HRC interviews : Stoner, Pedrosa, Dovizioso

3 interviews en anglais issues de la com du HRC

Stoner

The Australian rider of the Repsol Honda Team leads the overall standings with an advantage of 20 points after the halfway point of the 2011 season
Leader of the MotoGP World Championship with five victories in ten races, Casey Stoner has started his first season at the Repsol Honda Team taking the initiative in his tough battle with Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo. The victory in his first Grand Prix with the Spanish energy company livery was the best sign of the Australian rider's hunger for victory, and he will arrive to the Czech Republic with an advantage of 20 points at the top of the MotoGP World Championship.

Five victories and four more podiums in 10 races. It does not sound bad at all for a first half of the season, does it?
“Yes. I think that without the problem of the second race, we would have been in the podium in all races this season, which I believe is something very special. I am very happy this year at the Repsol Honda Team. The bike has been working brilliantly and even in the worst days it did not work poorly. This is something very positive. When we have the opportunity to win we are always there, very close, and that gives us the chance to win more often”.

Which race do you prefer from the ones held until now with the Repsol Honda?
“I would say that my favourite race this season was, undoubtedly, Laguna Seca. We had a very difficult weekend. Since Assen, where I had a huge crash, I suffered a bit due to my injuries, because I had a fall again in Sachsenring and things did not really went our way. When we arrived to Laguna Seca I was confident, but unfortunately, during the weekend we were not able to have the bike we wanted. It was not until the race when we took the step ahead we needed and which gave us the confidence to do a great race”.

Lorenzo, Pedrosa and yourself are showing a very close performance and you have a level well above the rest. Does it gives the lead and the victories a higher level?
“I competed with those rider during all my career, so I think that the value of the victories is always very high. The three of us, Jorge [Lorenzo], Dani [Pedrosa] and myself had the bad luck to coincide in a very difficult time, one of the toughest in history, in which it is most difficult to achieve victory, and it is certainly a great feeling, a deep emotion when you win. But after competing with them most of my life, the feeling is more or less the same. When you do a race like in Laguna Seca, then the feeling is special, but it was also the same in the first victory in the first race with Honda. It was something special”.

From now until the end of the season, which do you think will be the details that will decide who will be the Champion?
“I could say consistency, but as difficult as it is, I do not think consistency will win championships. You have to be there and win races, take risks. I think that is what might decide the Championship. We are going to do the best job we can every time we get on track, but if one of the days we are not able win, we need to settle for second place, a third or even worse, but we will try to win every time”.

What would you say about your bike and what has to be improve of it? Because in the last races you suffered more than expected...
“We had some weekends that were a bit weird, because in Mugello we suffered a little, because the tyres overheated, which was caused by an excess of grip on the rear. In Sachsenring we tried to reduce the grip, to decrease the temperature of the tyres and that is not the correct direction. In Laguna Seca we followed the same path, trying to avoid the temperature from being too high, but it was not the right direction. We have been just going around in circles to try to take a step ahead to find grip again, to find traction that helps the bike work well, because this is what I think is Honda's best feature: traction. When we do not follow that path we don't have a strong feature and that is why we suffered in those races”.

And where do you think you need to improve? How do you feel about your physical problems?
“Now we have a few weeks' break and I am sure that we will feel much better afterwards, because week after week I did not improve too much. It is something we have suffered, but we had to compete and we did not think too much about it. There are many things I must improve of my riding, also with this bike. I have been learning in the last races, but the lack of experience with the Honda does not help. It will be beautiful to have more experience to know that a certain set-up works in a certain way, and that it is good to follow that path when we lack grip or when it is difficult to turn. With a little more experience maybe we could have even less bad moments, so I think that with a bit more experience we will improve those points, because they were are weaknesses in the last races”.

What do you ask for the second half of the season?
“Honestly, the best thing that can happen is that it is the same as the first half! To arrive with more than the rest to the end of the season is our main objective. I want to achieve even more victories, I want to do my best until the end of the season. The bike is good, is fast, I am riding well, but the problem is that I have very strong rivals that do the same. We will have to wait and see what we can do in the second half of the season, but I am sure it will be a tough championship”.

What are your plans for these free days before going to the Czech Republic?
“I don't have many plans, just try to recover from my injuries and if I am able to recover enough, then start training again before the beginning of the next part of the season. This year, since Le Mans I have been sick or injured and it was very difficult to find time to train, so it would be good just to get back to the track in full form”.





Pedrosa


The Repsol rider takes advantage of the summer break to recover physically and confront the last eight Grand Prix of the season in the best form
The Le Mans crash, which prevented him to take points in four races, did not reduce Dani Pedrosa's confidence, and he came back to the championship more eager than ever. The Repsol Honda Team rider already has two victories and three podium —two of them consecutive in the last two races—, with still half of the season to be held. Pedrosa is confident to achieve a good form, before the next round in Brno, in order to increase the number of wins to his name.

