After coming agonisingly close to scoring a point on debut in Qatar, the regular test venue of the Circuito de Jerez is the venue for Mahindra’s next opportunity to take the battle to their more experienced opposition.

The 4.4km circuit is one which teams know well as it is frequently used for testing and the Spanish Grand Prix is one of the most popular races in the 17 race calendar. The track is a technical challenge with a wide range of corner types, meaning that rider and team will have to work closely to get the best set-up on the Mahindra GP125.

Finishing just 0.394 seconds away from a point finish in Qatar, 19 year-old Briton Danny Webb from Tunbridge Wells is eager to score Mahindra’s first points at second time of trying.

Danny Webb: “I’m looking forward to Jerez as for me it’s where the season really starts. In Qatar we made fantastic progress with the bike, especially with finding a good set-up and getting the suspension to work well with my riding style. Jerez is a track that I know well, but it’s one that every rider knows well as we test here so much.

Mufaddal Choonia – Team principal: “After our Qatar debut we now start the first of eight races in Europe, which is an important region for the growth of the Mahindra brand. The Spanish Grand Prix is a tremendously popular race and we are proud to showcase our qualities as the first Indian motorcycle manufacturer to enter the MotoGP World Championship in this highly competitive arena.”

The Spanish Grand Prix opens with practice sessions for the 125cc class on April 1, qualifying on April 2 and the race on April 3.

Source: Mahindra Racing

After a difficult start to the season in Qatar, where both Redding and Kallio finished outside the points, the Marc VDS riders head to Jerez determined to get their championship campaigns back on track with two strong results at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Jerez circuit is one at which the Marc VDS riders have enjoyed success in the past. Kallio took the race win in the 250cc class in 2008, to add to his 125cc podium finish three years earlier. While the Jerez podium has eluded Redding so far, the British rider previously finished fourth at the Spanish Grand Prix, during his second season in the 125cc World Championship.

Situated in southwest Spain, not far from the coastal city of Cadiz and on the outskirts of Jerez de la Frontera, the Circuito de Jerez has a complex layout, offering riders a real challenge. It boasts 13 turns over its 4.42km distance, with a combination of slow technical corners and fast sweeping turns making stability under braking and a good feeling from the front tyre critical when it comes to bike set-up.

Scott Redding #45: “Qatar was a complete fail as far as I’m concerned, but after two successful pre-season tests at Jerez, we head into this weekend knowing that we have the pace. The bike will suit the Jerez track better than it did Qatar; we have a pretty good base setting for this track already, which means we can be a bit adventurous with the set-up in practice, as we can always switch back if changes don’t work as expected. The fast corners here are where you make or lose time, so a good feeling with the front of the bike is important. This is one area in which we still have some work to do, but I’m confident that we can score a good result this weekend and get our season back on track.”

Michael Bartholemy: Team Manager
“We struggled in Qatar, so I’m happy to return to Jerez, where Scott and Mika were well and truly on the pace during pre-season testing. After the problems we had with tyres in Qatar, we know from testing here that the Dunlop tyres work well around the Jerez circuit, so that’s one less problem already. Both riders are fired up for this weekend, determined to get their season back on track, so I’m pretty confident that we’ll leave here on Sunday with two good results and our first championship points of the year.”

Source: Marc VDS

A ninth world title was wrapped up by Rossi in Malaysia, leaving the remainder of the MotoGP class to decide the final standings beyond first place for the 2009 season at the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana.
Rossi’s Fiat Yamaha team-mate Lorenzo pushed him the closest for the title this year, and now the 22 year-old looks primed to secure second spot in his second season in the premier class. With a 25-point margin between him and Stoner in third, it would take a non-point scoring finish from the Spaniard and a race win for the Ducati Marlboro man to dislodge Lorenzo from the runner-up position.

Far likelier for Stoner, who comes into round 17 in a rich vein of form having won his last two races at Sepang and Phillip Island, is third place to round off a season interrupted by illness. Speculation will linger as to how the final standings could have looked had the 2007 World Champion not missed Brno, Indianapolis and Misano due to fatigue, but the focus is now on preventing Pedrosa from regaining third place. With victory last year and second the season before, the 24 year-old Australian has a strong pedigree at Valencia.

Repsol Honda’s Pedrosa is 11 points adrift in fourth, and needs a strong showing at a track where he won in 2007 and finished second last time out.
The competition for fifth place is still very much alive, with just six points the difference between Andrea Dovizioso and Colin Edwards. The Italian’s crash at Sepang was not largely capitalised on by Edwards, whose 13th-placed classification means that the fight for fifth will now go down to the wire at Valencia.
Seventh place, meanwhile, is still to be decided upon between no less than six candidates. Marco Melandri (Hayate Racing), Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki), Alex de Angelis and Toni Elías (both San Carlo Honda Gresini), Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki) and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) are all separated by just seven points from positions seven to 12.

