The Grand Prix of Catalonia, continuation of the duels witnessed in Italy.
Max Biaggi, one of the fastest in Barcelona during the preseason tests, will go for a victory in his second home.
The Repsol riders whether Spanish, Italian, American or French, are once again racing at home this weekend. Barcelona will be the second of the three times the Repsol riders, no matter where they come from, will feel like at home.
In MotoGP and after his brilliant performance only a couple of days ago, Roman rider Max Biaggi will arrive in Barcelona with the podium finish in Mugello still in mind, but, as he has said himself, only thinking about the Grand Prix of Catalonia, where he wants to clinch another good result, this time in the home-country of the main team sponsor. His teammate Nicky Hayden, conscious about the fact that the season is not resulting the way he and his people where expecting, wants to leave the latest races behind and take finally off, climbing positions in the overall standings. Something similar is happening with Sebastián Porto in the 250cc, where the brave Argentinean rider has neither had luck on his side, nor has been able to take any victory in the five races staged so far. Porto knows that there have been too many unlucky races and that this run of bad luck must come to an end if he wants to keep his chances to fight for the title. Things dont look much different for his teammate Randy De Puniet, who, although he took a positive second place at the French Grand Prix, was not able to score a single point last week after crashing at the beginning of the race. After the victory of the French rider last year in Barcelona, De Puniets main aim is to repeat the result this year. And while these two riders fight in order to improve their performances, the leader of the overall standings and current World Champion of the class, Repsol rider Dani Pedrosa, arrives in Barcelona, his home-town, at an exceptional moment of the 2005 season.
After two consecutive victories France and Italy Pedrosa will be back in the venue where he finished second last year, only a couple of tenths behind the winner, Randy De Puniet. In the minor class, and after the eventful race in Mugello, Héctor Faubel comes back ready to offer the Spanish fans the result they deserve. Still dazed after the heavy crash suffered due to the throttle excesses of Finish rider Kallio, Aspar’s pupil declares that he is ready to be back on his bike in Barcelona.
Another rider who is also looking forward to rejoining activity is Joan Olivé, who after his third place in Mugello, is claiming a place among the top riders of the class, eager to repeat at least a podium position in Barcelona in front of his people. But theres another rider wanting to repeat position, not the one Mugello, where he crashed, but the second place in France, namely Sergio Gadea, who after a rather average start of the season seems to be finally taking off and hopes from now on to be fighting for the podium race after race. But we cannot forget young Repsol rider Julián Miralles, who will not be able to be in Barcelona, after the serious injury suffered last weekend in Italy. Miralles was operated by Dr. Angeloni last Monday in order to fix his leg to be able to fly to Spain under safe conditions.
Given the swelling of his leg, blood would not circulate correctly and his foot was beginning to get worse so the doctors decided to make some incisions in his leg in order to drain the haemorrhage. This procedure has apparently improved the condition of the leg a lot and the swelling has begun to go down. Now Julián is waiting for permission to fly back to Spain, where he will be seen by his doctors, who will proceed to operate in order to start with the recuperation process as soon as possible.
Repsol rider´s comments:
MotoGP. Max Biaggi:
The fantastic race in Mugello is already filed; now Im completely focussed on the Catalan Grand Prix. The team and I are going to Barcelona to get confirmations. The great job done by HRC has born positive results, but we can still improve a lot more. I like the Montmeló circuit. Last March, during the MotoGP tests I clocked the fastest time of the weekend so I hope to do a good job at the Grand Prix. A good result will also be important for Repsol, our main sponsor, because its a Spanish company. The other riders are obviously not going to Barcelona on holidays, but my team and I look forward to another great result.
MotoGP. Nicky Hayden:
Im really looking forward to Barcelona. We made some good MotoGP tests there last March. We had a good pace on the last day and clocked the third fastest time of the weekend. Last year I started from the front row, although the race as such was rather bad. I hope to be able to fix the problems weve always had with the front end on this circuit. You need a good front end to set fast times here due to the fast and long corners. The grip has always been a critical point, but the track seems to be much better since they reasphalted it. The only thing I have to do is to stay focussed and keep on working hard with my team.
250cc. Dani Pedrosa:
Montmeló is a circuit I like a lot and racing at home is always something special. Last weekend in Mugello, the Italian fans were incredible, although I saw many fans cheering me up as well, and thats what counts. Now it us, the Spaniards, who are racing at home. Im sure that the circuit will be overbooked! Lets hope to be able to offer them a good show and to make them enjoy. Weve won in Le Mans and in Mugello, although we started the weekend with some problems. I hope to continue with this series of victories to be able to dedicate it to all those who support me, my friends and my family, who will be there this weekend. And to make it, well have to work hard from the very start.
250cc. Randy De Puniet:
After the bad result in Mugello, Im looking forward to Barcelona, because its a circuit that brings back good memories. Its one of my favourite circuits because I’ve taken the victory twice here. The race went very well last year; I escaped with Pedrosa from the start and we were fighting for the victory until the very end. Finally I managed to win. Id love to repeat a result like that and Im going to give it all to make it. Let’s keep our fingers crossed to see if luck is on our side this weekend.
250cc. Sebastián Porto:
Barcelona is a fast circuit, favourable for the Aprilia. I personally like it as well. Last year I finished fourth, but there was not much I could do because I had problems with the rear tyre from the beginning. But then I was third in the championship standings. This season is different, weve had a bad start and were further in the back, but now were going to circuits which are more favourable for the Aprilia, so let’s see if things start to get better.
125cc. Héctor Faubel:
Fortunately I feel well; Im not at a 100%, but at least I’m at home and I can tell about it. I banged my head during the crash and that caused a little bruise which is slowly disappearing. My whole body hurts, but fortunately Ill be able to be at the Catalan Grand Prix. What happened was a real shame because I was sure that I was going to win the race over Kallio. Lets see what happens this weekend, Id like to win here, in Barcelona, in front of our fans, but first I have to get on the bike to see what it feels, because Im still a bit dazed.
