Marquez becomes youngest ever premier class winner at Americas MotoGP™

Round 2: Americas MotoGP™ – Race

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez emerged victorious from a race-long battle with his teammate Dani Pedrosa at Circuit of the Americas to become the youngest ever race winner in the premier class of Grand Prix racing

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• Circuit of the Americas, Sunday 21 April 2013
•  Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft & Medium; Rear: Soft, Medium & Hard (Asymmetric)
• Weather: Dry. Ambient 25-25°C; Track 43-45°C (Bridgestone measurement)
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Marquez’s stellar performance at the age of twenty years and sixty-three days sees him surpass former record holder Freddie Spencer who was twenty years and one hundred and ninety-six days old when he won the 500cc Belgian Grand Prix in 1982, coincidentally also on a Honda. Yesterday, Marquez also broke Spencer’s record for the youngest ever rider to claim a premier class pole position during qualifying for the inaugural Americas Grand Prix.

Marquez was one of two riders to choose the hard compound rear slick for the race and the decision paid off for the MotoGP™ rookie as he passed Pedrosa on lap twelve and held off his teammate to take the chequered flag by 1.534 seconds. Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo took the final step of the podium, the reigning MotoGP champion finishing 3.381 seconds behind Marquez. In another strong performance, Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaro was the first CRT rider across the finish line in eleventh place.

The race took place in similar track conditions to qualifying yesterday, with warm weather and a peak track temperature of 45°C. As a result, tyre choice amongst the riders for the race was similar to what was seen in qualifying, with twenty-two out of twenty-four riders selecting the softer option rear slick, and nineteen riders selecting the harder front slick. The CRT-specific soft option rear slick proved to be extremely popular, with all riders on this specification of machine selecting the option for the race.

Marquez and Lorenzo – who claimed his one hundredth podium at the Americas Grand Prix – are now equal on forty-one points in the MotoGP™ championship standings, while Pedrosa moves into third overall with thirty-three points from two races. 

Hiroshi Yamada – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department

“Congratulations to Marc Marquez for becoming the youngest ever winner in the top class of Grand Prix racing and also well done to Repsol Honda for their excellent team performance this weekend. The first Americas Grand Prix was a great occasion and I am pleased so many fans came to the circuit to enjoy the show. I am pleased with how our tyres performed on a weekend where the grip level of the track changed so much and our tyre allocation for the first race at this circuit was well suited to the conditions we had here. It has been an exciting start to the season and I hope the close racing continues at the next race in Jerez.”

Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department

“Today’s race was a great way to end a good weekend for Bridgestone. Both of the front and rear slick compound options performed well during the race and I am very pleased with tyre performance over the race weekend. We had a wide range of track and weather conditions between FP1 and the race and so every slick option was utilised over the race weekend to help riders get the best out of the changeable conditions. It was also a positive debut for our CRT-specific rear slicks and the feedback we got from the riders this weekend has confirmed that this was a worthwhile change to the tyre regulations.”

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda – Race Winner

“To be on the podium in my first race in Qatar was a dream and to win in my second race here is even better. The race was quite hard physically and I tried to push from the start, but I had some problems that I didn’t have in practice. Even like that I continued to push and was able to be consistent and thanks to all my team because without them this victory wouldn’t have been possible.”

source: bsmotorsport.com, www.bridgestonemotorsport.com

Americas Grand Prix race report

TEXAS FIFTH TAKES MAHINDRA RACING TO NEW HEIGHTS

Austin, Texas, April 22, 2013: Fresh from a best-ever result in the opening round at Qatar for the only Indian team in Grand Prix motorcycle racing, the all-new Mahindra MGP3O went two better at a tense two-part race at the Circuit of The Americas in Texas, when Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira claimed a superlative fifth place finish.

The 18-year-old rider gained two places in a fighting last lap of a hectic five-lap sprint. It was part two of a race that had been red-flagged earlier after a crash.

Team-mate Efrén Vázquez (26, from Spain) added to the Mahindra team’s celebrations by claiming two points, finishing 14th.

The sprint race came about after the planned 18-lapper was red-flagged before the required two-thirds distance had been completed. Positions counted only for grid places in the restart, over just five laps of the fine new 5.5-km circuit outside the Texas state capital of Austin.

Oliveira had already improved by pulling through to eighth from 18th on the grid. His race was a thriller, as he forced his way through a close pack battling for fifth. In the end he swooped through to lead them all. “I just attacked,” he explained.

Vázquez had also moved up from 15th to 14th for the restart; and held his position.

The all-independent new Mahindra MGP3O has made its mark on the competitive Moto3™ class in just two races, six months after it first took to the drawing board. In Qatar the white-and-red racers were seventh and tenth.

Now the squad is looking forward to the Spanish GP at Jerez in two weeks, where the twisty circuit promises much.

MIGUEL OLIVEIRA – Fifth Place

“I am very happy – it’s very positive for Mahindra, and very satisfying because we were struggling to get the perfect set-up. For the race I changed my riding style a lot, and felt much more comfortable. In the first race I was getting faster and faster, and in a really exciting battle for fifth. In the restart I just attacked. The project is new and we still need more time to work on the chassis. We can only get better, and I think we can be competitive at Jerez.”

