2012 MotoGP Round 1 - Qatar

[sir_nj]

For the Americans: 50kph=31mph

That's rarely life-threatening.

so 2 CRTs drafting down a straight a Prototype is flying past just as he comes up to them a CRT pulls out of the Slip Stream
31MPH will make a hell of a mess

Sorry, but I am just not seeing this as being a reality. What factory rider is going to not notice traffic in front of him? The rider pulling out of the slipstream would have to be doing something really extreme and irresponsible to even startle the faster rider.

I think the problem is not so much that there is a speed difference of 31mph but that there is a speed difference of 31mph at 200mph. At this speed it is more difficult to judge distances/timing of something moving differently to you.

[Cam D]

Did the dukes set their fast times on softs?

Just checked out the analysis of FP3. It looks like Jorge and Casey are the only riders that can comfortably punch out low 56's or high 55's.

I'm guessing the soft tyre is the reason - Cal and Dovi managed singular fast laps but the rest of their laps were more than .5 sec slower. Nicky's fast lap was a second quicker than any of his other laps.

http://resources.motogp.com/files/resul ... 1_18a8e292

[oldboyonrgv]

Yes they were....Stoner had to abort his though due to a slower bike in his way

[Cam D]

Interesting (from GPone) ...
http://www.gpone.com/index.php/en/20120 ... l-box.html

Hector has now started mounting his bike several minutes before the start of each session, mentally visualizing two to four flying laps of the circuit. Those who have witnessed the ritual say he acts out every movement; including leaning, braking and changing gears.

and

"No, we don't exchange data with the factory team, also because I'm riding the GPZero, which is the bike from Valencia."

[Upon1]

I think that's quite interesting. If i remember correctly when stoner was with Ducati the satellite teams always had access to his and Nicky's data.

[frankrizzo]

Interesting (from GPone) ...
http://www.gpone.com/index.php/en/20120 ... l-box.html

Hector has now started mounting his bike several minutes before the start of each session, mentally visualizing two to four flying laps of the circuit. Those who have witnessed the ritual say he acts out every movement; including leaning, braking and changing gears.

and

"No, we don't exchange data with the factory team, also because I'm riding the GPZero, which is the bike from Valencia."

and i bet if you put a stopwatch on what he's doing in the garage the lap times would match up. i think pretty much every guy who ever raced did this in their heads and you'd be surprised how accurate this thought process can be. for hector it must be the act of doing it on the bike stops his mind wandering. kenny roberts has emphasised the process, said that was the way he learnt the tracks so well when he came to england and won on tracks he'd never been to. he'd go out and do a handful of laps of 'sampling' then straight into the back of the trailer a do a few laps in his head to get straight what he would do in the next session.


anyone got more info on the stoner/bautista altercation?

[Tourn46]

Yes they were....Stoner had to abort his though due to a slower bike in his way

Stoner was 0.15s behind Lorenzo's time in T1 before aborting his fast lap.

[Tourn46]

I think that's quite interesting. If i remember correctly when stoner was with Ducati the satellite teams always had access to his and Nicky's data.

I don't understand what's interesting about it, could you expand please? The sattelite Ducati's aren't the same bike as the factory Ducati's... the data would be no use as far as I am aware, hence Barbera's quote.

[sege]

I think that's quite interesting. If i remember correctly when stoner was with Ducati the satellite teams always had access to his and Nicky's data.

He's on the GPZero and factory team is running GP12, the data would probably just mess things up wouldn't it?

[Tourn46]

Did the dukes set their fast times on softs?

Just checked out the analysis of FP3. It looks like Jorge and Casey are the only riders that can comfortably punch out low 56's or high 55's.

I'm guessing the soft tyre is the reason - Cal and Dovi managed singular fast laps but the rest of their laps were more than .5 sec slower. Nicky's fast lap was a second quicker than any of his other laps.

http://resources.motogp.com/files/resul ... 1_18a8e292

Cal was using a brand new soft rear on his fast lap, but had a worn hard tyre on the front.

[ieism]

" Hector has now started mounting his bike several minutes before the start of each session, mentally visualizing two to four flying laps of the circuit. Those who have witnessed the ritual say he acts out every movement; including leaning, braking and changing gears."


Does he mentally visualize getting a tow from Lorenzo too? Or was it a coincidence again.

[L34]

Yes they were....Stoner had to abort his though due to a slower bike in his way

Stoner was 0.15s behind Lorenzo's time in T1 before aborting his fast lap.

Yes he was slower than Jorge in the 1st sector, but it was his quickest sector time of the whole session,
and it is just wrong for a rider to be on the racing line while slowing down.

Casey said afterwards that he was more dissapointed that a rider of AB's experience doing this sort of thing often and
more concerned about the danger than the lap time itself.

