Monaco Baby!!

The glitz, the glam and the fashion (name that tune)... and Formula 1 cars. That's right, it's Monaco Baby!
The Principality holds host to one of the most prestigious races on the calendar. By night its a road by day it's a race track, you can have a drink at Rascasse along with many other corners, the nightlife spilling out on to the track, it's hard to imagine that a mere few hours earlier and later there's 24 drivers racing around the Monaco playground.

Qualifying was an eventful one with a new pole sitter, or shall i say a returning veteran... Michael Schumacher! Sadly though he had a five place grid penalty from Spain from his incident with Bruno Senna so pole went to Mark Webber, which was his first of the year.
Pastor Maldonado is very much a racer with two sides - a fast, composed driver who get's the job done and a fiery, less composed driver; in Monaco (his favourite circuit) during FP3 he was showing the latter and made a dangerous move on Sergio Perez. Maldonado was given a grid penalty, then his team decided on a gearbox change which demoted him to the back of the grid, ironically behind Perez as the Mexican yet again didn't have a good qualifying around the streets of Monaco and crashed out, not setting a time.

The Race:
It was pole sitter Mark Webber that led the pack in to the first corner, followed by Nico Rosberg, who is one of many drivers who live in Monaco however is one that has grown up in the Principality.
The Ferrari's were on the pace at the weekend, with Felipe Massa having his best qualifying of his season so far.

Of course a Monaco GP wouldn't be complete without an appearance of the safety car and it was out to lead the cars by the end of Lap 1 after numerous incidents. The first being Pastor Maldonado getting to close for confort with HRT Pedro de la Rosa, the Williams driver had a battered front nose while the HRT's rear wing looked more like a flat packed box.
Romain Grosjean was the cause of the other incident, banging the wheels of Michael Schumacher and a Ferrari, spinning round and causing many drivers to cut the chicane to take avoiding action.
With the Monaco marshalls doing an amazing job at clearing the debri and cars quickly, the race was on it's way again. A driver who did particularly well was Heikki Kovalainen who was verging on championship points, battling with a struggling Jenson Button. Kovalainen finished in 13th.

Red Bull got tactical with Sebastian Vettel to ensure that Mark Webber would stay ahead and for Vettel to finish in the top 5 with a chance of a podium - The team kept him out on soft tyre's for as long as possible, hoping to jump Hamilton, Alonso and possibly Rosberg in the pits, which was half successful as he got out in front of a frustrated Lewis Hamilton but had to settle in behind Alonso, finishing the race in 4th.

With a fairly standard race in between the first and last laps, as predicted there was little over taking.
Water was the main topic throughout the race; the stuff that falls from the sky and sends teams on the pit wall crazy. 'It's going to rain in 15 minutes'... 'Rain in 5'... *Few drops of rain later*...'No more rain expected'... 'Rain could be coming within the next 10 laps'.... you get the picture, where in actual fact other than a few spots, rain missed the race completely and bucketed it down after.
The last few laps were incredibly tense, with 10 or so laps to go. The top 5 became bunched up, not being able to afford to slip up however it also meant that nobody wanted to pit either and so they all hung on to finish the race. Further down the grid Jean-Eric Vergne took a costly risk, switching to wet tyre's with the pending threat of the rain that never materialised, costing him a top ten finish.

Red Bull brought it home again in Monaco, for the third year in row for the team, Mark Webber finished in 1st which broke Formula 1 records with the 6th different winner in as many races! Perfect excuse's for a third Monaco pool party at the RBR energy station!!
Nico Rosberg made his second appearance on the podium finishing in 2nd place around his home town, in the 3rd spot was Fernando Alonso. Sebastian Vettel who had a brilliant race finished in 4th followed by Lewis Hamilton in 5th, team mate Jenson Button retired.

RESULTS:
Fastest Lap: Sergio Perez: 1:17.296

Podium:

[1st-Mark Webber, 2nd-Nico Rosberg, 3rd-Fernando Alonso]

& Adrian Newey.

Favourite helmet:

Monaco is one race of the year (unless you are Sebastian Vettel) where a few drivers will modify their helmets, glaming it up or tribute's to their favourite driver. 

