posted May 3, 2016, 6:32 PM by Takanobu Matsuki
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updated May 22, 2016, 7:10 PM by Paisal Komarwut
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| Honda Racing Corporation | 
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| Preview Report | Tuesday, May 3rd 2016 | |
| Grand Prix de France
MotoGP 2016 Round 5 Repsol Honda Team head to historic Le Mans for Round 5Marc
Marquez and Dani Pedrosa are en route to France after scoring solid
third- and fourth-place finishes, respectively, in the Spanish GP, which
was immediately followed by a positive one-day post-race test. The
Repsol Honda riders look forward to trying to make the best use of the
data gathered there, and to start the French GP on the right foot
beginning with the FP1 session, which will start Friday morning at 9:55
local time. Marc
has had mixed results at the historic Le Mans Circuit. He took the
MotoGP victory in 2014 and the Moto2 win in 2011, as well as podium
finishes in 2013 (MotoGP) and 2010 (125cc). Last year he earned pole
position but experienced difficulty with his front tyre during the
Sunday race after temperature significantly increased compared to the
rest of the weekend. He made the best of the situation, managing to
finish fourth after a hard-fought battle with Andrea Iannone during the
final five laps. Dani
has finished on the Le Mans podium seven times, including a MotoGP win
in 2013 and three victories in the smaller-displacement classes (250cc
in ’04 and ’05, 125cc in ’03). Last year he returned to racing in Le
Mans after missing the Americas, Argentine and Spanish GPs (having
received surgery to his right arm to alleviate discomfort from arm
pump); unfortunately, he crashed out of the race on the second lap. The
Spaniard showed grit and determination by re-joining the race in last
place and finished in 16th. | |
| Marc Marquez 93 Championship Standing: 1st - 82 points “I
like the Le Mans track although it requires that you be ready to deal
with many variables. To begin with, the weather: you never know what it
will do there. Last year the temperature rose significantly on Sunday
and we suffered a lot with front grip in the race. Rain also isn’t
unusual there. In addition, the track has a stop-and-go layout, with
many slow turns where braking and acceleration are crucial. We’ll see if
we find ourselves in a situation similar to Austin, where acceleration
out of slow corners was a lot better than expected, or if we have to
face a bigger challenge. During the last test in Jerez, we worked a lot
on electronics and the chassis setting to find more grip, and on the
balance of the bike to reduce wheelying. It’s always a compromise but I
think we’ve gathered useful info for Le Mans and, knowing how far we’ve
come since this winter and how quickly we’ve been able to react to many
situations, I feel confident and look forward to starting the next
racing weekend.”
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| Marc Marquez Statistics Date of Birth | 17/02/1993 | Birthplace | Lleida, (Catalonia) – Spain | Height | 168 cm | Weight | 59 kg | Hobbies | Mountain Biking, Video games | Racing Number | 93 | First Race | 1998 “Enduro per nens” | Grand Prix Debut | 2008 125cc Portugal GP (KTM 125 FRR) | GPs raced | 136 | GP pole positions | 60 (14 in 125cc, 14 in 250cc, 32 in MotoGP) | Total GP podiums | 82 (14 x 125cc, 25 x Moto2, 43 x MotoGP) | Total GP wins | 52 (10 x 125cc, 16 x Moto2, 26 x MotoGP) | First GP Win | 2010 125cc Italian GP (Derbi RSA 125) | World titles | 4 (1 x 125cc - 2010, 1 x Moto2 - 2012, 2 x MotoGP - 2013, 2014) |
More Statistics | |
| Dani Pedrosa 26 Championship Standing: 4th - 40 points “I
enjoy the Bugatti circuit, and we’ve had good results there in the
past, but this year there are some factors to consider. In the last race
I couldn’t go full-throttle on the straights because the rear tyre was
spinning too much, and I think that also in Le Mans a lot will depend on
how the tyre will get grip from the track. Normally this isn’t a
‘super-grippy’ track, so we’ll have to continue working on that side in
order to make it better. In the Jerez test, we tried to improve our
feeling, testing different things such as suspension and some other
solutions thought to provide more grip out of the turns and to make the
bike faster into the tight corners. We’ll see if the info collected will
be useful on a practical level in Le Mans. Finally, let’s hope the
weather will be kind to us.”