Watching the practice sessions I get the impression that Casey and Val have been concentrating on setting their bikes on worn hard option tyres than actually going for the fastest laps.
Wouldnt be at all surprised to see the Ducati near or on the podium.

[Cam D]

3am here in Aus.... lucky we have the four days off for Easter!
- The Tech 3 bikes look great!
- Stefan owes Jorge a beer for the excellent tow.
- It was excellent to watch as they kept the cameras on Nicky for a whole lap. He was pretty loose but looked cofortable.
- His times are fast but Cal looks pretty rough
- Hector just got a tow off Jorge... the guy should charge for his services.
- The CRT bikes are dropping like flies. Front end wash outs.
- Weird off from Ben... he hung on to the last minute.

It was worth getting up to see Casey and Jorge's fast laps. Coming on to the straight was stunning
Can't wait for tomorrow night! Go Jorge!

[cmb]

Rossi is my favorite rider but I think it is time for him to call it quits. He is over 2 seconds off pole right now and the only bikes below him are CRT. He just cannot ride the Ducati. He should have taken the pay cut so he would have been fighting up front on a Yamaha not that pos Ducati. To think I wanted to buy a Ducati not now.

[Oscar]

Crutchlow! Excellent! Quite seriously - is that the best qualifying from a British rider in way, way too long a time? He looked really on the game all session.

Notta lotta Hondas up the front, though - you'd have to say Nakamoto was right about the strength of the Yams at the moment. Could be a great season ahead.

First time I've been able to actually see bikes on the track (reception issues here, and a blackout last year) and it looks a dreary sort of track to me, but maybe I've missed something.

[Nachlauf]

Strange off by Ben. Looked like the bike just slipped off on both wheels and then immediately gripped again. Was Ben holding to it or was his hand stuck to something there?

[Tourn46]

Strange off by Ben. Looked like the bike just slipped off on both wheels and then immediately gripped again. Was Ben holding to it or was his hand stuck to something there?

His hand was caught in the fairing I think... they showed a couple of angles on the BBC.

[Tourn46]

Crutchlow! Excellent! Quite seriously - is that the best qualifying from a British rider in way, way too long a time? He looked really on the game all session.

Been waiting for a Brit to come along for a very long time! I was never really a fan of Toseland and Cal's 2nd half of 2011 left me wondering a bit... but he's looked superb all weekend, really chuffed for him.

At least it's given me something to cheer about this weekend

[WayneG]

Strange off by Ben. Looked like the bike just slipped off on both wheels and then immediately gripped again. Was Ben holding to it or was his hand stuck to something there?

I watched it in slow mo and it looked like his hand was caught up in the new "safety" brake lever guard. You don't hold onto a bike when you are being dragged along beside it. It could have been very nasty.

[Nachlauf]

Well, that's really bizarre. Not Ben's lucky weekend until now. Hope it gets better tomorrow.

Nice pace by Edwards and Crutchlow though. Colin for getting under 1 second to Rossi. And Cal for qualifying as good as he did, beating Dovi by a bigger gap than anyone would have expected pre-season I guess. Oh and Hayden of course. The Duc might indeed be able to fight for the podium.

[Squidpuppet]

Bradl was fast on the hard tires. On his "tow" lap behind Jorge, he looked 100% comfortable and stable as heck. It looked like he was just calmly watching Jorge and appeared equally robotic and smooth. I'm happy for him.

Rossi is a big surprise to me. I thought they would be well off the pace, but not to THIS degree. What in the heck is going on in that garage????

Abraham. What would he do on a real bike?

Terol and Zarco are finding the bigger bikes to be a challenge so far.

[Tourn46]

Rossi is a big surprise to me. I thought they would be well off the pace, but not to THIS degree. What in the heck is going on in that garage????

Apparently, they tried some changes for QP that didn't work.

[Squidpuppet]

Apparently, they tried some changes for QP that didn't work.

Apparently.

[ieism]

This hurts. Another very long year for Rossi fans, at some point this has to end.

[Japhrodisiac]

Spies' crash was eerily similar to Simo's last year, he was lucky that no one was directly behind him

Rossi - wtf? - a full second behind Nicky and 2 secs behind the leaders. This is not just the bike methinks

Edwards - no one else could have brought that Suter/BMW to where it is now this quickly. Well done

Crutchlow - a surprise, hope he can keep up the pace without falling off

Bradl - a 180 degree turnaround for the team from Elias. Must be nice for them

More than the usual amount of QP craziness, riders sitting up all over the place mid corner or on the start/finish while other riders directly behind them, especially in Moto2. Some dangerous and scary riding there. I'd like to see race direction clamp down hard on this behaviour before someone gets seriously hurt