Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa, best Repsol riders in Turkey.
North-American Hayden third in MotoGP, and recently proclaimed World Champion Dani Pedrosa second in the 250cc.
The first Turkish Grand Prix was staged today on the circuit close to the cosmopolite city of Istanbul. Different luck for the Repsol riders in Turkey with a special highlight set by the performances of Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden, both finishing on the podium in their respective classes. Repsol Honda Team rider Max Biaggi celebrated today in Istanbul his 200th consecutive Grand Prix, meaning that the Roman rider has been taking the start of every race since more than ten years, to be precise, from the French Grand Prix in 1992, when he was racing in the 250cc class.
Max could not celebrate the achievement with a good performance today in Turkey and after two days of hard practices, unsuccessfully trying to find the right set-up for his bike, the Repsol rider was not able to show during the race that he would be able to fight for the leading positions, finishing in a back twelfth position. The contrary happened to his team-mate Nicky Hayden who once again made a very good race, managing to get on the third step of the podium. The race started with the Italian rider Melandri and his team-mate Gibernau in the lead, setting a fast pace from the first corner. They both managed to escape together with Nicky Hayden, who was doing all he could to avoid loosing contact with them.
Meanwhile, in the back, the rest of the pack was staying behind and Rossi launched an attack to get Hayden. In the fifth lap Gibernau made a mistake and left Melandri all alone in the lead, with Hayden second, a bit over one second behind, and Rossi third, pursuing the Repsol rider. Rossi finally overtook Hayden and they both tried to go for Melandri, but he had already an advantage of one second and a half which they couldn’t recover. Rossi escaped slowly but steadily from Hayden who finally settled for his third place, thus taking his third consecutive podium finish, the fifth of this season.Good and bad for the Repsol riders in the quarter-of-a-litre class, with Randy De Puniet and Sebastián Porto not being able to finish due to a crash. The first one who disappeared from the scene was De Puniet, who suffered an incident with Corsi in the first lap which ended with a crash, right in front of his team-mate Porto, forcing the Argentinean to change the line, loosing many positions and dropping back to eleventh after the first lap. From that moment, Porto began to remount, but ended up on the gravel in the fourth lap.
In the front, oblivious to what was going on in the back, Casey Stoner was leading the race escaping in solitary from the rest of the pack, while Pedrosa, on the hunt for the Australian, was also leaving the leading group behind, lap after lap. The last eight laps went by with Pedrosa behind Stoner analysing him and preparing the place where he would overtake the Australian. In the back, Aoyama protagonised an entertaining duel with De Angelis for the third place on the podium. In the last lap Pedrosa tried to overtake Stoner several times but the Australian defended his leading position very well until the chequered flag. Pedrosa’s team-mate, Hiroshi Aoyama, took the third place on the podium after a hard-fought last corner with De Angelis, who ended-up in the gravel trying to overtake the Japanese rider.
Sergio Gadea and Héctor Faubel lost their chances to fight for the victory at the early stages of the 125cc race. After a very good start, putting themselves in the leading group with Luthi, Talmacsi, Pasini, Di Meglio and Kallio, the Repsol riders took their positions to prepare for what would be a long race. The fight for the title between Finnish rider Kallio and Swiss rider Luthi, and the large group of riders fighting during the braking manoeuvres at every corner, were the real excitement of a race that finished early, too early for both Repsol riders.
During the fourth lap Faubel’s bike skidded very hard, sending Jorge Martínez Aspar’s pupil to the gravel and his team-mate, Sergio Gadea, tried to avoid crashing against the bike in the middle of the track. But he couldn’t and both Gadea and his bike crashed as well. Fortunately, and despite the spectacular accident both riders were unhurt. Joan Olivé, who was starting from a back fifteenth place, had a good performance on the Turkish track finishing ninth after spending the whole race in the second group. Winner of the race was Frenchman Di Meglio.
Rider´s comments:
MotoGP. Nicky Hayden
3rd, 4151.012:
‘That’s the first time in MotoGP I’ve had three consecutive podiums so that’s definitely a step forward but to be honest I haven’t really had the pace all weekend. In the race I came through much faster than we’d manager during the practice days and for that I’m happy. The team did a great job and they definitely made a difference. I’m disappointed for the points situation. With Marco having such a great ride – congratulations to him, he definitely deserves it – we now have a little gap to second place. I want to dedicate this podium to a very special friend of mine back home. We all recently found out he’s been taken ill and wish him all our best. He’s had a huge influence in my career I wouldn’t be where I am today without him. Our thoughts are with him.’
MotoGP. Max Biaggi
12th, 43.34.323:
‘I never felt comfortable on the bike around here at any point of the weekend. My team tried so many things but nothing seemed to work. I rode as hard as I could on the package we had today and in the end it was only good enough for 12th place. To be in this position hurts me so much. My spirit is gone here and I can only hope we have some small piece of sunlight in Valencia to end this season that I want to forget on some sort of a reasonable note.’
250. Dani Pedrosa
2nd, 39’28.336:
‘It’s been a difficult race, especially at the beginning, because there was some confusion in the group. During the formation lap I noticed that the bike wasn’t fast enough. I told the mechanics, but it’s very delicate to make any kind of changes on the grid. At the start, the bike of my team-mate, who was on my right moved up when I was trying to overtake him so I couldn’t. Then there was the braking. I needed space, I wanted to go to the right, because I was in the inside. When I arrived at the corner I braked too much and several riders passed me.Meanwhile Stoner took the chance to open a gap of more than one second. Then I had to react and work hard to catch him.
