Le Mans MotoGP preview
The 2010 MotoGP season resumes this weekend at the Le Mans circuit for the French Grand Prix.
Jorge Lorenzo leads the drivers’ championship with 45 points, ahead of his Fiat Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi in second with 41 points and third-placed Dani Pedrosa on 29 points.
Lorenzo won the last race in Spain after pinching victory from fellow Spaniard Pedrosa on the final lap and then memorably celebrated his first win on home soil by jumping into a nearby lake with all of his motorbike clothing still on.
The championship leader has a good record at Le Mans. It is a circuit he loves to race at. He won the race last year- which started in wet conditions and then ended in dry - and came second two years ago. At the moment, he holds the slight advantage over the current world champion Rossi.
“This is a track I like and all the predictions say that it's not going to rain this weekend, so I'm happy to be at this wonderful track enjoying this wonderful weather. Last year I won in Le Mans in an amazing and crazy race. I hope the fans aren't waiting for a repeat this weekend. Of course the weather is always a risk in Le Mans, but I hope for sun,” said Lorenzo.
Both Lorenzo and Rossi have had a podium finish, a race victory and a recovery from injuries so far this season.
Rossi was involved in a motocross accident before the Spanish Grand Prix, and was happy to finish third in the race, unable to compete with Lorenzo for the lead. He is a three-time winner at Le Mans, in 2002, 2005 and 2008. Now he hopes to get back to competitive racing after making a full recovery from the shoulder injury he sustained in the motocross accident, and do better than he did last year here when he finished 16th. “My shoulder is more or less recovered now so I hope I will be back to full strength in Le Mans. Despite the disaster of last year's race, Le Mans is a good track for me and the Yamaha always goes well there. The biggest problem is the weather, but after last year I think we deserve a sunny French Grand Prix,” said Rossi.
The other title contenders, Pedrosa and Casey Stoner, are hoping for better weekends. Pedrosa wants to make amends for losing his lead on the final lap at Jerez at the Spanish Grand Prix on a special day for him. “Le Mans is one of those circuits where you need to be prepared for any track conditions because the weather can play a big part during the weekend,” he said. “In fact, last year’s wet-dry race was a good example of this. So it will be very important to make maximum use of the practice sessions and be ready to set the bike up for a wide range of weather conditions and temperatures. Le Mans will also be my 150th grand prix in the world championship, and I would really like to mark this with another great result there.”
Stoner led the race in Qatar, but made a mistake and relinquished his lead to Rossi. He finished fifth in the last race as well and now trails Lorenzo by 34 points. “Because of the stop and go nature of the circuit at Le Mans you need a bike that is very stable on the brakes but also agile and quick in corner exit, especially in the slow sections. In the past we have usually managed to be fast and run at the front but we’ve never come away with the results that we would have liked. This year I think we can have higher expectations than the past two seasons there and we will certainly give our best to meet them,” Stoner said.
Rossi, Pedrosa and Stoner are chasing Lorenzo, who is maturing into a driver capable of taking the world crown. Lorenzo is the man to catch at Le Mans.
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