez in his two seasons in Moto2, Santi Hernandez has made the jump to MotoGP alongside the rider with whom he has won a championship and a runner-up finish in the intermediate class. Aged 37, he has spent nearly half his life at racing circuits –first as Suspensions Technician for the likes of Alex Criville and Valentino Rossi in the Repsol Honda Team, and then as a Crew Chief in both 125cc and Moto2. Now returning to the premier class as Race Engineer for Marquez, he oversees the latest Spanish star’s move up to the premier class.

After interviews with riders Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez, the Repsol Media Service today issued a video interview with Dani Pedrosa's crew chief, Mike Leitner. Leitner is a sharp and intelligent man, always insightful and capable of offering incisive comments on racing, and the factors that go into it. In this interview, Leitner talks about what he thought of the Austin circuit, reveals that the chatter which plagued the Hondas last year is largely gone, and says that he expects the championship to be very tightly balanced between Honda and Yamaha.

Below is the video interview, and a transcript:

“When you win six of the last eight races, you are at the maximum level. However, there is always some room for improvement.”

The Repsol Media Service, industrious as ever, released another interview after testing at Austin. After the interview with Dani Pedrosa yesterday, today it was the turn of Marc Marquez, the man who topped the test. The Repsol Honda man talks about adapting to the MotoGP bike, his progress in learning to ride a MotoGP machine, the Austin circuit, and which races he is most looking forward to. The press release interview and video is shown below:

"I started to have more fun on the bike in Austin"

Repsol Honda rider talks about first test at Austin and says that he now controls his Honda RC213V.

Reigning Moto2 World Champion Marc Márquez continues to impress in his first MotoGP preseason. The Repsol rider was the fastest man at the test held at the Circuit of the Americas last week and, whilst he was not expecting to go so well, shone once again in his rookie ride at the track.

You’ve been riding extremely fast in preseason so far. How do you assess what you’ve done so far in MotoGP?

The Repsol Media Service released the following video interview with Dani Pedrosa, complete with English transcription, after the latest MotoGP test at Austin:

"Austin is a difficult circuit, with a 'Formula 1' layout"

Repsol Honda rider analyses first runout at the Circuit of the Americas with his Honda RC213V.

2012 MotoGP World Championship runner-up, Dani Pedrosa, explains his first impressions of the newest circuit on the calendar for 2013. The Repsol Honda rider gives a positive analysis of the three day test at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and says he is looking forward to the final test at Jerez and the season opener in Qatar on April 7th.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway press office organized a teleconference with Factory Ducati rider Nicky Hayden last week. Naturally, the journalists were keen to hear what Hayden had to report from the first two tests at Sepang, but they were also interested in hearing his thoughts on the debut of Marc Marquez, how the departure of Valentino Rossi affects the Italian factory, and the changes in the structure of Ducati since it was taken over by Audi.

The press conference transcript follows below, courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway press office:

2013 RED BULL INDIANAPOLIS GP TELECONFERENCE

Nicky Hayden, March 14, 2013

MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Red Bull Indianapolis GP teleconference. Our guest today is 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden. Nicky is from Owensboro, Kentucky, and is entering his 11th season of MotoGP, and he is starting his fifth consecutive season with the iconic Ducati team. Nicky, thanks for joining us today.

NICKY HAYDEN: All right, thanks for having me.

MODERATOR: Nicky, you guys have tested already twice in Sepang and you made some really good progress it seemed like in the second test. The bike seemed to come alive and you got closer to the pace set by the Honda's and the Yamaha's. Was there a real breakthrough or was there a evolution in the GP13?

HAYDEN: Well, unfortunately I would say there wasn't a huge breakthrough and it wasn't quite that dramatic. It is true that we definitely reduced the gap to the front on some things. The track probably wasn't as good for the second test, there was a lot of rain during the night and a lot of guys wasn't as fast, and me and Dovi were quicker than the first test and reduced the gap to two seconds to 1.5 or 1.4 or something. It still is a lot. It is clear that we still have a lot of work to do, but we left there feeling a little bit more positive with some of the new things that we tested. It was stuff that we tried, we kind of hit on a couple things, so it was nice to find direction. If I am honest, the flight home after the first test was pretty rough.

As well as speaking to Scott Redding about his aims for 2013 at the Marc VDS launch in Belgium, we also had the opportunity to interview Marc VDS Racing boss Michael Bartholémy. The German-speaking Belgian had a lot to say on his expectations, not just for Scott Redding and Mika Kallio in Moto2 this year, but also of the high hopes he has for Livio Loi, the 15-year-old Belgian youngster who will be racing in Moto3 for the team.

