Archive - 2012 - Interview

The Power Electronics Aspar team issued a press release last week containing an interview with top CRT rider of 2012, Aleix Esparagaro. In the interview, Esparagaro talks about his experience with the Aspar team, the joy of beating teammate Randy de Puniet to the top CRT spot, his close relationship with his brother Pol, and his obsession with the color pink. The press release follows below:

'JORGE MARTINEZ HAS HELPED TO ME MATURE AND MADE ME MORE CALM AND CONFIDENT'

At just 23 years of age Aleix Espargaró is already a veteran of World Championship competition, having made his debut back in 2004. The Spaniard has competed at every level of Grand Prix racing and his happy go lucky nature and constant smile have made him one of the most well loved and charismatic riders in the paddock. This season has seen the POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar Team rider curb his natural enthusiasm and find the inner calm and confidence needed to make progress as a rider and as a person. In this interview he reveals some of his most carefully guarded secrets and reflects back on his best ever season, which saw him crowned as the first ever CRT 'champion' in MotoGP.

First of all what is your reaction to the Espargaró brothers being handed the Shoya Tomizawa Fair Play Award for your sportsmanship and support of each other?

The Repsol Media Service today issued the following press release containing an interview with Marc Marquez, in which he talks about what it took to win the 2012 Moto2 championship. He discusses the many tough races he had to win, the risks he had to take in the last laps, and his first lap at Motegi. The text is shown below:

Moto2 - Interview with Marc Márquez, Moto2 World Champion

"I won the title by taking last lap risks"

New Moto2 World Champion looks at the keys to his title winning season, one hour after his latest honour.

Repsol Media Service - Monday 29/10/2012

Battles with Pol Espargaró, the epic comeback in Japan, the fight to recovery from injury in the winter and the pressure of being a favourite have all been key to crowning the 2012 Moto2 Champion. "Sometimes I have to channel my inner anger to win a race,” says Márquez.

Moto2 World Champion. For two years the title seemed to be calling, but it has not been easy. Do you feel liberated now?

The chance to substitute in the Repsol Honda team for the injured Casey Stoner was a great opportunity for Jonathan Rea to get a feel for a MotoGP bike and demonstrate his talent and potential, objectives in which he succeeded admirably. But it was also a chance for MotoGP journalists to grill the Ulsterman on the differences between various aspects of MotoGP and World Superbikes, Rea having shown he was both fast enough to feel the difference, smart enough to understand the difference and articulate enough to explain it to reporters.

At Aragon, the subject turned to electronics, and the difference between the systems used in the two series. The topic was broached as Rea was explaining what had happened to him during the race. He had got caught up cycling through the various electronics strategies the Honda RC213V is equipped with, looking for one that would help him as the tire wore throughout the race. A lack of dry track time getting to understand how the electronics affected the bike as the tires begin to wear left him confused and struggling to find a setting that would work, Rea told reporters.

The Aspar press office today issued a press release containing an interview with team boss Jorge Martinez. In the interview, the Spaniard talks about how 2012 has turned out in the three classes in which the Aspar team competes, touching on subjects such as the success of late signing Jonas Folger, how CRT is working out, and the power deficit which CRT machines have to the MotoGP prototypes, and the sponsorship initiatives being taken by the team to help fill the gaps being left open as the global economic crisis continues. Below is the press release in full:

Interview with Jorge Martínez 'Aspar' - 24/09/12

'I HOPE THE ASPAR TEAM RIDERS TREAT THE LAST FIVE RACES LIKE FIVE CUP FINALS'

After 33 years at the coal face of motorcycle racing Jorge Martinez 'Aspar' is a true legend of his sport. He speaks with the calmness of a veteran but his eyes still sparkle with the limitless enthusiasm of youth. A four-time World Champion himself in the smaller classes 'Aspar' has won the same number of titles as a team owner but no matter what your success there is always a flip side to contend with in racing and this season has seen him forced into some difficult decisions. In this interview the Spaniard opens up about the season so far, his relationship with his sponsors and his targets for the near future.

With just the final sprint to go in the championship what is your evaluation of the Aspar Team?

