EVENT PREVIEW, SPANISH GRAND PRIX, JEREZ
March 28/29/30 2008, round 2 of 18
The 2008 MotoGP World Championship
moves to Europe following its Middle East kick-off with Repsol Honda
RC212V riders Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden determined to shine at the
Spanish GP, arguably the most spectacular event of the MotoGP year.
Repsol Honda has a rich history of
success at Jerez, with six wins recorded by Mick Doohan (1996), Alex
CrivillÈ (1997, 1998 and 1999) and Valentino Rossi (2002 and 2003).
Last year Pedrosa qualified on pole position and finished the race a
close second. Hayden claimed a Spanish GP podium finish in 2006, his
title-wining year.
Jerez is the first of local hero
Pedrosa's three races on home tarmac this season, and the former 125
and 250 World Champion will be doing everything in his power to go one
better than his 2007 Jerez result. Although he likes Jerez, Pedrosa has
had mixed fortunes at the track - he won the 250 GP in 2005 but never
made the podium in his three 125 GPs at Jerez. This time he knows he
will be in the hunt again - earlier this month he electrified the Qatar
GP with a spirited ride to third place from the third row of the grid,
despite struggling with his recently broken right hand. At Jerez he's
sure the hand will be close to 100 per cent.
Hayden is looking forward to getting
back up front at Jerez, where last month he topped preseason tests with
a stunning 1m 38.848s lap. The American, who rode to a determined
tenth-place finish in Qatar, will run 2008 RC212Vs with a revised
chassis at the Spanish round. Like his team-mate, Hayden loves the
Spanish GP because it's one of the most atmospheric races on the MotoGP
calendar, with a noisy and knowledgeable crowd. Last year 244,461 fans
watched the action at Jerez, making it the second best-attended MotoGP
event, after Brno, which attracted 245,039 spectators.
Jerez offers a great challenge for
riders and engineers with an interesting variety of corners. Excellent
machine balance is vital to allow riders to maintain high corner speed
through the many long turns, the real secret to a quick Jerez lap. The
fastest corners on the track - the CrivillÈ and Ferrari right-handers -
lead into the slowest - the final hairpin, scene of many a thrilling
last-lap duel. Constructed in 1986, Jerez hosted its first GP the
following year and quickly became popular with riders, teams and fans.
Honda has won 15 of the 21 premier-class GPs at Jerez.
Dani Pedrosa
"I've been training
since Qatar to get back to full strength and I hope my right hand
should be 100 per cent at Jerez. It's a very important race for me and
I really enjoy it. What I like most about racing at Jerez is the huge
crowd and the great atmosphere, it's always very special to race there
because you can really feel the crowd, especially through the Nieto and
Peluqui corners where the fans are really close. There's a lot of
commotion, you can see everyone and that's great. But the big crowd
does have its negative side - I can't get around the paddock easily,
which can make it difficult to do my job. I like everything about the
circuit, though maybe the Sito Pons corner onto the back straight is
the most beautiful corner. The last part of the circuit is the most
important when you're chasing good lap times - the two fast right-hand
curves approaching the end of the lap are crucial. The track is quite
safe, though it could be improved in a few areas. There are a few bumps
too, though not too many, and the tarmac offers good grip. Top speed
doesn't matter too much at Jerez, what you need is an engine that looks
after the tyres. But above all you need a very well balanced chassis
that allows you to brake hard and tackle both fast and slow corners.
It's a circuit that requires quite an aggressive riding style."
Nicky Hayden
"Qatar wasn't a great weekend for us but we'll be working hard to move
on from that at Jerez. Our bike should work good at Jerez and in the
past the Michelin tyres have worked really good there. I think it's a
cool track and it's not a top-speed track. I like tracks where you've
got to put sections together, and Jerez all flows together pretty good.
The atmosphere is pretty cool - you come into the stadium section [the
Nieto and Peluqui turns] on Sunday morning and it's wild. Nowadays you
can design a racetrack on the computer, you can do whatever you want -
make that, generate this, design that - you can use every trick in the
book, but if the place don't have that atmosphere, money can't buy
that. Even if a racetrack gives tickets away you can't guarantee the
atmosphere you get at Jerez - there's explosions going off, it just
wild and that's what makes it so good. From a riding point of view you
definitely need edge grip for all the long corners and you need a bike
that steers good in those long corners. It's a good tracks and one of
my favourites. But it's the atmosphere that really makes it - if you
haven't been there you need to go."
JEREZ CIRCUIT
Opened: 1899
Modified : 2002
Circuit Length 4.423km (2.747 miles)
Longest straight: 0.600km (0.373 miles)
Track width: 11m
Pole Position: Left
Right corners: 8
Left corners: 5
2007 RACE: 1∞ V.Rossi (Yamaha), 2∞ D.Pedrosa (Honda), 3∞ C.Edwards (Yamaha)
2007 Pole Position Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1m 39.402s
Circuit Record Lap Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1m 40.596s - 2005
Circuit Best Lap: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 1'39.064 - 2006
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