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| Dani Pedrosa Statistics Date of Birth | 29/09/1985 | Birthplace | Sabadell, (Catalonia) – Spain | Height | 160 cm | Weight | 51kg | Hobbies | Cycling, Motocross, Windsurfing, Cinema | Racing number | 26 | First race | 1997 Pocket bike race | Grand Prix debut | 2001. 125cc Japanese GP, Suzuka – (Honda RS125R) | GPs raced | 248 | GP pole positions | 46 (9 in 125cc, 9 in 250cc, 28 in MotoGP) | Total GP podiums | 142 (17 x 125cc, 24 x 250cc, 101 x MotoGP) | Total GP wins | 51 (8 x 125cc, 15 x 250cc, 28 x MotoGP) | First GP win | 2002. 125cc Dutch GP, Assen – (Honda RS125R) | World titles | 3 (1 x 125cc - 2003, 2 x 250cc - 2004, 2005) |
More Statistics | |
| Rider StandingsPos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Points | Team | Constructor | 1 | Marquez Marc | 93 | SPA | 82 | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 2 | Lorenzo Jorge | 99 | SPA | 65 | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 3 | Rossi Valentino | 46 | ITA | 58 | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 4 | Pedrosa Dani | 26 | SPA | 40 | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 5 | Espargaro Pol | 44 | SPA | 36 | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 6 | Vinales Maverick | 25 | SPA | 33 | Team Suzuki Ecstar | Suzuki | 7 | Espargaro Aleix | 41 | SPA | 32 | Team Suzuki Ecstar | Suzuki | 8 | Barbera Hector | 8 | SPA | 31 | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 9 | Laverty Eugene | 50 | IRE | 28 | Aspar MotoGP Team | Ducati | 10 | Iannone Andrea | 29 | ITA | 25 | Ducati Team | Ducati | 11 | Dovizioso Andrea | 4 | ITA | 23 | Ducati Team | Ducati | 12 | Smith Bradley | 38 | GBR | 20 | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 13 | Bradl Stefan | 6 | GER | 17 | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 14 | Redding Scott | 45 | GBR | 16 | Octo Pramac Racing | Ducati | 15 | Bautista Alvaro | 19 | SPA | 14 | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 16 | Pirro Michele | 51 | ITA | 12 | Ducati Team | Ducati | 17 | Rabat Tito | 53 | SPA | 11 | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | 18 | Crutchlow Cal | 35 | GBR | 5 | LCR Honda | Honda | 19 | Baz Loris | 76 | FRA | 4 | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 20 | Hernandez Yonny | 68 | COL | 3 | Aspar MotoGP Team | Ducati | 21 | Miller Jack | 43 | AUS | 2 | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda |
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| Team StandingsPos. | Team | Points | 1 | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 123 | 2 | Repsol Honda Team | 122 | 3 | Team Suzuki Ecstar | 65 | 4 | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 56 | 5 | Ducati Team | 48 | 6 | Avintia Racing | 35 | 7 | Aspar MotoGP Team | 31 | 8 | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 31 | 9 | Octo Pramac Racing | 16 | 10 | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | 13 | 11 | LCR Honda | 5 |
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| | Constructor StandingsPos. | Team | Points | 1 | Yamaha | 90 | 2 | Honda | 82 | 3 | Ducati | 58 | 4 | Suzuki | 39 | 5 | Aprilia | 20 |
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| Copyright Free ImagesFor editorial use only, click here to download images. | |
| Location InformationBuilt
in 1965 around the existing 24-Hour track, the Le Mans Bugatti Grand
Prix race circuit lies 5km south of the city of Le Mans and 200km
south-west of Paris. The venue has hosted Grand Prix since the late
sixties but a serious accident to Spanish rider Alberto Puig in… read more. | | 
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| Length | 4.185 kilometres / 2.6 miles | Width | 13 metres | Left corners | 5 | Right corners | 9 | Longest straight | 0.674 kilometres / 0.419 miles | Constructed | 1966 | Modified | 2008 |
Circuit Records Pole Position | 1m 32.042s (163.6km/h) Marc Marquez (Honda, 2014) | Race Lap | 1m 32.879s (162.2km/h) Valentino Rossi (Yamaha, 2015) | Race Time | 43m 44.143s (160.7km/h) Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha, 2015) | 2015 Race Winner | Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) |
Automobile Club de l'Ouest, Le Mans, France – View in Google Maps www.lemans.org | |
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