Czech Republic GP Brno Moto2
Brno in the Czech Republic traditionally opens the second half of the MotoGP Season and the 5.4 km circuit with its dramatic changes of elevation poses severe strain on tyres, the downhill sections demanding very hard front compounds. The weekend saw changeable weather with the Sunday morning warm-up sessions and the 125cc race run on wet tyres whilst the track was almost fully dry for the Moto2 race.
Technomag CIP’s Shoya Tomizawa prevented Fimmco Speed Up rider Andrea Iannone from making it four pole position in a row, claiming the premium grid position with a qualifying time of 2’03.452. Iannone took the second grid position posting a time 0.232 seconds behind Tomizawa, followed by current championship leader Gresini Moriwaki’s Toni Elias (+0.289) and Roberto Rolfo on the Italtrans Suter bike (+0.342).
The race started badly for Iannone with him immediately back to 10th position, whilst Tomizawa stayed at the front of the leading pack for the first 3 laps, before engine problems caused him to slow and drop down the order. Lap 6 saw Iannone return to the race lead which he managed to extend whilst the chasing pack which was headed by Rolfo until he was forced to retire with an engine problem 8 laps before the finish. Toni Elias managed to pick away at Iannone’s lead once he broke free of the chasing group, consistently running in the 2’04s, before taking the lead on lap 12. Iannone then struggled to hold on to second position, as Tech3’s Yuki Takahashi posted consistent fast laps, finally taking Iannone on the 18th lap to ensure his second podium of the season just 2.312 seconds behind Elias. Iannone completed the Podium with Jules Cluzel on the Forward Racing bike finishing in fourth followed by Mapfre Aspar’s Julian Simon. The result means that Elias extends his lead in the championship to 55pts on 161pts.
“I felt I had a good rhythm to lap in 2.04 throughout the race,” said Tony Elias, “and once I got my head down, I could retain this pace, setting the fastest lap on L16 of the 20 lap race.”
“It’s quite apparent that riders are picking up on the benefits of the asymmetric tyre, as most comments from the weekend were about the improved left hand grip and faster heat up time that it gave” commented Clinton Howe, Dunlop Race Engineer. “This was also apparent in the cooler and damp conditions that were witnessed.”
Date: 15/08/2010
Track name: Brno
Track length: 5403 m.
Track temp: 30 ° C / Ambient temp: 24 ° C
Spectators: 148,120
TYRE SPECS FOR THIS RACE
Front: C - Medium, Single-Tread / E - Hard, Single Tread
Rear: C - Medium / F - Medium Asymmetric