That is when I saw, especially in the angles, that it was difficult to overtake him because my bike was skidding too much from behind. We both had problems with the front tyre towards the end, because it wore out too much on the left side. When I got him, I stayed behind for a while, and I saw that he was quicker in the back fast section, so if I would be in the front, he would have a much bigger advantage due to the slipstream. I thought that the best would be staying behind, although now I think that it wasn’t the best decision because I only had one chance to overtake him. I learned the lesson for the future. I would have liked to win today and I think that we could have done it. Now I’m looking forward to getting back home and rest a bit, to go to Valencia in the best shape.
‘250. Hiroshi Aoyama
3rd, 39’39.890:
‘It’s been a very hard race, as expected, but I’m proud of having managed to get on the podium. I was eager to get this feeling again after the last races and the team has fought as hard as I did to be here. These races are very important to me and today we’ve done a good job. I closed all gaps for De Angelis in the last lap, and in the end we touched each other. I’m sorry for his crash. Now we’re going back home after this long tour, but I’m looking forward to Valencia to experience the atmosphere there and finish the season as much in the front as possible.’
250. Sebastián Porto,
crashed out: ‘I am very angry as, after all the problems we have had this weekend, I thought we were going to have a good race as we went well in the warm-up. I had a difficult start and lost quite a few places and from then the bike did not work very well and I noticed its performance was not as good as normal. Before the end of the second lap I could not avoid falling and I could not get back on. I hope Valencia will give me the chance to make up for the bad results of this year and enable me to bring some joy to the team’
250. Randy De Puniet,
crashed out:
‘I am quite angry as I think we’d found a good set-up during the warm-up and was looking forward to a good race. We had a lot of problems during qualifying and worked hard yesterday studying the data to find some solutions to find a better set-up. In the end it was all over very quickly as Corsi came into the first bend too fast and took me out. I hope I can finish with a good race at Valencia.’
125. Joan Olivé
9th, 39’56.988:
‘The race as such has been OK, but once again I started a bit late, like in the previous races. I managed to overtake some of the riders during the first lap, until I put myself in the second group. Once there we had a hard fight. With two laps moved up to second in my group with the intention of trying to enter first in the last corner. I almost crashed, the other two riders of the group passed me and opened a gap. I tried to improve one position in the last lap but I braked late, went straight and the rider behind me passed. Such things happen, but I had to risk. The important is that we managed to be there and bit by bit, since the last races, we’ve found a good working system and the pace I’m having, both in practices and in the race is good. We’ll try to do a bit better in the last race in Valencia to close the last weekend and the season with a good result..’
125. Héctor Faubel,
crashed out:
‘I got away well although I did come together with Talmasci which impeded me. Little by little I made up positions, but as it was a slow race the behaviour of the engine changed a little. As a result, when we got into the corner at the entrance of the straight I opened the gas and got more of a pull than I was expecting which threw me forward and saw me fall. These things happen, but it’s hard to understand as we were lapping so slowly. Now I am just thinking about Valencia where I hope to finish the year well. It was a shame as my team had done a great job, but in the end we weren’t able to finish it off.’
125. Sergio Gadea,
crashed out:
‘This morning we went well in the warm-up on a race tyreand found a good rhythm. In the race I started well and got into third, but I decided to take things easy instead of challenging to get to the front and went back into sixth without letting anyone get away. Hector was lapping in front of me and fell when he opened the gas, and unfortunately I could not avoid him. It was a shame because I had a lot of hopes and expectations, but I will just look forward to Valencia.’
Repsol riders tyre´s choice:
- Héctor Faubel: Hard – Soft
- Sergio Gadea: Hard – Soft
- Joan Olivé: Hard – Medium
- Sebastián Porto: Medium – Soft
- Randy De Puniet: Medium – Soft
- Dani Pedrosa: Medium – Soft
- Hiroshi Aoyama: Medium – Soft
- Max Biaggi: Medium – Medium C
- Nicky Hayden: Medium – Medium C
Track conditions
- Weather: sunny
- Air: 15º-19º
- Asphalt: 13º-26º
- Humidity: 18º-24%
- Wind: 10 Km/h
Standings:
MotoGP
- M.Melandri 41’44.139
- V.Rossi + 1,513
- N. Hayden + 6,873
- S.Gibernau + 12,420
- C.Checa + 26,963
12. M.Biaggi + 50,184
World Championship:
- V.Rossi, 351 points
- M.Melandri, 195
- N.Hayden, 186
- C.Edwards, 171
- M.Biaggi, 163
250cc
- C.Stoner 39’28.243 seg.
- D Pedrosa + 0,093
- H.Aoyama + 11,647
- J.Lorenzo + 21,861
- A. Dovizioso + 21,940
– S.Porto caída
– R.De Puniet caída
World Championship:
- D.Pedrosa, 284 points
- C.Stoner, 238
- A.Dovizioso, 182
- H.Aoyama, 170
- S.Porto, 152
8. R.de Puniet, 130
125cc
- M. Di Meglio 39’50.377 seg.
- M. Pasini + 0,105
- T. Koyama + 0,156
- G. Talmacsi + 0,271
- T. Luthi + 0,417
9. J. Olivé + 6,611
19. J. Carchano + 48,367
21. M. Túnez + 48,940
– H. Faubel caída
– S. Gadea caída
World Championship:
- T.Luthi, 235 points
- M.Kallio, 212
- G.Talmacsi, 178
- M.Pasini, 167
- M.Simoncelli, 166
11. H.Faubel, 100
12. S.Gadea, 68
13. J.Olivé, 58
