The French Grand Prix is over, and as usual we would like to close that chapter with our usual photo gallery starring some of the nicest ladies spotted around the historic Le Mans circuit. This time around we provided you with quite a juicy anticipation in the form of a Monster Girls gallery we put out on saturday, but we have saved the best for last.

Dani Pedrosa surely did a great job in Le Mans winning the race in great fashion in front of a simply heroic Cal Crutchlow and an increasigly confident team mate Marc Marquez, but emotions were not experienced on the track only: just take a look at our 82-image strong photo gallery of the charming beauties that tried to heat up the MotoGP show in spite of the pretty cold conditions of the French track. We suggest you pay attention to it as there are some exclusive pictures in there you won’t be able to see anywhere else.

The next round of the MotoGP Championship will take pace on June 2 at the Mugello circuit, in Italy, where we expect to see some pretty lovely Italian beauty, but before that we will get the chance to see some charming English Rose from the WSBK round in Donington Park, so stay tuned for more of the same.

MotoGP, Le Mans: here come the paddock girls é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 10:13 di Tuesday 21 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

Here is another cool video released by Slovenian freestyler Rok Bagoros, a KTM factory stunt rider who is also an ambassador for the Austrian brand across the world. His latest appearance was at the Kini Fullgas 2013 in Zillertal, Austria, where Bagoros presented his newest tricks for the first time ever in front of a crowd that included some motorsport royalties such as Chris Pfeiffer, Felix Baumgartner, Marc Coma, Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard.

Bagoros named his show ‘Rok On’: with its loyal and aptly modified KTM 690 Duke he performed a number of jaw-dropping tricks as well as some variations on back and front wheel, 180° jump tricks also named bunnyhop. Rok reinvented his fire trick with the idea to make the trick a bit more new school, so he added a burning RokON! hand which ignites when he touches the ground with his wheele bar. that’s actually a nice effect for the grand finale of his RokON! show, check in out in the video.

Here’s what the man himself had to say at the end of the show: “It is awesome to meet all this famous motosport stars and to see they enjoyed my show, I train like mad and when I see David Coulthard, Marc Coma, Felix Baumgartner and Kimi Räikkönen watching me is really boosting my energy”.

Rok Bagoros rocks the 2013 Kini Fullgas Day /video é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 09:45 di Tuesday 21 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

Six time World MX champion Tony Cairoli took a double victory yesterday to score his 58th career GP victory during round 7 at the Beto Carrero track in Brazil.

The Red Bull KTM Factory rider raised his trophy to the sky that had a #58 on it and with one finger pointed to the sky, as he dedicated his victory to the late Marco Simoncelli, who tragically passed away at Sepang on October 23rd 2011.

Cairoli was a friend of Simoncelli’s and they got to know each other after taking part in the motocross charity event ‘Una gara per Luca’ (to help a young MX rider who became paralyzed after a crash) that was organized by Marco Melandri, and the Sicilian rider also attended Simoncelli’s funeral.

Cairoli will be present at the Mugello GP next month and will donate his 58th trophy to Simoncelli’s father Paolo, during the Italian MotoGP weekend.

Tony Cairoli dedicates 58th victory to Marco Simoncelli é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 21:23 di Monday 20 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

Like every Monday we’ve got a huge gallery from the racing weekend and after our first gallery that you can find on our Saturday’s MotoGP Le Mans qualifying post, while this one is more ambient, with pics from pre-event press conference, to the garages, pitlane and naturally the podium, which saw Dani Pedrosa emerge victorious in the 28 lap race and take the lead in the standings which you can find after the jump.

To see the other 200 photos just click on the one of the thumbnails.

2013 MotoGP Standings after round 4 Le Mans

1 Dani PEDROSA | Honda | SPA | 83
2 Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | SPA | 77
3 Jorge LORENZO | Yamaha | SPA | 66
4 Cal CRUTCHLOW | Yamaha | GBR | 55
5 Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | ITA | 47
6 Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | ITA | 39
7 Alvaro BAUTISTA | Honda | SPA | 38
8 Nicky HAYDEN | Ducati | USA | 35
9 Aleix ESPARGARO | ART | SPA | 20
10 Andrea IANNONE | Ducati | ITA | 18
11 Stefan BRADL | Honda | GER | 17
12 Bradley SMITH | Yamaha | GBR | 17
13 Michele PIRRO | Ducati | ITA | 13
14 Ben SPIES | Ducati | USA | 9
15 Hector BARBERA | FTR | SPA | 7
16 Randy DE PUNIET | ART | FRA | 6
17 Danilo PETRUCCI | Ioda-Suter | ITA | 4
18 Michael LAVERTY | PBM | GBR | 3
19 Yonny HERNANDEZ | ART | COL | 3
20 Karel ABRAHAM | ART | CZE | 1
21 Colin EDWARDS | FTR Kawasaki | USA | 1
22 Hiroshi AOYAMA | FTR | JPN | 1

MotoGP 2013 Le Mans image gallery é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 20:57 di Monday 20 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

The Ducati Diavel is the only power cruiser in the Italian manufacturers current model line-up and it was especially made for the American market - we personally haven’t seen that many cruising around Italian roads since it made its debut at the EICMA in 2010.

The Diavel sports a Testastretta 11°, L-Twin cylinder, 4 valve per cylinder, Desmodromic, liquid cooled 1198cc engine and is basically a performance cruiser, but check out the above video to see where Cycle World took the muscular Cromo model for some different kind of fun, and they even put some air under 239kg (527lb) machine.

Ducati Diavel from street cruiser to off road machine é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 10:34 di Monday 20 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

Randy de Puniet’s DNF during his home race at Le Mans left a bitter taste in the French rider’s mouth, but he’ll soon put that behind him as he officially confirmed with the MotoGP.com website that he’ll be testing Suzuki’s new MotoGP machine at Motegi this week.

“Yeah we leave tomorrow to Japan to test with Suzuki in Motegi, and it’s good for me because I will forget very quickly the race from today and I think it will be good for Mugello. I will be ready to be fast immediately. That is a good experience for me how to do a great job and I really hope to come back to Mugello for a good race,” said de Puniet.

Speculation over the last few months have tied the French rider to Suzuki’s comeback and this is the first time that it has been officially confirmed that he’ll be testing the new machine (with the permission of Aspar Martinez).

Suzuki’s new prototype has completely new engine and chassis that was confirmed by Nobuatsu Aoki and partially confirmed by Cycle World’s photos.

The Japanese manufacturer will almost certainly make their European debut at Barcelona on June 17th, when they’ll confront their machine against the current MotoGP prototypes during Monday’s post-race test at the Spanish track and under the scrutiny of very curious journalists, and apparently they will also test the day after before moving on to Aragon for more shakedown testing.

Nobuatsu Aoki will be one of the two test riders but it is unkown if de Puniet will be the second during the June tests or if it will another Suzuki ride Takuya Tsuda.

By that time we should also know if the rumors that Davide Brivio will be running the team are true as it seems that he has already resigned from his current position with Valentino Rossi’s VR/46 company to take on this new challenge.

Randy de Puniet to test Suzuki GP bike in Japan é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 10:05 di Monday 20 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

After Yamaha, Repsol Honda, Yamaha Tech3 and Ducati riders’ quotes you can now check out what the rest of the riders had to say after the exciting and eventul French GP at Le Mans that was livened up by the rain.

