Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix 2012

Posted on Aug 14, 2012 by Nick Harris

There can be no better venue for the British MotoGP™ riders to continue the post Olympic optimism than the World famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway circuit when battle recommences at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix in America on Sunday.

Chasing the medals between those towering grandstands and across the famous yard of bricks the riders commence a frantic second half of the season as they crisscross the globe.

Bradley Smith's been champing at the bit to get back on the track after a five week break since his last race. In that race at Mugello in Italy Smith was fourth and Redding sixth but they will be chasing podium finishes round the 2.620 Indy circuit on Sunday.

Gloucestershire teenager Redding has finished on the podium three times this season riding the Marc VDS machine and is fifth in the Championship. Smith’s best result was at Mugello on the Tech 3 Mistral machine and is seventh after scoring points in all of the nine opening rounds.

Both riders have finished on the Indianapolis podium with Smith second in the 125 cc race three years ago and Redding third in the Moto2 race the next year. Londoner Gino Rea makes his Indy debut fighting to hang onto his Gresini ride after a tough first half of his Moto2™ Championship season.

REDDING AND SMITH SET FOR MOTOGP NEXT YEAR
British Moto2 stars and grand prix winners Scott Redding and Bradley Smith look set to join Cal Crutchlow in the MotoGP Championship next season. Twenty one year old Smith has already signed a contract to ride for the Monster Energy Tech 3 Yamaha team next season while Redding is still hoping for a deal with his Marc VDS team to ride a Ducati next year.

During the summer break Redding completed a two day MotoGP test with Ducati in Italy. Smith’s first MotoGP ride is scheduled for Valencia in Spain a couple of days after the last grand prix of the season at the beginning of November.

THE BATTLE CONTINUES – EIGHT TO GO
The Moto2 and Moto3 riders return to the fray after a proper summer break of five weeks following their last round at Mugello in Italy. Despite only finishing fifth in Italy Marc Marquez holds a commanding 34 point Moto2 lead over countryman Pol Espargaro and Italian Andrea Iannone after a superb first half of the season. He won the Moto2 race last year in which Espargaro was second to secure his first Moto2 podium finish. Espargaro also won the 125 cc race three years ago and needs to secure his third win of the year to close the gap on Marquez and get away from Iannone who won the previous round in Mugello.

INDIANAPOLIS FACTS AND FIGURES
The iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway celebrated its 100th birthday three years ago by staging its second MotoGP race because the first race ever staged at “The Brickyard” was a motorcycle race in 1909. Since then the Oval circuit has been the home of the World famous Indy 500 car race. The 2.620 motorcycle circuit runs in the opposite direction but incorporates the same start and finish straight. The towering grandstands around the oval hold over 257,000 spectators.

TELEVISION TIMES BBC/BRITISH EUROSPORT 2
Friday 17 August
1810 - 2100 British Eurosport 2 – Live Practice Moto3, MotoGP, Moto2

Saturday 18 August
1555 - 1800 BBC Red Button & British Eurosport 2 - Live Qualifying Moto3, MotoGP, Moto2

Sunday 19 August
1555 - 1800 BBC Red Button – Live Moto3 and Moto2 races
1545 - 1800 British Eurosport 2 – Live Moto3 and Moto2 races

1830 - 2000 BBC2 and HD Live MotoGP race
2000            British Eurosport2 – MotoGP Action