Rain shows up at the Grand Prix of France.
The rain settled down at the Le Mans circuit and the forecasts are not very optimistic for the rest of the weekend
Rainy weekend. This is the forecast you get everywhere when asking for the weather predictions for this weekend. The weather already declared its intentions to take over the leading role in this Grand Prix yesterday, as happened in Shanghai during the Grand Prix of China. It seems that we’re going to see a lot of water on Sunday in Le Mans as well. Morning saw a covered sky with black clouds getting closer to the French track.
The 125cc riders were forced to hold their first free practice under difficult conditions due to the rain showers early in the morning: the track was half wet, half dry. Joan Olivé, third, was the fastest of the Repsol riders in these free practices. In the afternoon, during the first qualifying practice, the fastest Repsol rider was Héctor Faubel who had suffered a light crash in the morning setting the fourth fastest time behind Kallio provisional pole man Simoncelli and Talmacsi. His teammate Sergio Gadea showed a clear recovery, keeping himself among the top positions both in the morning and in the afternoon session. He finally set the eleventh fastest time in the morning and was tenth in the afternoon. Of the two Junior team riders, Julian Miralles was fifteenth five minutes before the end of the session but was finally set back to the twenty-first place. Average performance of Jordi Carchano, who lacked a practice plan and finished twenty-ninth of the session.
In the MotoGP class, the riders were at no time able to enjoy a track in perfect conditions. In the morning, and after the 125cc free practice, there were still some wet sections on the track, and in the afternoon, during the second free practice, the rain showed up in style 25 minutes before the end of the session, forcing the riders to get back to their garage and wait. Some of them, Rossi and Hayden amongst others, dared to come out ten minutes later, but the difficult track conditions with the track completely swamped, took them to decide that the second free practice had finished for them.
The real flood arrived however during the afternoons 250cc practice. The free practice in the morning was carried out under normal conditions, with Sebastián Porto fastest, Dani Pedrosa second, Randy De Puniet sixth and Hiroshi Aoyama tenth. In the afternoon, the rain began pouring down on the Le Mans circuit before the end of the second MotoGP session and continued almost throughout the 250cc timed practice. With such difficult and dangerous track conditions, most of the riders decided not to get on the track. Pedrosa, Porto and De Puniet preferred to stay in their garages, while Aoyama was one of the few who decided to give it a try, but after four laps, he rode back to the garage and advised the others not to get out. The amount of water accumulated on the French track caused several, spectacular crashes, some of them at the end of the main straight.
Repsol rider´s comments:
MotoGP. Max Biaggi
First free practice 7th, 135.583, 27 laps
Second free practice 3rd, 134.618, 10 laps
Strange day, first humid, then dry and finally wet. Anyway our job keep on going in the same direction: improving bikes cornering, especially in braking areas. Decelerating still is the weak point of my RCV since the race 1. Today the gap from the fastest guys is reduced because of the circuit. Le Mans is a narrow and pretty slow track that hides the real values. What I need to ride again as I like is not something that can came in a race week-end, we need a different kind of improvement and I hope that Honda is preparing something for Mugellos GP. My team and I keep on giving our best. Its hard to tell how its gonna be the race, also because of the uncertain weather. Anyhow I always liked this track.
MotoGP. Nicky Hayden
First free practice 9th, 135.625, 27 laps
Second free practice 9th, 135.359, 19 laps
The rain seems to have followed us from China! Theres no point in complaining its the same for everyone we just have to make the best of it. It looks like its going to be one of those wet and dry weekends where we need a set-up for all conditions. Overall the bike doesnt seem too bad. We have the speed and the early part of the track is okay but in the last section were losing some time. The team are going to have a word with the rider to see whats going on there!
250. Sebastián Porto
First free practice 1st, 138.510, 22 laps
First qualifying practice, did not participate
Its a shame that the rain spoiled a practice session. We had a lot of work to do and we havent even been able to get on the track. I thought that the practice was going to be cancelled, but they didnt and therefore we preferred not to take any unnecessary risks. In the morning, during the free practice, we were able to lap on a dry track. The bike worked very well and I had good feelings. Lets see if were luckier tomorrow with the weather.
250. Randy De Puniet
First free practice 6th, 139.006, 28 laps
First qualifying practice, did not participate
Too bad the rain ruined this first practice day. At least we were able to lap with dry conditions in the morning. We had planned to test some things in the afternoon session, but its been impossible to lap with the rain pouring down as it did. Forecasts talk about rain for tomorrow, but lets hope it wont be raining during the 250cc sessions.
250. Dani Pedrosa
First free practice 2nd, 138.584, 24 laps
First qualifying practice, did not participate
It usually rains at two or three races every year, although there are some years it rains more. This seems to be one of them, so I cant be waiting for the rainy races to pass by to make a good result in the dry. What I have to do know is to be fast in the wet. The track was dry during the morning practice and we were able to test some things for the bikes settings: tyres, suspensions…. basic things we always test on Fridays. Rain was pouring down in the afternoon and we decided not to get on the track because it would have been dangerous, especially in the first part of the circuit. We saw some bikes aquaplaning on the last section of the main straight and several riders going off-track. Like most of the riders, we decided to stay in the garage.
125. Héctor Faubel
First free practice 22nd, 149.781, 16 laps
First qualifying practice 4th, 144.212, 13 laps
The engine worked well and the only problem I have is in the cycle part, especially with the changes of direction. Were going to work on this aspect, to be able to improve tomorrow. The most important is that we have right now a place on the provisional front row and that’s a relief, because the forecasts announce rain for tomorrow. I crashed during the free session due to the low temperature of the asphalt, but luckily I didnt hurt myself.
Track conditions
- Air: 16º-18º
- Asphalt: 16º-22º
- Humidity: 53%-77%
- Wind: 3 Km/h
Standings:
125
- Mika Kallio (KTM) 1’43.693
- Marco Simoncelli (Aprilia) 1’44.005
- Gabor Talmacsi (KTM) 1’44.073
- Héctor Faubel (Aprilia) 1’44.212
- Lukas Pesek (Derbi) 1’44.240
250
- Anthony West (Aprilia) 2’01.771
- Arnaud Vincent (Fantic) 2’05.211
- Hugo Marchand (Aprilia) 2’08.055
- Alex de Angelis (Aprilia) 2’09.046
- Alex Debón (Honda) 2’10.053
MotoGP
- Alex Barros (Honda) 1.34.171
- Sete Gibernau (Honda) 1’34.290
- Max Biaggi (Honda) 1’34.618
- Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 1’34.721
- Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki) 1’35.067
9. Nicky Hayden (Honda) 1’35.359