Laguna Seca is always the halfway point of the season and the start of the short summer break. Will you be able to switch off? What are your plans?
“My plan is to recover, because my muscles are very stiff, so I will try to rest a bit to allow them to relax. When I feel better, I intend to train in order to avoid feeling so week in the second half of the races”.

This season you had very high expectations, but you had a really difficult first half. Despite that, you nearly did more wheelies than ever, in Jerez, Estoril and Sachsenring. What is your assessment of this first half of the season?
“My opinion of these races is that I competed well, but I was unlucky”.

They say that after falling, the important thing is to pick you up. You really picked you up in style! You had unexpected victories in Portugal and Germany. Do your wins of this year have a special flavour?
“These victories have a very special taste indeed. Especially after the injuries I suffered, as I was never at 100%. These wins give me a high level of confidence. My rivals are in full form, so I am eager to recover my form too so that I can fight against them on equal terms”.

The end of your bike's life cycle is approaching, but until the end of the season, in which areas should it be improved?
“The stability and the entrance of the corners are always complicated matters; especially in the tracks with more bumps. Anyway, the bike is responding very well for now”.

This year we have seen some falls in the first minutes of the practices, due to the difficulty to warm and feel the tyres. Have you gone backwards in that area?
“Yes, undoubtedly. Now the tyres, both the front and the rear, when they are cold they are a bit more dangerous. In this first half of the season we saw that nearly all crashes occurred when the tyres were new”.

How do you see your main rivals?
“They are doing a good job. I have been out of competition, which made it a bit easier for them. The competition is very close. There is a very high level, but we could say that none of us is at 100%. Jorge made some mistakes and only Stoner has been the most consistent”.

What aims do you set for yourself in the rest of the races?
“My aim is to recover my full form and thus be able to win some races”.

How do you feel both physically and mentally for these eight Grand Prix?
“Right now I am not at 100%, but I hope to recover progressively race after race and let's hope that I will be able to fight back in the end”.





Dovizioso

The Repsol rider, firmly in third position of the overall standings, is optimist for the second half of the season
In his third season at the Repsol Honda Team, Andrea Dovizioso reaches the summer break firmly placed in third position of the World Championship, after getting four podiums and gathering points in all races. Always among the fastest of the category, the Italian rider is showing a great consistency that keeps him in the first places of the premiere category of the Motorcycling World Championship.

What are your plans for these free days?
“Family holidays, five days in Sardinia, resting at the beach with my family and my friends to relax and gather energy for Brno”.

Are you satisfied with your third overall position?
“With the third position, yes, but not with the difference to Casey and Jorge. Fifty points are too many, but there is nothing impossible”.

What is your assessment of this first half of the season?
“I want to see the positive side and we are third of the championship, I had never been so strong in all races as this year. So I am very happy with the job of the team and of the feeling of the bike, but naturally, our aim is to fight for the championship and right now, we are not competitive enough to set up an strategy to do it. Anyway, we are well placed in the championship and there are still eight races ahead, so we have to believe. We will see which result we get in the end”.

We have seen you in the second and third steps of the podium. What does Andrea Dovizioso need to fight for victory?
“It is very difficult because the level is very high. Lorenzo is having a great season, Casey [Stoner] is very strong and Dani [Pedrosa], when he is in good form, sets the difference. It is really very difficult to try and beat them. I mean, beating all of them at the same time, because sometimes one and sometimes the other is in front”.

Which race do you prefer of the rounds held with Repsol Honda until now?
“I think the Mugello race this year was beautiful. To ride in Mugello, fighting for victory and achieving the second position after a battle in front of the Italian fans was something important. Feeling their support was such a great feeling that I will always remember it”.

If you could go back in time, is there a decision of the ones you took during the first half of the season, both out or in a race, that you would change?
“No. I think that we have achieved the maximum we could do with what we had, except in Laguna Seca, where the max was to be fourth and we did not get it. But until then I did all I could. It is not enough, because we want to fight for the Championship, but I believe we could do nothing more”.

How do you see Pedrosa, Stoner and Lorenzo at this moment and what do you think it can happen in the fight for the title between Stoner and Lorenzo?
“It will undoubtedly be very difficult to reduce the distance to Lorenzo and Casey, because when they go well, they win, and if not, they are on the podium. It is very difficult, but I want to believe in my chances and we will see. I think Dani is in a better situation, because he has less pressure and he is very fast, so he can fight for victory in all races”.

Of the races left, which one you are most looking forward too?
“Probably Malaysia. The Sepang circuit is one of my favourite tracks. It is amazing to ride there with a MotoGP bike”.

