FIM MotoGP World Championship Valencia, Spain November 6, 2010 Qualifying Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Casey STONER, Australia (DUCATI), 1:31.799 2. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:32.130 3. Marco SIMONCELLI, Italy (HONDA), 1:32.244 4. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (YAMAHA), 1:32.330 5. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (DUCATI), 1:32.422 6. Ben SPIES, USA (YAMAHA), 1:32.566 7. Colin EDWARDS, USA (YAMAHA), 1:32.579 8. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), 1:32.603 9. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (HONDA), 1:32.886 10. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (HONDA), 1:32.917 11. Randy DE PUNIET, France (HONDA), 1:32.925 12. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (DUCATI), 1:33.085 13. Hector BARBERA, Spain (DUCATI), 1:33.170 14. Loris CAPIROSSI, Italy (SUZUKI), 1:33.339 15. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Japan (HONDA), 1:33.343 16. Carlos CHECA, Spain (DUCATI), 1:33.499 17. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (SUZUKI), 1:33.515 BMW M Award – MotoGP Best Qualifier: 1. Lorenzo, 380 points 2. Stoner, 310 3. Pedrosa, 232 4. Spies, 200 5. Dovizioso, 199 6. Rossi, 188 7. Hayden, 184 8. De Puniet, 167 9. Edwards, 144 10. Simoncelli, 121 11. Capirossi, 84 12. Melandri, 81 13. Espargaro, 67 14. Barbera, 55 15. Bautista, 48 16. Aoyama, 37 17. Kallio, 23 More, from a press release issued by Interwetten Honda: Confidence for the last race The qualifying session for the season closing Grand Prix on the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia / Spain was not really satisfying for Hiroshi Aoyama. After he finished the third free practice of this weekend this morning on 13th position he lost two places in the qualifying and will start the last Grand Prix for the Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team tomorrow from 15th place on the grid. As the lap times are very close on this circuit in general, the hope of the 29 year old Japanese to still achieve a good result remains anyway. Hiroshi Aoyama, 15 – 1’33.343: “I already had a good feeling with the bike at the beginning of the qualifying. We could have been much better than we did, as my lap time this morning was better. But at the end I could improve it, but unfortunately lost two places on the grid. The lap times are so close here that I still can do a good result in the race.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER TAKES EMOTIONAL FINAL POLE FOR DUCATI AT VALENCIA, POSITIVE SECOND ROW FOR HAYDEN Casey Stoner will start his final race as a Ducati rider from the front of the MotoGP grid tomorrow after a typically determined ride in the Valencia sunshine this afternoon. Stoner struggled to find a set-up he was entirely comfortable with throughout the 45-minute qualifying session but he took 0.8 seconds off his best time to break the 1’32 barrier on his 14th lap and he followed up with two more efforts in the 1’31 bracket on a short but sweet final run, sealing his 25th and final pole position for the Italian factory. Nicky Hayden also enjoyed a positive afternoon, qualifying inside the front two rows for the fourth successive race. The American shaved a full second off his best effort from free practice and is confident he could have gone even faster but for a front end slide that cost him time and confidence on his first flying lap, although his pace was still good enough for fifth on the grid. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1st 1’31.799 “This morning we were struggling a little bit with the front because you have to spend a lot of time at this circuit with the bike leaned over so this afternoon we tried a lot of different things without really finding the right feeling. When I went out on a soft tyre I didn’t think I’d be able to beat Jorge (Lorenzo) or Marco (Simoncelli) but it gave me the confidence I needed to go much faster and I set a lap time I was very happy with. I actually made a couple of mistakes on my last two laps otherwise I think I could have improved it but the important thing is that I was able to give Ducati another pole position before I sign off. There are a couple of sections where we need to improve for tomorrow but other sections that remind me of Phillip Island in the way I can attack them so overall I am comfortable and confident. It will be an emotional day I’m sure tomorrow but for now my job is to focus on the race and achieving the best result possible.” NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Marlboro Team) 5th 1’32.422 “The middle of the second row isn’t a disaster. The track seemed to really come in this afternoon and immediately on hard tyres we were a lot faster than we’ve been all weekend. We made a couple of little changes this afternoon and straight away I made up the couple of tenths I’ve been lacking so far. When we put the first soft tyre in I got straight into the 1’32s and with the second one in the first split I had a moment with the front and that’s not the way you want to start your first flying lap. It cost me a little confidence and maybe a place on the front row because even though I managed a 1’32.4 I wasn’t able to find those last couple of tenths. Each tenth makes a big difference around here so we have to claw for every one we can get. Tomorrow ain’t going to be cake, I know that, but I want to finish the year with a strong result and I’m looking forward to it.” