Ducati’s Valentino Rossi secures first podium, Nicky
Hayden’s best weekend of 2011 - MotoGP News
Ducati Team riders, Valentino Rossi and Hayden shined out with great results at the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France, held at the Bugatti circuit at Le Mans, on May 15.
The Italian rider scored his first podium in Ducati leathers, being the second runner-up. Team-mate Nicky Hayden came seventh in the French event.
The fourth race of the 2011 MotoGP season was full of dramatic events, some of which totally altered the results and also, the world championship point table. The race day gathered 88,400 fans with a total of 176,200 attendants, over three days of the race
weekend.
The Italian was spotted on ninth place on the starting grid of the race, but he stepped up quickly to get in the fight for fourth place, behind Jorge Lorenzo of Yamaha Factory Racing and Andrea Dovizioso of Repsol Honda team. Ducati’s prime rider was able
to pass ahead of his former team-mate, Jorge Lorenzo at one stage, but being on the tail of Dovizioso was a bit tough for him to tackle.
Rossi, after his satisfying performance in the race said, “We’re very pleased with this podium because we’re on the right path and especially because I had fun today. I rode the Desmosedici well, I was fast in the technical parts of the track, I felt good
from start to finish and I had good lap times.”
In the final laps, Dovizioso lacked the technique to lead and at different turns Rossi passed his compatriot, but his RCV was blazing fast and let him regain on Rossi, despite his spirited effort.
Dovizioso took second place on the podium, while Rossi finished third on the race day. This is the second time that Dovizioso has won the position-battle against his compatriot.
Rossi’s team-mate, Nicky Hayden, who was leaning at tenth place on the grid, had showed a promising performance over the weekend. He was frustrated for finishing behind factory Hondas and Yamahas, in seventh place in the final race.
Ducati Team rider, Hayden said, “As the race got going, I was able to move up a bit and slowly bring back Spies and Edwards and then Colin crashed. Once I got in front of Spies, I wasn’t really able to get down in the 1’34s and get away like I needed to.”
Hayden had featured in the top five places during cold temperatures at the earlier days, but he was not able to take out the pace from his Desmosedici GP11 in warmer conditions. Even after disappointing results, the rider felt it was the most fruitful race
weekend of the 2011 MotoGP season.
Tags: