It is the first time MotoGP has visited the Texas track, both riders exited the garage at 11am this morning and found the track very slippery from the start. On their first runs, they recorded lap times of around 2’12. However, as the track became cleaner and temperatures increased, the lap times steadily dropped.

MotoGP rookie, Marc Marquez, took the fastest lap of the day with a 2’04.619 lap recorded on lap 54 of 55. His teammate, Dani Pedrosa was second fastest for the day with 2’05.047 lap on lap 51 of 59.

Testing will resume tomorrow morning at 10am local time.

Courtesy Of Repsol Honda Team

All the images courtesy of the respective teams

Iannone will take the step up from the Moto2 class and Ben will come down from Factory Yamaha and ride with a Satellite bike. However, we are extremely pleased that Ben has taken the contract as it would be a great lose to the GP world and paddock if he were to leave the class altogether.

I’m sure that Ben has been comforted by Ducati in regards to team support as this is obviously a big concern for him… So far this season we have seen Ben have numerous mechanical failures let alone the tyre issues, and this has increasingly grown his frustrations to the point of creating a void in the trust between rider and team.

Ben has continued to have frustrations with the Yamaha Squad, so it brings great joy to think next year we will see him in a team with proper support that will to help him achieve maximum result.  Also during the season, Ducati will take data from Pramac Racing to try and develop the Factory Desmosedici, of course, Ducati will also have the backing and support from German automobile manufacturer Audi, which bought out the company in April 2012.

So, places are now filled in the Moto GP class and if we stand on our tip toes, we can practically see what the grid line up will look like, but the only person I would like to see in the GP class now is our very own Scott Redding.

But Scott will not have an easy route into the GP class, spaces are few, and there are still some riders interested in those few spaces.  Will Scott want to ride on a CRT? This is the question; we will have to see if he does decide to try out the production racer RC213V.  The problem with this bike is the level of technology, however Honda have said that the bike will still be both powerful and reliable and will most likely  be the most competitive bike out of the whole CRT class.

So for now, that’s all the news I have prior to this week’s race action, so I’ll say good bye for now and Ill see you real soon.

By Tracey Ann Daniels - MotoGP correspondent for RTR Sports Marketing
In the picture: Ben Spies
Picture form the web

He has suggested that he actually misses his rival Casey Stoner on track and is eager to beat him through racing and not just defeat him through absence and point gaining.  As we know Casey Stoner was injured at the Brickyard in Indianapolis and he injured his left foot. Casey had to undergo specialist surgery to repair his torn ligaments.  Even though this sounds a minor injury, due to the areas of those torn ligaments, it has made the injury a lot more serious.  Now unfortunately, the recovery process of this operation can be anything up to seven weeks, which of course means that Casey’s fight for the title is looking rather bleak.

On the flip side to this, Lorenzo’s fantasy of beating the Aussie Honda rider is also looking bleak. Like any talented rider, Lorenzo has something to prove, not just to others but mainly himself,

This season has seen both Lorenzo and Casey give up a good fight for the championship, however, now that Casey’s comeback is set to be Phillip Island, the battle will no longer continue.  Sadly this is the last chance Lorenzo got to try beat his rival as Casey Stoner announced back in May that he will be retiring from the world of Moto GP.

Lorenzo said: “I think without this crash Casey would have been fighting for the championship. I would prefer to beat him on the track, not while he is away, and this year as always he was pushing very hard to win the title. But as we all know in this sport if you are close to the limit there are some more chances to crash. I know this feeling. This is a shit situation for Casey as he will retire at the end of this season and he now has no chance to race for the title.”

So now the battle is down to Lorenzo and Pedrosa, long-time rival enemies. Pedrosa is second at 232 points in the championship and Lorenzo is in the lead with 245 points. Pedrosa has won the last two races of the season so he is a good contender for the title, but who will be the winner at this week’s Misano track over in Rimini, Italy?

Hold on tight guys, the gloves are off, let the battle commence!!! See you all next time.

By Tracey Ann Daniels - MotoGP correspondent for RTR Sports Marketing
In the picture: Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo
Picture form the web

Lorenzo tested the Yamahas chassis and engine specification while Ben Spies tested for improvement on his base settings.  Hopefully this can help him make some changes and make the rest of the season a bit more enjoyable and productive.

Lorenzo said  “It was a very long day, we made a race simulation at the end of the session so I feel very tired but it was necessary to see the performance of the rear tire. In general we leave here with happiness and confidence as we’ve been one second faster than last time. We need to try and improve consistency over race distance here.”