Alvaro Bautista - 6th

“That was a particularly difficult race because the conditions were so different to how they’d been for practice. I also didn’t get a great start and that was a shame because looking at the lap times it cost me the chance to fight at the front. When the track started to dry the bike was cutting the power on the straight and I was losing time but sixth place is a positive result if not a great one because we’ve improved on last year and I don’t like this track. Overall we have made progress here and I feel better with the electronics and suspension in the wet. I am satisfied with the result and I want to thank the team and the sponsors. This is a nice boost before we go to their home race at Mugello. ”

Michele Pirro – 8th

“I’m pleased with how the first half of the race went, as there wasn’t a big difference from the leaders, althogh we have to understand how to continue improving. I was riding well with the wet track, and after a while I began making up ground pretty well. I was starting to think about passing the group ahead of me, but then the track began drying and I started to lose traction. I tried to figure out how to improve, but in the end, given that the gap was growing, I just tried to manage my advantage over the riders behind me. We had some difficulties this morning, but in the afternoon we definitely went much better. I worked hard these few days to find a feeling with the bike, and I can say that I’m more comfortable with the one that I’m used to. We were able to collect data and taken an eighth-place finish, so I’m pretty satisfied. Thanks very much to the whole team for their hard work over these days, as this result is obviously down to them.”

Stefan Bradl - 10th

My start was pretty good and I think that our pace was not so bad because we were able to race with the top group. Then during the race I could not see properly and had to open the visor many times. So for me it was a bit tough to do the perfect line and I crashed because I touched the white line. After that I was lucky because I was able to push the engine back riding with acceptable lap times. Actually we are back on our speed but we have some bad luck. In any case we are fast in the dry and in the wet so I am looking forward to Mugello which is one of my favourite race tracks”.

Andrea Iannone – 11th

“This race was very difficult. I started well and tried not to lose ground on the top riders, but then I made some mistakes. I went long in turn six three or four times and lost time. I realized that it wasn’t safe to continue at that pace, so I backed off a bit. The positive side is that my arm doesn’t hurt anymore, so I’m just waiting to remove the stitches. Considering that we weren’t even sure we’d be able to race today, it didn’t go badly all things considered. Looking ahead to Mugello, I’ll have to catch up a bit on my training in order to show up in good shape and have a good race. In the end, I was able to get some good experience in the wet, which I hadn’t been able to do so far this season, and we collected other good data that will be useful for the future.”

Aleix Espargaró - 13th

“At the start of the weekend we found it hard to find pace; this track has never been one of my favourites, and the cold made it tricky to find the best setup. Finally, in qualifying we got what we were looking for with the setup, and knew what we had to do if the race was dry. We still hadn’t ridden in the wet this year, however. That meant that we had a few surprises in the rain today and, although everything went ok, I had to fight against my bike for a large part of the race because the electronics weren’t working as I had expected. The bike was sliding around a lot and the traction control was hampering me, but we were able to stay upright and finish as the best CRT. We are ninth overall after four races, are doing a fabulous job and I am very happy. I hope that we continue this way.”

Karel Abraham - 15th

“It’s just one point, but I’m happy to get it. I got a really good start, and I was behind De Puniet and Espargaro on the first lap. I was a bit disappointed when I was finally overtaken by Petrucci, and I know I should have stayed in front. But that would have been very risky – and in my situation I couldn’t really afford it. The important thing is that we now go to Mugello in a better frame of mind.”

Colin Edwards - 16th

“Had a good start of the race and in the first lap it just kind of started coming around on me that I had no traction control taking over and that had me a little nervous. At that point I knew I had to do the race old school, which is no problem, just have to do everything with the wrist. Had a couple of hairy moment the first two laps and then once everything started coming in and the line started to dry up I just put my head down and when I started hearing the electronics I pushed as hard as I could. It got to a point, and I think everybody was in a similar boat, in which the soft tires on a drying track after in a twenty six laps race was very hard on the tires, the last 12 laps you couldn’t really do anything other than staying on the bike. We qualified seventeenth yesterday and finished sixteenth today but at the end of the day we have some good information for rain setup. We haven’t spent much time in the rain with this bike and now we have some information to go back to.”

Bryan Staring - DNF

“I made a rookie mistake and ruined the opportunity to get some valuable experience in the wet on this bike so I am really angry with myself right now. I needed to ride a steady race and instead we’ve ended up with nothing to show. I want to apologise to the team because their efforts this weekend deserved a better result. I will try to make it up to them at Mugello in a couple of weeks’ time. ”

Randy De Puniet - (DNF)

“I started the race very well and was son on Aleix’s tail. When he ran wide I took advantage to pass him and set my own pace. However, midway through the race I began to lose visibility. I don’t know exactly, why, but the film of my visor steamed up and I couldn’t see clearly. I have no idea what caused it, but I couldn’t even take shelter behind my screen because I couldn’t see a thing. On lap sixteen, going into a corner, I lost the front and crashed. I wasn’t going any faster than on the previous lap, but I suppose I must have hit a damp patch that I hadn’t seen. I am annoyed, because I think that we could have been the top CRT today. Instead, we’re on a run of two races without a point. It is tough, but we have to move on and focus on the next race.”

Claudio Corti - DNF

“I didn’t have a good feeling with the bike at the beginning of the race and after only seven laps I was forced to retire because of an engine failure after only seven laps. The race didn’t go well at all; we had no data to refer to in rain conditions so far this season with this bike and that resulted in us not having the right setting and we had a problem with the engine. I think I could have been fighting with Aoyama and Barbera but I didn’t have the chance to do so. I am now looking forward to Mugello, our home race and keep the team’s spirit up. We have to be remain confident and do good at our home race.”

2013 MotoGP Le Mans more post race quotes é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 23:26 di Sunday 19 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

One would be hard pressed who impressed more in today’s MotoGP race at Le Mans, besides winner Dani Pedrosa, a bruised and battered Cal Crutchlow, Andrea Dovizioso who led the race for almost half the distance or Marc Marquez and his comeback.

Our vote goes to the British rider. Crutchlow headed into the race with a fractured shin bone that he suffered in qualifying and where he also coughed up blood - problably his nose bleed back in his throat, but that’s nothing suprising as he’s tough as nails. We just have to remember his 2011 Silverstone race with a fractured left ankle - picked up in qualifying - when starting last he stormed to a heroic and stunning sixth.

Taking off from fourth on the grid the Yamaha Tech3 rode to a fanstastic second after passing Valentino Rossi and then Andrea Dovizioso and with a dirty visor to claim his first podium of the season and his third in MotoGP.

“I’m really happy to get my best ever result in MotoGP and the whole team did an incredible job and deserves this result. We showed our fast pace in the dry, we showed our pace in the wet and I think everybody is aware we are not here through luck. It’s even better and more important because this is the home race for Tech 3 and Monster Energy sponsors the event. So to be the best and only Yamaha on the podium feels really good. My start was not the best and it took me a bit of time to get temperature into the tyres. But once I managed that I felt really comfortable. When I saw Andrea and Dani opening a small gap to Valentino I had to make a move because I was afraid they would be too far ahead to try and catch later in the race. And when I saw Marquez recovering time on my pit board I had to pass Andrea otherwise he might have caught both of us during the last laps. I’m really happy with how things went, especially after the crash yesterday. The wet track obviously put less stress on my body but it was tough riding injured in such tough conditions. From now on I just hope we can be injury free and go to Mugello to put on the same show as we did here today.”

