2013 Catalunya MotoGPThe Yamaha Factory Racing duo of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi will head to Catalunya in Spain this weekend for the second of four rounds held in the country.
This will be the second home race for the reigning MotoGP Champion Lorenzo, who arrives back home after a dominate victory the last time out in Mugello.Lorenzo has finished on the podium for the past four years, including two wins in 2010 and 2012 – both years he claimed the MotoGP title. Also, the track hosted one of the biggest battles between Lorenzo and his teammate Rossi in 2009, though Rossi got the best of Lorenzo at the final corner.Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory YZR-M1 MotoGP) says: “I’m quite satisfied after our great result at Mugello that completed an almost perfect weekend. Winning again was very positive for me and for the team and now we go to Montmeló, my home grand prix. Some parts of the track are quite suitable for us but the doubt is always if the track conditions and the temperature can benefit us.“I am very optimistic for the race and we will keep on working on the bike in the same way that we did in Italy. Compared to Mugello, Montmeló is a little bit slower but at least there are no first gear corners and hopefully that will help us a lot. This is a good track for us and we have to profit from it and try to repeat the victory. It could be great for the Championship. As far as I’m concerned I will push 100% to achieve it.”Rossi will be searching for redemption after a first-lap crash with Honda’s Alvaro Bautista caused a DNF at his home race in Mugello.Rossi has claimed more victories than any other GP rider, including one 125cc win in 1997, 250cc wins in 1998 and 1999, one 500cc victory in 2001 and five premier class victories in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2009.Valentino Rossi (Yamaha Factory Racing YZR-M1 MotoGP) says: “For a few days after I had the crash at Mugello, I hurt everywhere! Fortunately I was able to start training immediately and I did not waste any time.“The Barcelona race will be very important, especially after recent results. I want to get on the podium in Spain and I will do my best as usual. It will be important to start the weekend in the best way and make a good qualifying. It will be very important to start from the front.”Opened in 1991 and home to the Gran Premio de Catalunya since 1995, the circuit can boast one of the longest main straights in the world. Lorenzo and Rossi will need to find the optimum chassis balance and front-end feel for their YZR-M1s to deal with the long radius, medium and high speed sweeping corners, two tight left-hand corners and numerous camber changes.
Hello everyone and welcome once again to the Ultimate Motorcycling podcast—Motos and Friends. My name is Arthur Coldwells.
Motos and Friends is brought to you by the Yamaha YZF-R7—Yamaha’s awesome supersport machine that is as capable on the racetrack as it is on the street. …and it’s comfortable too! Check it out at at your local Yamaha dealer, or of course at YamahaMotorsports.com.
In this week’s first segment, Senior Editor Nic de Sena rides the BMW K 1600 GT. This is the sporty bagger version of BMW’s K series of machines, those are the models with the awesome 6-cylinder engine. The GT has been given a little makeover for 2023, and Nic gives us his take.
In the second segment, I chat with one of my all time heroes—three-time World Champion racer ‘fast’ Freddie Spencer. I’ll do my best not to come off as too much of a fanboy here, but frankly it’ll be tough!
In my humble opinion, Spencer is a contender for the GOAT—greatest of all time. Sure, his career was a little shorter than some, and his number of championships falls behind the likes of Lawson, Doohan, Rossi, and of course Marquez. But at the time, Freddie literally changed the way motorcycles were ridden. 30 years before Marc Marquez, Freddie was able to push the front wheel into a slide, corner after corner, lap after lap in order to get the bike turned faster than anyone else. Freddie took completely different lines and was able to get on the throttle so early he could out accelerate anyone off a corner.
In the modern era, of course Freddie is the chairman of the FIM MotoGP Stewards panel. This is the panel of referees for all three classes of Grand prix racing. I talked to Freddie about his task there, and although for contractual reasons with Dorna and the FIM he cannot talk about specific riders, teams, or events, nevertheless his explanation of the job makes for interesting listening. It’s a tough job, and frankly I wouldn’t want to do it!
At any rate, Freddie’s new book ‘Feel’ is available on Amazon—I’d highly recommend you reading it whether you’re a fan of Freddie or not, even whether you’re into racing or not; every rider has something to learn from his mental approach.
Actually—Ultimate Motorcycling is giving away five copies of the book—signed by Freddie himself—to the first five listeners who contact us with the correct answer to the question: How many national AMA championships did Freddie win, and which years were they?
Please email your answers to producer@ultimatemotorcycling.com and we will contact the winners and send you a signed copy of Feel. Those five winners will be announced on a future episode. Unfortunately for legal reasons this offer is ONLY open to US residents.
So, from all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!