“We worked on some different fork and shock settings and a little bit of electronics but nothing major,” said Spies, who had a brief testing session at Brno after the previous round, but logged a whopping 171 laps at Aragon. “We were mainly fine-tuning the bike and the results seem good. I’m positive for the rest of the year. The package we have now was good over the race simulation so I’m optimistic for the race.”

Repsol Honda tested their electronics; they looked for better traction control and engine delivery on day one, day two they tested theexhaust and made some modifications to the rear shock to try and induce more grip.  Stoner obviously was unable to test after his recent accident at the brickyard which resulted in surgery, so Jonathan Rea filled in for him… even though Rea hasn’t has much experience on the prototype, he still managed to improve his lap times and finish 5^th in the line up, by day two he was only 2 seconds of the top time.

Stephan Bradl was also at the test trying to get some improvement on his rear grip, but apart from that the test was just really to try and find a better race set up.

Next round is Misano, and its one of our favorite races, the home of our beloved Valentino Rossi, the weather is hot, the beaches are beautiful, the track is wonderful for spectator viewing and its one of the most passionate rounds of the season.

Not always known as a good track, especially for our Nicky Hayden, but as he is making a come back this week after recovering from his accident at the Kentucky Kids home race, the Brickyard so we wish him all the luck in this weeks coming action.

By Tracey Ann Daniels - MotoGP correspondant for RTR Sports Marketing
In the Big picture:  Jorge Lorenzo
Pictured right: the Misano World Circuit
Pictures from the web

The question is, will Ducati be a good option for him, and will Scott be a good option for Ducati?  Well Filippo Preziosi said he was very pleased with Scott’s performance and in a recent interview Scott said:

“It was hard but fun and definitely more than I expected. The main problem was the speed at the end of the straight that was the hardest thing for me. I wasn’t expecting it to be so fast and here at the end of the straight over the crest when it’s trying to wheelie, that was another problem.

Some things were easier, like the cornering, but it was harder to hold on to it in some places and harder to find the time in other places because obviously with the traction control you’re more limited, so it’s more about how you ride the bike to get around the traction control. That’s what I found the hardest thing”

Redding covered a total of 127 laps and his best recorded time was 1:50, I do believe that Rossi did a 1:48 lap as his best time at the Mugello race, so this is a great start for Scott and his first MotoGP experience.

Marc VDS Racing Team provisionally would like to run a satellite Ducati team next year and they have already mentioned they would prefer a Brit to take the seat.  So will this be a good move for Scott before moving up to factory in 2014? Scott recently turned down a contract with Pramac Ducati for 2013 so this looks to be the most ‘obvious’ option

Next year Ducati have Nicky Hayden remaining for another one year contract, and we are yet to hear the announcement from VR46 himself if he will stay with Ducati until 2014. So it seems that the whole world is in Rossi’s hands at the moment, but we can see the tracks being laid already, and it seems hopeful that he will stay and persevere until his retirement.

I do also hear on the wind that Rossi had a large input on the decision of who would be chosen to test the Desmo, So, though this hints that Rossi has given a verbal nod to Ducati to find another rider, we still aren’t sure when the new rider will be signed for.

Moto 2 rider Andrea Iannone will be testing the bike from Thursday 2nd. If all goes well, I think we can safely assume that Scott and Iannone will be in a Ducati satellite team for 2013 with insight to moving to factory 2014.

Exciting times right now in the GP world, we will see many changes from now until end of season, we just have to sit tight and hope we like the decisions being made.

Please see below for the official Moto GP interview with Scott Redding.

How was your first MotoGP experience?

It was hard but fun and definitely more than I expected. The main problem was the speed at the end of the straight that was the hardest thing for me. I wasn’t expecting it to be so fast and here at the end of the straight over the crest when it’s trying to wheelie, that was another problem.

Some things were easier, like the cornering, but it was harder to hold on to it in some places and harder to find the time in other places because obviously with the traction control you’re more limited, so it’s more about how you ride the bike to get around the traction control. That’s what I found the hardest thing.

How are you feeling after the test now?
I was really happy. For the first two days to go under 1´50 was pretty nice, it´s what I wanted to do. It was my target and we made the target and I felt comfortable. We tried some soft tyres but I didn’t get on with them very well, the temperature was too hot and there was too much movement from them. There was so much to learn and we were changing things like engine brake and engine speed. You can change it corner by corner but with Moto2 you either have more engine brake in every corner or less in every corner. That’s what I’ve found quite good, that you can change corner by corner because that’s something I’ve struggled with in Moto2, I would like to change things by corner but you can’t you can only change it in a whole lap.

