Crazy Joe smashes up a shoulder..
Mother Narure wants to play..
Dovi feels good after a couple days of testing..
Dani is back..
All is quiet around the forum..
I expect Rossi and Marc to have a good battle..
Jorge and Dovi to get to know each other..
Dani and Cal to become familiar on the track as well..
Fp2 was pretty darn good...
Dovi and Jorge are showing really good pace over a good amount of laps..
Good on Smith for giving his team a smile for a Friday evening at the teams "home" track..
POS # RIDER NAME GAP
1
93
M. MARQUEZ
1:32.246
2
4
A. DOVIZIOSO
+0.503
3
99
J. LORENZO
+0.600
4
35
C. CRUTCHLOW
+0.651
5
29
A. IANNONE
+0.755
6
38
B. SMITH
+1.053
7
46
V. ROSSI
+1.106
8
26
D. PEDROSA
+1.173
9
9
D. PETRUCCI
+1.310
10
41
A. ESPARGARO
+1.419
11
68
Y. HERNANDEZ
+1.468
12
44
P. ESPARGARO
+1.478
gee, I wonder who I will pick for the Top Step on The Podium???
From MotoGP.com
Marquez overshadows all to claim pole
The Repsol Honda rider lapped Le Mans over half a second faster than the rest of the pack to take first place on the grid.
A flying 1:32.246 lap put Spaniard Marc Marquez back on top and 0.503 sec clear of second place finisher Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team). Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) will start from third on the grid after lapping in 1:32.846 - 0.6 sec slower than Marquez.
British rider Cal Crutchlow (CWM-LCR Honda) will start from fourth on the grid after putting in a 1:32.897 lap - just 0.051 sec away from stealing third from Lorenzo.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) starts the French GP in fifth position, leaving Brit Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) in sixth. Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) & Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) will start from 7th & 8th respectively.
Danilo Petrucci (Pramac Racing) & Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki Ecstar) - who both made the jump up from Q1 - ended up in 9th & 10th place. That leaves Yonny Hernández (Pramac Racing) and Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) in 11th & 12th.
Lorenzo looked unstoppable in practice, his race pace is incomprehensible!!! LOL
I hope it will be a battle between Marc, Jorge, Dovi and Rossi. The Yamaha's go very good at LeMans, so I think we'll see them up front. Marc is still suffering from his injuries, so the long run may slow him down towards the end.
FP3 and Q2 were good for a watch..
Going to be interesting to see how the weather is when it comes to the race, and what tires thee guys throw on?
Jorge and Dovi have been looking really good..
Honda has been having some WTF moments this weekend, but as usual.. Marc seems to deliver as per he norm..
I am hoping that, like previously this year, Rossi is going at the weekend with Sunday in mind.. Two wins from 8th on the grid so far this year lets me hope that he will be there come race time.
The track seems a bit scetchy, with the cooler temps and a lot of guys keep running off track here and there..
Aleix's high side? Ouch.. We don't see those type of crashes as often as we used too.. And that looked painful..
I met with a psychic yesterday. After she told me I am addicted to Ducatis and hot Asian, Arabic, Latin, Italian, and Greek women, she went on to say that Marc Marquez will continue to get faster.
opcorn:
Marc and his fans should now accepting the facts that he has used all his luck during year 2013 and 2014... Clearly the Yamaha are superior, and ducatis will be more in his sight during the race. Honda's reliability is also another question mark...
The championship gets more interesting each race..
Jorge must know that out front is his best shot, and had the pace.. That start was pretty darn aggressive coming across and smackin' "Crazy Joe"..
Good on Jorge.. I like to see these guys go for it..
Loved watching The battle for 4th.. Fight through the pain..
Once again, Rossi shows up on Sunday..
Dovi looked pretty solid..
My first two thoughts after the race?
The next race is going to be pretty darn good..
Just how fast will the two Yamaha boys be next year with more fuel, power, and speed?
My first two thoughts after the race?
The next race is going to be pretty darn good.. Just how fast will the two Yamaha boys be next year with more fuel, power, and speed?
Personally, I was mentioning the fuel thinking more about Yamaha, and less about Ducati.
This has been discussed many times prior..
More gas lets one run at higher RPM's and have a better potential for more power and this.. Speed..
My bikes get WAY better MPG on the street as compared to when I am on the track.. I am using less RPM's and less of the bikes power potential. So NEO.. That is how I see the Ducati's advantage as of now..
I look at what is going on like this..
Ducati, and it's advantages (to which HRC agreed to last year) started the year with a bang in 2015..
Prior to this season, the Honda was a good bike.. Better than Ducati's Factory efforts, the Satellites, and the "so called" opens..
But perhaps Marc and Dani were riding it really hard.. Perhaps others would not find it so easy? Let us say that the Honda was a better bike last year, but not by much as compared to the Yamaha.. The difference was Marc and his heroic efforts.. Perhaps like Stoner used to be on the Ducati? We now know is was the rider(when speaking of Stoner anyhow) .. How did Dovi say it today at the post race conference when speaking about Marc?
Oh yeah.. Masking.. Hiding.. The troubles that may be there under the surface for the bike itself.(Marc and his Honda)
Seems that this year? Since Ducati has upped its game.. HRC has been making a lot of changes to their bike.. Lights have been going on.. Troubles for sure. Today, everyone but Marc lost the front. Even Marc looked to have braking problems entering turns without those little carbon covers over the brakes to help maintain temps.
Since last year, as with Ducati.. Yamaha looks to have raised their game near the end of 2014.. And even more so over the winter. I would say right now? That Yamaha looks pretty darn good. And the Ducati? Watching an injured Ianonne give it a go with Marc like that today was good fun.
All of that said.. I was simply wondering just how much more performance that the Yamaha boys would have with even more gas? Look at Norge and Rossi today and imagine if that Yamaha got even faster? Also imagine if Bridgstone actually did bring a harder tire to France for Rossi? Hmm.
Sure, we have to wait to see how the Michelin boys go? And it's early days this year for sure..
And personally? I like watching Honda struggle a little. A more interesting title chase it will be..
And watching Dovi speak about Marc and his bike during that post race conference.. And his little smile.. He knows all too well how that feels..
Loving this season so far.. Just loving it..
Sorry for the long reply..
Depends on who you ask. Ducati has been saying that they'd be just as competitive with 2L less fuel, like the factory bikes run. They say that finishing within 20L hasn't been a problem for them at all.
The factory teams say that the extra fuel allows them to make more power than they could if they had to map for fuel savings to stay within the limit.
Sure is! It's great to have your ear on the ground, analyzing what's happening instead of just relying on what the riders say.
I will say one thing, Marc is still hurt and LeMans has some off-camber corners which really hinder bikes with understeer issues like the Honda and Ducati. The Yamaha seems to deal with them much better at this moment.
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