“I had a big crash yesterday and I think it was going to be a difficult race if it was dry; I had confidence I would be there in the top five but maybe the podium would have been difficult. I was remembering what happened here last year, when I crashed out, and it was the same guys again; me, Dovi (Dovizioso) and Vale (Valentino Rossi) were all together again at one point, so I knew I needed to make amends from last year and we finally got the podium. Marc (Marquez) was coming at the end and I was a little scared [laughs] and had to keep pushing on.”

“I think we did a good job and we definitely deserve this podium. We have been fast all year and have finally managed to reach it.”

Bradley Smith started 9th on the grid and finished 9th, but he also had several riders crash out further down the field or he would have been further back, but he is still in line with Crutchlow’s debut season position in MotoGP.

“Today was a really good learning experience,” said Bradley Smith. “I’d hardly ridden the YZR-M1 in the rain before, so to get 28 laps under my belt in really tricky conditions was obviously an experience that taught me a lot. During the race I was able to ride a lot smoother and I hope I can carry over something from this experience to the dry in the future. I’m a little bit disappointed with the start of the race. I had a problem with the clutch in the warm up but we were sure it was just because this was my first start in the wet but apparently it was not. But after the first 10 laps to the end of the race I had a very good pace and I’m happy with the improvement made during the whole weekend with ninth position in qualifying and also ninth in the race. That’s my best MotoGP result and gives my confidence another lift, so now I’m really looking forward to going to Mugello, which is a track I can’t wait to ride a MotoGP bike on. Congratulations also to Cal. He rode an awesome race and in an important race for Tech 3 and Monster Energy it was great to see both of us having such a positive result.”

Cal Crutchlow rides to heroic 2nd at Le Mans é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 23:00 di Sunday 19 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

For almost 14 laps in today’s French GP Andrea Dovizioso made Ducati fans around the world dream the impossible dream, after two difficult years, a victory. The Italian fought for the lead with Dani Pedrosa until the track started to dry out and began stressing his tires and he dropped from second, to third and finally finished fourth, but no doubt a moral boosting race.

Ducati works exceptionally well in the wet with its traction and Le Mans shorter corners also help the Desmosedici, and Dovizioso believed that if continued to rain he would have been on the podium, but he also admitted that with this Ducati they can’t solve the problems they have.

“It’s always nice to be at the front of the pack! I’m really happy with my feeling with the bike, and as long as the tyres were decent, I was able to manage the situation well. Dani had more than I did, but I was still able to keep a good pace. We had good grip, which helped us to have a nice race, but as the track dried, the tyres began wearing a lot. I couldn’t keep the pace in the last six or seven laps, and unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make the podium. I’m sorry for the team about that, but we had a positive weekend in all aspects, even in the dry.” said Dovizioso.

Nicky Hayden finished an excellent fifth but he too suffered when the track began drying out as his tire also began going off.

“Rain races are tough, especially when you don’t have much time to set up the bike! I got a great start and picked up some positions in the first few corners. I didn’t feel great at first, but I began to improve and was closing on the lead group when they were battling with each other. I really enjoyed that, especially when the track was pretty wet. Things got more difficult as it dried, but I was hanging in there. I was looking for a way past Rossi, and when he crashed, I picked it up and ran wide. I put my head down and tried to close the gap, but I made a mistake, and after Marquez got by, I just tried to stay up and get to the finish. Top-five is our best result of the season, but for a while, I thought I had a possibility to do something really good. Still, there were moments this weekend when we showed more potential than we have all year, and I’m really looking forward to Mugello.”

Andrea Dovizioso dreamed of a podium at Le Mans é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 22:57 di Sunday 19 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

Dani Pedrosa is the first rider to win a back-to-back races and he also finally broke his Le Mans MotoGP duck. The Repsol Honda veteran now leads in the standings.

Pedrosa was forced to start sixth on the starting grid after a crash during qualifying left him unable to improve his postion with his spare bike, but he was able to get another of his lightning starts and found himself in the thick of things, first disposing of Jorge Lorenzo and then with Andrea Dovizioso. The two ended up swapping positions - with some mistakes by the Spaniard for the first half of the race until he managed to clear out and ride to victory.

It was a very good race for me. I’m so happy with this one because I lost some position sliding at the start but recovered at the first turn. I had no grip on the rear, but tried to stay in front with Dovi and Lorenzo. I started to have some good feeling in the wet, so I tried to push but made a couple of mistakes and almost went off twice.
I was able to hang on and just keep up the rhythm, so I could escape out in front and ride with good pace. The bike was working well; the tyres were spinning a lot with the drying line in the last laps, but I was able to manage the gap and bring home this victory which is so special.”

Team mate Marc Marquez had a horrible start, despite being the pole sitter, but his excuse was it was also his first race in the wet - but despite his first error and subsequent errors like running off track, but once he settled down he was lapping as fast as the front runners and in some cases one second faster and that helped him conquer the third spot and continue his podium trend.

“It was so difficult, especially in the beginning with that water on the track, I had only ridden a few laps in the wet, at Jerez. First I made a big mistake with wheelspin at the start, so I’ll take a lot of experience from that! In the beginning I maybe tried to push too much and made many, many mistakes and lost lots of time. I took the feeling I had had in the Warm-Up and came back through. I didn’t expect to finish on the podium, if I’m honest, but I was just focussed on my race. I saw Cal was there on the last lap but I said, ‘Okay, after this race the podium is enough!’ These 16 points are so important because this was my first MotoGP™ race in the wet and to start the championship with four podiums in a row is quite important,” said Marquez.

Dani Pedrosa breaks MotoGP Le Mans duck with victory, Marquez maintains podium run é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 21:30 di Sunday 19 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

Jorge Lorenzo was certainly not expecting to end up 7th at Le Mans, which was considered a Yamaha friendly track, especially since the reigning world champion has never been this far down on a finishing grid since Assen 2011 when he finished 6th, but there he got caught up in the late Marco Simoncelli’s crash, but he remounted and sliced through the field.

The rain at the start of the French GP race threw a wrench in his plans even though he was fastest in a wet warm-up, but his usually obedient M1 decided to that it didn’t like the rear tire or the new set-up and started spinning, and he couldn’t get it to work and slowly started to fade.

There was also some talk that his rear tire was defective (Rossi also got one this weekend), but Bridgestone promptly denied it. There were also rumors from the Spanish press that Lorenzo had problems with the visor of HJC helmet.

A rather depressed Lorenzo said he needs a bike that can give him 4 or 5 tenths more per lap, and both Yamaha riders are hoping that they’ll soon receive the much wanted seemless gearbox but apparently they’ll only get it for the Barcelona or Aragon post race tests.

“In the beginning of the race the bike was not the same as warm up but not so bad and I could follow Andrea and Dani. I was losing a lot in some areas of the track but recovering in others. Then after three or four laps the bike got worse and I got problems everywhere. In the braking because in the middle of the corner I didn’t trust the rear tyre and in acceleration because the rear was spinning so much I lost nearly half a second compared to the others. Races are like this sometimes; last year I won by 20 seconds with a very good bike and this year was completely the opposite. I couldn’t do much more without crashing,” said Lorenzo.

