Marco Melandri has an interesting post on his blog this weekend about Jorge Lorenzo’s Le Mans victory celebration. In case you missed it, after the race Lorenzo seated himself in a lawn chair with a bag of popcorn and soda right smack in front of one of the giant televisions that broadcast the race to the crowd. Considering the last race Lorenzo won, he jumped into a pond, this celebration was a bit more demur, but as Melandri points out there may be more than meets the eye on this celebration.
As a special promotion for MotoGP’s stop at Laguna Seca, the Fiat-Yamaha team will plant a lucky race fan’s face on the Yamaha YZR-M1’s of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. The “Get on the Bike” program officially starts June 1st, and will require fans to upload a picture of their face to the Fiat-Yamaha website.
Mike Werner at Bikes in the Fast Lane got a look at the prospective placement on the YZR-M1 while he was at the French GP as a guest of Fiat-Yamaha, and he reports that the placement is an “ideal spot”.
The winner of the Get on the Bike contest will be announced July 25th, good luck to everyone.
Source: Bikes in the Fast Lane
After seeing numerous crashes during qualifying and practice sessions, the rider grid for Sunday’s French GP is finally set, with a 1-2 qualifying position by Fiat-Yamaha. Valentino Rossi will lead the pack from the pole position, likely to be followed closely by teammate Jorge Lorenzo. Rounding out the top four are the other two aliens, Dani Pedrosa (3rd) and Casey Stoner (4th). More and full qualifying results after the jump.
In order to get ready for MotoGP’s stop at Le Mans in two weeks, Yamaha France has released a special promotional package and four (both in variety and total production) race replica motorcycles on its website. We’ve already seen the American Fiat-Yamaha R1 LE, with its race livery and fake Rossi signature, but the new race rep’s from Yamaha France will feature paint schemes from both the Fiat-Yamaha and Monster Tech3 Yamaha teams. For the added €1,000 price tag the race replica’s demand, they’re actually a pretty good value, especially when compared to the American YZF-R1 LE. More on that after the jump.
Himself or herself, whatever the case may be, publicists and PR agents are hired basically to save their clients from themselves. They are the filter between companies/celebraties and the media, and as such try and prevent their clients from saying anything too unsavory. When Spanish radio station Marca called up Lorenzo on Tuesday to celebrate the Fiat-Yamaha rider’s birthday, they reminded Spanish rider that he shares his special day with another, slightly less famous, celebrity: porn star Rocco Siffredi. It gets worse after the jump.
Did you ever wonder what a MotoGP win looks like on paper? Take away the close-passes, the high-speed wobbles, and on-air commentary, and all that’s left behind is the truth in the lap times. No excuses, no almosts, the above is a graphical represenation of what coming back from a 3.75 second deficite looks like at the storied Spanish track of Jerez, which saw Jorge Lorenzo win by over half a second when it was all said and done. Click here for a higher-res version.
Source: E_Bland
It doesn’t seem like a topic that really needs that much explaining, but after suffering through this weekend’s MotoGP race coverage here in the United States, it would seem there is some confusion on how to properly pronounce “Lorenzo”, as in Jorge Lorenzo’s last name. Continue reading if you want to see a leviathan description of Spanish language and how it relates to motorcycle racing in an admittedly over-the-top and pretentious sort of way.
MotoGP action is finally back and the 2010 season was underway at Qatar this weekend. With three-time Qatar GP winner Casey Stoner sitting on the pole position, and all eyes were on the Australian for a fourpeat. But with the Fiat-Yamaha contingency on front row with Stoner, the Ducati was sure to have some competition. Stoner would find pressure from all corners though, as riders from the second and third row would shine under the Losail circuit lights during this season opener. Click through for a full race report.
The 2010 MotoGP season is officially underway as riders took to he track tonight to qualify for tomorrow’s race. Under the lights, riders enjoyed weather that had noticeably less humidity than at the track’s pre-season testing just three weeks ago. With a bevy of new riders, many were curious to see how these MotoGP rookies would fare in the big show, but it was the usual suspects who took all the spotlight.
After injuring his hand earlier this year, Jorge Lorenzo has been sitting out MotoGP’s testing days, trying to recover in time for the upcoming season. Now leaving a post on his Facebook page, Lorenzo confirms that he will be at the Qatar test later next month. Surely with this message, all eyes will be trained on the Middle-Eastern track, looking for the first signs that Lorenzo will be able to dethrone the reigning World Champion Rossi.
Fiat-Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo has undergone surgery to his right hand, after injuring it while riding on a motocross course near his home in Barcelona on Thursday. The injury will mean that Lorenzo will not participate in the next Sepang test, but he is expected to make a full recovery in time for the Qatar test in March.
