The official 2011 season MotoGP thread!

This season has pretty amazing potential. I just hope Dovizioso can get his groove on and steadier performances by Pedrosa, so we can see the HRC bikes giving the Yamahas (and Ducatis?) a proper run for their money.
 
Rossi is testing today at Misano on a Ducati 1198 to test his shoulder.
 
his shoulder? he breaks a leg and he has to test his shoulder?
 
vikiradTG2007 said:
He had a shoulder injury from a motocross incident early during the 2010 season and only got surgery for it during the off-season.
Click to expand...

Yep. While the leg healed very well, the shoulder injury was what was bothering him the most when he came back to racing in 2010, and during surgery they realized it was worst than what they had expected.
 
Photos from the test:

180459_10150097721817893_7178957892_6377882_4442547_n.jpg


180248_10150128686890851_72480650850_8211257_2357264_n.jpg


180437_495394971002_696706002_6802265_1811080_n.jpg
 
The Hondas look pretty fast so far, not just Stoner, but Pedrosa, Simoncelli and Aoyama as well.

Code: 
Pos 	No. 	Rider 	Bike 	Time 	Diff 	Diff Previous
1 	27 	Casey Stoner 	Honda 	2:01.574 	  	 
2 	1 	Jorge Lorenzo 	Yamaha 	2:01.977 	0.403 	0.403
3 	26 	Dani Pedrosa 	Honda 	2:02.024 	0.450 	0.047
4 	58 	Marco Simoncelli 	Honda 	2:02.295 	0.721 	0.271
5 	11 	Ben Spies 	Yamaha 	2:02.332 	0.758 	0.037
6 	19 	Alvaro Bautista 	Suzuki 	2:02.422 	0.848 	0.090
7 	7 	Hiroshi Aoyama 	Honda 	2:02.483 	0.909 	0.061
8 	4 	Andrea Dovizioso 	Honda 	2:02.507 	0.933 	0.024
9 	5 	Colin Edwards 	Yamaha 	2:02.514 	0.940 	0.007
10 	14 	Randy de Puniet 	Ducati 	2:03.152 	1.578 	0.638
11 	300 	Kousuki Akiyoshi 	Honda 	2:03.224 	1.650 	0.072
12 	46 	Valentino Rossi 	Ducati 	2:03.365 	1.791 	0.141
13 	69 	Nicky Hayden 	Ducati 	2:03.508 	1.934 	0.143
14 	65 	Loris Capirossi 	Ducati 	2:03.695 	2.121 	0.187
15 	40 	Hector Barbera 	Ducati 	2:03.767 	2.193 	0.072
16 	35 	Cal Crutchlow 	Yamaha 	2:04.009 	2.435 	0.242
17 	24 	Toni Elias 	Honda 	2:04.238 	2.664 	0.229
18 	17 	Karel Abraham 	Ducati 	2:04.470 	2.896 	0.232
19 	100 	T1 	Yamaha 	2:04.717 	3.143 	0.247
20 	200 	T2 	Yamaha 	2:05.235 	3.661 	0.518
 
crookie said:
This season has pretty amazing potential. I just hope Dovizioso can get his groove on and steadier performances by Pedrosa, so we can see the HRC bikes giving the Yamahas (and Ducatis?) a proper run for their money.
Click to expand...

HRC giving the Yamahas and DUcatis a run for their money!? The Yamahas and definitely the ducati will be trying to chase the HRC team - they have more riders - more testers... they have the overall strongest engine - and now they have someone who can slam out the max of the bike. The real issue with HRC is the riders tend to fall - Pedrosa had an awesome last season in that regard though - while Casey no longer has to deal with a light front end.

this season is gonna be epic... I'm hoping Ben Spies really gets up there. Also if the ducatis of hayden and rossi can be on pace that would be aweSome..
 
justvisiting said:
HRC giving the Yamahas and DUcatis a run for their money!? The Yamahas and definitely the ducati will be trying to chase the HRC team - they have more riders - more testers... they have the overall strongest engine - and now they have someone who can slam out the max of the bike. The real issue with HRC is the riders tend to fall - Pedrosa had an awesome last season in that regard though - while Casey no longer has to deal with a light front end.

this season is gonna be epic... I'm hoping Ben Spies really gets up there. Also if the ducatis of hayden and rossi can be on pace that would be aweSome..
Click to expand...

How do you know they now have someone who can slam the max out of the bike when you haven't seen Stoner's race pace yet? Remember that Pedrosa beat Stoner in 250s, and in 2006 when Stoner was driving the LCR Honda he lost to Melandri (on another satellite Honda) by over a hundred points, and only beat Toni Elias by 3.
Besides it doesn't really matter if you have the fastest bike if you can't win races with it. HRC has been underperforming for a while now. Pedrosa is amazing when he gets it right but he's too inconsistent with his pace.
 