How does it compare to Moto2?

I think it suits me more to be honest. I don’t think I would have lasted another day though because it’s so hard on the body, it’s the first time I’ve ridden anything bigger than a Moto2 so it definitely took a toll on the body, more than I expected. Just because of all the change of directions and all the braking and also mentally, because there’s a lot of things you’ve got to concentrate on. At the end I enjoyed it and I think it’s the direction I need to go in.

What do you make of the Ducati?

It feels quite good. The turning and the traction feel not too bad for the first laps but the thing I didn’t like was it was quite heavy in the change of direction.

Nicky and Vale have struggled a lot with the front end feel, what was your experience of that?

Well the front wasn’t really a big issue but when I started doing the sub-50s I started to feel more unexpected feelings on the front so I can imagine what they’re feeling. But at the speed I was doing it´s not a real big issue. It’s pushing quite hard but I’d need to do another second to be where the factory guys are.

What sort of feedback were you giving the team?

Everything, corner by corner, traction, entry, the traction control, anti-wheelie, power delivery, brake control. It was a shakedown on everything every time really.

Do you think you can adapt your riding style to make it work with this bike?

In the beginning it was pretty good but then when I started to relax on the bike it actually got better, I had to start to use a lot more rear brake, which I´ve spent a year learning not to use in Moto2. It was just getting better and better as I got more time on the bike.

What feedback did the team give you?

We overlaid some data with Valentino’s so I could learn a bit. The think is there is no one here to follow so I don’t know how to ride the bike other than instinct and my own talent. So we overlaid the data just to see what was worse and what was better so it was quite good to have that in advance.

Were you using any of Nicky´s data?

No because Rossi was the slower of the two here so for me it was better to go with his data. Also it’s his home track and he has good lines here.

Do you think there’s a genuine chance you´d be riding this bike next year?

I don’t know. Filippo Preziosi seemed pretty happy with the lap time and my enthusiasm, I just kept going at it and going at it. I think they were happy with how I’ve performed over the two days. I´ve done all I can do, I think to go under 1´50 on my second day of riding the bike was pretty good really.

Will it worry you if Rossi leaves Ducati?

It will a little bit because that´s where all the development is coming form. He’s had a lot of experience with the bike but then on the other hand Nicky’s got good experience there so we’ll just have to see how it goes.

Do you feel you´ll have to change your training for MotoGP?

I don’t think it´s so much about changing the training, I think it´s more about getting used to the bike because it´s quite tense, I was having seat foamers put on. When you have your own bike and you get relaxed and you´ve ridden it a few times it comes. I had the same problem when I first got to Moto2 but I think it´s definitely going to be a little bit different training and a bit harder. This bike it so heavy to change direction it just drains you.

How was the experience of working with an all Italian team?

To be honest it was good. They listened to what I had to say and I think they believed in me, which is a good thing. The things I say and the things they see add up which helped me a bit and they gave me my time to do it. These guys get stuff done.

So a positive two days?

Yeah it was good, I was really happy with it.

By Tracey Ann Daniels
MotoGP correspondent for RTR Sports Marketing
Follow Tracey on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MotoGPTracey

Could this be a hint that the Texan could be going back into WSBK?  Also after reading Superbike Planet in which Spies said he ‘won’t be with Yamaha at the end of the season’ it was more than obvious after his troublesome start to the 2012 season, that he may go where he is best suited.

However,  his fans can rest assured that he will keep his fighting spirit, professionalism and loyalty to the sport until his time is done at the end of 2012 , he recently said “I’m extremely happy to push for the rest of the season to my fans and myself, next year starts a new chapter. And yes I’m pumped!”

On a finishing note id like to mention about Ben leaving and a new Yamaha seat being available.  No, I do not think Valentino will be going back to Yamaha! I am more than 90% certain on this, partly because he has proved time after time what he can do on the Factory bike, going back to an old seat would only mean going backwards rather than going forwards. Even if it does kill him trying to make that Ducati work!

So the obvious option is Dovizioso to go to Yamaha, Bradley and Crutchlow to Tech 3… But as I’ve said before, let’s watch this space and I shall keep you up to date with the news as soon as I possibly can.

