FIM MotoGP World Championship Sachsenring, Germany July 17, 2010 Qualifying Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (Yamaha), 1:21.817 2. Casey STONER, Australia (Ducati), 1:21.841 3. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (Honda), 1:21.948 4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (Honda), 1:22.263 5. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (Yamaha), 1:22.395 6. Hector BARBERA, Spain (Ducati), 1:22.454 7. Randy DE PUNIET, France (Honda), 1:22.610, crash 8. Marco SIMONCELLI, Italy (Honda), 1:22.624 9. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (Ducati), 1:22.910 10. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (Honda), 1:22.917 11. Mika KALLIO, Finland (Ducati), 1:22.961 12. Colin EDWARDS, USA (Yamaha), 1:23.026 13. Ben SPIES, USA (Yamaha), 1:23.028, crash 14. Loris CAPIROSSI, Italy (Suzuki), 1:23.040 15. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (Ducati), 1:23.090 16. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (Suzuki), 1:23.193 17. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (Honda), 1:23.515, crash More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Lorenzo seals pole in Germany; harder fronts and softer rears favoured Round 8: German GP Qualifying Sachsenring, Saturday 17 July 2010 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Hard, Extra Hard. Rear: Hard, Extra Hard (asymmetric) Overnight rain and overcast skies left the ambient and track temperatures lower for today’s qualifying session than during yesterday’s practice, but the rain that was forecast during the day held off and made the conditions more favourable and the laptimes faster. By the midway point, it was the closest qualifying of the season with all riders within 1.59 seconds. Jorge Lorenzo took his fourth consecutive pole position for the Fiat Yamaha Team using the harder option front Bridgestone slick and the softer rear, which was the favoured combination amongst the frontrunners. Of the top ten, all riders set their best times on the softer rear and only Valentino Rossi, Randy de Puniet and Marco Melandri did so using the softer option front Bridgestone slick. Casey Stoner was second fastest for the Ducati Team, his third successive front row start, and Dani Pedrosa continued his good form to finish third fastest. The top three, whose times were separated by just 0.13seconds, were all faster than the existing lap record, set by Pedrosa last season on Bridgestone slicks. The track temperature peaked at just 38 degrees Celsius, as opposed 52 degrees during yesterday’s free practice, but by the end of qualifying it had dropped to 34 degrees, giving a good illustration of the wide temperature range in which each of Bridgestone’s available tyre compounds can operate. The session was interrupted by a red flag after 34 minutes of running when Lorenzo’s bike dropped fluid onto the circuit on the approach to the first corner and both Ben Spies and Randy de Puniet crashed as a result. Tohru Ubukata Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department “Track conditions have improved since yesterday as the overnight rain reduced the track and ambient temperature which makes it slightly easier for our tyres. The track was also cleaner and there has been more rubber laid down since yesterday, all of which contributed to the laptimes being just over half a second faster today. “I am happy with the performance of both our tyre options today as Valentino showed that he is fast on the softer front, and Randy almost matched his best time on the harder rear tyre. During this morning’s free practice many riders also completed more than race distance on a single set of tyres, so I am confident about durability. I expect front tyre choices to be mixed for tomorrow’s race, but if conditions are similar to today the softer rear will be favoured.” Top ten from qualifying (Saturday 13:55 14:55 GMT+2) Pos Rider Team Fastest lap Gap Tyre options Front, Rear 1 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 1m21.817s Extra hard, Hard 2 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 1m21.841s +0.024s Extra hard, Hard 3 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1m21.948s +0.131s Extra hard, Hard 4 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 1m22.263s +0.446s Extra hard, Hard 5 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m22.395s +0.578s Hard, Hard 6 Hector Barbera Paginas Amarillas Aspar 1m22.454s +0.637s Extra hard, Hard 7 Randy de Puniet LCR Honda MotoGP 1m22.610s +0.793s Hard, Hard 8 Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m22.624s +0.807s Extra hard, Hard 9 Aleix Espargaro Pramac Racing Team 1m22.910s +1.093s Extra hard, Hard 10 Marco Melandri San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m22.917s +1.100s Hard, Hard Weather: Dry. Ambient 25-27-26°C; Track 34-38-34°C ( Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: SOLID QUALIFYING PERFORMANCE FOR REPSOL HONDA TEAM IN GERMANY Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso will start from third and fourth places in tomorrow’s German Grand Prix after a promising display at the Sachsenring today. Pedrosa will start from the first row for the fifth time this season, giving him a valuable clear run into the Sachsenring’s tight first corner. The 24-year-old Spaniard looked in with a good chance of pole position as he went to the top of the timesheets early in the session and stayed there until an incident at turn one halted proceedings for 20 minutes as oil was cleared from the track. In the closing 10 minutes he was edged into third place by today’s pole setter Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner in second, but lap times today were typically tight at the Sachsenring and, with Pedrosa’s time just 0.131s back from pole, he is confident of his chances in the race. Dovizioso was a further 0.315s behind his team-mate and will head the second row tomorro w after he and his crew made useful progress through today’s two sessions. Fourth place on the grid equals Dovizioso’s best qualifying performance in 2010 and with a few further adjustments to