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: FRONT ROW FOR LORENZO AND ROSSI IMPROVES TO QUALIFY FOURTH FOR FINAL RACE World Champion Jorge Lorenzo secured his seventeenth front-row start of the season in Valencia this afternoon, qualifying second behind Casey Stoner for the eighteenth and final round of the season. His Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi has struggled in all four sessions but the nine-time champion made a drastic improvement in the final stages of the session to qualify fourth for his final Yamaha appearance tomorrow. Lorenzo, wearing a one-off crystal-encrusted helmet for his home race, was third in this morning’s practice session and then spent the first half of qualifying second in the standings as he made some final set-up tweaks to his M1. Half-way through he moved into first and then put in a run of stunningly consistent fast laps, improving his time several times over. Stoner was even quicker today though and with six minutes left on the clock the Australian moved ahead of the Mallorcan and, despite Lorenzo pulling out all the stops in the final moments, pole was not to be today and he finished 0.331 seconds off Stoner in second. Lorenzo is nonetheless the season’s best qualifier and will receive his prize of a new car this afternoon to add to his tally of plaudits from the year. After yesterday’s difficulties a major set-up change this morning did little for Rossi’s feeling on the bike and the Italian was 10th in free practice. The early part of qualifying yielded no improvement and with five minutes to go he was still outside the top ten. A final alteration however left him feeling more confident on the bike and on his final lap the front row looked a not inconceivable target, as he was on course for second at the third split before dropping a couple of tenths in the final sector and coming home in fourth, 0.086 seconds off Marco Simoncelli. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 2nd Time: 1’32.130 Laps: 18 “I’m really excited and proud to be on the front row in front of the Spanish crowd, at this home race. Especially racing here; the last race is always special and everyone wants to do well. I tried my best to make the pole position today but Casey was really very quick today, I couldn’t beat him. Let’s see if we can keep in contact with him tomorrow in the race, if we can stay with him we can challenge. We will try the maximum as always. X-Lite has honoured me with this special helmet and I am so proud of it, it looks like diamonds in the sunshine! Thanks to everyone and I hope to make a good race in it tomorrow.” Valentino Rossi Position: 4th Time: 1’32.330 Laps: 23 “It was a difficult day but luckily we were able to improve the setting right at the end of the session, giving me a bit more grip and allowing me to push for a fast time at the end. We’re fourth and considering how the practices have been this really isn’t too bad. We will have to see tomorrow, it’s going to be very hard and we’re still in a bit of trouble, while the others are very fast, but if we can improve a bit more then we can try to challenge. It’s not particularly difficult to overtake at this race so the second row isn’t a big problem if we have a good pace. Stoner is very fast here, it looked like he was in a different sport today, but it’s my last race for Yamaha and I will do everything I can to be on the podium.” Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager “We are happy with second because it was clear Casey had something different here today. Jorge feels fine with no problems; good pace, good lap times and good consistency. We need to decide which tyre we’re going to use for the race as both options are possible for the rear so we’re waiting for the weather tomorrow. It’s a temperature issue, if it’s hot we’ll use one, if it’s cooler we’ll use the other. The bike feels great, an improvement on this morning’s session so we are happy with the situation.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “This morning we tried some different geometries and settings and then in the afternoon we continued in just one way, but it’s clear that we still have some work to do and we have some problems with grip. In the end we stopped a little bit early to consider the situation, and now we will look closely at the data to find the right way forward for tomorrow so that we can give Valentino a bike to allow him to ride how he wants here.