By Tracey Ann Daniels
MotoGP correspondent for RTR Sports Marketing
In the Picture: Ben Spies

Valentino holds a very big place inside Dorna, Moto GP, and the fans hearts, to lose the world famous VR46 could mean detrimental effects to the sport, not only viewing and attendance numbers will suffer, but the paddock atmosphere and fun edge of the sport too.

So according to what the man himself says, 2014 is set to be the year that seven-time premier class champion makes his very sad departure from the Moto GP sport.

In an interview back in May Rossi said “I want a new two-year contract with Ducati, maybe the last, and then I’ll think about how to enjoy myself. I want to win something here, make Ducati grow and then stop.”

Rossi signed for Ducati in 2011 and since then he’s suffered a horrible win-less season, he eventually finished 7th in the championship. This was not only heart braking for fans, but for the sport too.  Can this improve in 2013? Rossi thinks not, he seems to be expressing lots of concerns over the Italian bred bike, and those concerns seem to keep growing.

Only 2013 will tell us what we all really want to know! Can the Italian go out with a bang on the red mechanical Stallion? Or will he move back to Yamaha Factory Racing, sharing garage space with Jorge Lorenzo? Watch this space!

From Tracey Ann Daniels
RTR Sports Marketing MotoGP Correspondent
In the picture: Valentino Rossi

The MotoGP paddock heads stateside again this week for the second of the two US rounds of the 2011 MotoGP Championship. The legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway will host round 12 of the Championship, the second home race for Yamaha Factory Racing rider Ben Spies. The 2010 Indianapolis event became a feat of endurance for the MotoGP riders with track temperatures hitting 50 degrees over qualifying and race day. The sweltering conditions raised grip issues across the grid and the heat was physically exhausting for the riders.

Lorenzo struggled over the entire weekend to find a perfect set up for the difficult conditions last year, enduring the heat to finally deliver a well earned podium finish with third in the race. The World Champion started from second on the grid just behind Spies. Lorenzo has a good record at the circuit, claiming victory in 2009 and his first ever wet podium in 2008.

Despite the conditions MotoGP rookie Spies enjoyed his most successful race of the year at Indianapolis in 2010. The Texan rider took a scorching maiden pole position start from future team mate Lorenzo and converted it into a season best finish of second on race day, his first MotoGP podium.

With 257,000 permanent seats the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the largest spectator sporting facility in the world and fills to capacity for its flagship events, the Indy 500 and Allstate 400 car races. Originally constructed in 1909 with a 2.5-mile oval, an exciting 16-turn motorcycle road circuit, which includes part of the historic oval, was purpose-built for MotoGP. The circuit was resurfaced earlier this year, improving the grip levels considerably for the riders.

An international vocation, enthusiasm, flexibility and a passion for travel constitute the foundations of this partnership, which enables EASTPAK to put its luggage to the toughest of tests: that of travelling alongside the 60 team members of Factory Racing for the entire 200,000 miles of the MotoGP 2011 season.

Furthermore, EASTPAK is entitled to use the name, the logo and the hospitality areas of Yamaha Factory Racing for its own marketing operations, in a championship that involves 13 different countries throughout the world and is capable of reaching an average audience of over 4.2 million spectators per race in Italy alone (2010 Auditel figures).

It is thanks to RTR that this union between two leading players has materialized: Yamaha Factory Racing, MotoGP World Champion in the last three seasons, and EASTPAK, a consolidated manufacturer of bags and luggage of undisputed success. Moreover, by supplying the Yamaha Factory Racing Team with top-ranking luggage, EASTPAK highlights its presence in the travel sector, with a product offering of trolleys and luggage items to satisfy the most demanding travellers, thanks to a perfect combination between the lightness of an ultra-slim structure and the guaranteed strength of Cordura, a material that is ‘built to resist’.

EASTPAK is the ‘authentic’ brand of bags and backpacks, renowned for their style, resistance and functionality. EASTPAK started its activity in 1976, when the student Mark Goldman convinced his father to produce a line of backpacks for school and college use. Since then, EASTPAK has been a benchmark for others and takes pride in being recognized as an innovative and fun brand. In fact it was the first bag brand to use Cordura on non-technical backpacks and to introduce a bright range of colours in the early 80’s. Today EASTPAK produces bags, travel items, clothing and accessories that combine style, utility and excellent value for money. Eastpak is an urban lifestyle brand that proudly supports various artists, athletes and music bands throughout the world.

Free practice at Estoril takes place at the end of this month.