The Latest Pit Lane News

Mugello

There is something about Mugello. As a MotoGP event, it never fails to deliver. This year Valentino was going for his 7^th consecutive victory on home territory, an incredible feat, and if successful he would also be stringing together a trio of wins to continue the quest for this year’s championship. He did it and in some style: he asserted his authority and made all the right pre race choices, including most importantly, the right tyre. To an extent, set up was tough for all the riders as the track had been mostly wet all weekend. Brad Pitt showed up to spectate, as did Keith Flint from the Prodigy along with another 100,000 nutty Italians and the atmosphere was just wonderful! The right man won and JT came in a splendid 6^th. We took a jog around the track to take a good look at the elevation changes and the condition of the track, made quite a nice feature for the programme.

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Le Mans

At the time, it was definitely the round of the season; a terrific show from all the podium boys for very different reasons. Valentino was astonishingly quick, George must have been hypnotised to forget that he had 2 broken ankles and Colin finally converted his qualifying. The only downer was James and his racing incident: he looked so good off the line and then seemed to become embroiled in a couple of tussles mid field, until the one that ended his race from Andrea Dovizioso. He was very miffed when he came into the garage but was happy to be interviewed by Matt for the show, unlike Casey who sent his team manager to talk on his behalf.

The BBC had their own epic going on trying to edit me into the Steve McQueen movie, Le Mans! I think they did an extraordinary job of making it work, so well done Richard ,Matt and Sticky, you pulled it off, against all odds! Hope you enjoyed it - it really was just a bit of fun, but any excuse to show Steve McQueen is always good for me. I am not certain that I can enter my cameo role on my acting CV though. So hang on - that's Steve McQueen and Ewan McGregor so far - I think I must have a trio before I retire!

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Estoril

It was a mouth watering prospect; James Toseland with a new pneumatic valve engine, more top speed and better handling. The only down side would be that he didn't know the track so had a lot on his plate. He had it all to do especially as the weather conditions on Friday’s first practice weren't kind. It was neither wet nor dry and the wind was gusting very strongly, so it wasn't until the afternoon until he could really learn the lines of the track. He worked continuously and his efforts paid off. On track he took 7th giving him enough points to move up to 5th in the standings.

The glory boy of the day though was Jorge Lorenzo: his victory made him the youngest rider to take three successive podium finishes and gave him top spot in Championship. Dani Pedrosa fought hard but a gearing problem left him second in the race and on equal points with Lorenzo in the table. The two are real rivals who have little time for each other on or off the track, but then again who said that everyone has to be friends? A bit of spice behind the scenes never goes amiss!

I managed to get a quick chat with Roger Federer live on the grid. He is friends with Valentino and the Estoril Tennis Open commences tomorrow, so the timing was perfect.

I won’t be in China but will be back for Le Mans in 5 weeks time, see you on the Gadget Show until then! By the way if you missed the race you can catch it on BBCiPlayer for the next 7 days.

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Jerez

The Spanish round offered a couple of surprises and the outcome bodes well for the rest of the championship. I would have put my money on a Spanish victory, but if I’m honest it would have gone in the direction of Jorge Lorenzo: his set up looked the best and he had been directly 'on the money' all weekend. So it was to his huge credit that Dani Pedrosa grabbed the Spanish Bull by the horns and turned his determination into a race win - popular with the sell out crowd although not so in the garage of Gorgeous George (aptly named as he is a little vain, but trust me, in time you will learn to love him!)

On the other side of the garage the retro dream team were celebrating. Rossi’s second place was a joyous occasion, marked with a few tinnies (I was even offered one as I wandered by the box after finishing my news reports!) The team have had to make so many changes and work so hard on the bike since switching to Bridgestone and it seems to all be coming together.

James was as sick as a dog, raging with temperature and he fought to rid himself of a chest infection. He did a sterling job to finish 6^th and looked awful when he came in but still managed a cheeky little interview to finish off the weekend. His new engine will materialise in Estoril and I, like all bikers - can't wait for that.

Casey was always going to struggle in Jerez, but he seemed incredibly frustrated and even lashed out at former team-mate Loris Capirossi during qualifying. Loris was in fine fettle in Spain and I personally was glad to see him on form. I enjoy watching his dramatic style and a lot of people wrote him off last season but although this may be his last I desperately hope he makes the most of it. In fact I hope he doesn't retire!

There's a bit of bitching about James’ riding tactics going on at the moment. Since when was it a tea party I ask myself? Of course it has to be as safe as riding a 220bhp bullet can be: however on an underpowered bike you have to push it a bit to get an overtake...look out for more of that in Estoril.

On a personal note, I had a good weekend. It was wonderful to be back and I thoroughly enjoyed the race. As ever on a live show we had a few technical hitches! The mike gave up on Saturday and on our live Sunday show my talkback cut out: that meant that I couldn't hear the programme going out, to know where we were and I lost contact with the ob truck housing our director and producer, so there were hairy moments. It was exacerbated by the fact that as I was running down the grid to the front row, trying to catch up I almost bumped into the King of Spain! Imagine if the Queen came to Donington! I will pen a note immediately!

See you in Estoril.