If Lorenzo left Le Mans losing precious points against Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez, it was even more terrible for Valentino Rossi. The Italian was riding in fourth and controlling Cal Crutchlow at a certain distance, because the visor of his AGV Pista GP was fogging up - Stefan Bradl who also crashed, but finished 10th lamented the same problem - when he hit a bump at turn 6 on lap 17 and lowsided out. Rossi was able to remount his damaged bike - his front brake lever was bent - but couldn’t do better then 12 which dropped him to fifth in the standings.

“Unfortunately we lost a good chance to get a good result today, I think we had the potential to arrive with the first three and arrive on the podium. I had a good pace and I was fast and I could fight with the other guys. In that corner, I didn’t arrive too fast and didn’t feel any mistake but I felt a bump and lost the front, so it’s a pity because we lose points and especially the chance to try to make a good podium here. Anyway, it can happen and the important thing is that today we were fast so we will see next week.” said Rossi.

Yamaha factory team debacle at Le Mans é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 20:56 di Sunday 19 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

Today’s MotoGP race at Le Mans started under the pouring rain and turned out to be an exciting, action-packed crazy and thrilling race that included unexpected surprises, a great duel and a stunning comeback.

The winner of the race was a highly impressive and aggressive Dani Pedrosa who took his second consecutive victory taking a dominating victory and the lead in the standings, but only after battling with a very incisive and suprising Andrea Dovizioso for the first fourteen laps only to clear out an win with a highly comfortable margin that was up to 7 seconds before he slowed down administering his lead.

A heroic and stoic Cal Crutchlow gave his French based Yamaha Tech3 and Monster Energy sponsored squad (and the French GP sponsor) a fanstastic second place, especially considering his precarious physical conditions, and he was the only Yamaha rider on the podium, beating both Yamaha factory riders that both suffered an unexpected debacle.

Jorge Lorenzo after eight laps into the race began to visibily fade, suffering important technical or tire issues to end up a lowly 7th and a massive 28 seconds from Pedrosa. Worse happened to Valentino Rossi who crashed out of fourth during the 17th lap, while he was gaining on Cal Crutchlow who had overtaken him four laps before. The Italian was able to rejoin with a banged up Yamaha and finish down in 12th.

Marc Marquez was as usual his phenomenal self as he took the third spot, after a bad start and an error fraught race mixed up with stunningly fast laps that were one second faster than the front runners. The MotoGP rookie with and extraordinary comeback back from 11th to overtake Andrea Dovizioso in the penultimate lap and take the last spot on the podium.

That Ducati is good on the wet is a known fac, and Andrea Dovizioso amply proved it by taking the hole shot and lead the race for a good nine laps and battling with Pedrosa, exchanging the lead several times. Once Pedrosa was able to make his pass stick, the Ducati rider rode in an impressive second only to be passed by Crutchlow when his tires began to fade on lap 23 as the track dried out and then get passed by Marquez in the finale and finish still and impressive fourth.

Nicky Hayden ended up fifth, but the Ducati rider was in the thick of things with Rossi and Crutchlow, until Rossi’s crash and error make him lose touch. Sixth went to Alvaro Bautista who found himself battling with Lorenzo.

Michele Pirro who was replacing recovering Ben Spies brought home the Pramac Ducati in 8th and he was followed by Bradley Smith and Stefan Bradl.The German rider crashed out immediately before Valentino Rossi during the 17th lap he was able to rejoin and close out the top ten.

2013 MotoGP Le Mans results:

01- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 28 laps in 49’17.707
02- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 4.863
03- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 6.949
04- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 10.087
05- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 18.471
06- Alvaro Bautista – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 23.561
07- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 27.961
08- Michele Pirro Ignite Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 40.775
09- Bradley Smith – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 41.407
10- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 1’00.995
11- Andrea Iannone – Energy T.I. Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1’05.110
12- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1’16.368
13- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 1’24.200
14- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda Suter BMW – + 1’25.726
15- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – ART GP13 – + 1’32.111
16- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – FTR Kawasaki – + 1’40.602
17- Michael Laverty – Paul Bird Motorsport – PBM 01 – 1 lap
18- Hector Barbera – Avintia Blusens – BQR FTR – 1 lap
19- Hiroshi Aoyama – Avintia Blusens – BQR FTR – 1 lap

Dani Pedrosa takes second win in a row, Cal Crutchlow second at Le Mans é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 15:36 di Sunday 19 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

Scott Redding took his first ever Moto2 victory in crash fest and then rain halted race in today’s French Grand Prix at Le Mans.

With the victory, Redding leads by 24 points in the standings and became the first non-Spanish rider to take a win in all three classes after four races.

The riders all started on slicks on the damp track as poleman Takaaki Nakagami got the holeshot and was leading into the Dunlop chicane as Espargaro who got an awesome slingshot start from seventh followed by Johann Zarco, Tito Rabat, Dominque Aegerter, Xavier Simeon, and Mika Kallio, while Redding had a horrible start falling to ninth despite starting on the front row.

At the Chemin aux Boeufs Pons rider Rabat overtook Zarco for the third spot while team mate Espargaro grabbed the lead from Nakagami and this was just the first lap as Kyle Smith, Ratthapark Wilairot, Axel Pons and Rafid Topan Sucipto all crashed out.

During the third lap disaster struck for both Pons riders as both Espargaro and Rabato crashed out from the respective postions, almost simultaneously and exactly in the same fashiom at the Museum corner. A desperate Espargaro rejoined, albeit down in 26th, while Rabat was forced to pit.

With Espargaro out of action, Nakagami inherited the lead followed by Dominique Aegerter and Zarco as riders began crashing left and right.

Zarco managed to take second from Aegerter, who then lost his third spot to Xavier Simeon as Scott Redding made his comeback with a double overtake at the Dunlop chicane put both Aegerter and Simeon behind him, while Nakagami, who already had more than a three second lead by lap 8 and was still pushing lost control of his Kalex at the Museum and said good-bye to the Le Mans race.

With the Japanese rider out Zarco inherited the lead followedby Redding, who grapped the lead on lap 8 and tried to escape pulling Zarco with him while behind him several riders exchanged positions with Mika Kallio coming up strong of the battling group.

However with five laps the first rain flags flew out warning the riders of the danger and then on 24th of 26 laps the red flag came out effectively stopping the race.

The results were taken from the end lap 22, luckily for Redding, who was being pushed and team mate Kallio inherited the second spot despite being overtaken by Xavier Simeon before the red flag.

The Le Mans podium was Redding, Kallio to the joy of the Marc VDS team, and Simeon who scored his first podium.

Aegerter was fourth followed by Zarco, Mattia Pasini who beat Mike di Meglio after a race long battle. Julian Simon, Anthony West and Alex de Angelis completed the top.