It has been a tough year, different. Maybe we have become too used to enjoying success in recent seasons but there were a lot of changes to contend with in 2012. The 125 class changed to Moto3, in MotoGP we switched from Ducati to a CRT bike with Aprilia and we signed a lot of new riders. Preseason went well in every category, we completed all the work we had planned but once official practice got started things started to turn for the worse - especially in Moto3. The first race was like a bucket of cold water - we didn't expect such poor results. It is important to assess moments like this and analyse why the situation has come about. I thought the material and the technical staff were competitive so there was really no reason for it to happen.

Ducati Corse director and Ducati's engineering guru Filippo Preziosi was a busy man at Misano. Besides overseeing the race weekend at the circuit and preparing for the test on Monday, Preziosi spent a lot of time talking to a number of journalists. MotoMatters.com was one of the lucky few who were offered ten minutes with Preziosi, and so we jumped at the chance. In the interview, Preziosi covered a number of topics: the Ducati junior team strategy, Ducati's four riders for 2013, the current and expected developments for next season were all among the subjects discussed. Preziosi also talked about the effect of the spec ECU which will be introduced for 2014, and gave the impression he was not necessarily opposed to the idea. Below is what Preziosi had to say to us:

MotoMatters.com: Next year you have the Ducati junior strategy in place. Can you explain how you see that working in terms of development? Will you have four equal riders or two riders who get equipment ahead of the other two?

Filippo Preziosi: I think the main difference between next year and the years before is that we agreed that every development that will be developed by the company will be supplied to the satellite team by default. In the past it was an option that the satellite teams had, but there are some commercial issues, so sometimes they did it, sometimes they didn't. Now we are more close, so when we develop something for our factory team, we want to supply to the satellite teams, if the riders like the changes. So we would like to be as strong as we can.

With the engine allocation rules now in their third season, the factories have the system down to a tee. So much so that even though Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies have both lost an engine due to a blow up, both men should make it easily to the end of the season, needing only to shuffle their engines slightly more often than normal. The fact that Casey Stoner made it to the end of the 2011 season having used just 5 of the 6 engines allowed show just how well the current factories have the situation in hand.

Things are not quite so simple for the CRT teams, however. The teams face two challenges. The first is rather obvious: this is the first year that the teams are racing under the Claiming Rules, and they have no experience of running these engines with a restricted allocation of engines. In World Superbikes, where the racing versions of these engines have been developed, there are no limits on engines, and the teams can swap the engines as often as they like.

The use of performance-enhancing (or in the case of Anthony Gobert, performance-reducing) drugs in motorcycle racing is an interesting subject. There have been very few racers who have been caught for using doping of one kind of another - Noriyuki Haga being the most high-profile example, banned for the use of ephedrine - but the FIM continue to police the issue very strictly, even organizing a special educational briefing session for all of the riders in the MotoGP paddock in 2011.

After the news that Valentino Rossi was to make a return to Yamaha after two disastrous seasons at Ducati, Yamaha's press officers were inundated with requests for interviews with Yamaha Racing Managing Director Lin Jarvis at Brno. To accommodate as many people as possible, Yamaha held a press conference to answer the questions that all of the assembled media wanted to put to them.

The subjects covered during the press conference were the motivation for signing Rossi after his two-year absence, whether Jorge Lorenzo had been consulted on the deal, and the pecking order inside the team. Jarvis also discussed the possibility of Jeremy Burgess and his crew joining Rossi at Yamaha, as well as commenting positively on Ben Spies' performance over the past season. 

But first he was asked why Yamaha had decided to sign Rossi after the Italian had left on not entirely amicable terms. "The reason to have Valentino back is the seven years of excellent history we had together," Jarvis replied. "We had Valentino with us for seven years, we won four world titles together and we made a great history in the sport and also a lot of positive publicity for Yamaha together. So finally, the reason for having Valentino back is to come back to the good times. The divorce, I'd like to say, was not in my opinion a bad divorce. Of course, any separation has its issues, but we have remained on good terms as Yamaha with Valentino since."

