LeMans - Rnd 5 2015 - SPOILERS (Predictions, FP, QP & Race)

Another perfect race by Lorenzo. This looks like a return to his 2010/2012 Form.

Dovi looked good. Barring Jerez, he's been really consistent. The Duc is just a little off the top pace still, but running really well.

MM had the best pass of the day. Sitting behind the slow to pass Smith and Iannone. Marquez just said, F it, i'll take 'em both, and ripped past them on 1 turn, pretty amazing. That sparked a hellacious battle between Ian and MM that I think everyone would agree was great TV. I'm anxious to see what happen with Marquez in this race. Was it just a setup issue or something mechanical? Hopefully his post race interview reveals the answer.

Great to see Pedrosa back. It's a shame he spilled but hopefully his arm worked the way he wants it to for the remainder of the race. That's the most important thing.

Rossi had a great race also. Fantastic passes on MM, Dovi, and AI. He just looks a little too slow to start his attack. 4 out of 5 of his races have all been somewhat similar. He takes the first couple of laps settling in, then begins his push. But today, Lorenzo's gap was too large and his pace too strong for Rossi to catch up. Maybe if he was within a half sec behind JL at some point he could've made something happen.

All in, the season has me very interested. The championship is wide open. Rossi, Lorenzo, Dovi, Marquez, and even Iannone are all within striking distance. We're coming up on about 1/3 of the season. Who do you have your money on at this point to win the championship?

I think it will be a Yamaha rider at the end. Jorge is on a roll, but Vale is very strong. Yamaha will definitely get the constructors championship.

Smith was very impressive this time. If he hasn't got slowed down fighting Iannone I think he would've finished ahead of MM. I'm not quite sure what to make of Dani yet. He said earlier that he had forgot how fast the bike was. It didn't appear his crash was directly related to his arm.
Unless he makes a serious turnaround, I think this will be Bradl's last season.

I just read that Marquez said the front-end had a lot of problems. The Honda lost front end grip when the temperatures rose, and that's why 4 Hondas crashed out, and Dani fell.

Good race, the battle for fourth place has been great!

It seems like Honda needs Pedrosa's help to improve the bike, according to the spanish interviews at the end of race to Marc and Dani. Quite surprising to hear Dani saying "ok, I've tried the bike and I know what we have to do", and Marc "I'm glad to have Dani to help us whith the bike's development". Let's see.

Very good season so far for Yamaha and his riders. They are both winners and are showing it, after last year big defeat.

Intriguing race. I'm happy to see the old Lorenzo. He'll push the others not by sheer speed but by his metronomic consistency. The way he rides looks after the tires so you don't see the massive lap time drop off that others experience. I think the Honda needs to improve. I didn't read any reports on how well Dani feels his recovery is going. Anyone know? I watched the post race pressers and thus far, it's all silence.

Finally, the Ducati's are going well. Mugello is going to be great. Looking forward to it.

Anyone else notice Lorenzo starting out like a pinpall at the beginning?

levigarrett said:

It seems to me like Bradley gets no love from the UK crowd. He's been my personal fav UK rider for some time but it seems like the locals prefer Redding and Cal. Why is that? Bradley seems like a solid guy, somewhat sterile I suppose but a good guy nonetheless.

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Weak Tea.

Dovi and Crazy Joe were great - but Ducati as improved as it is - needs a Stoner to get one of those pretty red bikes at the top of the podium. I'm not buying the Honda excuse for all the other Honda riders crashing. They just don't have the riders; and Marquez seems to have lost his touch. The good thing about MM is that he moved the goal post and Lorenzo and Rossi had to up their game and have done so admirably. Would love to see Iannone on the Repsol - but the pragmatic Japs would never do it. Iannone has never viewed MM as the Golden Child and would fight him tooth and nail; the last thing that Honda wants..


Also - WTF can't the freakin' ........ Brit announcers pronounce the name Andrea? They always add that nonexistent "r"; Andearea. It's as annoying as when they say Jag-you-arrre.

Keshav said:

Also - WTF can't the freakin' ........ Brit announcers pronounce the name Andrea? They always add that nonexistent "r"; Andearea. It's as annoying as when they say Jag-you-arrre.