Second day:

Code: 
Pos  Rider             Team               Time       Gap
 1.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda              2m00.770s
 2.  Casey Stoner      Honda              2m01.434s + 0.664s
 3.  Ben Spies         Yamaha             2m01.508s + 0.738s
 4.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda              2m01.512s + 0.742s
 5.  Marco Simoncelli  Gresini Honda      2m01.522s + 0.752s
 6.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Gresini Honda      2m01.534s + 0.764s
 7.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha             2m01.563s + 0.793s
 8.  Alvaro Bautista   Suzuki             2m01.687s + 0.917s
 9.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha      2m01.722s + 0.952s
10.  Hector Barbera    Aspar Ducati       2m02.093s + 1.323s
11.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati             2m02.379s + 1.609s
12.  Randy de Puniet   Pramac Ducati      2m02.426s + 1.656s
13.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati             2m02.597s + 1.827s
14.  Kousuke Akiyoshi  Honda Test         2m02.619s + 1.849s
15.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha      2m03.032s + 2.262s
16.  Loris Capirossi   Pramac Ducati      2m03.047s + 2.277s
17.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati     2m03.466s + 2.696s
18.  Toni Elias        LCR Honda          2m04.026s + 3.256s

Final day:
Code: 
Pos  Rider                Team               Time               Laps
 1.  Marco Simoncelli     Gresini Honda      2m00.757s            42
 2.  Casey Stoner         Honda              2m00.811s  + 0.054   42
 3.  Jorge Lorenzo        Yamaha             2m00.845s  + 0.088   46
 4.  Andrea Dovizioso     Honda              2m00.945s  + 0.188   51
 5.  Ben Spies            Yamaha             2m01.002s  + 0.245   60
 6.  Dani Pedrosa         Honda              2m01.241s  + 0.484   44
 7.  Hiroshi Aoyama       Honda              2m01.353s  + 0.596   63
 8.  Nicky Hayden         Ducati             2m01.534s  + 0.777   60
 9.  Colin Edwards        Tech 3 Yamaha      2m01.651s  + 0.894   32
10.  Valentino Rossi      Ducati             2m01.842s  + 1.085   52
11.  Hector Barbera       Aspar Ducati       2m02.030s  + 1.273   42
12.  Loris Capirossi      Pramac Ducat       2m02.057s  + 1.300   48
13.  Randy De Puniet      Pramac Ducati      2m02.159s  + 1.402   57
14.  Karel Abraham        Cardion Ducati     2m02.645s  + 1.888   29
15.  Cal Crutchlow        Tech 3 Yamaha      2m02.717s  + 1.960   44
16.  Toni Elias           LCR Honda          2m02.916s  + 2.159   55
17.  Kousuke Akiyoshi     Honda              2m03.452s  + 2.695    3
18.  Noburu Aoki          Suzuki             2m04.700s  + 2.943   46

Quite surprised to see Rossi only a second and a bit off the lead, considering his physical state. After day one, he stated that he lost one second in turn 1 and 4, "like Turn 1 and Turn 4; there alone I lose about a second"
 
Martin90 said:
Quite surprised to see Rossi only a second and a bit off the lead, considering his physical state. After day one, he stated that he lost one second in turn 1 and 4, "like Turn 1 and Turn 4; there alone I lose about a second"
Click to expand...

I think on the final day it was only 4-5 tenths or something, so he's still off the pace by half a second.

I really like yamahas leathers this year. Consistently good looking.
 
First official session of 2011 in the books.

FIM MotoGP World Championship
Losail International Circuit
Doha, Qatar
March 17, 2011
Free Practice One Results (all on Bridgestone tires):

1. Casey STONER, Australia (HONDA), 1:55.752
2. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), 1:56.362
3. Hector BARBERA, Spain (DUCATI), 1:56.421
4. Marco SIMONCELLI, Italy (HONDA), 1:56.441
5. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (DUCATI), 1:56.479
6. Ben SPIES, USA (YAMAHA), 1:56.493
7. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:56.586
8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (HONDA), 1:56.592
9. Randy DE PUNIET, France (DUCATI), 1:56.790
10. Colin EDWARDS, USA (YAMAHA), 1:56.879
11. Nicky HAYDEN ,USA (DUCATI), 1:56.910
12. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Japan (HONDA), 1:56.987
13. Loris CAPIROSSI, Italy (DUCATI), 1:57.366
14. Cal CRUTCHLOW, Great Britain (YAMAHA), 1:57.429
15. Karel ABRAHAM, Czech Republic (DUCATI), 1:57.821
16. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (SUZUKI), 1:58.528
17. Toni ELIAS, Spain (HONDA), 1:59.087
 
Stoner still on a different planet...

Code: 
Pos.	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time	Gap 1st/Prev.
1	27	Casey STONER	AUS	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	320.4	1'55.457	
2	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	321.8	1'55.854	0.397 / 0.397
3	11	Ben SPIES	USA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	316.3	1'56.116	0.659 / 0.262
4	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	323.3	1'56.172	0.715 / 0.056
5	1	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	317.8	1'56.220	0.763 / 0.048
6	5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	316.4	1'56.259	0.802 / 0.039
7	58	Marco SIMONCELLI	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	318.7	1'56.378	0.921 / 0.119
8	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	319.2	1'56.518	1.061 / 0.140
9	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	320.1	1'56.532	1.075 / 0.014
10	69	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	Ducati	320.0	1'56.626	1.169 / 0.094
11	14	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	316.3	1'56.668	1.211 / 0.042
12	8	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP	Ducati	327.7	1'56.735	1.278 / 0.067
13	7	Hiroshi AOYAMA	JPN	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	319.7	1'56.790	1.333 / 0.055
14	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	316.3	1'56.833	1.376 / 0.043
15	65	Loris CAPIROSSI	ITA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	317.6	1'57.304	1.847 / 0.471
16	17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Cardion AB Motoracing	Ducati	322.5	1'57.683	2.226 / 0.379
17	24	Toni ELIAS	SPA	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	316.5	1'58.801	3.344 / 1.118
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top