I have two favourites:

Sebastian Vettel's sequin helmet; i like the idea of it and it's a twist on the usual diamonds featured on drivers helmets, apparently it took 15 hours and had over 1,000 sequins, to however made it, hats off to you!

My second is Kimi Raikkonen's tribute James Hunt helmet, i learnt that Kimi is/was a big fan of the late Brit racer and so am i, so naturally i like the helmet a lot as it's a replica of Hunt's.

NEXT UP:
MotoGP in Barcelona, a home race for a lot of riders in all three series, let's hope it's a good show for the Spanish fans!

Le Mans

Seeing as it's wednesday now, i'm not going to write up a race low down. Low down's, although are fairly short, do take me a reasonable time to research and type up. My blog is more of an outlet for my motorsport ramblings to get it out my system and in all honesty, i started to write up a race low down on the Moto3 class... it was so long  it wasn't even a low down, and i wasn't happy about how i typed it, the race was just incredible and the same applies for Moto2 and MotoGP.
Le Mans was one of those few races where all three classes were intense, brilliant racing. No blog post would do it justice so i urge you to go and watch it if you can (iplayer it if you live in the UK).

Moto3 Podium:

[1st-Louis Rossi, 2nd-Alberto Moncayo, 3rd-Alex Rins]

Moto2 Podium:

[1st-Thomas Luthi, 2nd-Claudio Corti, 3rd-Scott Redding]

MotoGP Podium:

[1st-Jorge Lorenzo, 2nd-Valentino Rossi, 3rd-Casey Stoner]

NEXT UP:   MONACO BABY!

Tomorrow the Principality will be graced with the sound of Formula 1 cars once again. There's something very special about Monaco and i can't wait for the weekend to start! 

Casey Stoner

During the Le Mans press conference today Casey Stoner announced he will be retiring at the end of the current season.
Honestly, i'm not that surprised. After watching an interview he done with Azi Farni for the MotoGP website in the off-season shortly after his baby girl was born, he hinted that either this year or next year could be then end of the road. He stated he wanted to watch her grow up, to be able to spend more time with his family away from the sport and pursue other interests while he can.
He's always been open over the last few years that he'd likely end up retiring early than most and at 27 years old (by the time he retires) he looks to be set for the quiet life after this season.

Casey's retirement will be a huge loss to the sport; he represents the Aussies, he's a brilliant rider and most of all he's a genuine, nice guy.
I really admire the fact he's come to the conclusion that he does want to retire, for most drivers it's a distant thought and the longer they can ride in MotoGP the better - its their world, their passion and it's a sacrifice they make. For some riders they don't even get to think about retiring, they're taken from the world too soon. MotoGP is a dangerous sport, you never know what might happen next but with the down's there are some pretty amazing high's. Casey's got a lot of guts to give it all up.

Double world Champion (2007&2011) 

From what he said during the press conference here, it's the right decision for him to make. It's sad when a rider or driver loses his passion for the sport he's devoted his life to. In the time he's been riding the sport has changed an awful lot as well and i can imagine he's proberly not alone with his feelings that the sport might not be heading in the best direction.

He's going to bow out the sport being a double World Champion, maybe even a triple World Champion, in my opinion he's got a lot more to lose than he has to gain. 

I hope he can enjoy the rest of the season and wish him all the very best for 2013 onwards! He deserves the family time. 

Thank you Casey Stoner for being a big part of my MotoGP watching years! You'll be missed!

Another race, another winner - F1

I've been starring at a blank page for a while because in all honesty i think i'm still processing the weekends events and wondering how exactly can i convey such a roller-coaster weekend in to a blog post.
I know for this 2012 Formula 1 season i'm repeating myself by saying 'where do i begin' but this race weekend in Spain has been a whirlwind of emotions to the very end.