But perhaps most interesting of all, Bartholémy talked openly about what went wrong in the team's negotiations with Ducati last year. Through the middle part of 2012, it looked as if Marc VDS Racing was in the running to be managing the Ducati Junior team, with Scott Redding on one of the two satellite Ducati Desmosedicis. It did not work out, leaving Redding racing in Moto2 for another season. Bartholémy explains why. The Marc VDS boss also gives his vision on the production racers likely to be introduced for 2014, and how they affect the team's plans for next season. The interview follows after the jump:

One of the more intriguing things about spending a few years in a racing paddock is watching people grow and mature. Young riders come in to the Grand Prix paddock as exuberant 15 and 16-year-olds, certainly with the anachronistic maturity of all dedicated sportsmen and women, but still clearly young teenagers, that explosive mixture of energy, hormones and sheer joy driving them into paroxysms of hyperactivity. A few years later, those young boys (and now girls as well) turn into young men, and a fuller, more mature personality emerges.

Such is the case with Scott Redding. Three years ago, when he first moved to Moto2, he was still a teenager with an impish grin on his face, looking like he was either planning trouble, or just returning from it. At the launch of the Marc VDS Racing program last night, at the Belgian team's workshop a stone's throw from Charleroi airport, a different Scott Redding was on display, calmer, more mature, more serious but without having lost his sense of fun. More focused, too.

MotoMatters were fortunate to recently get a chance to fire some questions at Peter Hickman, who is riding for GBmoto racing this year. Dave Porter set the questions and Peter was very glad to offer his insight and opinions on a few matters to do with racing -

MM: Peter, congratulations on racing with GBmoto Racing for 2013 in BSB. I know there is a wait till Round 1 at Brands in early April so wondered what your first impressions were of your new team.

PH: Thanks! I'm really happy to be riding with GBMoto. The team are absolutely fantastic and I couldn't wish for anything more. I've brought my old faithful mechanic Dazza (@dazzaj308) with me and I'll be back working with Tim Allen who I last worked with in 2011 with Tyco Honda, so it's all looking really good.

MM: With testing being limited to only 12 days this year and foreign trips excluded what chance have you had to get used to the team and the bike so far. Do you feel this is enough time to become familiar with the bike.

PH: Well the good news is, although 12 days is not a massive amount of time, it is the same for everyone. I'm not too fussed about the abroad testing, apart from it being a good giggle and bonding with the team in a relaxed environment. In fact when I first signed with the team they were planning on quite an extensive Spanish testing programme and I asked them to cut it down to just 3 days away as I would prefer to spend the cash on testing on the circuits that I am going to race on back here in the UK.

The Red Bull KTM team is following the trail blazed by the Repsol Media Service by supplying press release interviews with their riders. Today is the turn of young Malaysian rider Zulfahmi Khairuddin, who is racing in Moto3 with the Red Bull KTM team. Khairuddin has been making steady progress since ascending to the Grand Prix paddock, impressing many in 2012 by scoring a pole position and two podiums, his first podium coming at Sepang in front of an ecstatic home crowd.

Khairuddin is at the forefront of a move eastward for motorcycle racing, with increasing numbers of riders entering the series from the region. In the interview, the young Malaysian addressed the growing popularity of motorcycle racing in Southeast Asia, and talks about the challenges he faces coming from the region, among other subjects. A glimpse into the future, perhaps?

Below is the interview, issued as a press release:

"Malaysian people are starting to watch all the races on TV, even the rounds shown in the early hours.”

Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Malaysia rider preparing for fourth World Championship season.

25/02/13

After yesterday's interview with Dani Pedrosa, the Repsol Media Service issued a press release containing an interview with MotoGP rookie Marc Marquez. In the interview, the 2012 Moto2 champion talks mainly about the process of learning to ride a MotoGP bike. The interview is shown in full below:

"You can have a lot of fun on this bike"

Repsol rider shines in first test of the year in Malaysia.

After first wearing the Repsol Honda Team uniform in the team presentation at the end of January, last week Marc Márquez was back on his new MotoGP bike to ride alongside the stars of the class. He made a positive assessment of the three days of testing in Malaysia.

What is your assessment of these three days of testing at Sepang?

"The first practice is always special, because you're always nervous after winter. I felt very good, better than I expected with the bike. With the team everything is working well and we're integrating slowly. I've tried new things and I also had my first crash with the MotoGP bike. It was not a big one and little-by-little we are getting to know the bike, which is what preseason is all about."

After three days of testing on the RC213V, what do you most enjoy and what was hardest when riding?

As is their custom, the Repsol Media Service released a press release interview with Dani Pedrosa after the first MotoGP test of the year at Sepang. In the interview, Pedrosa talks about his experience of the first test, the things he expects Honda to improve for the next test, and the problems created  by the weight increase from 157kg to 160kg and the decrease in engine allocation, requested by the MSMA, from 6 to 5 engines. He also has a word for his new teammate Marc Marquez. The interview follows below:

“As long as there is a desire to take steps forward, you can always improve”

Repsol rider has started 2013 motivated and focused on riding this season as strongly as in the second half of 2012.

Dani Pedrosa finished the first official test of the year at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia as the dominant rider over the three days. The Repsol Honda team rider never ceded the top spot on the time sheets and continually had the best time of the entire grid. Satisfied with this first test, Pedrosa is happy to be back to work on the Honda RC213V in 2013 and also has compliments for new teammate, Marc Márquez.

Three days of testing, and you had the fastest time in all of them. Are you happy with how things went in Sepang?