2013 Moto2 Le Mans race results:

01- Scott Redding – Marc VDS Racing Team – KALEX Moto2 – 22 laps in 36’43.583
02- Mika Kallio – Marc VDS Racing Team – KALEX Moto2 – + 1.090
03- Xavier Simeon – Desguaces La Torre Maptaq – KALEX Moto2 – + 1.234
04- Dominique Aegerter – Technomag carXpert – Suter MMX2 – + 1.701
05- Johann Zarco – CAME Iodaracing Project – Suter MMX2 – + 1.859
06- Mattia Pasini – NGM Mobile Racing – Speed Up SF13 – + 12.272
07- Mike Di Meglio – JiR Moto2 – MotoBI – + 12.378
08- Julian Simon – Italtrans Racing Team – KALEX Moto2 – + 29.712
09- Anthony West – QMMF Racing Team – Speed Up SF13 – + 30.479
10- Alex De Angelis – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – Speed Up SF13 – + 31.235
11- Randy Krummenacher – Technomag carXpert – Suter MMX2 – + 31.535
12- Simone Corsi – NGM Mobile Racing – Speed Up SF13 – + 31.675
13- Sandro Cortese – Dynavolt Intact GP – KALEX Moto2 – + 31.917
14- Marcel Schrotter – Desguaces La Torre SAG – KALEX Moto2 – + 35.778
15- Louis Rossi – Tech 3 Racing – Tech 3 Mistral 610 – + 45.045
16- Danny Kent – Tech 3 Racing – Tech 3 Mistral 610 – + 45.151
17- Alberto Moncayo – Argiñano & Gines Racing – Speed Up SF13 – + 55.456
18- Yuki Takahashi – IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia – Moriwaki MD600 – + 59.886
19- Doni Tata Pradita – Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 – Suter MMX2 – + 1’02.095
20- Pol Espargaro – Tuenti HP 40 – KALEX Moto2 – + 1’06.414
21- Steven Odendaal – Argiñano & Gines Racing – Speed Up SF13 – + 1’48.007
22- Hafizh Syahrin – Petronas Raceline Malaysia – KALEX Moto2 – 1 lap
23- Tito Rabat – Tuenti HP 40 – KALEX Moto2 – 2 laps
24- Rafid Topan Sucipto – QMMF Racing Team – Speed Up SF13 – 3 laps

Scott Redding takes maiden victory in crash fest, truncated Le Mans Moto2 race é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 13:47 di Sunday 19 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

Maverick Vinales took his second consecutive victory of the Moto3 season, after his victory with a perfectly and intelligently prepared race on a damp/dry track at the famous Bugatti circuit at Le Mans

The race was declared dry and the Team Calvo rider was the pole sitter, but he was beat to the first turn after the lights went out by Jonas Folger and the two were followed by Alex Rins, Luis Salom, Miguel Oliveira, Alex Marquez, Niklas Ajo and Jack Miller.

Vinales and Folger exchanged the lead over the first laps, but the Aspar rider regained the command of the race as the rest field began to lose contact with Folger, Vinales, Rins and suffering Salom, after his huge crash yesterday. The race lost the presence of Oliveira after he crashed his Mahindra at the Dunlop chicane during the fifth lap.

Vinales passed Jonas Folger for the lead at the start of lap nine and kept Rins at bay for thirteen laps when during the final two laps when he incremented the gap with two fast laps and easily escape from the clutches of the Estrella rider who couldn’t find any more from his KTM, with Vinales taking his second win in a row and move 13 points clear in the championship standings.

Rins took second followed by Luis Salom, while Folger ended up fourth after running off track during the 11th lap trying to keep Rins from overtaking him. The German rider returned to track in fourth as the closest rider in fifth was already massive fifteen seconds in arrears. While the Aspar rider was able to post one of fastest laps of the race, he was unable to re-make a real contact with the front three, and would finish more that fourteen seconds from Vinales.

Alex Marquez and Jakub Kornfeil finished in fifth and sixth respectively and were more than 37 seconds adrift, while seventh went to Romano Fenati who inherited several spots thanks to the numerous crashes in front of him, like when Zulfahmi Khairuddin highsided out at the Chemin aux Boeufs and took with him a hapless Niklas Ajo as they were battling over the 7th spot.

Brad Binder finished two seconds ahead of Alexis Masbou for 8th, while the Ongetta rider manged to keep Isaac Vinales at bay for the 9th position.

2013 Moto3 Le Mans race results:

01- Maverick Vinales – Team Calvo – KTM RC 250 GP – 24 laps in 42’05.448
02- Alex Rins – Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 – KTM RC 250 GP – + 1.264
03- Luis Salom – Red Bull KTM Ajo – KTM RC 250 GP – + 1.387
04- Jonas Folger – MAPFRE Aspar Team Moto3 – KALEX KTM – + 14.593
05- Alex Marquez – Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 – KTM RC 250 GP – + 37.949
06- Jakub Kornfeil – Redox RW Racing GP – KALEX KTM – + 40.295
07- Romano Fenati – San Carlo Team Italia – FTR Honda M313 – + 43.325
08- Brad Binder – Ambrogio Racing – Suter Honda MMX3 – + 43.537
09- Alexis Masbou – Ongetta Rivacold – FTR Honda M313 – + 45.511
10- Isaac Vinales – Ongetta Centro Seta – FTR Honda M313 – + 45.674
11- John McPhee – Caretta Technology RTG – FTR Honda M313 – + 51.452
12- Jack Miller – Caretta Technology RTG – FTR Honda M313 – + 51.592
13- Arthur Sissis – Red Bull KTM Ajo – KTM RC 250 GP – + 58.713
14- Alessandro Tonucci – La Fonte Tascaracing – FTR Honda M313 – + 58.970
15- Philipp Öttl – Tec Interwetten Moto3 Racing – KALEX KTM – + 1’18.027
16- Livio Loi – Marc VDS Racing Team – KALEX KTM – + 1’18.384
17- Matteo Ferrari – Ongetta Centro Seta – FTR Honda M313 – + 1’23.388
18- Toni Finsterbusch – Kiefer Racing – KALEX KTM – + 1’27.726
19- Ana Carrasco – Team Calvo – KTM RC 250 R – + 1’27.754
20- Francesco Bagnaia – San Carlo Team Italia – FTR Honda M313 – + 1’27.860
21- Jasper Iwema – RW Racing GP – KALEX KTM – + 1’28.165
22- Juanfran Guevara – CIP Moto3 – TSRC3 Honda – + 1’30.631
23- Alan Techer – CIP Moto3 – TSRC3 Honda – + 1’30.841
24- Eric Granado – MAPFRE Aspar Team Moto3 – KALEX KTM – 1 lap
25- Hyuga Watanabe – La Fonte Tascaracing – FTR Honda M313 – 1 lap
26- Christophe Arciero – ARC – Suter Honda MMX3 – 1 lap

2013 Moto3 Le Mans: Maverick Vinales takes second consecutive win é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 12:53 di Sunday 19 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

This morning’s MotoGP twenty minute warm-up practice was on a wet/damp track and the riders were out on rain tires without taking any necessary risks, however Jorge Lorenzo posted the fastest time with his tenth of eleven laps in 1.44.307 and leaving the second fastest rider Cal Crutchlow more than 0.455s adrift.

The Yamaha Tech3 was able to take part in the session as he passed the fitness test despite a small fracture to his shinbone that was taped and he was given pain meds. Marc Marquez really didn’t care about the half and half conditions as he dominated his very nervous Honda to take the third best time followed by Ducati’s Nicky Hayden and an impressive Stefan Bradl.

Andrea Dovizioso was sixth fastest albeit already one second adrift from Lorenzo, and worse went Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi - who even problems passing Bradly Smith - and they were 8th and 9th respectively and behind Aspar’s CRT rider Aleix Espargaro.

Closing out the top ten was PBM’s Yonny Hernandez who left behind him MotoGP prototype riders, Alvaro Bautista, Bradley Smith, Andrea Iannone and Michele Pirro.

