Ich muss die PR- bzw. Marketingabteilung von Yamaha erneut loben. Gut, streng genommen sind deren Aktionen nun auch keine revolutionäre Handlung, sie nehmen aber im Vergleich mit der Konkurrenz ganz sicher die Führungsrolle ein – ähnlich wie mit den WM Punkten der MotoGP Saison 2010 😉
Aktuell hat Yamaha in einem neuen Bereich auf der Website die ersten Kolumnen von Valentino Rossi und Jorge Lorenzo veröffentlicht – und dies soll nun eine regelmäßige Institution werden.
It has been a while since we have heard from our Fiat Yamaha Team riders and with the 2010 MotoGP season about to start, you can read all about their off-season activities! You can find the columns in the ‘Rider Lounge’ section on the YR.com MotoGP channel, or click here
Zu finden ist das ganze unter http://www.yamaha-racing.com/Racing/motogp/rider_lounge/columns/.
Hier schonmal 2 kleine Extrakte aus den ersten Kolumnen von Valentino Rossi und Jorge Lorenzo:
This has been one of the longest winters I can remember, with so little MotoGP testing time, but it has been an enjoyable one for me because I have had time to try lots of different things and when we have tested the 2010 Yamaha YZR-M1 the results have been excellent.
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I enjoyed spending so much time on four wheels over the winter but I was much more excited to be back on two wheels when the MotoGP preseason finally got underway at Sepang. It was always going to be important to make a good start to the preseason because this year we had just six days of testing in which to set the bike and we could not afford to waste any time, so I was delighted with what we pulled out of the box on the opening day in Malaysia. We tried the new bike for 2010, with a different chassis and the new engine, which can do more kilometres, and it was already quite fast. I was inside the lap record and fastest overall, half a second quicker than my nearest rival Casey Stoner. On the second day I completed just 32 laps because of some rain but I finished with a best time of 2’00.925, only half a second slower than my record pole time there. Even though we lost a few hours to the rain at the end we were still able to finish all our work and I was happy to be the fastest overall.
(…)
A couple of weeks later we were back in Malaysia for the next test, where we were able to confirm that the work we did at the first session was good and we made a decision about the right way to go with overall balance of the bike and the suspension settings. We also tried some new electronic maps, to try to improve acceleration, and it clearly worked because this time I was able to go faster than my pole record, which was a good feeling. I did this with an old tyre but we also got the chance to try a very good new tyre from Bridgestone, which I hope we will use from the first race. I also had the chance to try the Japanese test bike, so hopefully the feedback I gave them will help us in the future.
It was good to have set the pace on all four days of testing at Sepang but in many ways the Qatar test was always going to give a clearer indication of our progress because it is not one of mine or Yamaha’s best tracks! In fact, we were fastest on the first night and second fastest overall behind Casey Stoner, who is always very fast at Losail, and that shows what a great job Yamaha has done with the new M1. On the first night I was already able to go faster than last year whilst on the second night we concentrated mostly on race preparation. We did a long run at the end of the session and we got some good information, which will help us in the race, and it feels like we’re ready now.
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Now that testing is over I am very excited about the season. We’ve been strong throughout the six days of testing and it gives me confidence for the whole season that we were fast in Qatar, where we have struggled in the past. We have only tested at two tracks so we need to wait for another different one to fully understand the new bike, but I think we’re in good shape. My M1 feels great and I’m looking forward to racing!
I have some new rivals this year, such as my new factory colleague Ben Spies and my good friend Marco Simoncelli. Unfortunately I think that Simoncelli is in a bad condition at the moment because he is off the pace and he’s already had two big crashes and in both he hit his head on the asphalt. For me he has good potential and it is possible he will become one of the protagonists of MotoGP but first of all he has to understand why he goes slow and crashes. This year will be very tough but the good thing for us is that we are also in good shape so it will be another good fight. I am still motivated more than ever. I always try to be at the top of my game, improving and trying to adapt to the new bike. I am experienced and I know that you always need to adapt yourself to new machines, to new regulations. If you ever think you are at the top of your performance, then you have a big problem! Every season has its own story, it is more and more difficult and you always have to be faster. This is my passion and I have had a great career with a lot of good results. The way to race for me is to try and win. When I understand that will not be possible, it will be ciao to MotoGP forever!
It is not yet that time, though, so in the meantime it is just ciao for now! See you on the grid in Qatar.
Vale #46
As I am sure you all know it has been a long but very eventful winter for me since the last race of 2009 at Valencia – my time has been almost equally divided between MotoGP testing, promotional trips to South East Asia for Yamaha, training in the gym and visiting the doctor’s surgery!
In fact, it was in surgery where my winter started, back in November when I had an operation on an old injury to my left collarbone. It was a relatively small procedure and after a couple of weeks recovery I was able to travel to Bangkok, where I made a morning visit to the Thai Yamaha Motor factory before spending the afternoon at the capital city’s most important dealership, the Yamaha Rider’s Club.
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As a result I was in good shape for the first test of 2010 at Sepang but I actually found it difficult to find my rhythm on the opening day. It wasn’t a big problem, it’s just that after such a long break I forget how to ride a little bit! I needed a bit of time but it was much better on the second day, when I ended the session third fastest overall behind Rossi and Casey Stoner. I could tell that Yamaha had made good improvements without changing the good parts of the bike and this is the best way. They made some good modifications to the chassis and the engine, which had already improved our pace and I left Malaysia feeling happy and confident.
(…)
As I’m sure you know it was on my return to Barcelona from Bangkok that I injured my hand during training on a motocross bike at a practice track near Montmeló. I fell in a slow corner, doing approximately 30km/h, and hurt my right hand as I landed. I was taken immediately to the Capio Hospital General de Catalunya and they found a fracture to the base of the first metacarpal, which is basically the bone on the back of your hand that links to your thumb. Dr. Augusto J. Casanovas made the operation to fix a small titanium plate to the bone and I was told to wear a hand protection for four to six weeks, which basically took me to the Qatar test and meant I would miss the second session in Malaysia.
I was obviously disappointed but things could have been much worse, given that we had already verified the bike’s performance at Sepang and have lots of good data for when we race there in October.
(…)
Thankfully on the Monday before the Qatar test my doctor confirmed that I would be able to take part. He said that there was no risk to the broken bone from riding and even though the hand was no longer swollen I would need to continue with physiotherapy in order to keep repairing the muscle around the break. The fracture happened less than five weeks before the test but we could not have missed it because it would have been negative for our preparation so close to the first race of the season! The doctor has made a special carbon fibre protection and Dainese modified my glove, in order to further protect the fracture.
It felt really good to be back on my bike and actually when I went out on track on the first night my hand felt better than I had expected. The pain had decreased a lot in the previous few days and I was able to do quite a lot of laps. The special glove helped when changing direction but in the hard braking areas I still had some problems, with the force of the handlebar directly onto the sore muscle around my thumb. The second day was worse for this and I had to keep applying an ice pack to the area to reduce the swelling but I hope it will have improved a lot by the time of the first race. The fact I was able to finish sixth fastest shows that bike is great – Yamaha have done a fantastic job and you can see this from the strong performance of all the Yamaha riders.
We’ve done a lot of work and tried many things, so I hope that these will help us when we go back to Qatar in a couple of weeks. I will keep working to strengthen my hand and I hope to be in much better condition by then. Hopefully we can have more luck when the season starts than we have done during the winter!
Yamaha, Semakin di depan!
Jorge #99
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