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It's our car company, so we can call it wtf we like!

It's funny, you note that, but then you yanks pronounce Mazda as Maaarzda.

Anyway, good race. I love Marquez' do-or-die move on Iannone, I think frustrsation was showing through a bit there. Rossi recovered well, but he always has race pace. Jorge is the man, great to see the Mantaquilla back. Good to see Ducati up there too as always. Did anyone see Aleix's highside on Saturday?

It seems to me that the batch of tires Bridgestone has brought for the European rounds is upsetting Honda'a chassis balance, while the Yamahas and especially Lorenzo seem to love them. None of these problems manifested in the first races, and I can only think of tires as the cause.

That shows how any great rider, even MM93, needs a package that suits him to win in godlike fashion; as soon as there is some problem that upsets his style, he becomes a mere mortal again. Perhaps Mike Hailwood and Casey Stoner are the only examples I remember who could really ride and win over problems.

I don't know if Pedrosa is HRC's magician, but with his long experience he may have seen this before and have some setup ideas. One way or the other, I'm pretty sure they'll solve this in time for Sunday at Mugello.

And yes, maybe the only little thing Ducati is still missing is an Alien Rider, although the two Andreas are really good; we'll see how they progress, for the time being it's so nice seeing them at the front.

And of course Rossi needs to find a good setup before Sunday afternoon, if he wants to try and beat this Lorenzo. Starting from third row is a serious handicap, you cannot hope the rivals in front make bad tire choice or mistakes every time.

#22 said:

It's our car company, so we can call it wtf we like!

It's funny, you note that, but then you yanks pronounce Mazda as Maaarzda.

Anyway, good race. I love Marquez' do-or-die move on Iannone, I think frustrsation was showing through a bit there. Rossi recovered well, but he always has race pace. Jorge is the man, great to see the Mantaquilla back. Good to see Ducati up there too as always. Did anyone see Aleix's highside on Saturday?

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Never heard that here in The States - ever. Must only be in commercials tailored to British audiences that are accustomed to hearing foreign words mangled. The word Mazda is a word (as in mazda lightbulbs) that has been in the American lexicon for half a century. I think it must be a result of British palates deformed by Stonehenge-like arrangements of teeth so commonplace with your lot.

J4rn0 said:

It seems to me that the batch of tires Bridgestone has brought for the European rounds is upsetting Honda'a chassis balance, while the Yamahas and especially Lorenzo seem to love them. None of these problems manifested in the first races, and I can only think of tires as the cause.

That shows how any great rider, even MM93, needs a package that suits him to win in godlike fashion; as soon as there is some problem that upsets his style, he becomes a mere mortal again. Perhaps Mike Hailwood and Casey Stoner are the only examples I remember who could really ride and win over problems.

I don't know if Pedrosa is HRC's magician, but with his long experience he may have seen this before and have some setup ideas. One way or the other, I'm pretty sure they'll solve this in time for Sunday at Mugello.

And yes, maybe the only little thing Ducati is still missing is an Alien Rider, although the two Andreas are really good; we'll see how they progress, for the time being it's so nice seeing them at the front.

And of course Rossi needs to find a good setup before Sunday afternoon, if he wants to try and beat this Lorenzo. Starting from third row is a serious handicap, you cannot hope the rivals in front make bad tire choice or mistakes every time.

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Even Casey, at the start of 2010, was getting consistently beaten by Hayden after his front-end issues.

Keshav said:

Never heard that here in The States - ever. Must only be in commercials tailored to British audiences that are accustomed to hearing foreign words mangled. The word Mazda is a word (as in mazda lightbulbs) that has been in the American lexicon for half a century. I think it must be a result of British palates deformed by Stonehenge-like arrangements of teeth so commonplace with your lot.

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Well my wife is American dude, and her and her entire family say Maaaarzda, and so does nearly every American I've ever met there. We even joke about it.

Sure it's not a New Yawk thang?

Must be an east coast thing. Those of UA here in the Midwest say Mazda, like its supposed to be pronounced

#22 said:

Well my wife is American dude, and her and her entire family say Maaaarzda, and so does nearly every American I've ever met there. We even joke about it.

