MotoGP Laguna Seca, Qualifying 2: Stefan Bradl scores the first pole in the Top Class ahead of Marquez and Bautista
In the second row the Yamahas of Rossi, Crutchlow and Lorenzo
Stefan Bradl did the “hit”! The Team LCR driver has in fact achieved the pole position of the Red Bull US Grand Prix, scheduled for tomorrow at the Mazda Raceway in Laguna Seca. The German from Team LCR, already a Moto2 world champion in 2011, thus makes his first start at the "pole" in the Top Class, preceding two other Hondas, that of Team Repsol of world championship leader Marc Marquez and that of Team Gresini of Alvaro Bautista. This is also the first pole for a German in the premier class, therefore a double satisfaction for the son of Helmut, rider of the 90s world championship, who raced in 250cc "against" our Luca Cadalora.
Three Hondas therefore on the front row, with Marquez unable to defend his lead in the final minutes due to a fall. Rider #93 in fact lost the front end of his RC213V when there were only a few minutes left until the end of qualifying.
The third Honda, that of Alvaro Bautista, also did very well, bringing his RC213V with Showa suspension and Nissin brakes to the front row. The Spaniard also seems to have a good pace from a race perspective and could be among the protagonists tomorrow.
In the second row we find three Yamahas, those of Valentino Rossi, Cal Crutchlow and Jorge Lorenzo. The three experienced a different qualifying round. The Yamaha rider from Pesaro in fact searched for the front row for a long time, finishing 0.242s behind Bradl, while Crutchlow had problems with his bike. That crash in FP4 wasn't ready, while initially the second one had a problem with an electronics sensor.
The Briton only managed to get on track in the final minutes, still managing to finish very close to Rossi, who is ahead by just 2 thousandths. Jorge Lorenzo instead pays for the double operation on his collarbone. The Majorcan who boasted four consecutive pole positions here actually loses a lot in the final part of the track, where his collarbone is subjected to greater strain.
Lorenzo is however ahead of the other high-class injured rider, his compatriot Dani Pedrosa, who finished seventh and ahead of the first Ducati, that of Andrea Dovizioso, who will therefore start from the third row together with the Spaniard and Bradley Smith.
Photos: Alex Farinelli
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MotoGp Qualifying 2 Silverstone - British GP - The times
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Silverstone - British GP - Qualifying 2 results
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BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA delicious he was about to take the same mine that Rossi took, with the aggravating circumstance that he also has "the new frame", mega rotfl cubed.
Lorenzo and Pedrosa clearly bruised. Apart from the consequences of this, the Yamahas could have done more in qualifying...Crutchlow didn't find the key to the problem and Rossi did less than the minimum wage, as often happens to him. Marquez who fell "had to" test the limit of the track, which can also be helpful. Bradl and Bautista did well, the feeling is that the bike has improved, at least on the flying lap.
You were so excited about Dovi's time with new tires (compared to a driver who used used tires in FP1 and continued to use it for the entire FP2 session) in FP2, aren't you still excited now?
Did Marc have to test the limits of the track? aahahahahahahahaha What a pearl!
Adding 3000 if, and seeing Honda's performance, I think that in normal conditions where everything goes smoothly and all the riders are in good shape, I think the qualifying result would be this:
1. Pedrosa
2. Marquez at 2 tenths
3. Bradl
4. 5. Bautista and Lorenzo also have reversed positions
6. Crutchlow 7. Rossi with positions also reversed.
Then all the others.
What seems clear to me now is that the Honda is better at high temperatures, and here perhaps the seamless gearbox also gives its nice advantage, because the HRC riders would have given 3 tenths of a second to the top Yamaha raiders there anyway and on a track like this. short they are a good pay.
Furthermore, I think the fact of having Bradl and Bautista there makes it clear that Honda has a nice advantage over the competition here.
I fully agree with your analysis.
Only in one small point, that of detachment.
Now they are all there, tenth more, tenth less.
In the single lap this can be there, just as the 3 tenths you hypothesized can be there (I agree with this).
But even if the track is short it doesn't lead me to say that these 3 tenths are a decent pay, this is because there are riders (see Rossi and Lorenzo and for some seasons Pedrosa) who have never given their lives in qualifying, or have not never looked for pure performance favoring race pace.
The problem arises when we analyze the pace of the second part of the race, and then we can talk about a decent payoff.
For the change, we had the conversation some time ago, and that's what I wanted to say.
Honda (partly for the bike, partly for the gearbox) on this track the downshifts and upshifts lead us to how they accelerate on exit, this in turn leads us to how they bring the motorbike back on axis. All of this gives a very small advantage in every single corner (especially here where you are practically always leaning) which, added up for all 30 laps of the race, makes for a nice advantage.
Also considering that the less time you spend in bends the less you stress the tire, and therefore help it last longer.
Omnicorse reported the news that the seamless gearbox made by Yamaha is on the road in Japan, and that once everything has been verified the official riders will try it in the tests. If the results are positive they will wait for the stamping of the last engine that (the Yamaha riders) have available... We will have to wait a little longer to see it in the race...
