Mugello Day 1 Report
The first day at Mugello is always a special one, first because Mugello is one of the best tracks on earth and then because it is getting to a key point in the championship, even if it is just the fourth race of the season this year.
I just arrived on the track when the 125cc class started its Free Practice session; I parked inside the paddock and ran off to the press room to get ready and start getting all the fans virtually inside the track with us.
I got into the main commentary room where my friend and Mugello’s commentator Giovanni Di Pillo (one of the best commentators here in Italy, DC notes) was waiting for me. I was really honoured to get the chance to try and help him out a bit, even though he’s been doing this job since 1976 and as you can imagine he’s got a great deal of experience in this role. We had great fun and you always learn a lot from all these people; it’s a pure joy to share these moments with such a fellow.
The 125 class was even more special this time, maybe due to the fact that we already heard reprots about the new Moto3 category, and that the sound and the smell of those two stroke engines is a real part of this world. The 125cc session went pretty well, especially for the Spaniards that are dominating the series. Pol Espargaro and Nico Terol had a great battle in the opening practice session of the Gran Premio díItalia TIM and by the end of the FP1 these two riders were going back and forth from the top. With a time of 1:59.373, Pol Espargaro set the best time of the day just 0.058s ahead of Terol’s machine. It was nice to see Bradley Smith up in third position, followed by Efren Vazquez and Randy Krummenacher, who got the same time, and Marc Marquez who was the last one to get within a second of Espargaro’s marker with a time of 2′00.234.
The Moto2 class was a great show, with bikes sliding all over the place and letting those engines scream like hell. Seeing forty riders on the same track is always something good to see, even though sometimes it is very hard to recognize all the riders. Finally, some luck came in for Alex De Angelis today who dominated the entire session and set the best time with 1′56.422 which is of course the circuit record, at least for now.
The speeds are around 270 km/h for most of the riders, with a peak of 280.9 Km/h for Andrea Iannone’s Speed Up bike, and is great fun to watch but we are still four seconds off from the 250s. We are still at the beginning of the series and lots of things will change but today’s talk around the paddock was if this is a true improvement towards the MotoGPs or not. In my opinion, the 250cc was a really perfect bike: 100 Kg per 100 Hp, agile and fast. Besides this, the FP1 saw at second position Sergio Gadea then Julian Simon, Andrea Iannone and Stefan Bradl. The good thing is that in only one second we had eleven riders and in two seconds twenty nine riders. The championships leaders have some work to do in order to solve some problems and get better positions, the first session saw Shoya Tomizawa in 8th, Toni Elias in 11th and Simone Corsi in 16th.
As soon as the 125cc was done we heard the MotoGP engines firing up; the superb sounds of the fastest bikes on the planet. Everybody was looking for the reigning World Champion and nine-time Mugello winner Valentino Rossi, the real king of this circuit, who dominated the session from the beginning to the end. His fastest lap was 1′49.751 – about three tents ahead of Jorge Lorenzo in second place to get the Fiat Yamaha Team duo up in front. The third position was for a great Loris Capirossi on his Rizla Suzuki, six tenths behind the #46 machine, the last rider to get within a second from the nine time World Champion. On the provisional second row there was Colin Edwards, Dani Pedrosa and Ben Spies who set a very good time of 1′51.004 at his first visit to the Italian track. Top ten was completed with Casey Stoner, who is struggling hard to get on the top of his capabilities, Andrea Dovizioso, Nicky Hayden and Hector Barbera.
After the sessions I had a very good time with all the professionals you can meet in the paddock but the most important part of the day were the interviews with Ben Spies and Colin Edwards from the Tech3 Yamaha squad (Editor’s Note: those will follow in the next days) and a great box chat with Valentino Rossi’s mechanic Alex Briggs. So stay with us for the incredible experience that we will have from the fantastic Mugello circuit tomorrow and on race day!
