2009 MotoGP Championship - Round 10 - Donington Park

Alex de Angelis. Photos and text courtesy BMW Motorrad, Ducati Corse, Honda Racing, Suzuki Racing, Yamaha Racing.  Edited by webBikeWorld.

First Win for Dovi

A damp British Grand Prix at Donington Park saw both Fiat Yamaha riders crash out of the lead in slippery conditions, although Valentino Rossi was able to remount and finished a brilliant fifth, extending his championship lead in the process.

Jorge Lorenzo was less lucky and was unable to continue, meaning he had to watch the rest of the race from the pits after sliding out on lap nine.  Yamaha kept up its 100% podium record for the season however as a superb ride from Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards sealed second place behind winner Andrea Dovizioso.

Rossi held onto the lead from pole into turn one but a frenetic first lap saw a shake-up between several riders and it was Toni Elias who led across the line for the first time, followed by Lorenzo and Rossi.

There were more changes of position between the top five over the next few laps before Lorenzo took the lead at the start of lap five, with Rossi passing Dani Pedrosa and eventual race-winner Dovizioso next time around to move into second behind his team-mate.

At that point the race looked like it was developing into another Fiat Yamaha duel but unfortunately on lap nine Lorenzo touched the white line in the last corner and went down.  He was unhurt and ran to his bike to remount but it was damaged and lodged under the air fence and the Spaniard was forced to return to the garage.

The race was now between Rossi and Dovizioso, who were over ten seconds clear of the chasing pack by this time.  The pair were pushing hard but light rain meant the track was becoming slippery in places and on lap 20 Rossi, too, made a rare mistake and slid out.

The Italian was more fortunate than his team-mate however and was able to rejoin the race in 11th place.  As the rain became heavier a few riders pitted to change bikes but Rossi decided to take a chance and stay out, making up several places before a last-lap move on James Toseland landed him a creditable fifth.

With Rossi's other close rivals Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner also having less than perfect days, the reigning World Champion leaves the UK having stretched his lead to 25 points from his team-mate, with Stoner a further 12 points back.

The MotoGP paddock now has a three-week summer break before Round 11 at Brno on 16th August.

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Preview: Rossi, Pedrosa and Lorenzo to Battle Again

Valentino Rossi took pole for the second race running at Donington Park this afternoon, his fourth of the season and the 56th of his career.

Jorge Lorenzo qualified third and, with four poles for him also this year, the Fiat Yamaha Team has now taken the front grid slot in eight out of the ten races. It is also the fifth consecutive race at which both riders have been on the front row.

After yesterday's downpours, today was dry with sunny intervals and this morning saw Lorenzo second and Rossi third as they got their first chance to work on their dry settings around the 4km track.

In this afternoon's hour-long qualifying session Lorenzo held pole position for most of the session until briefly surrendering it to Dani Pedrosa ten minutes from the end, whilst Rossi struggled slightly to find the best set-up with the hard Bridgestone tire.

22-year-old Lorenzo moved back to the top just a couple of laps later but was then edged off by Rossi with three minutes to go, as the Italian found his best form at the perfect time.

The Spaniard was unable to match the pace of his championship-leading team-mate with the soft tire and finished 0.286 seconds adrift, whilst a strong charge from Dani Pedrosa edged the Spaniard into third but was not good enough to knock Rossi off pole.

Tomorrow's race will start at the later time of 1530 local time, which is 1630 CET.

Donington Park Circuit
Circuit Length: 4023 m
Opened 1977
Lap Record: 1' 28.714 (Daniel Pedrosa, 2006)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 27.676 (Daniel Pedrosa, 2006)

Valentino Rossi - Position: 1st Time: 1'28.116 Laps: 32:  "I am quite surprised to be on pole today because we had a couple of problems this afternoon!  This morning unfortunately we didn't try the hard Bridgestone tire but we weren't worried because everyone else had good grip with it.  But this afternoon when we finally tried it we found the grip to be not as we expected and our pace with it wasn't so good.

We made some modifications and improved it a bit, then we made a few more and used the soft tire again and then we were very quick.  Like that I could ride the bike how I wanted and it felt great, fast and flowing so this was a good job from the team.

We need to do some work to improve our pace with the hard tire, and then we just have to wait and see what the weather does tomorrow.  Whatever happens, we're starting from the front and this is the most important thing."

Edwards and Toseland confident ahead of British battle
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team duo Colin Edwards and James Toseland will do battle in the last British MotoGP race to be staged at Donington Park from sixth and ninth on the grid respectively.

Edwards secured his seventh top six qualifying result of the season with a best lap of 1.28.865, the American using dry and warm conditions to further evaluate new front fork settings and a revised body position on his Yamaha YZR-M1 machine.

Bidding to score a third MotoGP podium at Donington Park in tomorrow's 30-lap race, Edwards was one of only seven riders to lap within a second of Valentino Rossi's impressive pole position pace.

Toseland gave his hopes of a scoring a top six finish in front of a passionate home crowd a huge boost this afternoon.  Working closely with his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team crew to improve the setting of his YZR-M1 machine, the 28-year-old performed superbly to equal his best qualifying result of the season.

A lap of 1.29.270s was just 1.154s away from pole position and Toseland was just over four-tenths-of-a-second away from a top six spot on the grid after he'd been as high as fifth position on the timesheets.

The British rider is confident of fighting for his best result of the season, though all eyes will be on the skies tomorrow, with a repeat of the rain that disrupted yesterday's practice forecast for the race.

Colin Edwards - Position: 6th Time: 1'28.865 Laps: 30:  "I'm happy with the way I rode but getting close to those guys at the front is getting tough.  They are running a pretty fast pace but I'm confident if I can get a good start that I'll be able to stay with them for the race.  If I can get away with them then they might pull me around for a few laps.

I'm moving in the right direction with the setting and the changes we've made to the front forks and experimenting with my body position has improved the front feeling.  But with no testing now it is difficult to get used to something so different quickly and I just need a bit more time to adapt because I know we can make the feeling much better.

I'm still not sure which race tire I'm going to run. I'd like to have the best of both compounds on one tire.  We need the left side of the softer tire and the right side of the hard one. But deliberating that might be for nothing because I hear we're probably going to be under water here tomorrow anyway on rain tires.

We got some time in the rain yesterday so I'm happy I've got a set-up for rain or dry conditions.  I really want a good result with it being the last British GP at Donington Park. I've had a lot of success here in the past and it would be good to sign off in style."

James Toseland - Position 9th Time: 1'29.270 Laps: 30:  "I'm happy but at the same time a little bit frustrated because we didn't have a really good base setting this morning.  That meant we had quite a bit of work to do this afternoon, but thanks to my guys because they did a great job again.  I improved quite a bit but if we had started this morning like we ended this afternoon then I'm sure I could have qualified on the second row.

The base set-up didn't work so well because we were too hard on the front and rear. I didn't have much feel at all and I was only doing low 1.32s, so to do 1.29s this afternoon I'm really happy.  At least I've given myself a good chance of battling for that top six tomorrow and that was always my target.

Today was definitely better than last year's qualifying, although it couldn't really have been much worse.  The new electronics are working brilliantly round here, particularly out of the slow hairpins at the end of the lap, so I've got say thanks to Yamaha for that again.

Obviously I'm desperate to get a good result tomorrow. I want to make amends for the disappointment of last year and give the British fans something to cheer about.  The support out there today was amazing, and they deserve a good result.  I can promise them I'll be giving it my absolute maximum."

More:  2009 MotoGP Racing Schedule  |  2009 World Superbike Racing Schedule  |  wBW Motorcycle Racing Page (News and More Schedules)

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