Dans le même genre une interview de Shuhei Nakamoto devrait (normalement) paraitre (en français) ce soir 22 août dans Moto GP.com le site sur les Honda et le carburant... pas inintéressant

c'est vrai le nous est de rigueur

N'ayant pas vu passer l'interview de Nakamoto en français (mais je l'ai peut-être loupée) sur le site MotoGP.com la voilà



Interview to Shuhei Nakamoto, Vice-president of HRC



The challenge for HRC and Repsol: more power, less consumption


The rider, the bike, the tyres and the engineers are the four key factors in the performance of a motorsport racing team. At the Repsol Honda Team, the fuel and lubricant are also decisive factors.
When Repsol landed in the official Honda HRC team —the strongest team of the Motorcycling World Championship— back in 1995, one of the main objectives of the Spanish energy company and his Japanese partner was the joint development of their own fuel and lubricant that will offer new characteristics compared with what was used at that time.

With an intense joint work, the Repsol and HRC engineers developed the fuel of the current 4-stroke bikes and the success arrived soon. The introduction in 2012 of the 1000cc engines is a new challenge for the researchers of the Repsol Technology Centre and for the HRC engineers. To speak about the importance of research, development and innovation in top level racing, nobody better than Shuhei Nakamoto, Honda HRC vice-president and spearhead of the Repsol Honda Team at the Motorcycling World Championship.

“Thanks to the fuel that our partner Repsol supplies to us, consumption has been reduced; our engines use a little less and that is due to the fuel. We work very closely with our partners, in fact, we have a test MotoGP engine at the Repsol Technology Centre of the company in Mostoles. For some time our engineers travel to Madrid regularly to collaborate with them and their Spanish counterparts due the same, visiting our headquarters in Saitama”, explains Nakamoto.

At the World Championship, working at the top level and managing significant budgets, consumption is supposed to be unimportant, but it is not so, as one of the technical rules that regulate a MotoGP bike's architecture is specifically the limitation of the fuel tank's capacity to 21 litres. That means that for Sunday's race the bike of the premiere category have a limited quantity available to complete all laps. Taking into account that those bikes have great power and need to keep their competitive level during the whole race, to achieve a lower consumption was undoubtedly a great challenge for the Repsol and HRC engineers.

“There are two notable aspects when it comes to fuel. The first one is that a good fuel must offer a significant improvement to the engine's set-up and its response, making the power curve more usable. The second important point is consumption and its reduction, which allows to have a good fuel, always keeping the same performance level. This becomes even more difficult when at the time of developing a fuel you need to take into account the current FIM regulations, as before it was easier to find points for improvement, specially in the power department, but now the FIM applies many restrictions to fuel development”, states Nakamoto.

“And another of the challenges for racing fuel and lubricant is to keep the engine in perfect conditions during the maximum possible number of kilometres, thus increasing its lifespan”, adds the head of the Repsol Honda Team.

“The combustion process is the result of mixing fuel and air. A basic concept is that you can have the same performance and power with more air and less fuel. This way fuel is saved and the weight of the bike is reduced. Due to the evolution done by our HRC personnel together with the Repsol engineers, we achieved a fuel that, despite offering the same performance as fuels from other brands, allows us to reduce consumption and, in this moments —with the 21 litre limitation— is a particularly valuable feature. We can say that with the fuel developed jointly with Repsol we achieved a better proportion between fuel and air”.


Energy efficiency and environmental care

To the technical requirements add to the concerns for the environment. “The rule that compels us to have a tank of a 21-litre maximum capacity is a great challenge. We had to adapt ourselves to the environment and starting with the experience we have in MotoGP, we can apply that knowledge afterwards to other engines of daily use for the road. Both Honda HRC and Repsol are concerned about the environment, so our work is aimed at reducing consumption and emissions, but always keeping the highest performance level in such a technically demanding competition as the MotoGP World Championship”.

To that end, the knowledge exchange between Honda HRC and Repsol is constant. The MotoGP experience is transferred to the Honda factories and the Repsol service stations. “Both in Honda HRC and in Repsol we are very conscious of the importance of environmental care, so we use technical solutions in racing that we know that when applied to production engines can offer more performance while respecting the environment. Japanese environmental and emissions regulations are very strict, so we have a lot of experience in that field in production engines. In fact, I am able to confirm that the development of the 1000cc bike engine we will use the next season has some aspects of the technology of production engines that Honda equips in specific models of its production bikes”.

Continuing with the consumption concept, Nakamoto adds: “While last year the development of the fuel jointly with the Repsol engineers was focused in achieving the performance of the 1000cc engine we are developing, this year our engineers and Repsol's centred their job in consumption and in reducing it to the minimum possible quantity. The new 2010 regulations offers us a great challenge: same fuel capacity (21 litres) for higher displacement and power with the 1000cc engine. Thus the key will not be to achieve a higher horsepower, but to reduce the consumption for a higher performance. It is a great technological challenge for the Honda HRC and Repsol engineers”.

“These new rules are an incentive to keep working for the environment. This leading fuel technology that is being developed by Repsol will be available, sooner or later, in their service stations, thus benefiting the final costumer and, above all, the environment”, concludes Nakamoto.

A "fast" Mobil Economy Run ....