2013 MotoGP Warm-up practice results

01- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – 1’44.307
02- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.455
03- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.552
04- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 0.726
05- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 0.851
06- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1.021
07- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 1.107
08- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 1.167
09- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.277
10- Yonny Hernandez – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP13 – + 1.439
11- Alvaro Bautista – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 1.970
12- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – ART GP13 – + 2.101
13- Bradley Smith – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 2.383
14- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 2.386
15- Michele Pirro – Ignite Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 2.845
16- Hiroshi Aoyama – Avintia Blusens – BQR FTR – + 2.870
17- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda Suter BMW – + 3.452
18- Claudio Corti – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – FTR Kawasaki – + 4.084
19- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – FTR Kawasaki – + 4.233
20- Hector Barbera – Avintia Blusens – BQR FTR – + 4.273
21- Andrea Iannone – Energy T.I. Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 4.547
22- Bryan Staring – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – FTR Honda MGP13 – + 5.491
23- Lukas Pesek – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda Suter BMW – + 7.093
24- Michael Laverty – Paul Bird Motorsport – PBM 01 – + 8.802

Jorge Lorenzo dominates Le Mans warm-up é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 10:21 di Sunday 19 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

Andrea Dovizioso gave Ducati their first front row start of the 2013 MotoGP season at Le Mans with a 1.33.603 lap that put him in third on the starting grid and he did it without a tow, which is also important.

The Italian is however keeping his feet on the ground because the Ducati still has all its usual problems and on race pace after a few laps the GP13 starts having tire issues.

Strangely enough at the French circuit the Ducati is more competitive and has less issues, with many believing that it’s due to the majority of the turns have a shorter radius so the riders can pick up the bike sooner without having to wrestle it back to the racing line like they usually do on the longer and faster corners.

“I’m pleased with the work we’ve done over the weekend because we’ve been consistently fast and we have the pace to do a good race—maybe not to finish on the podium but we’re much closer to the competition than we have been at other tracks. I was surprised to do a 1:33.6, as I didn’t think I’d be able to do that, but it was a beautiful feeling. Although I know it will be a difficult race, I still hope that it’ll be dry tomorrow; those are the conditions that we’ve practiced in and we’re pretty fast. Still, it shouldn’t be a big problem even if it rains, as it seems that our GP13 works well in the wet,” said Dovizioso.

Nicky Hayden no doubt was highly disappointed with his 10th place in qualifying unable to get heat into his last tire in the final minutes of the Q2 session.

“We made a little step this morning and were able to improve my lap time and position, and although I didn’t improve in FP4, I was on used tyres the whole time and did my best lap time at the end. I thought we were on a good way, but in qualifying I didn’t really put a good lap together. I did a decent lap in my first exit, but in the second one I couldn’t get heat in the tyre. One second to the front isn’t bad at other tracks, but our potential here was better. It’s certainly frustrating to end up tenth on a day when things seemed to be going well, but we’ll see what the weather does tomorrow. Hopefully we can recover in the race. Congratulations to Dovi and his guys, as they did a great job,” said Hayden.

Andrea Dovizioso surprised by front row start, Hayden has problems putting heat in his tires é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 22:01 di Saturday 18 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

Cal Crutchlow is not only tough as nails and even when he’s bruised and battered for the second straight GP weekend, but his still is able to come through and qualify ahead of many more titled riders. Maybe Yamaha should remember that when they are negotiating with Pol Espargaro for the 2014 season wanting to replace the Brit with Spaniard in Poncharal’s Tech3 squad.

Crutchlow lost rear traction going into the La Chapelle corner and his Yamaha M1 spit him off hard and left him lying on the side of the circuit holding his right side, causing the session to be briefly red flagged as the marshals assisted him.

The British rider was able to walk away and returned to the his garage very pale looking and with his nose bleeding.

A very brief medical check up declared him fit to continue and he returned to track to qualify a stunning fourth, missing a front row start by a mere 0.006s.

Crutchlow crashed twice on Saturday the Jerez round that resulted in a small bleed in his left kidney however he then rode to fifth and tomorrow he still wants to ride, fracture or no fracture, despite one of the Clinica Mobile doctors warning that the fracture to the tibial plateau (shinbone) could affect the overall stability and motion of his knee and that he could swell up during the night which could cause extra problems.

“I can’t be disappointed to have qualified in fourth position after how the day went,” said Crutchlow. “Unfortunately it was another difficult one for us and for sure the crash in free practice four didn’t make things easier. We’ve struggling the whole weekend in a few areas and I still don’t feel completely confident with the setup of the bike, so we have some work to go through tonight. I’m also feeling very sore after the crash and the medical staff diagnosed that I’ve got a small fracture of the right shin but that will not prevent me from giving 100% in tomorrow’s all-important home race for my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team!”

Bradley Smith took his best qualifying result at Le Mans, taking a 9th place on the grid and the MotoGP rookie will be be in company of Valentino Rossi and Alvaro Bautista.

“I’m definitely happy to qualify on the third row today,” said Smith. “We made some great improvements throughout the whole weekend getting consistently faster during each session. Nevertheless I’m embittered about the gap to the fastest because it’s just over a second and my aim was to be a little bit closer, but probably I would need to worry if I’m completely satisfied after finishing ninth. Anyway, I want to say a big thanks to my team because they prepared a fantastic bike for me that gave me more and more confidence with every single lap. I’m really looking forward to putting on a good show in front of the French fans during tomorrow’s 28 laps lasting race.“

Cal Crutchlow wants to race at Le Mans despite a fracture to his shinbone é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 21:08 di Saturday 18 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

Unless you’re twenty years old and leading the MotoGP championship or made from very stern stuff like Cal Crutchlow it is hard to shrug off a crash, even one that hurts more your pride than your body as Dani Pedrosa found out today in qualifying at Le Mans.

The Repsol Honda rider crashed during Q2 at turn 3 - Dunlop chicane - and despite being able to return to track was unable challenge for the pole position that left him down in sixth a position that he isn’t used to, and disappoint for Pedrosa who will have struggle to do one of his usual lightning starts and hope that no one rear ends him.

“The afternoon’s practice sessions were difficult,” said Pedrosa. “I crashed in qualifying and then had to go back to the garage and only had a little time left on the clock when I got back out on-track. I wasn’t able to make the best use of the session, but at least I was able to clock a fairly decent time and place sixth. It is a pity because we could have been much higher up the grid. For tomorrow we will have to try to get a good start, come back up through the field and have a good race.”

Marc Marquez also suffered a crash but luckily for him it happened during the fourth free practice and he was still able to get used to his spare bike before qualifying in pole position for the second time this season.

“I was on my second bike, but to build that confidence again after a crash is quite difficult. It takes time. I took one or two laps, but then it was qualifying and I pushed like before. In terms of my rhythm: I’m happy, not so bad. Jorge (Lorenzo) had a very good rhythm but, you know, we will see how the weather and everything is tomorrow and we will try to do our best,” commented Marquez.

Marc Marquez: 'I pushed as before' - Dani Pedrosa: 'I could have qualifed higher' é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 20:23 di Saturday 18 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

Even if Jorge Lorenzo didn’t take the pole position at Le Mans pipped by Marc Marquez by mere 0.030 seconds, the Yamaha rider is quietly confident that he can take on the two Repsol Honda riders.