So, i'll start with the events of qualifying.
Tyre's were the talking point of quali (as usual). With the familiar back qualifiers it was the mid-field shock that stricked again. This time it was McLaren's Jenson 'understeer and no grip' Button and Red Bull's Mark Webber, both of whom looked unsettled throughout qualifying, they finished 11th and 12th respectively which meant they were knocked out in Q2.
Button's team mate Lewis Hamilton put in a mega lap which saw him take pole... and that is when the drama began.
Hamilton was unable to return to the pits after his lap, stopping out on track. Rules are rules and the rules state every car has to return to the pits with one litre of fuel on board under a practise session (which qualifying comes under) - enough to provide a sample. Under fueling Lewis Hamilton gave him an unfair advantage to his competitors. However, the FIA came to the conclusion that he would be excluded from quali and ended up being demoted from pole to the back of the grid.
Fans took to social networks, many agreeing that this was a harsh punishment as it was no fault of the driver; a reasonable penalty would have been deleting his Q3 lap time and basing his time from his Q2 lap which would have dropped him to just outside the top 10.
With Hamilton starting at the back (behind the HRT driver Narain Karthikeyan who was outside the 107% rule, fair or unfair?) meant that the pole was handed over to Pastor Maldonado, Williams' first pole since Nico Hulkenberg's wonder lap in Brazil 2010.

The race:
When the five lights went out the race to the first corner began. Fernando Alonso was the one, as predicted, who led the pack by Turn 2, though Pastor Maldonado didn't yield easily and stayed on the back end of the prancing horse in front of both Lotus drivers, setting the first fastest lap of the race. Lewis Hamilton had a stormer of a start from the back of the grid, making up five places in half a lap.
A clash between Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez saw the Sauber driver pick up a puncture, having to pit changing to the hard tyre (the preferred compound)
Lap 7 was when the first of the scheduled pit stops began with Mark Webber pitting for fresh rubber followed by Timo Glock and Kamui Kobayashi. Meanwhile, Hamilton was still out for making up places to get to the front, by the end of Lap 9 he was in 12th position.
McLaren's first pit stop was for JB... a clean pit stop, something McLaren are lacking in however a later stop with Hamilton didn't run as smoothly, bumping over a tyre on exit from his box.
Lap 14 saw the first gravel trap trip and it was Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher who underestimated Bruno Senna's braking point and went in the back of him, shattering his front wing and veering off in the gravel, throwing his steering wheel out the car and calling Senna an 'idiot'. Senna said after his race that he was expecting Schumacher to pass on the inside, not the outside, subsequently breaking earlier. Bruno Senna later retired to the pits after his getting together with Schumacher.
Lap 26 is where it possibly all went wrong for Fernando Alonso, Maldonado pitted for fresh tyre's - on return to the track he bashed out a few fast laps making up time to the Spaniard while Alonso was being held up by Marussia's Charles Pic after ignoring blue flags. Pic got handed a diver-through penalty but retired himself after an issue with the car.
Jenson Button had a topsy-turvey race, suffering from grip issues (now fair to say this is an on going joke) battling with Felipe Massa for position. Button finished the race in 9th, while Massa dropped off the pace and finished down in 15th.
Hamilton finished the race in 8th, in front of teammate Button, after starting from 24th that is quite a performance, a blast from the young Lewis Hamilton's past driving corker races.
The last pit stops of the race were nervy one's, Maldonado was held in his box for longer that he should have as the team were sorting his tyre's. Ferrari's stop was smooth and exactly what they needed.
Kimi Raikkonen led the race on Lap 46, with old tyre's on he was slower than both Maldonado and Alonso. The Venezuelan was able to ease past Raikkonen however the 'flying Finn' did a good job of holding Alonso up enough to make a difference for the rest of the race, after the Spaniard was able the pass for 2nd position he kept close to the leader. Keeping calm and collected, something we aren't always used to seeing for Pastor Maldonado, he kept focused and more importantly kept the Ferrari in his wing mirrors. At the end of the race Alonso's tyre's were through, wear from being so close behind the Williams car had taken it's toll.
The chequered flag was out and it was Pastor Maldonado that crossed the line first, followed by Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen joining him on the podium.
Williams first podium since Brazil 2004 - notice the South American theme! A fitting win for Sir Frank Williams 70th birthday - Happy Birthday Sir Frank and a massive congratulations to him and the team!!! A win the whole of Formula 1 will be glad and happy to see.