EFRÉN VÁZQUEZ – 14th Place

“I am a little disappointed because practice and qualifying was not so bad. All weekend I couldn’t find a good feeling with the front tyre. The track is very technical, and each time I pushed I was losing front grip, so it was quite a difficult race. I’m happy to be in the points again for Mahindra – but to be closer to Miguel I need to work more on my chassis settings.”

MUFADDAL CHOONIA – Mahindra Racing CEO

“Our best-ever result consolidates our very encouraging start at Qatar. This bike is still very new, and already it is strong. We can be confident that it will improve with more development. I am very proud of the team and what we achieved today. I am also interested to see whether we can close the gap even more at the next race in Jerez.”

source: mahindraracing.com, mahindra.com

Hernandez In The Points Again As Laverty Impresses In Texas

Following on from a superb performance in the opening round of the MotoGP World Championship in Qatar earlier this month, the Penrith-based PBM MotoGP team of Yonny Hernandez and Michael Laverty were equally impressive in round two which took place at the brand-new Circuit of the Americas at Austin in Texas this weekend.

24-year-old Colombian Hernandez, from Medelln, followed up his 14th place finish in Doha with another important points scoring finish with 15th place at the American track with 31-year-old Laverty, from Toome in Northern Ireland storming his way through the field to clinch 16th place at the flag just missing out on a point.

With the circuit providing a level playing field for all of the Claiming Rules Teams (CRT) class, straight away, Hernandez, in only his second season in MotoGP, stated his intentions when he was fastest aboard the Rapid Solicitors and Minxflix.com-sponsored Aprilia ART in the opening Free Practice session after posting 11th time overall.

Laverty was once again aboard the revolutionary brand new PBM-chassised Rapid Solicitors and Minxflix.com-sponsored Aprilia and just as he did in the opening round, gradually upped his pace throughout the weekend to qualify in a brilliant 17th place out of the 21 riders who qualified as Hernandez started one place in front of him in 16th.

Into the 21-lap race and Hernandez slotted into 13th place in the opening laps whilst Laverty made a mistake and ran off the track on lap one meaning he had to battle his way through from dead last. As Hernandez scrapped it out with the prototype bikes of Ben Spies (Ducati) and Bradley Smith (Yamaha) for 12th place, Laverty was charging through the field and by lap nine was up to 17th position with Hernandez now having a lonely ride in 14th.

Hernandez consolidated his position as second of the CRT bikes as Laverty, now up to 16th, set about closing the gap to fellow CRT rider Randy de Puniet who in turn, was starting to slowly close down Hernandez. Laverty saw off the challenges of Hector Barbera and Hiroshi Aoyama to secure his fourth place in the CRT class but in front of him, Hernandez was slowing and with two laps to go, surrendered 14th place to de Puniet.

For the final couple of laps, the two PBM riders held station and crossed the line in 15th and 16th place respectively and in doing so, took third and fourth place in the highly-competitive CRT class to ensure a 100% finish rate for Paul Bird’s team after the opening two rounds.

Michael Laverty: “I’ve got to be happy with this weekend but I’m left wanting more as a mistake on the opening lap when I selected a false neutral put me off track and dead last. I fought back through to 16th and fourth CRT so it’s a big improvement on Qatar. My goal for this weekend was to hassle the FTR Kawasakis and in the race I caught, passed and pulled a gap on them all so I would say we exceeded our target for round two. We have taken a big step forward with the PBM bike, time was always against us coming into the season but now we are making inroads with our base settings for the chassis and electronics, and I believe we can take another step forward in Jerez as we now have a clear direction on where we need to improve.”

Yonny Hernandez: “I had a much better start in this race and made up three places in the first lap. I was able to battle with two prototype riders, Spies and Smith, for almost half the race, but then my rear tyre performance dropped and I could not maintain the lap times. I am happy with the first half of the race but disappointed that I could not defend the second CRT position that I was in for most of the race. It was good to score another point and I want to thank the team for all their hard work.”

Phil Borley, Technical Director: “It’s been another good weekend for Paul Bird Motorsport. Yonny has been fast all weekend and it was great to see him challenging some prototype riders for almost half the race on his ART bike. Possibly, the harder rear tyre may have been a better option for his final position, but we will use the knowledge gathered from this race for future improvement. Michael has also had a good weekend with a strong race, after a missed gear on the first lap negated his qualifying and race start advantage. We are pleased with the performance of our PBM bike and after this race have a better understanding of where future development should be focussed.”

Paul Bird, Team Owner: “That was a fantastic weekend for us and all credit to the riders and team. We have had four races, scored World Championship points in half of them and had a worst finish of 17th on a brand new bike which we’ve built ourselves so all things considered, it’s been phenomenal really. We are climbing unchartered mountains with this project and I couldn’t be happier with the results and especially the attitude and performance of the riders.”

Round three of the MotoGP World Championship takes place at Jerez in Spain on Sunday 5th May. For more information, please visit the team’s brand new website www.pbmuk.net and www.motogp.com

source: cartersport.com