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2012 Grand Prix of France - Le Mans - Preview - 15/05/2012

Date : 15/05/2012

Repsol Honda riders head to France looking for another double podium

This weekend the 2012 MotoGP World Championship heads to Le Mans. The Grand Prix of France, fourth round of the calendar, welcomes the Repsol Honda Team with Casey Stoner leading the Championship with 66 points and Dani Pedrosa in third place with 52.

Both Honda factory riders have visited the podium at every race so far this season and Casey and Dani head to Le Mans aiming to continue this pattern at a track that affected both riders' seasons in different ways last year.

Casey, who clinched the win in Estoril last week and his 18th successive podium, won in Le Mans in 2011, building up towards his second MotoGP World title with three wins in a row (Le Mans, Catalunya and Silverstone).

Dani celebrated his 100th career podium in Portugal and will return to Le Mans with one thing on his mind: to put behind him the bad memories from his crash in 2011, after setting the circuit record and fastest lap of the race (1'33.627). As a result of this accident, Dani broke his collarbone and was absent from the races in Catalunya, Silverstone and Assen in 2011.

The French circuit, located 200 kilometres south-west of Paris, is a tight track, quite similar to Estoril, dominated by first gear corners, late braking and hard acceleration.

CASEY STONER –World Championship Position: 1st with 66 points

"The past two tracks have not historically been my best but I've managed wins at both of them so I'm hoping we can go to Le Mans and be competitive again. I've had some mixed results there in the past, the track layout is unique, it's a little stop-start with a lot of braking and I think this year both the Honda's and Yamaha's will be competitive there. It was disappointing that the weather in Estoril on Monday prevented us from testing, we need to work on the chatter issue we have on the bike so let's hope we have some dry sessions from day one in Le Mans so we can get out on track and work on it".

World Championship Position: 3rd with 52 points

"Le Mans is a hard circuit, quite similar to Estoril, a stop and go track where you need to prepare a bike with good stability, traction and acceleration. In the past I felt comfortable riding there, I had good results in 125cc and 250cc, but not really perfect in MotoGP, so I have something small inside me I want to achieve. Last year I did the fastest race lap, but I couldn't keep the pace before the crash, so I want to do better this time. We've had three good races so far, I'm riding well, but I missed something in all of them, especially on the first laps, where I've been stronger in the past. I need to put everything together and if we get better starts, we will start wining races".

Testing Results

1	Casey Stoner	66 pts	AUS	HONDA	Repsol Honda Team
2	Jorge Lorenzo	65 pts	SPA	YAMAHA	Yamaha Factory Racing Team
3	Dani Pedrosa	52 pts	SPA	HONDA	Repsol Honda Team
4	Cal Crutchlow	37 pts	GBR	YAMAHA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5	Andrea Dovizioso	35 pts	ITA	YAMAHA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3
6	Alvaro Bautista	29 pts	SPA	HONDA	San Carlo Honda Gresini
7	Stefan Bradl	24 pts	GER	HONDA	LCR Honda MotoGP
8	Nicky Hayden	23 pts	USA	DUCATI	Ducati Team
9	Hector Barbera	22 pts	SPA	DUCATI	Pramac Racing
10	Valentino Rossi	19 pts	ITA	DUCATI	Ducati Team
11	Ben Spies	18 pts	USA	YAMAHA	Yamaha Factory Racing Team
12	Aleix Espargaro	9 pts	ESP	ART	Aspar Team MotoGP
13	Randy De Puniet	6 pts	FRA	ART	Aspar Team MotoGP
14	Danillo Petrucci	4 pts	ITA	IODA	Ioda Racing Project
15	Colin Edwards	4 pts	USA	SUTER	NGM Mobile Forward Racing
16	Mattia Pasini	2 pts	ITA	ART	Speed Master
17	Michelle Pirro	2 pts	ITA	HONDA	San Carlo Honda Gresini
18	Yonny Hernandez	2 pts	COL	BQR-FTR	BQR
19	Ivan Silva	1pts	SPA	BQR-FTR	BQR
20	James Ellison	0 pts	GBR	ART	Paul Bird Racing
21	Karel Abraham	0 pts	CZE	DUCATI	Cardion AB Motoracing

Circuit information

First race	1969 (Modified 2006)
GPs held	23
Laps	28
Race distance	117.18km / 72.8miles
Track length	4.185km / 2.600miles
Track width	13m
Longest straight	0.45km / 0.28miles
Corners	13 (4 left, 9 right)
Pole position	Left

Circuit records

Pole position	1m32.647s (162.617 Km/h) Dani Pedrosa (Honda, 2008)
Race lap	1m33.617s (160.932 Km/h) Dani Pedrosa (Honda, 2011)
Race time	44m03.955s (159.551Km/h) Casey Stoner (Honda, 2011)
MotoGP Wins	3 (Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo)
2011 Winner	Casey Stoner (Honda)

RELEASE