RESULTS:

Fastest Lap: Romain Grosjean: 1:26.250

Podium:

[1st-Pastor Maldonado, 2nd-Fernando Alonso, 3rd-Kimi Raikkonen]

The weekend unfortunately ended terribly for Williams. During celebrations in the pit garage shortly after the race a horrific fire broke out. Many mechanics from different teams instantly went to put the fire out, which pumped out a lot of nasty smoke. Frank Williams, his family and Pastor's family along with team members, film crews and outside friends and family were among those inside the pit box and in the pit lane at the time. Nobody was seriously injured but many mechanics who helped extinguish the fire got taken to the medical centre for treatment (smoke inhalation and suspected minor burns) A few of those got taken to local hospitals and all got released except one who is still under observation but is stable and will be released soon - so reports say. Hopefully all those effected will have a speedy recovery.
Teams continue to unite together and have offered to lend Williams any kit they need for Monaco after extensive fire damage to a lot of the equipment in the garage at the time.

*Michael Schumacher will have a five place grid penalty in Monaco after the incident with Bruno Senna during the Spanish GP.

Next Up:
Back to the bikes as we now head in to every other weekend for both MotoGP and Formula 1 instead of these long 3 week breaks, phew.
This weekend MotoGP heads to Le Mans in France.

Estoril low down

It was a mixed weekend over in Portugal for the MotoGP weekend. Weather effected all three classes practise on Friday with little to no running for some riders, with improvements in weather conditions qualifying kicked up some nasty crashes and gobsmacking saves.
The MotoGP bikes in quali seemed to have a mind of their own, the save of the season has to go to Ivan Silva who, while holding on in an attempt to stay on the bike, hit the throttle and done a spectacular wheelie, saving the bike and going on his merry way (although he later had a unpleasant crash in warm up) however a few minutes later a nasty crash occurred between Randy De Puniet and Colin Edwards - Edwards was off the racing line on a slow lap while RDP was on a hot lap, just as he was sweeping past, the bike went down and collected Edwards. The weekend was over for Colin sustaining a broken collarbone. Both being rather beat up Randy was able to take part in the race.

Moto3:
It was a battle between Sandro Cortese (who started on pole for the second time this season) and Maverick Vinales, hot on their exhausts was the familiar name of Louis Salom but up in the battle for a podium spot were also Efron Vazquez (JHK T-shirt Laglisse) and Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Airasia-Sic-Ajo)
The first half of the race was the usual mix in order however with every lap the race hot up, a tight battle between Brit Danny Kent and Italian Romano Fenati saw them both duel for position till confidence got the better of both the riders and ended up running wide together losing several places, soon after Romano Fenati crashed out the race on Lap 9 along with Louis Rossi who had a strong start to the race.
The latter stage of the race was intense racing, tactical Cortese stayed close behind Vinales, both lapping similar times. When the chequered flag was near with a few laps to go the battle was on, swapping and changing position countless times making your mind boggle with who was leading who. The last half a lap was nail biting (seriously, i have no nails left) they came up against lapped riders, getting mixed up with them and eager to get his first Moto3 win Sandro Cortese pulled out some agressive (but not over-agressive or dangerous in my opinion) moves on Maverick Vinales to take the first step of the podium!
Vinales wasn't too happy after the race, his fiery Spanish side and lack of experience in these 'situations' got the better of him, his team having to assure him that Cortese was within his rights, while Sandro himself was full of smiles, a season he needs to make an impression on and that he is certainly doing!
Louis Salom joined them on the podium after a great fight with Zulfahmi Khairuddin who put his stamp on the race and was close to being the first Malaysian rider to grace the podium, i'm sure we'll be seing more of him in future races.
Although it proved an exciting race, promising Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira retired due to a mechanical failure after such promising practise and Qualifying, bad luck Miguel.