Editor's note: The news that the former head of Yamaha's MotoGP program Masao Furusawa had visited Italy to talk to Ducati Corse boss Filippo Preziosi spread like wildfire through the racing world. After initial sightings in Italy of Furusawa, rumors quickly began to spread that the legendary Japanese engineer had been contacted by Ducati to help them fix their troubled Desmosedici, in a bid to keep Valentino Rossi at the factory. The rumors turned out to be true, and so veteran Japanese journalist Akira Nishimura visited Furusawa at his Kyoto home to ask him about the visit. Furusawa explained how he visited Italy at Filippo Preziosi's request, talked of his motorcycle design philosophy, and explains why he decided to turn down Ducati's request for help. Furusawa goes on to talk about visiting Valentino Rossi in Tavullia to discuss his future, and gives his vision of Rossi's chances at Yamaha. 

The interview gives a fascinating insight into a key point in motorcycle racing history. It highlights the lengths to which Ducati is willing to go to change their fortunes, and it also highlights interesting aspects of Japanese culture, and the effect they can have on the direction of racing and the individuals involved. 

Akira Nishimura: First of all, how long did you go to Italy for?

Masao Furusawa: Almost one week. I returned to Japan on (July) 25th. When I arrived in Italy on the evening of the 19th, I received an e-mail from Yamaha Motor Racing - they seemed to find an article on newspaper about my trip - asking me the purpose, so I replied them that 'I will go sightseeing tomorrow, then see Filippo Preziosi the following day'. Valentino also called me on my cellphone and said he needed to talk, so, I visited his home in Tavullia. I met with Filippo twice and with Vale once during the trip.

The transcript of the post-race press conference after the Red Bull Indianapolis GP, courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway media service:

2012 RED BULL INDIANAPOLIS GP MotoGP PODIUM PRESS CONFERENCE

Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso
Sunday, Aug. 19, 2012

MODERATOR: I think the riders are almost with us, ladies and gentlemen. In second place here riding the factory Yamaha, Jorge Lorenzo, of course, retains his lead in the World Championship.
The race winner here this afternoon, his second win at Indianapolis, his second win of the season is Dani Pedrosa, and yet another podium finish for Andrea Dovizioso. (Applause)
OK, obviously we'll start with the race winner. It's been a good weekend all the way around for you, Dani, hasn't it? Practice went well, obviously the record lap in qualifying and then the race itself.

DANI PEDROSA: Yes. It was a good weekend, I think. The bike was working well. We were spinning all the practice, but we had a good feeling. So, yeah, today for the race I was quite confident, but at the beginning I try to stay focused. The pace was very high. Everybody was running a high pace. Early in the race I started to open a gap, but anyway, I knew the race was long, so I tried to stay focused. It was the middle of the race, I make mistake in Turn 2, the gears get back into neutral. So when I shift again to first, the bike kick, had a good kick on me and, yeah, I almost lost control, but I kept the bike on the track. I lost one second that lap. I could get back on my rhythm and get back on the lead with good pace.

Transcripts of the post-race press conferences from both the Moto2 and Moto3 races at Indianapolis, courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway media service:

2012 RED BULL INDIANAPOLIS GP Moto2 PODIUM PRESS CONFERENCE

Marc Marquez, Pol Espargaro, Julian Simon
Sunday, Aug. 19, 2012

MODERATOR: The podium finishes then in the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix Moto2: In third place Julian Simon; second place, Pol Espargaro; and our race winner is Marc Marquez.
Congratulations, Marc. Fifth win of the season. It wasn't a normal Moto2 race where you were all fighting out. This one was very calculated. You decimated the field, as well. How good did it feel to be riding with the bike and have such a big gap behind you today?

MARC MARQUEZ: Yes, in the beginning I was a little surprised because I thought Pol and Iannone would be stronger, but I saw that the race was quite slow. I tried to lead the race and try to make my rhythm that I make in the qualifying and practice and warm-up. From that was quite difficult in the middle of the race and in the end keep the same concentration, because when I was alone there in front, was quite difficult. But I want to say thanks to my team, to Suter, because now I feel better on the bike. I feel quite good. So this victory is important and start to have the second part of the season with a victory, it is important. We will enjoy it, but we need to think that next week we have Brno, and that circuit is quite difficult.