his race set-up the 24-year-old Italian is confident of repeating his front-running pace from the last race in Catalunya. The Repsol Honda Team enjoyed more dry practice time than was predicted today with the morning session starting wet, before the track dried quickly in the warm temperatures. By the afternoon the skies had cleared and qualifying was held in warm dry conditions, which are expected to continue for tomorrow’s 30-lap race – starting at 14.00. DANI PEDROSA 3rd 1m 21.948s +0.131s “The main target today was to get onto the first row and we’ve achieved this so I’m happy. It’s important to start from the front row because the first corner is close to the starting grid and also the first few corners are very tight, so it’s better to be up front and try to stay out of trouble. Always at this track the lap times are very close and we often see a really hard fight in the race – and it looks like this could be the case again tomorrow. We were lucky with the weather today and we got more dry practice time than expected. Generally we did a good job in the two practice sessions and our race pace looks pretty reasonable. I didn’t see the crash at turn one but I saw the smoke and I thought maybe there’s some oil on the track. I think I was lucky not to be the first one through after Lorenzo’s problem. We’ll have to be very concentrated during all 30 laps tomorrow because it’s a short lap and there’s no time to relax. We’ll try to find a little something extra with the set-up in warm-up tomorrow but I’m confident we can have a strong race.” ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 4th 1m 22.263s +0.446s “I’m pretty satisfied to have qualified in fourth and to be only four tenths from pole position. We made constant improvements in both of today’s sessions and we’re in much better shape than we were yesterday. Being fast on this track is really important for me because previously I’ve struggled here a little bit in all the categories, but today we could go quickly and qualified pretty well. Fourth position equals my best qualifying position so far this season and I’m happy about this. We have a good race pace too. We are not as fast as the first three riders but I think we can improve in a few areas, close the gap, and fight for the top step of the podium. One of the areas where we are still losing out is in the middle of the turn with the bike wanting to go straight, so we’ll continue to try to improve this particular part of our set-up. I’m confident for tomorrow’s race.” TOSHIYUKI YAMAJI – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER “This was a solid performance from both riders today and I think we can be reasonably satisfied with how we’re shaping up for tomorrow’s race. Dani is on the front row which was mission number one for him, and his race pace looks good too, so I think he can have another strong race here. Andrea and his crew made good progress today and recovered well after losing some time yesterday. He is close to the front of the grid and a fast start will give him a chance of competing at the front again tomorrow. The lap times are close and our rivals are looking strong, but we can put up a real fight. Randy de Puniet was unlucky to have a high-speed crash today that wasn’t his fault, so Honda hopes he’s able to ride in the race.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki will have more than the Sachsenring hills to climb tomorrow after a tough qualifying left them with plenty to do in tomorrow’s race. Loris Capirossi (P14, 1’23.040, 32 laps) will start from the middle of the fifth row with team-mate Álvaro Bautista (P16, 1’23.193, 34 laps) just behind him on the front of the sixth row. Both riders pushed hard today and made many changes to their Suzuki GSV-Rs in an attempt to unlock the potential around this demanding 3,671m German circuit. Just a few tenths-of-a-second by either rider would have seen them significantly jump up the grid, but neither was able to find that breakthrough as the session wore on. Capirossi and Bautista will both be aiming for a good start in tomorrow’s race, as passing opportunities around the Sachsenring track are few and far between. Today’s qualifying was held in much cooler conditions than yesterday, as the temperature only reached 24ºC and overcast skies kept the track at 31ºC. Pole position was taken by current championship leader Jorge Lorenzo for the fourth race in succession. Tomorrow’s race is the eighth race of the season and the action begins for the 30-lap race at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT). Loris Capirossi: “Today we worked a lot on setting and everybody tried their best, but we are still struggling to get it right. The front feeling is still not right even though the bike has improved a bit since yesterday. We also had to work with the electronic settings today as we struggled a bit there as well, we improved the traction control, but we still need to take a couple more steps. In the warm-up we have a clear idea of something we want to try and we will have a meeting later to try and decide on what route we are going to take tomorrow.” Álvaro Bautista: “We improved from yesterday, but the problem is so did all the other riders! We have stayed in about the same position as yesterday and the same difference between first and me. The good thing is that I have good feeling with the used tyre and I was able to run at a consistent pace. The problem is that I am starting from a long way back and it will be difficult because in this category the first few laps are very important. I will try to get a good start and keep a good position in the first part of the race. The good rhythm I have means I can possibly fight in the top-10, but it will be important to get a good start to be able to do that and I will try to get my best one of the season. I feel I can go faster when the tyre is used so we are pleased with the setting and I will give it 100% tomorrow to do well.