Sure it's not a New Yawk thang?

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is this how you say it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi5zNj4vDIo

:giggle:

Yep, in fact even in that camp way :dance:

MigsAngel said:

If HRC rely on Dani for their 'development' more than their 'test' rider Stoner...so that would explain why they didnt want to have Stoner riding Dani's bike in any races, doing testing and sending the Honda into same dead end that Ducati went into during the Stoner era.....the best and safe option was to have Aoyama test for them in the Races....

Just a thought....

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Dude, are you serious? Your posts infers that Ducati handed Stoner a quality bike. A four second interview with any of the Ducati teammates during that period makes your post look more absurd than it does standing alone....

Krop just wrote a piece about this a day or two ago. Your comment above is exactly contrary to his assertions. One of you is wrong, I wonder who it is?

#22 said:

Well my wife is American dude, and her and her entire family say Maaaarzda, and so does nearly every American I've ever met there. We even joke about it.

Sure it's not a New Yawk thang?

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Where does your wife's family hail from? Alabama maybe? Everyone I've ever heard use the word (including the guys who do the voice-overs for the car commercials)pronounce it Mahz-dah.

Don't mind me.... it's just a pet peeve. I lived in India for 10 years and learned to speak pretty good Hindustani and Urdu and during my time there I learned that a vast number of words that are still commonly used by English speakers everywhere - are garbled, .......ized versions of Persian and Urdu words that tin-eared, Raj era colonialists were too lazy to learn how to pronounce - like;


Bandanna
from bandhna (बांधना) to tie.
Bangle
from bāngṛī बांगड़ी, a type of bracelet.
Blighty
"Britain" (as a term of endearment among British troops stationed in Colonial India): from Hindi-Urdu vilāyatī (विलायती, ولايتى) "foreign", ultimately from Arabo-Persian ولايتى "provincial, regional".
Bungalow
from बंगला banglA and Urdu بنگلہ banglA, literally, "(house) in the Bengal style".[1]
Chit
from चिट्ठी Chitthi, a letter or note.
Chutney
from चटनी chatni, meaning "to crush"
Cot
from Khāt, खाट, a portable bed.

Cummerbund
from kamarband , cf. कमरबन्द - Urdu کمربند, meaning "waist binding" [ultimately from Persian کمربند]

Dacoit
from डकैत् Dakait, meaning a member of a class of criminals who engage in organized robbery and murder. Hence also dacoity (=banditry)


Jungle
from जङल् jangal, another word for wilderness or forest.

Goon - which is actually "Goonda"

K

Khaki
from खकि khākī "of dust colour, dusty, grey", cf. Hindi ख़ाकी - Urdu خاکی [ultimately from Persian].

L

Loot
from LooT लूट, meaning 'steal'. Robbery
Punch
from Hindi and Urdu panch پانچ, meaning "five". The drink was originally made with five ingredients: alcohol, sugar, lemon, water, and tea or spices.[10][11] The original drink was named paantsch.
Pundit
from पण्डित Pandit, meaning a learned scholar or Priest.
Pukka
(UK slang: "genuine") from Pakkā पक्का,پکا cooked, ripe, solid.
Pyjamas
from Hindi, पैजामा (paijaamaa), meaning "leg garment", coined from Persian پاى "foot, leg" and جامه "garment" .[12]


Shawl
A piece of fabric worn by women over the shoulders or head or wrapped around a baby. From Urdu and Persian šāl, probably from Shāliāt, the name of a town in India.[15]

Sorbet
Derived from the Urdu word Sharbat which originally comes from Arabic; meaning juice.[15]

Shampoo
Derived from Hindustani chāmpo (चाँपो [tʃãːpoː]), dating to 1762.[16]

T

Thug
from Thagi ठग, meaning "thief or con man".
Toddy (also Hot toddy)
from Tārī ताड़ी, juice of the palmyra palm.
Typhoon
from Urdu طوفان toofaan.[17] A cyclonic storm.
V

Verandah
from Hindi baramdaa बरामदा or another Indian language, but ultimately probably from Portuguese or Spanish.[18]