Below is the transcript of the press conference held after qualifying at Indianapolis, featuring MotoGP front row rider Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso and Moto2 and Moto3 polesitters Pol Espargaro and Sandro Cortese:

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway issued the following press release, containing a full transcript of the pre-event press conference. In it, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo react to the news that they will be teammates at Yamaha next year, Casey Stoner clarifies the interview that appeared recently containing comments on Rossi's time at Ducati, and Nicky Hayden talks about the possibility of having Andrea Dovizioso as his new teammate.

2012 RED BULL INDIANAPOLIS GP PRESS CONFERENCE

Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo, Nicky Hayden, Valentino Rossi, Stefan Bradl
Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012

MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, a very warm welcome. It's the pre-event press conference for the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix here in the United States of America. Of course, the second race in succession in the States. 
At the press conference today in the center, Jorge Lorenzo, riding the factory Yamaha, the World Championship leader, five wins this season and the winner at Indianapolis in 2009, and three podium finishes also for Jorge Lorenzo in Indianapolis.
To his right, Casey Stoner, riding the Repsol Honda, third in the World Championship; Casey, four wins this season. He's won the last three races in America, Casey Stoner. Of course, the most important one for him probably the last one, that was at Laguna Seca three weeks ago.
To his right, Nicky Hayden joins, sixth in the World Championship, riding the Ducati. Two podiums for Nicky in Indianapolis, 2008 riding the Honda then and, of course, 2009, which was his first podium for Ducati.
To the left of Jorge, Stefan Bradl, Stefan the current Moto2 champion, doing sixth in the World Championship with Nicky Hayden; best result in the season coming just a couple of grand prixes ago in MotoGP, fourth in the Italian Grand Prix. Of course, this is his first season in the MotoGP World Championship.
Far end, no introduction needed. He's the nine times World Champion, Valentino Rossi, eighth in the championship. Best result, second place at Le Mans this season; and, of course, a winner here at Indianapolis 2008 just before the hurricane arrived.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway public relations office, unquestionably among the best in the world, are hard at it promoting this weekend's Red Bull Indianapolis GP. As part of their efforts, they today issued a press release interview with Yamaha Factory rider Ben Spies. The Texan talks about his season so far, his decision to leave Yamaha, and his interests outside of motorcycle racing. The interview appears below:

TEN MINUTES WITH ... BEN SPIES

INDIANAPOLIS, Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012 - Yamaha Factory Racing rider Ben Spies is one of five Americans who will compete in MotoGP class at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 17-19 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Spies, 28, from Longview, Texas, is in his third full season in MotoGP. He has recorded two career podium finishes at Indianapolis, placing second in 2010 with Tech 3 Yamaha and third in 2011 with Yamaha Factory Racing. He also won the pole in 2010 at IMS.

Spies was the 2010 MotoGP Rookie of the Year after winning the World Superbike championship in 2009. He won three consecutive AMA Superbike titles in America from 2006-08 before moving to the world stage.

Q: How has your summer break gone? Any time for interesting vacation spots or fun?

As is traditional by now, the Press Office of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway held a teleconference with American riders ahead of next weekend's Red Bull Indianapolis GP. This year, the participants were Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden, who fielded questions from a group of journalists via phone on Thursday. Much ground was covered: Colin Edwards talked about CRT bikes, spec ECUs, his plans for the future and where the next great American racer is coming from, while Hayden spoke about racing just three hours from his home, the new surface at Indy and the developments he has had this year and what he expects from Ducati for the future. 

Below is the transcript of the teleconference, courtesy of the IMS media service:

2012 RED BULL INDIANAPOLIS GP TELECONFERENCE

Colin Edwards, Nicky Hayden
Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012

Note: American MotoGP stars Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards participated in a Red Bull Indianapolis GP teleconference Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012. Both will join fellow MotoGP stars from around the world in the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 17-19 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

MODERATOR: You have made no secret about the package that you have for the CRT bike that you have this year. You guys have struggled with the electronics and other various elements of the bike, and you guys keep chipping away and chipping away. But you did test some other bikes after the race at Mugello last month. Any news on the equipment from at Indy for you guys?