“All weekend we’ve been working pretty much to improve the feeling on the front tyre, where we had some difficulties at Jerez, and trying to improve the bike to keep a more consistent pace. I think we’ve got it. I also concentrated on doing a very fast lap but unfortunately I couldn’t beat Marc today because he was really fast, but our main target was to improve the bike for the race and I think we’ve done that. We’ll see tomorrow,” said Lorenzo.

Valentino Rossi’s strong suit has never been qualifying. In 279 GP race starts he has had only 59 pole positions which we can compare to team mate Jorge Lorenzo who has 182 GP starts and already has 53 pole positions.

The new 15 minute qualifying format puts the Italian rider in a quandrary, unable to use, and above all trust a new soft tire right off, something that Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Marquez are able to do without batting an eye, so they almost always qualify on the front row, while he lingers more often than not on the third row.

Rossi doesn’t have a bad race pace, but his position on the grid will penalize him again. He isn’t fast in the first two or three laps of the race where the usual three front runners build up their advantage and escape from the rest of the field, while the Yamaha rider finds himself bottled up and jockeying for positions unable to give chase.

Today’s qualifying was another example and another disappointment for Rossi, who admitted that he just can’t take advantage of the extra grip from a new tire and still isn’t content with his braking, which has always been his strong suit. The Italian is getting older and is becoming too much of perfectionist and his squad is always chasing an elusive set-up that will give him the 100% confidence that he wants, and the situation is becoming a vicious cycle.

“Like the other races, in the qualifying I am unable to do what I want,” said Rossi. “When I try to push more I create some problems with the bike. The other riders are better than me at using the extra grip from the new tyre, so I have to start from the third row. My rhythm is not so bad so we have to try to fix something. My rhythm and pace for the race is quite good, unfortunately Lorenzo, Marquez and Pedrosa are a bit faster.

Rossi also said that a tire issue (it had cracks on the right side and Bridgestone replaced it) this morning’s practice session that set him backwards.

“Unfortunately today was a worse day compared to yesterday. We started quite badly this morning because we had some problems with the rear tyre so we struggled very much in the practice. We had a lot of question marks so we wanted to try the same setting this afternoon. In fact the tyre had a problem because this afternoon it was not so bad.”

Jorge Lorenzo thinks he's got it, as Rossi is unable to take advantage of new tires é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 18:36 di Saturday 18 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

We’ve run out of accolades to describe the super talented Marc Marquez. The Repsol Honda rookie did it again as he took his second pole position of the 2013 season in today’s qualifying session at the Bugatti circuit at Le Mans.

If a pole position in the Austing GP was more than expected at the French circuit, Marquez learned the layout so well so well that he posted a flying lap in a stunning 1:33.187, shrugging off his FP4 crash just fifteen minutes before QP2.

Only the hammering laps of Jorge Lorenzo could keep up with the Repsol Honda rider and he finished a mere 0.030s adrift, but just checking out the time sectors you can see that the Yamaha rider is a war machine more than prepared for tomorrow’s race.

Andrea Dovizioso took the third spot on the front row, and giving Ducati their first front start after Nicky Hayden’s last year qualifying result at Jerez. Dovizioso also managed to pip by just 0.006s a battered and heroic Cal Crutchlow for the position, proving that the Ducati does like the French circuit.

Fifth fastest was Alvaro Bautista who also a little battered after his crash yesterday and he’ll have a fellow Honda rider next to him Dani Pedrosa. The Repsol Honda had posted the second best time but then crashed out at turn 3 - the Dunlop chicane - that has caught out so many riders this weekend which left his down in sixth.

Opening the the third row will be Stefan Bradl, while Valentino Rossi has another horrible qualifying ending up 8th and more than eight tenths of second from his own team mate, losing a massive amount of time in the braking sections of the first and third sectors. Bradley Smith took ninth and just two tenths slower than Rossi, while Nicky Hayden rounded out the top ten with Aspar CRT riders Aleix Espargaro and Randy De Puniet in 11th and 12th.

2013 MotoGP Le Mans QP2 results:

01- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’33.187
02- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.030
03- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 0.416
04- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.422
05- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 0.447
06- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.452
07- Alvaro Bautista – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 0.797
08- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.822
09- Bradley Smith – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.035
10- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1.055
11- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 1.567
12- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 1.899

2013 MotoGP Le Mans Starting Grid:

01- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V
02- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1
03- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13
04- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1
05- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V
06- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V
07- Alvaro Bautista – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V
08- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1
09- Bradley Smith – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1
10- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13
11- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13
12- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13
13- Andrea Iannone – Energy T.I. Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP13
14- Michele Pirro – Ignite Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP13
15- Hector Barbera – Avintia Blusens – BQR FTR
16- Danilo Petrucci – Came Iodaracing Project – Ioda Suter BMW
17- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – FTR Kawasaki
18- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – ART GP13
19- Claudio Corti – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – FTR Kawasaki
20- Michael Laverty – Paul Bird Motorsport – PBM 01
21- Bryan Staring – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – FTR Honda MGP13
22- Lukas Pesek – Iodaracing Project – Ioda Suter BMW
23- Yonny Hernandez – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP13
24- Hiroshi Aoyama – Avintia Blusens – BQR FTR

Marc Marquez takes Le Mans pole position é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 15:39 di Saturday 18 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

MV Agusta Brutale 1090 RR was chosen by the Brazilian Motociclismo magazine as “Moto de Ouro 2013” in the Naked category. With this award, Brutale kicked aside 10 other rivals of leading manufacturers currently active in the Brazilian market. The super sports F4, another finalist, arrived second place in the Sports category.

This is the second award won by MV Agusta in a little over a year of official activity in Brazil. In addition to the Golden Motorcycle won by Brutale, the brand has recently earned the title of Motorcycle of the Year awarded by the Duas Rodas magazine, in the Sport category.

The 15th edition “Moto de Ouro” is part of the “Motorcycle of the year”, the world’s most important motorcycle award, organized by the magazines of the Motorpress Group in 9 countries: Germany (Motorrad), Brazil (Motociclismo), Switzerland (Töff), France (Moto Journal), Spain (Motociclismo), Holland (Moto Plus), Hungary (Motorevue), Poland (Motocyckl) and Czech Republic (Motocyckl).

The Brutale 1090 RR features a 1078cc four cylinder, 4 stroke, 16 valve engine that pours out 158hp (116.5 kW) at 11,900 rev/min and 100 Nm (10.2 kgm) of torque at 10,100 rev/min and has eight levels of traction control.

MV Agusta Brutale 1090 RR wins Brazilian Golden Motorcycle Award é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 14:46 di Saturday 18 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

It was very overcast and the track temperatures were much cooler for the fourth and final free practice at Le Mans and the session was almost immediately was red flagged when Cal Crutchlow’s Yamaha M1 pitched him off on his third lap out.

The British rider remained laying on the side of the track holding his right side for a few minutes and the was able to get up and walk away on his two legs but with his nose bleeding and reluctantly went to the medical center riding a bicycle, only to stoically return to track and finish seventh.

Jorge Lorenzo set the fastest time of the session and lowering Marc Marquez morning lap time by almost a tenth and finishing with a best lap of 1.33.508, as he hammered out lap after lap in the high 1.33s and very low 1.34s.