Barring unforeseen circumstances or errors along the way, it will debut this season, otherwise we will move on to the Valencia tests (the ones after the last race), if not next year.
I believe they have 6 engines available? 4 used them. Maybe Lorenzo is saving it given the problems his crash caused him, he rode little, and missed a GP, Pedrosa also did the same, even if Pedrosa didn't need to save.
In my opinion Lorenzo always pushed himself in qualifying, but it depends a lot on the temperature conditions of the asphalt and the environment.
With this year's tires the Yamaha seems more like a Honda in terms of defects and the Honda seems more like a Yamaha in terms of strengths.
In previous years Honda wore out its tires more and performed better in low temperatures, this year it is Yamaha that performs better in low temperatures and warms up the tires first, but it is also the one that consumes them the most. (with this year's tires I mean that they now always use the soft and practically never the hard unless in truly extreme conditions).
Surely the change will also have an influence on wear but last years had it too. In my opinion it's more a question of the chassis and electronic rear swingarm all combined with these "softer" compound tyres, because in the end it's not the front that they're putting less stress on but the rear, it's as if they've got a better bike right for certain conditions, reversing the trend somewhat compared to past years.
These tires were supposed to be safer and with wider ranges of use, but it seems to me that year after year they become more and more sensitive like F1 tires to high temperatures, resisting less and less if the bike overheats them too quickly.
They maintain good performance throughout the race, there isn't a huge degradation, but that degradation is decisive if with a motorbike you can make it advance more slowly enough to gain 2 or 3 laps which make the difference in the race.
There are 5 engines available, not 6.
6 They were last year, 5 from this year…
Lorenzo and Rossi and Cal only have 1 new engine available.
In particular, one engine from Cal and 1 from Lorenzo are currently stopped, they cannot use it (I repeat at the moment).
What a bummer with this change :)!
The change helps, but that's not all, continue reading whatever you want to bring grist to your mill. I did NOT write that it is the only change that allows this, on the contrary (this was you before our conversation...).
I ask you if you would please avoid doing this, thank you.
Honda is certainly the best performing motorbike in general. Yamaha lacks a little something (very little) and fortunately on circuits in particular it manages to mask this very small gap between the two bikes.
What you write about tire wear is incorrect.
They have improved their weak points (without sacrificing what was good... This is due to the new tire brought in last year (plus in December 2011 there was a change in the regulation which increased the minimum weight by 4Kg)... This has led to partially destroy the advantage that Honda had... Only to then come back with force when they brought the 2013 bike to mid-2012, solving most of the problems...
More than a temperature problem, it is a problem of carcass and type of compound, sensitivity to temperature is a parameter due to upstream factors.
If you focus on the temperature you won't solve anything, you have to look at why this happens, not limit yourself to the problem (as is often done).
B. did this and it didn't solve a thing.
This is because he DOESN'T WANT to solve it! Why does he have to spend millions to modify the tyres, when he has no competitors in the championship?
In the last part you wrote what I wrote…..
It is not the tires that are sensitive to high temperatures, but the cars (in the case of F1) and the motorbikes.
Temperatures are blamed (incorrectly) when there are differences between two vehicles (cars/motorcycles) based on the temperature of the asphalt.
It is incorrect to write that tires are sensitive to temperatures (or rather, they behave differently based on the conditions, but not in the sense that most enthusiasts intend).
I repeat, it is the vehicles that are sensitive.
The problems are upstream, what you mean is a last step in the chain.
To solve it we need to make ad hoc tires for Honda, ad hoc tires for Yamaha, ad hoc tires for Ducati. Which in turn would lead to the creation of ad hoc tires for each driving style.
In a single tire regime it will never happen. You spend millions needlessly to compete against yourself…
What would be logical to do instead is to create more normal tyres, as in all other motorsport categories (apart from F1).
Read what the riders say as soon as they get on a MotoGP bike.
The greatest difficulties are found with 3 elements, in order:
RUBBER
Electronics
Carbon brakes.
For electronics and brakes it is a normal adaptation process, for tires it is not.
These are elements currently in use by UFO, made to last an entire race with very little degradation (hence a whole series of problems highlighted over the years).
The discussion is long (too long to cover in one post), but I hope I have been clear on what I mean.
Luckily there are those who maintain that Laguna is not a Honda racer...
3 Hondas in the first three places…
Furthermore, 1 of these has never been so competitive...
Bradl (with official HRC for those who don't know) achieved a great pole, same as Bautista's 3rd place.
Two results that are especially good for their two teams who do everything they can to keep things going.!
The former are all there, the differences are not huge.
What is worrying is the pace.
After a few laps the Yamahas start to slip (not only Rossi declared this, but also Lorenzo and Cal... Otherwise "certain" elements, which is always the same but with a different nickname he claims are excuses).
We will see…
I agree, the pace of the Hondas is very worrying, not only that of Marqez but also that of Bautista, Bradl a little less...
Yes, it's the 20 year old who scares me about the race.
If he manages to do what he showed (very likely) in the first laps, he will run away...
Who knows, we just have to wait, hoping not to fall asleep this evening (which I did last night for the qualifications :) )