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: REPSOL HONDA RIDERS ON THIRD ROW FOR VALENCIA GP Repsol Honda Team riders Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso will start side-by-side on the third row of the grid for the Grand Prix of Valencia after qualifying in eighth and ninth positions today. Both riders will be targeting a fast start when the lights go out at 14.00 tomorrow in order to get away with the leaders and fight for a podium finish to close out the 2010 season. Pedrosa made good progress in the morning practice session and finished in second position with a lap time of 1m 32.945s. He was one of only two riders to dip below the 1m 33s mark and it was an encouraging 45 minutes for the 25-year-old Spaniard, who is still recovering from last month’s operation to plate his broken left collarbone. Pedrosa went quicker still in the afternoon session, shaving a further 0.3s from his lap time, but with other riders making bigger improvements, his time translated to eighth place on the grid. His home fans will be willing Pedrosa to make an excellent start tomorrow and to give himself a chance of repeating last year’s victory at Valencia. Staring from ninth, Dovizioso too will need a repeat his lightning getaway from last weekend in Portugal, where he converted a third row starting slot into second place after the first corner. The Italian made improvements in both today’s sessions but struggled in the second half of the lap and wasn’t able to climb higher than ninth in the closing moments of qualifying. Dovizioso and his crew are now aiming to find improvements in two or three corners in the morning warm-up session tomorrow, and if they he can achieve this, the 24-year-old is confident he can run at podium pace. DANI PEDROSA 8th 1m 32.603s + 0.804s “I would like to be a bit higher in the standings but considering my physical condition eighth is not so bad. This is a short track and the lap times are very close, and so two tenths means two or three positions higher or lower on the grid. This is the position we have achieved and we will deal with it. This morning we did a good job with the set-up of the bike and this afternoon we didn’t touch much in the session – improving by a couple of tenths. Anyway we need to be ready for a very tough race, and it’s the endurance over race distance that will be the key point – 30 laps is a lot. Now I will try to rest as much as possible, and tomorrow I will aim to make a great start and keep the rhythm in the race for as long as I can.” ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 9th 1m 32.886s +1.087s “Yesterday we started well and we have improved our pace in every practice session, but this afternoon I haven’t managed to use the full potential of the bike. I’m struggling in sector three and sector four and this is affecting my lap time. More than the set-up I need to better interpret the lines I’m taking, and also to adapt my riding style. In particular I’m quite slow in two or three corners and this is what is holding me back at the moment. Our overall pace in the rest of the lap is not too far from the riders at the front, so if we improve in these corners I’m sure we can fight for the podium tomorrow. Concerning the tyre choice, if the conditions remain as today I think we will use the hard compound.” TOSHIYUKI YAMAJI – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER “It’s the final race of the 2010 season tomorrow and the Repsol Honda Team is determined to finish the year with the strongest possible result. The grid positions we’ve achieved today are not as far forward as we would have liked of course, and this means both riders will need to make fast starts to give themselves the best chance of fighting at the front tomorrow. Dani has made steady improvements with his speed and physical condition, and tomorrow he will find out more about his ability to keep a high pace for race distance. We know how determined he is and how strong he can be at this circuit, so he will be worth watching. With a few adjustments to his settings in the warm-up, Andrea also has the ability to move forward from his starting position and fight for the podium – as we saw him do last weekend.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Spies and Edwards eye podium fight in Valencia finale Ben Spies and Colin Edwards will start the final round of the 2010 MotoGP world championship in Valencia tomorrow from sixth and seventh on the grid respectively, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team duo confident they can battle for a podium finish. Spies produced another heroic performance in this afternoon’s sun-drenched qualifying session, the Texan shrugging off constant discomfort from the dislocated left ankle he suffered less than a week ago in Estoril to claim sixth with a best time of 1.32.566. Working tirelessly with his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew to improve rear stability, Spies was just over 