Retirements: Jasper Iwema (8 laps), Romano Fenati (9 laps), Louis Rossi (9 laps), Issac Vinales (10 laps), Danny Webb (15 laps), Adrian Martin (17 laps), Miguel Oliveira (20 laps)

[Sandro Cortese-1st, Maverick Vinales-2nd, Louis Salom-3rd]

Moto2:
There seems to never be a dull race in Moto2 and Estoril was no different.
Marc Marquez led the first lap but by the second it was Thomas Luthi who was in front, Marquez, Pol Espargaro and Johann Zarco all staying within over taking distance of each other. Luthi led for the majority of the race with the fight for podium going on, not far behind the top 4 were Scott Redding and Andrea Iannone pushing hard though once again Redding dropped off rapidly to the middle of the pack finishing in 11th. Iannone was on a charge but a mistake on Lap 11 saw him temporarily run his own race off-track, re-joining and eventually finishing in 5th.
Lap 17 was when any hope of a victory started to get less likely for Luthi as he wasn't able to pull a gap from Marquez and Espargaro who both over took the Swiss and they themselves pulled out a gap.
For the second race running the victory would either be Pol Espargaro's or Marc Marquez's. With quite a few chop and changes (after all this is Moto2 - nothing can be decided with only a few changes in lead) a fierce spat between both Spaniards and it was Pol who was first to slip, not literally but he ran wide at the chicane on the last lap and it was all over, 2nd place was the place he'd finish, giving the win to Marquez.
A hand-shake on the cool down lap (Maverick Vinales take note) Espargaro was gracious in defeat both riders enjoyed the rivalry and happy to be on podium. Once again joining them was Thomas Luthi.

Retirements: Mike de Meglio (6 laps), Simone Corsi (7 laps), Axel Pons (17 laps), Yuki Takahashi (21 laps)

[Marc Marquez-1st, Pol Espargaro-2nd, Thomas Luthi-3rd]

MotoGP:
MotoGP seems to be back to it's own familiar pattern (which i know some fans are finding... less interesting) With both Qatar and Jerez behind him it was Casey Stoner that has well and truly returned to his previous seasons form - winning by a mile.
What i'd like to type: 'it was a a close battle between front runner Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo both pinching the lead of each other throughout the race...'
What really happened: Casey Stoner had a terrific start and led the race from start to finish, pulling out a big enough gap from Lorenzo in which all Lorenzo could do was sniff the exhaust fumes from the Honda rider.
That was the story from the front of the pack and all though a very deserving race for Stoner and his pure skill to pull away from the pack for the whole race it does get a bit mundane doesn't it (but then all though i try to be as un-biased as possible on my blog i am a Lorenzo fan so this is very frustrating)
Further down it was Valentino Rossi, that i think i can safely say every MotoGP fan was happy for him, finding a bit of pace he was able to stay consistant and cross the line in 7th - the highest he's finished all season, feeling more at one with the bike i hope Ducati are on the right road but teammate Nicky Hayden had an appalling race finishing in 11th, apparently the bike was all out of sync, not handling like it should. As i've said before it's either or in the Ducati team it seems, fingers crossed that they'll soon have both riders up there on form.
Talking of form it was another disappointing race for Yamaha's Ben Spies, although he took 8th from race rival Stefan Bradl, who may i say is having a great rookie year for LCR Honda, Spies had a positive start up at the front however he himself admitting his over-confidence with finally feeling like he was in control, led him to make several errors during the first half of the race. Feeling the pressure that comes with lack of performance but finally being at one with his bike maybe we'll see him up there in Le Mans.
Having a corker of a season is the Tech 3 Yamaha's of Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow, both having a race between themselves and finishing 4th and 5th respectively.

Fastest CRT: Aleix Espargaro

Retirements: Karel Abraham (5 laps), James Ellison (10 laps), Yonny Hernandez (12 laps), Mattia Pasini (17 laps), Ivan Silva (17 laps)

[Casey Stoner-1sr, Jorge Lorenzo-2nd, Dani Pedrosa-3rd]

Next up:
Formula 1 is back this weekend in Spain for the start of the European races followed the week after by MotoGP at Le Mans for the French Grand Prix.

Imola 1994

I may have been too young to understand what a huge impact this weekend had on not only the motorsport community but the world as a whole, to a certain extent i think it still exists today, i think it always will do.
Most people regard Imola 1994 to be the darkest weekend of motorsport ever. The weekend was a disaster from the start.

Friday 29th April 1994, practise: Rubens Barichello was involved in a high speed crash, hospitalised but with no major life-threatening injuries it was nothing short of a miracle he is still with us today.
This was just the start of the dark weekend...