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “We found a decent step in speed today and undoubtedly improved the bike, but the result is as it is and the team is bitterly disappointed. Sachsenring is one of the hardest places to pass and starting that far back even though the guys have both got a decent race rhythm is going to make life extremely difficult. The positions are made more disappointing by the fact that two tenths-of-a-second would’ve seen Loris on the third row and he would then have had a much better opportunity for tomorrow’s race, but it’s that kind of track and apart from the very front guys everyone is very close and anything can happen over 30 laps tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued Fiat Yamaha: LORENZO TAKES FOURTH POLE IN A ROW AS ROSSI QUALIFIES IN FIFTH Jorge Lorenzo extended his pole position run to four consecutive races as he put his M1 at the front of the grid once again today at the Sachsenring. His Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi continued to impress on his return from injury by qualifying fifth, just 0.578 seconds off Lorenzo. Having struggled for front grip yesterday championship-leader Lorenzo looked much more comfortable today and finished the morning session in first place. Mid-way through qualifying however he suffered an engine problem on the start/finish straight and was forced to pull over. The session was then red-flagged when two riders crashed after hitting the oil that had leaked from his bike, although both have luckily been declared fit to ride tomorrow. On the resumption of action Lorenzo put in a string of fast laps in the high 1’21s, eventually ta king pole with four minutes to go before improving again to hold off challenges from Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, with whom he will share the front row tomorrow. Rossi continued to look surprisingly strong throughout today’s action, his recently broken leg causing little detriment to his performance on the bike. The 31-year-old World Champion was third this morning and then spent most of this afternoon’s session tweaking the set-up of his M1 to make sure he was as comfortable as possible around the 3.671km track. Post red-flag Rossi jumped up the order to fourth, before Andrea Dovizioso edged him down one place into the middle of the second row. Rossi’s physical condition is positive so far, with not too much pain from either his shoulder or his leg and he is hopeful of being able to complete the race distance tomorrow. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 1st Time: 1’21.817 Laps: 36 “Since the new engine rule everyone has been starting to feel like these engines never have problems and it was honestly a surprise for me today when I came onto the straight and felt it stop! It was so hot and there was oil on my feet so I had to go into the wall. I’m really sorry that Ben and Randy crashed and especially that Randy was slightly injured, it is good news that he will be able to race tomorrow. This pole position was very hard because Casey and Dani were so fast; I had to push at the maximum and ride really well. Well done to my team because we have improved so much since yesterday and now I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow.” Valentino Rossi Position: 5th Time: 1’22.395 Laps: 33 “I am really happy after this second day because I feel confident on the bike. I have suffered more today because we’ve had two sessions instead of one and I have some pain and I’m more tired than yesterday, but I feel good and my movement is okay. Also the shoulder feels fine so it’s definitely a positive return for me. Unfortunately today at the end we tried a small modification to improve the setting but it made it worse, so I think we lost one position for this. I don’t think the front row was possible because Lorenzo, Stoner and Pedrosa went under 1’22 and I don’t think I could have done that today. For tomorrow of course there is a question mark but I hope to be able to finish; I think the podium will be difficult for me but top five would be a very good result. Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager “Compared to yesterday we have improved the setting a lot and this morning Jorge was already able to improve by a few tenths in every section. This afternoon he felt good on the bike again and both types of Bridgestone tyre are working very well. It was another strong performance from him at the end, as we’ve become used to lately, but it was quite close and it will be a tough race tomorrow. As for the engine, we now have one less from our allocation of six and we need time to understand what happened; luckily it wasn’t a new engine, it’s been in use a long time but it’s never nice when something like this happens. We’re very sorry for the riders that fell and especially for Randy because he has some pain, things happening at that speed are always dangerous and we wish him our best and very much hope it won’t affect him in the r ace tomorrow.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “A very good session; if we’d known two days ago we would be qualifying in fifth we would have been very happy. Things are going well with Valentino’s condition and so as a result we’re feeling more and more competitive as time goes on! We’re working hard on the bike setting and his leg and shoulder seem to be reacting well to the pressure. He is already quite fast and the second row is good for us. We have to wait and see how he gets on in the race tomorrow because 30 laps is a lot but we have a good starting position and I expect that his racing attitude will prevail! We are very happy to be here, to have got through the practice and whatever happens tomorrow it is all a bonus.