0.3s away from the front row in a closel y contested session. The 26-year-old is confident that planned overnight set-up changes will improve his YZR-M1 machine even further as he prepares for an exciting fight for sixth place in the final standings with fellow American Nicky Hayden. It was at the Valencia circuit 12 months ago that Spies made a scintillating Yamaha YZR-M1 debut, his stunning seventh place giving MotoGP fans a taste of the all-action performances that he’s produced throughout a brilliant 2010. And it is likely there will be more of the same tomorrow with Spies and Hayden tied on 163-points going into tomorrow’s 30-lap race, with Spies finishing just 0.144s behind the 2006 world champion this afternoon. Just one place and 0.013s further back on the grid is Edwards, who continued his excellent form this afternoon. More modifications to the radical set-up he first experimented with yesterday furth er improved turning performance for the 36-year-old and he occupied a place in the top three in the second half of the session. He clocked a best time of 1.32.579 to finish seventh and the Texan is confident the new set-up will help him fight for the rostrum in what promises to be a thrilling conclusion to the season. Ben Spies 6th 1.32.566 24 laps “I’m not super happy because I’d like the bike to be working better but to be close to the fight for the podium is pretty good. This track doesn’t have a lot of rear grip and I’ve had some stability problems. I need the rear to be more stable for the race and I think we can achieve that. Yamaha and my Tech 3 guys will get together tonight and come up with some ideas and I know they’ll give me a good bike tomorrow. The ankle isn’t fantastic but I don’t think it’s losing me time. I’m not 100 per cen t but I can’t say I’m losing half-a-second because of it. I can’t move around on the bike as much as I’d like but the race is only 45 minutes and I’ll get through it. I definitely want to move up in the championship and claim that sixth spot but I’m going out to treat it like another race and try to beat Nicky. There’s a bit of pride at stake but I’d want to beat anybody for the top six, so it makes no difference that the fight is with Nicky.” Colin Edwards 1.32.579 23 laps “I’ve felt good all weekend with this new setting and I want to thank my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 because as always they’ve done an awesome job. The changes we have made have really helped my confidence with the rear of the bike. I can turn much better, I don’t run wide and the new setting seems to give me better rear grip but is also good for tyre life too. I was comfortable on the hard tyre bu t I hadn’t used the soft tyre since yesterday morning, so I didn’t really know the potential of it. On the first tyre I was almost a second quicker, put the second tyre in and it didn’t give the same confidence for some reason. On the last one I felt better and I’m happy with the lap time but it is so tight at the top that just a couple of tenths costs you a lot of places. Seventh is not where I want to be but everybody is going fast. I think anybody from third to ninth will be thinking they can get on the podium and I’m one of them. We’ve seen though on this track that the field can spread out pretty quick and if it does I hope to be at the sharp end.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Stoner pole as top seven under lap record on softer rear slicks Round 18: Grand Prix of Valencia Qualifying Valencia, Saturday 6 November 2010 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium. Rear: Medium, Hard (both asymmetric) Casey Stoner secured his fourth pole position of the season today in the last qualifying session of the year, and his last with the Ducati Team. Quick all weekend, Stoner’s third lap of the 45 minute session was just 0.002 seconds from the fastest of the weekend and when he switched to a softer option rear slick at the end of the session, his times tumbled and he finished almost 0.8seconds faster than the circuit lap record. Fastest for the some of the session was Jorge Lorenzo who ultimately had to settle for second on his Fiat Yamaha machine. The World Champion also used a softer rear slick towards the end of the session to finish 0.3seconds adrift of Stoner. In third place was an impressive Marco Simoncelli who enjoys his first MotoGP front row starting position. The top seven riders all lapped faster than the existing lap record, indicating how well Bridgestone’s softer option rear slicks are performing here at Valencia. Most riders started the session using the harder option front and rear slicks and race pace was good, but after switching to the extra grip of the softer option rears the times really fell. Track conditions were again good today and as the temperature rose into the afternoon’s qualifying riders favoured the extra stability of the harder front slicks. Using the softer rears, laptimes were fast; with the use of Bridgestone’s