Marc Marquez took the second position and trying to better himself in the final minutes lost the front on his Honda at turn 3 and slid out he was taken back to his garage by one Ducati’s scooter. Team mate Dani Pedrosa was third followed by Valentino Rossi who improved after returning to yesterday’s setting but he was still eight tenths off pace from Lorenzo.

Stefan Bradl also improved and moved up to fifth followed by Andrea Dovizioso, Crutchlow, Alvaro Bautista, Bradley Smith and Nicky Hayden closed out the top ten.

Hector Barbera’s crash during FP3 left him with a fractured index finger finished 15th while Claudio Corti lost the front of NGM CRT bike leaving him dead last.

2013 MotoGP Le Mans FP4 results:

01- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – 1’33.508
02- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.309
03- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.437
04- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.802
05- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 0.953
06- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 0.969
07- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.309
08- Alvaro Bautista – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 1.341
09- Bradley Smith – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.432
10- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1.569
11- Andrea Iannone – Energy T.I. Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1.901
12- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 1.957
13- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 2.328
14- Michele Pirro – Ignite Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 2.430
15- Hector Barbera – Avintia Blusens – BQR FTR – + 2.463
16- Hiroshi Aoyama – Avintia Blusens – BQR FTR – + 2.886
17- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – ART GP13 – + 3.060
18- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda Suter BMW – + 3.087
19- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – FTR Kawasaki – + 3.339
20- Michael Laverty – Paul Bird Motorsport – PBM 01 – + 3.487
21- Bryan Staring – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – FTR Honda MGP13 – + 3.649
22- Lukas Pesek – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda Suter BMW – + 3.758
23- Yonny Hernandez – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP13 – + 3.964
24- Claudio Corti – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – FTR Kawasaki – + 4.402

Jorge Lorenzo sets new benchmark in FP4 at Le Mans é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 14:22 di Saturday 18 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

In the Reuters interview Dorna’s CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta said regarding the number of Spanish riders that are now dominating in all three classes, “In the history of Dorna, we never helped any Spanish people to race and we help a lot of non-Spanish people…obviously we prefer as organisers more nationalities but we can’t kill anybody.”

He was also asked if their was a possibility of introducing a quota system and he said “Maybe, if things continue like that, we can consider it in the future. But this is not the problem. If we have more bikes, there will be more people. In Moto2 and Moto3 there are people from many nationalities and they are doing well.”

However, in a interview that will be broadcasted on Radio Rai tonight during the Sabato Sport, Speciale Moto Gran Prix programme, the Spanish manager reconfirmed that no Spanish rider has received any financial help to race, but he also added that he has no intention of limiting the teams on their choice of riders of the same nationality, but he could put in place a quota system and restricting the number of riders from each country in all three classes, because the numerous presence of riders from the same country, according to Ezpeleta limits media interest.

Who could pay for this choice are obviously Spanish riders. Dorna holds the rights of Spanish CEV and Repsol sponsors it this year. The series is a huge breeding ground for riders and even talented youngsters that have families who can afford it, come from other countries to compete in the championship and try to follow in the footsteps of Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, Maverick Vinales and Pol Espargaro.

The problem isn’t Spain who has worked hard and invested in their young talents with the results that we are currently seeing, with Spanish riders leading in all three classes; but other countries that don’t have feeder classes of this level nor the sponsorship following.

Even Italy, who produced riders like Valentino Rossi, the late Marco Simoncelli, Andrea Dovizioso, Marco Melandri etc, rested on their laurels too long, letting things slide, basking in the limelight of the successes of these riders without thinking of the future, even if Fausto Gresini organized pre-gp racing schools and events.

Only recently has the FMI (Italian Motorcycle Federation) decided to invest on upcoming riders, but before some of these kids even become world class material several years will have gone by and the Spanish armada will rightly continue to dominate, while other countries continue to sit on their thumbs.

Carmelo Ezpeleta thinking of limiting the number of Spanish riders in each category é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 13:26 di Saturday 18 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

After yesterday’s MotoGP’s two very tight practice sessions, this morning’s third free practice at Le Mans, the situation was very different, and the weather had nothing to do with it as it was sunny and dry.

Marc Marquez took the top of the timesheets in a dominating manner. The MotoGP rookie in the finale posted two stunning laps under the 1.34 mark - and the only rider to do so - and stopped the clock in 1.33.600, breaking the 2011 circuit record by 0.017s. The record had been held by his team mate Dani Pedrosa, who ended up third fastest in the session, but almost six tenths adrift.

Jorge Lorenzo was the only rider able to barely contain the gap to the enthusiastic rookie to less than half a second, as he was 0.499s adrift. Team mate Valentino Rossi took a huge step backwards after yesterday’s so called ‘breakthrough’. The Italian fell back to 9th and accumulating a gap of more than 1.214.

Le Mans may not be Nicky Hayden’s favorite circuit but this morning he was fourth fastest and ahead of Cal Crutchlow, and his Ducati team mate Andrea Iannone and a surprisingly excellent Bradley Smith who 7th fastest and less than a second from Marquez.

Ahead Rossi as we said who was a lowly 9th, was Alvaro Bautista in 8th. The Gresini rider suffered a huge crash at the Chicane under the Dunlop bridge, but seemed not to have suffered any serious injuries. Yonny Hernandez and Hector Barbera also crashed during the session.

The last rider to go directly to the Q2 was Stefan Bradl, another rider who like Rossi was unable to improve which left him down on the timesheets.

2013 MotoGP Le Mans FP3 results:

01- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’33.600
02- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.499
03- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.582
04- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 0.826
05- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.867
06- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 0.876
07- Bradley Smith – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.997
08- Alvaro Bautista – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 1.186
09- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.214
10- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 1.390
11- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 1.522
12- Andrea Iannone – Energy T.I. Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1.643
13- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 1.907
14- Hector Barbera – Avintia Blusens – BQR FTR – + 1.965
15- Michele Pirro – Ignite Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1.992
16- Claudio Corti – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – FTR Kawasaki – + 2.665
17- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda Suter BMW – + 2.679
18- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – FTR Kawasaki – + 3.058
19- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – ART GP13 – + 3.184
20- Hiroshi Aoyama – Avintia Blusens – BQR FTR – + 3.266
21- Yonny Hernandez – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP13 – + 3.551
22- Bryan Staring – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – FTR Honda MGP13 – + 3.776
23- Lukas Pesek – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda Suter BMW – + 4.093
24- Michael Laverty – Paul Bird Motorsport – PBM 01 – + 4.213

Marc Marquez dominates FP3 at Le Mans é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 11:12 di Saturday 18 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.

The weekend of the French GP has already begun - with Repsol Honda duo Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez taking first and second position in the first day of practice and Yamaha Factory Racing dream team Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo within 2 tenths of a second from Pedrosa’s fastest lap of the day - but while waiting for today’s qualifying session, we thought it would be a good idea to put out an appetizer of the paddock girls photo gallery we use to release right after every major racing event.

The thing is that, apparently, there are quite a few Monster Girls hanging around in Le Mans these days as the famous energy drink is also the main sponsor of the French GP, so we thought we better take immediate advantage of such abundance and unleash some pic found here and there right away. This doesn’t mean we won’t treat you we the usual gallery later on, that’s a given.

Monster Girls take the spotlight in Le Mans é stato pubblicato su twowheelsblog alle 02:57 di Saturday 18 May 2013. Leggete le condizioni di utilizzo del feed.