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team targets strong Sachsenring race Monster Yamaha Tech 3 riders Colin Edwards and Ben Spies are determined to bounce back from a tough qualifying session with strong results in tomorrow’s Sachsenring MotoGP race. Edwards and Spies will start tomorrow’s 30-lap race from 12th and 13th on the grid respectively as both were unlucky to see their hard work and effort go unrewarded at the tight and twisty German venue. Edwards posted a best time of 1.23.026 to start 12th on the grid, the 36-year-old working tirelessly to improve the set-up of his YZR-M1 machine in conditions that could not have been more wildly contrasting compared to the searing temperatures experienced during yesterd ay’s opening practice session. Hot and humid weather was replaced by much cooler conditions and qualifying took place under grey and gloomy skies but with no repeat of the torrential rain and thunderstorms that hit the track earlier. Edwards was just over 0.5s away from the top six at the end of the session having experimented once again with different weight distribution settings on his YZR-M1 machine. Circumstances conspired against luckless Spies this afternoon and his final position certainly didn’t reflect his true potential after he’d been fastest Yamaha on track yesterday on his first visit to the Sachsenring. Spies had just climbed to the brink of the top ten and was poised to begin his challenge on Bridgestone’s soft compound tyre when he fell heavily at the first corner with just over 25 minutes remaining. Spies crashed out having been unable to avoid oil dropped by Jorge Lorenzo after the Spaniard experienced a technical problem. The session was immediately red flagged as Randy de Puniet quickly followed Spies into the gravel. Spies was able to walk away from the incident unscathed and he quickly regained his composure to try and claim a third successive top six grid position. But the 26-year-old was unable to restart the session on his number one YZR-M1 machine that was badly damaged in the crash. Spies put in his maximum effort to try and improve his grid position on his spare bike, but a rousing late charge from the reigning World Superbike champion couldn’t move him higher than 13th on the timesheets with a best time of 1.23.028. He was just over a tenth-a-of-second away from the top ten and 0.002s behind Edwards. Both Edwards and Spies are aiming for a strong finish to boost confidence ahead of their crucial home race at Laguna Seca in California next Sunday (July 25). Colin Edwards 12th 1.23.026 32 laps “That was not an easy session at all and I feel like I rode much better than 12th. The amount of effort I’m putting in is not being reflected in the results and that is frustrating. It is not through a lack of trying and I’ve got to thank my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 because they have worked incredibly hard as always on the bike. We’ve tried pretty much everything. We put weight on the front and we took it off, we put weight on the rear and we changed the springs and pre-load and we did everything you could imagine and nothing was a big difference. Tomorrow’s race is going to be tough because this track is so tight that overtaking is not easy. At best I’d say I’m going to be fi ghting for seventh but I’ll be riding as hard as I can to give myself some confidence ahead of Laguna Seca next weekend. That is a huge weekend for Ben and I and I want to arrive home in a positive frame of mind and ready for a good weekend.” Ben Spies 13th 1.23.028 35 laps “It obviously wasn’t a good session when you look where I ended up and everything that could go wrong pretty much went wrong. I really believe we have a good pace but now we’re starting way back and we’ve got to try and get a good start and come through the field. But where we qualified today doesn’t reflect where we should be. I’d only been riding one bike this weekend and that got tore up in the crash. The lap times on my number one bike I definitely had something in the bag for qualifying to go faster than I did. But the best I could do on the spare bike was match the times I managed on the number one bike. The one decent lap I was on at the end that would have put me a row ahead, de Angelis crashed in front of me at the top of the hill and that just upset my lap. Before that though the incident at the first corner was crucial. I’d just finished my stint and was pulling in at the end of the lap to start going for a qualifying time. All of a sudden I was on the ground and I hadn’t really tipped in. I saw de Puniet’s bike fly right past me and. I walked over to his bike and looked at the front tyre and saw it had oil all over it so I knew there was nothing I could do. Luckily I’m fine and will give it my best shot tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing Team: THIRD AND FOURTH ROW FOR PRAMAC RACING TEAM RIDERS IN THE ENI GRAND PRIX OF GERMANY Good qualification session for Pramac Racing Team riders with the ninth and eleventh position conquered respectively by Aleix Espargarò and Mika Kallio. Good session for both riders that have stop the chronometer with just over a second of gap from the pole position registered by Jorge Lorenzo. The riders have complained about some small problems and if they will be able to solve them during tomorrow morning warm up, they should be both even faster than today and gain a significant result in the race. In particular Aleix had some grip problems on the front tyre, which didn’t allowed him to be fast in the first and last sector. Mika has partially solved the problems he had yesterday during the first free practice session. He finished very close to the riders ahead of him and will certainly battle tomorrow to gain an important position. The appointment is at 2 pm local time for the eni Grand Prix of Germany race. Marco Rigamonti – Aleix Espargarò Track Engineer “Aleix has confirmed his value in the last few races: this ninth position gives us good hopes for tomorrow’s race. We still have some grip problems with the front tyre in the first sector of the track. Tomorrow, during the warm up, we’ll change the height of the saddle to allow him to have a smoother ride. With these track conditions, we can make a good race. We are also very happy with the excellent pace that Aleix had during several laps, he has consistently turned in 1’23 low. We will work hard to ensure him a perfectly balanced bike.” Aleix Espargarò – Pramac Racing Team – 9th fastest time in 1’22 .910 “Compared to yesterday’s morning first practice session we have improved a little the front tyre grip even though my bike is not perfect yet. Tomorrow during the warm up we’ll make some other changes. With my engineers we have also decided to slightly change the saddle height, this should help me to have a better ride style in the first and last sector where we are slower than the others. I am still very happy to start the race in third row.” Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing Team – 11th best time in 1’22 .961 “Finally a positive result in qualifying. I am very happy to have significantly reduced the gap from the first rider and the other riders ahead of me. We have worked hard yesterday after the first free practice to make sure that my bike was fast in the first sector where I had the biggest gap. Tomorrow morning during the warm up we will try other changes to be even faster in that sector. I have great confidence for the tomorrow race: it’s the time to gain a good result.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Jorge Lorenzo took his fourth consecutive pole of the 2010 MotoGP campaign with the top time in qualifying for the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland. The Championship leader had a dramatic session, in which an oil spill from his Yamaha M1 resulted in the session being halted after crashes for Ben Spies and Randy de Puniet, but he went on to ensure he will go for a fourth straight win from top spot on the grid on Sunday, with a fastest lap of 1’21.817. Casey Stoner (Ducati Team) will launch his challenge for a first victory of the season from second place with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) will also be on the front row as he was the third and final rider under the 1’22″ mark. Stoner was looking on course to steal pole from Lorenzo until he found Colin Edwards in his path going into the final corner and as he hesitated deciding whether to pass or not he lost crucial time and eventually finished just 0.024s behind Lorenzo. Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso heads up the second row as he followed three-tenths behind the Spaniard, whilst Valentino Rossi will start his first race back from his enforced break from racing in fifth spot. Having made a miraculous recovery from a broken leg at his home round in Mugello, the reigning World Champion ended up 0.578s off the pace of his Fiat Yamaha collegue Lorenzo. Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) will be alongside after he achieved his best premier class qualification to date with sixth. The session was red-flagged with 25 minutes remaining as Lorenzo’s M1 started to spill oil, and flames then began to pour out of the side of the Spaniard’s bike as he approached turn one before he managed to pull off the track. Following behind, Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) fell in the split oil, as did De Puniet (LCR Honda) and the Frenchman collided with Spies’ stationary bike as he slid off. De Puniet went for X-rays on his right leg in the medical centre, which confirmed no breaks, and he will be hopeful of taking his seventh spot on the grid having started 189 consecutive races since 1999. Riding as a replacement for Hiroshi Aoyama, Alex de Angelis (Interwetten Honda MotoGP) had a crash towards the end of the session and was uninjured. He will start from last place on the grid in seventeenth, whilst compatriot Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) had a run-off late on but will start fourteenth. Moto2 Andrea Iannone’s fourth pole of the season his third in succession was confirmed in Moto2 as the Fimmco Speed Up rider qualified fastest with a lap of 1’24.982, making him the only sub-1’25″ rider and placing him 0.673s clear at the top of the timesheet. The Italian, who will tomorrow go for his third win of the season, will be joined on the front row by Arne Tode (Racing Team Germany), who delighted the home crowd by qualifying in second position. Just nine-thousandths of a second behind him was Championship leader Toni Elías (Gresini Racing), who had a crash late on in the session from which he walked away uninjured. Completing the front row will be Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar), with a gap of 0.776s separating him from the pole position holder. The second row will be comprised of Iannone’s team-mate Gabor Talmacsi, Simone Corsi (JiR Moto2), another German rider in Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) on his return from injury, and Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP). Ricky Cardús had a crash in his first qualifying session as a new addition to the Maquinza-SAG Team, with Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing) also experiencing a fall. Switzerland’s Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Racing), currently second in the Championship, qualified in a disappointing 21st having had a difficult session in which he ran off track. 125cc Marc Márquez will start Sunday’s race from pole position thanks to a fantastic qualifying display. The 17 year-old Red Bull Ajo Motorsport rider’s blistering time of 1’26.053 was 0.786s faster than Gabor Talmacsi’s absolute circuit record, which had stood at the track since 2007. On a surface which had dried out well since the morning’s wet practice session, Márquez and Pol Espargaró battled for pole position in the closing stages of qualifying, with the lead time swapping hands on a number of occasions as the pair pushed one another to increasingly faster times. Márquez then pulled out an unmatchable lap towards the end to leave him 0.543s clear of his Tuenti Derbi rival, whom he leads in the Championship standings by a single point going into tomorrow’s race. Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar) in third was 1.325s off the pace of Márquez, and Sandro Cortese (Avant Mitsubishi Ajo) will start his home GP from the front row after taking fourth spot on the grid, just nine-thousandths off Smith. The second row will be comprised of Randy Krummenacher (Stipa-Molenaar Racing), Efrén Vázquez (Tuenti Racing), Tomoyoshi Koyama (Racing Team Germany) and Johann Zarco (WTR San Marino Team). Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX) and Danny Webb (Andalucia Cajasol) completed the top ten. Injured Nico Terol meanwhile returned to Spain today after deciding his was not fit enough to race after having cracked the L1 and L2 vertebrae in his back during the last round in Barcelona. With the 125s not racing at MotoGP’s next stop in the USA, Terol has until the Czech round at Brno on August 15th to recover from his injuries. More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER JUST 0.024 SECONDS FROM POLE AT SACHSENRING, DIFFICULT DAY FOR HAYDEN Ducati Marlboro Team rider Casey Stoner came within a few metres of his first pole position since the opening race of the season today when he ran into traffic in the final two turns of a flying lap that was still only 0.024 seconds shy of top spot. Second place on the grid is an excellent result for Stoner, however, on a day that saw him make significant progress with his race set-up around the tight and twisty Sachsenring circuit. A damp track for the first part of this morning’s second free practice had made the task all the more tricky for the riders and it wasn’t such a productive day for Stoner’s team-mate Nicky Hayden, who was unable to make progress on an impressive start yesterday and could only qualify fifteenth. Both riders today used a new fairing on their Desmosedici GP10 machines, which featured small lateral ‘wings’ designed to help prevent wheelies around the dramatic undulations of this circuit. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 2nd (1’21.841) “We’ve gradually progressed over the whole weekend we started off pretty competitive yesterday, the bike was going well and step by step we’ve made it better. The track conditions were also a little better today with the lower temperatures and of course more rubber having been laid down on it so that certainly helped. We managed to put a good lap together there at the end but I got caught up behind Colin Edwards in the penultimate corner and lost some vital time. I was a little bit disappointed not to get pole by such a small margin but maybe I should have attempted to pass him earlier and things might have been different. Having said that we have to be happy today we’re starting from the front row and I’m feeling good about tomorrow so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.” NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Marlboro Team) 15th (1’23.090) “Yesterday we started out well and I did a 1’22.9, which would have been good enough for ninth on the grid today, but we lost our way a little and maybe went in the wrong direction with the setting. Not to make excuses I did encounter a little traffic on some good laps and my ideal time has me tenth with a 1’22.7 but the bottom line is I wasn’t fast enough anyway. This is probably the last place where you want to qualify at the back so starting fifteenth is going to make it a long, tough race but a lot can happen in 30 laps. I need to get into a good early rhythm and just try to go forward. Yesterday we felt so positive and the feeling with the bike was so good, we were near the front, but this afternoon wasn’t a good session and I know I have to do better. I apologise to the team because they deserve better than fifteenth and we’ll look to put it right tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: DE PUNIET TAKES 7th SPOT ON THE GRID DESPITE AN AWFUL CRASH Sachsenring, 17 July: As predicted by the weather forecast, cloudy skies and lower temperatures welcomed the 800cc riders this morning at the 3.671 km German track which hosts the eight round of the season. This morning second free session at Sachsenring was conducted in the dry but the asphalt temperature reached 26 degrees only and the LCR Honda MotoGP racer Randy de Puniet set the 5th fastest time continuing his set up work aboard the RC212V equipped with a new electronic software. The Frenchman once again displayed his affinity with the technical and tight German track and was ready to take the best from his machine in today’s 60-minute qualifying session. Unfortunately at 25 minutes to go Lorenzo’s bike engine blew up spraying oil onto the track at turn one. Spies crashed and Randy braked to 150km/h before crashing on the oil. The session was red-flagged and the 29-year-old reached the Medical Centre to check his painful right ankle and after a double X-ray Randy was decided fit for the race as he suffered a small scratch of the tibia only. De Puniet set a best lap time of 1’22.610 and will start from tomorrow’s 30-lap race from the third row. De Puniet – 7th 1’22.610 De Puniet: “What can I say? I am lucky because all my bones are whole! We have been working good with the new software and I was up there for the whole session. I was on my last lap on hard tyre and was ready to come in to swap on soft ones but suddenly Jorge’s engine blew up on the straight and after few seconds the surface was full of oil. It happened too quick and nobody had the time to react or to display the board. Spies crashed in front of me and I did the same onto his bike hurting myself heavily. After last year left ankle fracture I was seriously worried about my conditions but it’s just a scratch of the right tibia. But it aches very much! Of course I won’t be at 100% for tomorrow but my race pace is quite good and will do my best to take as many points as possible”. More, from a press release issued by Honda: German Grand Prix, Sachsenring MotoGP and Moto2 qualifying July 17 2010 Weather: warm and overcast Track temperature: 24 degrees Ambient Temperature: 31 degrees PEDROSA A CLOSE THIRD IN TWO-PART QUALIFYING SESSION Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) came within 0.131 seconds of scoring his third pole position of the year during this afternoon’s dramatic German Grand Prix qualifying session. The session was red-flagged just after halfway following an incident at the end of the start-finish straight. World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) suffered an engine failure that spread oil on the racing line, bringing down Ben Spies (Yamaha) and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) at speed. At