extra soft compound rubber here at Valencia this year the top three were all faster than last year’s pole time. Tohru Ubukata Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department “This morning the riders tested tyre degradation of the softer option slicks and durability over race distance, and some also checked the performance of the harder options even in the cold conditions, when track temperature was just 17 degrees Celsius. Whilst the softer options provided more grip, both specs worked well and we could confirm that even the softer options have good consistency over race distance. “This afternoon in qualifying many riders checked the harder options for their initial grip performance in the hotter conditions to assess whether they will give a performance advantage over race distance. Finally, the top ten all set their best laptimes using the softer rear and performance was very good with the top seven riders all under the lap record. The top three riders are also all faster than last year’s pole time, and we can attribute this at least in part to the extra soft compound rubber we are using in the softer option rear slicks this year. Based on today’s result, I can say that the harder option front will be favoured for the race for its added braking stability, whilst rear tyre choices will be more mixed depending on whether riders want the better grip of the softer option or the added stability of the harder.” Top ten from qualifying (Saturday 14:05-14:50 GMT+1) Pos Rider Team Fastest lap Gap Compounds Front, Rear 1 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 1m31.799s Medium, Medium 2 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 1m32.130s +0.331s Medium, Medium 3 Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m32.244s +0.445s Medium, Medium 4 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m32.330s +0.531s Medium, Medium 5 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 1m32.422s +0.623s Medium, Medium 6 Ben Spies Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m32.566s +0.767s Medium, Medium 7 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m32.579s +0.780s Medium, Medium 8 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1m32.603s +0.804s Medium, Medium 9 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 1m32.886s +1.087s Medium, Medium 10 Marco Melandri San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m32.917s +1.118s Medium, Medium Weather: Dry. Ambient 23°C; Track 27-26°C ( Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki looking to end the season on the front foot Rizla Suzuki goes in to the final Grand Prix of the season looking to end the year moving forward after a tough qualifying session left the riders with plenty of work for tomorrow’s race. Loris Capirossi (P14, 1’33.339, 25 laps) made a big step in his lap-times from Friday, but couldn’t make significant in-roads further up the grid. He will start from the fifth row tomorrow, determined to end the season with a constructive performance that will help Suzuki to take things forward into the winter test programme. Álvaro Bautista (P17, 1’33.515, 23 laps) has so far had a weekend to forget at Valencia, as he has struggled to get the grip levels he wants to help him on the 4,005m circuit. He will work with his crew this evening to assess the data in the hope that a new setting they are planning to try in tomorrow’s warm-up will assist him for the race. Today’s qualifying session was held in clear and dry conditions with the air temperatures reaching 22°C. The fastest lap of the day was set by Ducati’s Casey Stoner, as the Australian took his fourth pole position of the season. Tomorrow’s 30-lap race will be the curtain closer to the 2010 season and the main event will get underway at 14.00hrs local time (13.00hrs GMT). Loris Capirossi: “What can I say about today? I am obviously upset that this is the last qualifying of the year and it was a very difficult one. We improved a lot from this morning, but we stayed in the same position. The weather today was a bit better and this helped the bike, but it was still tough. Tomorrow will be a hard race and that is easy to see because I am 14th and Álvaro is last, we are close, but this is the reality of the situation. The forecast for tomorrow is to be colder and cloudy, so this might put us in the same position that we experience when the temperature drops.” Álvaro Bautista: “It has turned into a difficult weekend so far and I feel like I am struggling with the bike. I’m having the most problems with the exit from the corner, but we have improved the GSV-R since yesterday as we have tried to get more grip and less movement form the bike. This afternoon it was still difficult and at the end of qualifying I was only really concentrating on the exit of the corners, more than I was on making a fast entry, so this made it very hard to be competitive. I’ve improved on my best time here, but it is still not enough. In warm-up we are going to try a new setting to help me with the rear of the bike and see what happens. We must work very hard and if tomorrow morning we find something better we will certainly use it in the race. It is going to be hard, because we will start form the last position the only good thing about that is that I can only finish better than I start!” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: DE PUNIET STRUGGLES WITH REAR GRIP ISSUE AT VALENCIA GP QUALIFYING Valencia, 06 November: LCR Honda MotoGP Team rider Randy De Puniet could not translate his good pace on a brilliant performance today because of some rear grip problems in the 60-minute qualifying session of the last round of the season at Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia qualifying 11th (1’32.925). At the end of the 45-minute practice period this morning, the 29-year-old was in 7th place tuning his RC212V to the tight and twisty nature of the 4.005 Km Spanish race track. After the abysmal weather encountered at the previous two races in Australia and Portugal De Puniet was grateful for the dry track completing all free practices with consistent lap times and aimed to get a second row start for his 200th GP but he struggled with rear grip in the last part of the session which saw Stoner on pole position with a best lap time of 1’31.799. De Puniet 11th 1’32.925 De Puniet: “This morning went quite well and in the first part of the qualifying session we confirmed the race tyres for tomorrow. But once I came out on soft tyres to post a good flying lap for the grid I could not get the same potential and the rear started to move a lot. The bike was not stable on throttle and I could not really improve my lap time. We have good base on race trim which make me confident for the race but I must take a good start like in Estoril. I really want to end this season and my last year with LCR in the best way tomorrow”. More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Casey Stoner put on a stunning display in his final qualifying session with Ducati to take pole position for the last race of the 2010 season at Valencia, posting the only sub-1’32″ lap of the weekend so far in a strong 45-minute run. The Australian’s hot lap of 1’31.799 left him 0.331s clear at the top of the timesheet, and came after he had dealt with an early run-off as he pushed hard for his fourth pole of the campaign at the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana. As impressive on the bike as he had been at this race when he took pole last year before a warm-up lap crash, Stoner was clearly happy with his performance, “When I went out on a soft tyre I didn’t think I’d be able to beat Jorge or Marco, but it gave me the confidence I needed to go much faster and I set a lap time I was very happy with. I actually made a couple of mistakes on my last two laps otherwise I think I could have improved it but the important thing is that I was able to give Ducati another pole position before I sign off. It will be an emotional day I’m sure tomorrow, but for now my job is to focus on the race and achieve the best result possible.” World Champion Jorge Lorenzo, sporting a special-edition golden helmet for the homecoming final-round, followed Stoner onto the front row with a best effort of 1’32.130 on his Fiat Yamaha M1 having led for a large portion of the session. Carrying his form from the practice sessions into qualifying was Marco Simoncelli and the Italian rookie’s display was rewarded with his first front-row start in the premier class. The San Carlo Honda Gresini rider was just over a tenth of a second behind Lorenzo. A late surge from Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) placed the Italian fourth as he battled to find enough pace to challenge near the top end, with American duo Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) and Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) also taking places on the second row of the grid. Completing the top ten in the session were Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini). Moto2 2010 Moto2 World Champion Toni Elías will start the final intermediate category race of the season from pole position his third of the year courtesy of a best lap of 1’36.141. The Gresini Racing rider finished the session fractionally over a tenth of a second ahead of German rider Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing), who had been strong in the practice runs and won last time out in Portugal. Joining the duo on the front row will be Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up) and Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team) as they both got within 0.202s of pole. Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2), Kenan Sofuoglu (Technomag-CIP), Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar) and Carmelo Morales (Racing Team Germany) will all start from the second row, meaning Iannone and Simón will play out their battle for the runner-up spot in the Championship with the Spaniard lining up directly behind his Italian rival on the grid. Row three will comprise Karel Abraham (Cardion ab Motoracing), Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Racing), Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing) and Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up). 125cc Marc Márquez will aim to secure his first World Championship title from pole position in the 125cc class. The Red Bull Ajo Motorsport rider, who leads Nico Terol by 17 points going into the last race, finished the session 0.108s ahead of his rival and the only other rider who can still claim the 125cc title. Márquez secured his 12th pole of the season with a lap of 1’39.564, closely followed by Bancaja Aspar pair Terol (+0.108s) and Bradley Smith (+0.148s) and with Marquez’s team-mate Sandro Cortese (Avant Mitsubishi Ajo) completing the front row of the starting grid for the GP Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana. Pol Espargaró (Tuenti Racing) took top spot on the second row as the final rider under 1’40″ in the session, with Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX), Efrén Vázquez (Tuenti Racing) and Luis Salom (Stipa-Molenaar Racing) inside the top eight. Adrián Martín (Team Aeroport de Castelló), Randy Krummenacher (Stipa-Molenaar Racing), Tomoyoshi Koyama (Racing Team Germany) and Jonas Folger (Team Ongetta) will comprise row three. Brits Danny Webb (Andalucia Cajasol) and Danny Kent (Lambretta Reparto Corse) will start from 14th and 22nd respectively, with wild card entrants Taylor Mackenzie (KRP MMCG) and John McPhee (KRP Bradley Smith Racing) who had the only fall of the session qualifying in 29th and 31st positions respectively. The 125cc class gets the Sunday schedule underway with warm up commencing at 8.40am local time. The 125cc race starts at 11am, with Moto2 at 12.15pm and MotoGP at 2pm. More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing Team: THE PRAMAC RACING TEAM IN THE TWELFTH AND SIXTEENTH POSITION WITH ESPARGARO’ AND CHECA IN THE LAST QUALIFYING SESSION OF THE SEASON. There were raced today the last qualifying session of the MotoGP season on Valencia’s circuit. Quite good session for the Pramac Racing Team riders that had conquered the twelfth position with Aleix Espargar and the sixteenth with Carlos Checa. The white-green duo had a little bit of problems regarding some circuit sectors of Valencia’s track, that the technicians will try to solve during tomorrow morning warm up. The gap from the first of just a little more than a second, gives good hopes for Aleix’s race that will start the race from the fourth row and that will try to use in the best way the long straight before the first curve. Quite good qualifying session for Checa, that has conquer the second last position on the starting grid, in the sixth row, and that has increased his feeling with his bike. Is important to consider that Carlos has decreased his best lap time conquer during Friday morning first free practice by almost two seconds. His gap from the best rider is now just over one and a half second. This gives good feeling for tomorrow race that will be for him that is, thanks also to his great experience, always use to conquer position. The race will start at 2 pm local time. Fabiano Sterlacchini – Direttore Tecnico “The modify we have done on my bike had allowed u sto reduce the gap we had from the best riders. But it was not enough for Aleix to conquer a top ten position and for Carlos to not start the race from the last raw like in Estoril last week. We have some others technical solutions that we will try tomorrow morning during the warm up session and try to reduce the gap from the first. Is the last race of the season and we aim to conquer a good result to conclude in the best way this difficult season.” Aleix Espargar – Pilota Pramac Racing Team – 12th fastest lap time in 1’33.085 “We had work this morning on the tyres condition, trying soft tyres. We have also found some very good technical solutions. But this afternoon higher temperature, have not allowed us to use them in the right way. Any way the gap I have from the first riders is not that huge, the ninth position is gust two tenths of a second from my best lap time. It will be very important to start the race in the best way so that I can take advantage since the first curve and conquer some position.” Carlos Checa – Pilota Pramac Racing Team – 16th fastest lap time in 1’33.499 “I’m very happy on how the thinks where going and for improving the feeling with my bike. Of course the position that I have conquer is not the best, but if we just look after the numbers I can say that I have reduced my gap from the first by almost one second, compare to the gap I was having Friday morning. This give me an enormous feeling and great moral for tomorrow’s race in which I’ll try to conquer a good position and repay the Pramac Racing Team for this two fantastic weekends.”