Saturday 30th April 1994, qualifying: Roland Ratzenberger was involved in a fatal crash involving no other cars. Roland was a lovely guy, much loved by the paddock. Sitting lifeless in his cock pit it was a devastating reminder of the dangers of motorsport, after a relatively long break (1982-1994) from the last Formula 1 fatality. The spirit of the paddock didn't exist, it was replaced with sadness, heavy hearts and tears at the loss of a great racer. Roland's death particularly effected good friend Ayrton Senna, who was torn to pieces at the death of his fellow racer.
Senna was a racing driver though like all the other drivers, giving up was not an option, he still wanted to race despite not having a clear state of mind.

Sunday 1st May 1994, race day: While the fans and the paddock were still coming to terms with Ratzenberger's death, the race was still going ahead.
Imola 1994 came to a tragic end, Brazilian racer Ayrton Senna crashed. It was the last time the world saw him race, Ayrton like Roland died what he loved doing in a place that was his second home - his Formula 1 car.
Senna was idolised, not only in Brazil but across the world, he was a true racer, living and breathing the sport. For him, there was no option to quit the only option was to race and win, after all 'being second is to be the first of the one's who lose.' His death (along with Roland's) left a huge hole in the motorsport world.

From the film 'Senna' every time i watch the part of the Imola 1994 i get a lump in my throat, sitting in silence, you feel the pain, the emotions. From a fans point of view, i was only a young child in 1994 but in a very warped way i feel blessed, not about the death's of Roland or Ayrton but the fact Formula 1 now is a lot safer, and as the motorsport community has seen in recent months, Formula 1 has become one of the 'safer' motoring events, Ayrton's the last life to be lost at the wheel of an F1 car. 18 years on and we've been lucky not to experience a life lost in F1, something i think Formula 1 should take a lot pride in, here's to another 18 years!

Imola '94, is a weekend many fans (friend's family and F1 people) will always remember, the world lost two great racers that weekend, along with every driver that died before them, i hope they are Racing In Paradise, no rest for the wicked after all!

Legends are never forgotten ♥

** I'm sure everyone has an image in their head when you think of your favourite driver, or a legendary driver etc for me it is this particular image. I think it captures Ayrton best; no matter in or out of the car, racing was always at the front of his mind, he wanted to improve, know everything and anything worth knowing. His iconic helmet and championship winning overalls, McLaren car in the distance, with a focused face. I can't explain just how much i love this and always will.

Jerez low down

Jerez is a familiar circuit for the majority of the riders, especially the local Spaniards but with mixed conditions throughout the weekend it didn't run as smoothly, for others the rainy weather was a bonus.

Moto3
The mixed conditions hit Moto3 the hardest in so far as the amount of crashes with the rain getting the better of almost half the grid. It was the 16 year old Italian Romano Fenati that proved Qatar was not a fluke and that he really does have serious talent; Fenati led from the start, remaining calm and collected on the damp track. Turn 9 was the make or break for the riders with wet patches catching out a lot of them.

Once again there was an exciting battle for the last podium position between Luis Salom, who finished 2nd, Sandro Cortese, who finished 3rd and Alex Rins who missed out on a podium and finished 4th.
Title favourite Maverick Vinales only managed to finish 6th after a few major mistakes at the start which saw him drop down to 28th, his cousin Issac crashed out on lap 17, not the best day for the Vinales'. The race result means Fenati now leads the Moto3 championship, he has a 10 point advantage over spaniard Vinales.

Riders that crashed out of the race:
[Riders who didn't finish first lap]: Jack Miller, Danny Kent, Simone Grotzkyj - A suspected collarbone fracture for Miller and contusions for Kent.
Others: Adrian Martin (21 laps), Kenta Fujii (8 laps, wrist injury), Danny Webb (9 laps), Louis Rossi (14 laps), Issac Vinales (17 laps), Josep Rodriguez (19 laps), Miguel Oliveira (20 laps), Arthur Sissis (20 laps, contusions to chest and hands), Jakob Kornfeil (21 laps), Brad Binder (21 laps), Afren Vazquez (21 laps), Niklas Ajo (21 laps), Toni Finsterbusch (21 laps), Luigi Morciano (21 laps)

*Niklas Ajo will not be at Estoril after a dispute with a track official.

