Dani Pedrosa faces off Jorge Lorenzo at their home Aragon circuit – MotoGP Special
Jorge Lorenzo of Yamaha Factory Racing is looking to make his way to the championship title from the leading position but he will be facing a serious opposition from his old Spanish rival Dani Pedrosa of Repsol Honda at their home Aragon circuit.
Lorenzo with his 270 leads the championship while he is followed by Pedrosa who currently attains 232 points currently. The two have been fighting each other for the title since their rivalry began in 2008 when Lorenzo became the youngest rider to win the
race.
The upcoming race is scheduled at the Aragon Circuit which consists of 10 left corners and 7 right corners. It was constructed in 2009 and consists of the longest straight of 968 meters.
The Yamaha machine has been unable to exhibit a top speed which could match the top speed of his rival Pedrosa. Pedrosa attained a top speed of 289.4 km/h during the qualifying round of Italian Grand Prix whereas Lorenzo could only attain 284.1. In the Czech
Republic Grand Prix the Honda and Yamaha machine attained 166.4 km/h during the race however Pedrosa won with due to his impressive strategy over the circuit.
The Aragon circuit will support the machine with a convincing top speed. After the Czech Republic GP both Honda and Yamaha riders participated in a privately conducted test at Aragon where they made modification to their machines. This will add to the confidence
of the two veteran rivals over the circuit as they have already practiced over the circuit.
The circuit designed by the German architect consists of two significant longs which can provide a substantial advantage to the rider with higher top speed. After turn 15 there is a lengthy straight with just one huge turn at 16 and 17, from there onwards
there is another straight, short in comparison to the previous turn, between turn 17 and 1. We believe that these will be the areas where the bike with top speed will gain the lead.
Strategy is anticipated to be a distinguishing factor at turns 8, 9 and 14, 15 because their length is short and they come close to each other thus reducing speeds of the riders. Another important factor to consider will be the tyre management by the riders
because the area between turn 4 to 9 and 12 to 15 may result in tyre wear out issues. The tyre wear out is not anticipated to drop the speed significantly however it may reduce the road grip resulting in more cautious riders and lack of top speed at the two
long straights.
Pedrosa has already proven at the Czech Republic GP that his clever strategy can result in maintaining his speed over the circuits but on the other hand Lorenzo is at odds believing that every other day is new in the field of racing.
Lorenzo has managed to attain massive totals in the championship until now. The difference between the championship points of two rivals is 38 points. Whereas the difference between the points attained by the winner and runner up in a particular race is
5 points. With 5 races remaining in the season if Pedrosa manages to win all of the races he will still have a gap of 13 points from the championship leader Lorenzo.
We anticipate that the championship leader will not be able to register a new history at the Aragon circuit because his machine did not seem competitive over the Misano circuit in the Italian GP. It may be his strategy which provides him lead over the home
circuit in the latter half of the race.
If all the races went clean for the Yamaha rider without any unexpected incident, we anticipate that he will be able to attain the championship title in the current season. However, it is for sure that the two riders will force spectators to keep their fingers
crossed because strategies will play an important role in keeping the sport interesting over the remainder of the current 2012 season.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely of the writer’s and do not reflect bettor.com’s official editorial policy.
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