that point Pedrosa had been ahead. The session was restarted as soon as the oil had been dealt with, Lorenzo and then Casey Stoner (Ducati) sneaking ahead of Pedrosa in the final minutes. Nevertheless Pedrosa ended the afternoon a tantalisingly close third quickest and is happy with the work he has done on race set-up. Most important of all he is on the front row the Sachsenring’s ultra-tight first corner makes this one of the trickiest race starts of the season. Team-mate Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V) was next up in fourth, to lead the second row. Like everyone else Dovizioso’s work schedule was slightly disturbed by the mid-session stoppage but the Italian is confident he can run a good pace in the 30 lap race. His main focus before the race is to further improve his RCV’s mid-corner performance. Most riders, including Dovizioso, bettered their Friday times during this morning’s free practice, which started on a slightly damp track. Conditions were very different from yesterday afternoon when the ambient temperature soared to 36 degrees. After overnight thunder and lightning storms this afternoon’s temperature was 24 degrees. Fifth fastest in free practice, de Puniet had been in the hunt for a fourth consecutive front row until he was brought down by Lorenzo’s oil slick. The Frenchman who is benefitting from upgraded electronics kit from HRC suffered a minor injury to his lower right leg when he clipped Spies’ fallen Yamaha while sliding through the gravel trap. De Puniet took no further part in the session but has been cleared fit to race. He will start from seventh place, heading the third row. Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) will take his place in the middle of the third row, starting from eighth position for the third consecutive race. The Italian rookie has been building speed and confidence at the last few GPs and is keen to make up for his tumble at Catalunya, where he had been on course for his best premier-class result. Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) completed the session in tenth spot, 1.1 seconds off pole. The Italian is still recovering from the dislocated left shoulder he sustained in a practice crash at Assen, which isn’t making life comfortable at this physically demanding anti-clockwise circuit which features seven consecutive left-handers from turn five to turn 11. Alex de Angelis (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V) had a tough return to MotoGP today, tumbling at the blind turn 12 during the closing stages of qualifying. It was never going to be easy for the San Marino rider, coming into this race without any testing as substitute for the injured Hiroshi Aoyama, but at least he walked away from his high-speed fall unscathed and was able to continue on his second bike. De Angelis had been contesting Moto2 until he got the call up to fill in for Aoyama, who injured his back at Silverstone. Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up) proved once again that he has the strongest package in the Honda-powered Moto2 series with his fourth pole position from the last five races. Iannone has also won two of the last five races and would likely have won a third at Catalunya two weeks ago if he hadn’t received a ride-through penalty for overtaking under yellow warning flags. The Italian’s advantage in a class with control engines and tyres was impressive, at 0.673 seconds. To put his advantage into perspective, the next 18 riders are covered by 0.665 seconds. Local favourite and GP rookie Arne Tode (Racing Team Germany, Suter) achieved his best GP qualifying performance this afternoon with second fastest Moto2 time. The 25-year-old from Bergen who knows this track well from previous visits with the German Superbike and Supersport series will be doing everything in his power to convert his qualifying speed into a podium finish in front of his home crowd. Championship leader Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) seems to have got his challenge back on track after a difficult few races. Like many Moto2 riders, Elias tested at Aragon (venue for September’s inaugural Aragon GP) following the Catalan GP. He made some radical chassis adjustments and is raring to put them to a full test in tomorrow’s race. Catalan podium finisher Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter) will be out to score his fourth top-three result of the year. And few riders know their way around this track than the Spaniard who dominated last year’s German 125 GP, winning the race by more than nine seconds. Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125 Team) wasn’t wholly satisfied with his 15th place in 125 qualifying, especially considering the fact that he has recorded faster times here in the past. Schrötter’s crew will try some changes in warm-up in an effort to improve the 17-year-old’s race pace. HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda RC212V: 3rd, 1m 21.948s “The main target today was to get onto the first row and we’ve achieved this so I’m happy. It’s important to start from the front row because the first corner is close to the starting grid and also the first few corners are very tight, so it’s better to be up front and try to stay out of trouble. Always at this track the lap times are very close and we often see a really hard fight in the race – and it looks like this could be the case again tomorrow. We were lucky with the weather today and we got more dry practice time than expected. Generally we did a good job in the two practice sessions and our race pace looks pretty reasonable. I didn’t see the crash at turn one but I saw the smoke and I thought maybe there’s some oil on the track. I think I was lucky not to be the first one through after Lorenzo’s problem. We’ll have to be very concentrated during all 30 laps tomorrow because it’s a short lap and there’s no time to relax. We’ll try to find a little something extra with the set-up in warm-up tomorrow but I’m confident we can have a strong race.” Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda RC212V: 4th, 1m 22.263s “I’m pretty satisfied to have qualified in fourth and to be only four tenths from pole position. We made constant improvements in both of today’s sessions and we’re in much better shape than we were yesterday. Being fast on this track is really important for me because previously I’ve struggled here a little bit in all the categories, but today we could go quickly and qualified pretty well. Fourth position equals my best qualifying position so far this season and I’m happy about this. We have a good race pace too. We are not as fast as the first three riders but I think we can improve in a few areas, close the gap, and fight for the top step of the podium. One of the areas where we are still losing out is in the middle of the turn with the bike wanting to go straight, so we’ll continue to try to improve this particular part of our set-up. I’m confident for tomorrow’s race. “ Randy de Puniet, LCR Honda RC212V: 7th, 1m 22.610s “What can I say? I am lucky because all my bones are whole! We have been working well with the new software and I was up there for the whole session. I was on my last lap on a hard tyre and was ready to come in to swap to a soft tyre but suddenly Jorge’s engine blew on the straight and after few seconds the surface was full of oil. It happened too quickly and nobody had the time to react or to display the flags. Spies crashed in front of me and I did the same, hitting his bike and hurting myself heavily. After last year’s left ankle fracture I was seriously worried about my condition but I have just a scratch to the right tibia. But it aches very much! Of course I won’t be at 100 per cent for tomorrow but my race pace is quite good and I will do my best to take as many points as possible.” Marco Simoncelli, San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V: 8th, 1m 22.624s “Eighth place isn’t bad and I’m happy even though to be honest I was hoping to improve at the end of the session and qualifying on the second row. It wasn’t to be and if we want to achieve our objective of running with the top five tomorrow we have to take another step forward. I’m half pleased and half disappointed. Like yesterday we had difficulty finding rear traction when I open the throttle and I couldn’t find a good feeling. Tomorrow in the warm-up we’ll try and find a solution to improve our race pace. The crash this morning obviously didn’t help but these things happen and we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.” Marco Melandri, San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V: 10th, 1m 22.917s “It was a really difficult session for us and we struggled to find the right way forward. We went back to our setting from yesterday and things improved but I’m still not happy with how I’m riding the bike, so we will try to make a change that gives us a bit more feeling in corner entry, which is where I am slow. Physically I feel quite good although the race will be a different story it will be long and tough. I haven’t really had any problems doing short runs in practice though.” Alex de Angelis, Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V: 17th, 1m 23.515s “Of course I am neither happy nor satisfied with this result. And that I crashed isn’t good at all. But I am confident for tomorrow’s race. The riders in front of me were very close and I think I can close up to the front a little bit more. The set up of the bike needs further improvements to suit my aggressive riding style.” MOTO2 RIDER QUOTES Andrea Iannone, Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up: pole position, 1m 24.982s “That was a very fast and tough session, so I am delighted to get another pole position. We are showing good consistency at the moment, which shows that we are working very well. If it hadn’t been for my mistake at Barcelona [overtaking under yellow warning flags], I could be at the top of the championship, so tomorrow we have to keep pushing as hard as we can and capture some of the points we lost last time. It will be tough I expect some strong rivalry, especially from Simon who is very fast here.” Arne Tode, Racing Team Germany, Suter: 2nd, 1m 25.655s “This is really great I never thought we would be able to get such a good grid position here. We were able to make some very good improvements to the bike between the second free practice and this afternoon’s qualifying session, which made a big difference to me. The team is working incredibly hard and doing a fantastic job, so this is their reward. Now we will see what we can do in the race.” Toni Elias, Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki: 3rd: 1m 25.664s “We made some radical changes to the bike during the tests at Aragon last week. Adapting the set-up for this track has been quite difficult, but finally the bike is much better and for the first time for a while it seems like I have a very good race rhythm. It will be very important to get a very good start here because the first corner is so tight and the first part of the lap so narrow. I don’t know if I will able to go with Andrea, we will have to wait and see. I will try, of course, and tonight we will see if we can find some small improvements in the bike.” Julian Simon, Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter: 4th, 1m 25.758s “I am very happy to be on the front row it is so important to get a good start at this track, so you can get into the first corner well. We have a good rhythm here and I also feel happy with the set-up of the bike. Maybe we could have gone a bit faster this afternoon, but maybe not without more risk. Tomorrow I hope to stay with the front group and fight. I know this track well and I won here last year on the 125s, so I will be trying my best to win again.” HONDA 125 RIDER QUOTES Marcel Schrötter, Interwetten Honda 125 Team: 15th, 1m 28.975s “The 15th spot on the grid is not quite what I was hoping for, but it is still a position which is not bad to start the race from. During the qualifying I had a really good feeling with the bike and I felt comfortable, but then at the end of the session it went very chaotic once again and I was not able to attack anymore.”