All have top-ten finishes at Valencia within the past two seasons, with Melandri’s fourth in 2007 the most notable recent result from the pack. Nicky Hayden, at a further eight points adrift of De Puniet, has an outside chance of challenging for seventh if he manages his second podium of the year and other results go his way.

Also riding at Valencia will be American star Ben Spies, who will take to the track as a wildcard for Yamaha in preparation for his first full MotoGP season with Monster Yamaha Tech 3 in 2010. In the Pramac Racing team another rider who is coming into MotoGP full-time next season will be making an additional guest appearance this weekend, as Aleix Espargaró again substitutes the injured Niccolò Canepa.
 


250cc

After prevailing in his epic battle with Marco Simoncelli at Sepang, Hiroshi Aoyama is within touching distance of being named the 2009 250cc World Champion in the final race of the season – and indeed the final 250cc contest in the 60-year history of Grand Prix racing before the introduction of the new Moto2 class next year.

Simoncelli had narrowed the gap at the top of the standings to just 12 points prior to Malaysia, but an enthralling ‘head-to-head’ was won by Aoyama who now heads to Spain with a 21-point cushion.
Should Simoncelli win his seventh race of the campaign at Valencia – thus surpassing his total from 2008 when he won the title – Aoyama would need to finish no lower than eleventh to still take the crown.
The Scot Honda rider has a chequered history at the circuit however, with last year’s fifth place being his best-ever finish. Prior to that, Aoyama has placed sixth and tenth and registered two DNFs, whereas Simoncelli won last year’s race having already secured the title.

Héctor Barberá in third place could mathematically catch Simoncelli in second, but would need to finish second or higher at Valencia and hope for a poor result for the Metis Gilera man. Barberá has a strong record at the track, having finished inside the top five on five occasions in the 250cc and 125cc classes.
Álvaro Bautista’s title hopes ended with his second crash in three races at Sepang, and Valencia is the only one of the three Spanish circuits on the calendar at which he has not tasted a GP victory. Fourth in the championship is safe for the Mapfre Aspar man, who could take third with a good display if Barberá falters.

Mattia Pasini in fifth is 21 points ahead of Thomas Luthi, who leads a pack which also comprises Raffaele de Rosa, Mike di Meglio, Héctor Faubel and Álex Debón. Those five riders are separated by just six points in the battle for sixth spot.
 


125cc

Bancaja Aspar team-mates Julián Simón and Bradley Smith have already secured first and second places respectively in the 125cc World Championship, but the duo will still look to put on strong showings at Valencia in the final race of the season.

Clinching the title at Phillip Island did not stop Simón from producing another fine display at Sepang last time out, as he took his sixth race victory of the season, and the Spaniard will hope to improve on a best previous result of sixth at Valencia in the 250cc class in 2007.
A win at the final round would make Simón the first rider to take three successive victories in the 125cc class since Alvaro Bautista in 2006.

Smith finished fourth at Valencia last year and is currently on a run of five consecutive podiums. A sixth consecutive rostrum finish would be the perfect way to round off the season for the Oxfordshire youngster, who has already achieved the best performance by a British rider since Barry Sheene was second to Kenny Roberts in the 1978 500cc title chase.

Local rider Nico Terol will attempt to secure a top-three finish for the season ahead of his compatriot Pol Espargaró, who is 15 points behind in fourth. Terol finished second at Valencia last season, just one tenth of a second behind race-winner Simone Corsi, while Espargaró’s best placement at the track is sixth, in his debut season in 2006.

MotoGP Brits look ahead to the final round…

Bradley Smith
“Julian has beaten me on the last lap in the last two races because he is such a great late braker. I really want to beat him in this last race but I need to break away if I can and not leave it to another head to head on the last lap. It’s been a great year for me and the team and another grand prix win would be the perfect finish for me.”

Scott Redding
“We are working hard on securing a ride for next season and I so want to finish the season with a decent result. Since Donington it’s been a disaster but I hope I can put that all behind me on Sunday.”

Danny Webb
“I’ve just been to the hospital and they have found I’ve broken two not one metatarsal bones in my left foot in the Malaysian crash. I’ve got a special boot on and I’m able to walk and so I will be out there on Sunday. It’s been a hard year and I really want to do well to thank the team for all their support.”

James Toseland
“I was doing my absolute best and trying my hardest but it was impossible for me to go any faster with the feeling I had with the bike in Malaysia. It was another tough weekend but I’ll look to bounce back and finish the season strongly in Valencia for my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3.”