[1st-Romano Fenati, 2nd Louis Salom, 3rd Sandro Cortese]

Moto2
The weather caused ever more havoc during the Moto2 race; with a strong start by the front runners, the battle was on between Marc Marquez, Thomas Luthi, Scott Redding and Pol Espargaro, each taking the lead off of each countless times. Mika Kallio was also in the hunt early on but with the weather changing he made a diversion (he would have rather avoided) through the gravel dropping him back, he finished in 7th just ahead of Claudio Corti.

Scott Redding was one to watch from the start, he found himself racing for a podium spot after he qualified 12th on the grid. The Brit's chances of a win only lasted 4 laps but a podium was definitely in sight with a battle for 3rd, Swiss rider Thomas Luthi pipped him to it.
A cool track but heated riders, Pol Espargaro fought tooth and nail to hold off Marquez as the rain started falling, both knew the race could be red flagged.

With rain pouring down in Jerez the race was inevitably stopped, however not without confusion as on the lap the flagged was raised, Marquez was in the lead for half the lap, as well as crossing the line under the flag but ruled are rules and it went back to the previous fully completed lap where the last times and places had been recorded which meant Pol Espargaro won his first Moto2 race - even though he didn't know it at the time! Congrats Pol!
All but four of the Moto2 riders stayed on two wheels, Elena Rosell was the first to go out crashing on Lap 4, Marco Colandrea (6 laps), Mike di Meglio (8 laps) and Max Neukirchner (12 laps) were the other three.

[1st-Pol Espargaro, 2nd-Marc Marquez, 3rd-Thomas Luthi]

MotoGP
By the time the MotoGP race rolled around (i know i'm going on about the weather but it was an important factor) the rain had passed and the track was rapidly drying, with tyre wear being the main issue during the race.

Ducati once again were the talking point but on a more positive note this time, Nicky Hayden had a corker of a start to his race, after qualifying on the front row that is where he stayed for the first quarter of the race fending off the Tech 3 Yamaha's of Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso.
While Hayden was holding his place, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo where off in a fight of their own, a familiar sight of them breaking away from the pack. Dani Pedrosa wasn't too far away either.
Stefan Bradl held his own amongst the 'big dawg's' of Valentino Rossi and Alvaro Bautista, the rookie finished in 7th in a Gresini, Ducati sandwich however not Vale but Nicky. Hayden soon wore his tyre's out, with a fair few laps still to run he dropped back down the field to 8th, in front of his teammate. Worrying for the team (i promise i'll hop off the Ducati Bandwagon soon) that while Hayden was immersing himself at the front Rossi was still fighting down in 10th against a rider who is also have a bad start to his season, Ben Spies.
The same thing happened over at Yamaha, Lorenzo fighting for the win and Spies fighting for a point (which he didn't get and finished 11th) Hopefully we'll see them all back up the top sometime soon.

Cal Crutchlow put in another very impressive rider over the weekend, if he had a few more laps and his tyre's weren't dropping off i'm sure he would have taken 3rd off Pedrosa, fingers crossed for the weekend Cal (me bias? of course he's a Brit!)
Lorenzo just missed out on the win with his tyre's degrading rapidly on the last few laps handing the win to Stoner. It was first's for riders in all three classes as Stoner had never won at Jerez before so well done to him. He did suffer from slight arm pump again which is never a good thing, will he get it in Estoril at the weekend...

It was a good weekend for the Espargaro brother's as Pol's big bro Aleix was the fastest CRT (Aleix finished the race in 12th behind Spies) so another well done to him! I bet celebrations went on in their household!
One big disappointment for Randy de Puniet as the frenchman retired on the last lap after what looked like a bike with no fuel left, not a way you want to end so close to the finish line. Other retirements were James Ellison on Lap 24 (gearbox) Michele Pirro, 18 laps and Yonny Hernandez who stalled on the grid, started from the pit lane then came back in to the pit lane on the first lap.

[1st-Casey Stoner, 2nd-Jorge Lorenzo, 3rd- Dani Pedrosa]

Next Race: Estoril 4, 5, 6th May.

Also this week will be the Mugello Formula 1 test.