Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa continued his impressive performance at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix by lowering his own hours-old Circuit Best lap record and earning pole position during Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session. Riding his Bridgestone-shod RC212V, the 23-year-old Spaniard lapped the track in 1:39.730, shaving half a second from the lap record he set Saturday morning (1:40.271) and chopping more than a full second from Valentino Rossi’s 2008 lap record/pole position time of 1:40.776. For Pedrosa, it was his second pole position of 2009. A strong race result could push Pedrosa up from fourth in the Championship point standings past third-place man Casey Stoner, who is not riding at Indy while he continues to recover from a fatiguing illness. Jorge Lorenzo has been consistently fast all weekend on his Fiat Yamaha YZR-M1 but came up half a second short of Pedrosa Saturday afternoon with his time of 1:40.236. Lorenzo’s effort, second-best in the 17-rider field, netted him his 12th consecutive front-row start this season. Pedrosa and Lorenzo will be joined on the three-rider front row by six-time and defending MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi, who did a time of 1:40.609. Coming up just short of the front row was San Carlo Gresini Honda’s Alex De Angelis, who did a 1:40.620 to qualify fourth, his best qualifying result of the year. American Colin Edwards was on his best lap late in the session when he lost the front and crashed his Monster Tech 3 Yamaha entering Turn Six. Edwards immediately got up from his long slide, but he was unable to continue in the session and ended up fifth with a 1:40.961. Edwards’ countryman Nicky Hayden obtained his second-best qualifying result when he lapped the 2.6-mile, 16-turn infield road course in 1:41.067 on his Marlboro Ducati Desmosedici GP09. FIM MotoGP World Championship Indianapolis Motor Speedway Indianapolis, Indiana August 29, 2009 Provisional Qualifying Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Dani Pedrosa (Honda), 1:39.730 2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha), 1:40.236 3. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), 1:40.609 4. Alex De Angelis (Honda), 1:40.620 5. Colin Edwards (Yamaha), 1:40.961, crash 6. Nicky Hayden (Ducati), 1:41.067 7. Toni Elias (Honda), 1:41.283, crash 8. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda), 1:41.309, crash 9. Marco Melandri (Kawasaki), 1:41.530 10. James Toseland (Yamaha), 1:41.620 11. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki), 1:41.742 12. Randy De Puniet (Honda), 1:41.773 13. Niccolo Canepa (Ducati), 1:41.910 14. Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki), 1:42.038 15. Mika Kallio (Ducati), 1:42.250, crash 16. Aleix Espargaro (Ducati), 1:42.577 17. Gabor Talmacsi (Honda), 1:42.736 More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: FRONT ROW FOR FIAT YAMAHA PAIR AS SUN SHINES AT INDIANAPOLIS The sun finally shone on MotoGP at Indianapolis today and yesterday’s soaking track was long forgotten, giving the riders the chance to get to grips with their bikes on a dry surface. It was another double front-row for Fiat Yamaha riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, the Spaniard claiming his 12th straight front row of the season with second on the grid and Rossi his seventh consecutive with third. Lorenzo, who was second fastest behind Dani Pedrosa this morning, went into the lead after just ten minutes of this afternoon’s qualifying session and looked very strong from then on, improving his time several times before Pedrosa knocked him off the top spot with 20 minutes to go. The 22-year-old Spaniard pushed hard in the final stages but was not quite able to edge his compatriot off pole position, finishing the session 0.506 seconds adrift. Rossi meanwhile was consistently in the top three until he was edged out by Alex de Angelis with a little over ten minutes remaining. The championship leader was able to make a last-minute improvement to move back onto the front row with his final lap but feels he is still lacking rhythm and pace. He and his team will be looking for some overnight improvements in order to put him in the best shape for tomorrow’s race, which starts at 1400 Eastern Time. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 2nd Time: 1’40.236 Laps: 31 “I’m happy about this qualifying session because we made a big step with our setting from this morning and even from the start of the session. Unfortunately we couldn’t improve any more in the final laps and it’s now six or seven races since I’ve been on pole which is strange for me, because doing one fast lap is usually one of my strong points! The important thing however is that we’re on the front row, we have a good race pace and we are ready to challenge for the win tomorrow.” Valentino Rossi Position: 3rd Time: 1’40.609 Laps: 27 “We’re on the front row and this is important but honestly we don’t have enough pace at the moment and I can’t ride how I want to. We don’t have quite enough grip to enable us to push at the maximum. We did a lot of work this afternoon but we’re still not at our best and so now we all need to work to find a way to make another step for tomorrow. We have the warm-up still to use and we will try to be competitive for the race.” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “We are on target and happy to be on the front row, even if we were hoping for pole position. The team made some important modifications to the set-up and this afternoon we had a much faster pace than this morning; we have a good race pace now. We still have some work to do because Pedrosa looks very strong and we need to close the gap to him, but we’re confident that we can improve the package a bit more and set Jorge up for a great race tomorrow.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “We need to continue to work because we’re not yet fast enough! Of course being on the front row is important but now we have to focus on finding the right improvements for tomorrow. We have some work to do before the race and then we will see where we are in warm-up tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: PEDROSA BLITZES RIVALS TO TAKE INDY POLE Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa today obliterated his MotoGP opposition to take pole position for tomorrow’s Indianapolis Grand Prix. The Spanish ace was easily fastest in both practice and qualifying sessions and looked completely untouchable aboard his factory Honda RC212V at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His best lap of 1m 39.730s this afternoon was more than a second inside last year’s qualifying lap record and 0.506s clear of his nearest rival – Jorge Lorenzo who will start from second on the grid. As well as ultimate speed, Pedrosa displayed consistency too – and it was the same story in the morning session. His quickest eight laps this morning were faster than any other rider in the MotoGP field could manage and his best lap this morning was a full 1.015s faster than his closest rival – Jorge Lorenzo once again. This is Pedrosa’s second pole position of the season after he started from front on the grid at the French Grand Prix at Le Mans in May. Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso will start tomorrow’s 28-lap race from eighth on the grid and will be looking for a good start to take him from the third row and into contention with the leaders. The Italian set his fastest lap of 1m 41.309s on the last of his 27 laps this afternoon after a slow-speed fall early in the session. Dovizioso and his crew will use tomorrow morning’s 20-minute warm-up session to make further improvements to his machine set-up – particularly the feeling from the front end – and the former 125cc World Champion is confident of making up places when the lights go out to start the Indianapolis Grand Prix at 15.00 (GMT -4hrs). DANI PEDROSA Pole 1m 39.730 “I’m really happy with this pole position because we have been fast all weekend so far – in the we as well as the dry – so this is very positive. The lap times are quick and also consistent which should give us a good chance in the race tomorrow. I’ve been comfortable on the machine from the start and things have just clicked here – it’s not as if we’ve made any big changes for this race. We can’t relax at all though because I’m sure the other riders will improve and we know how strong our rivals have been this season. So we must make a few small adjustments to make sure we have the best possible package tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to the race because it looks like the weather should be good – a big contrast to last year – and it will be great to feel the race-day atmosphere at Indianapolis in more normal conditions than last year’s wash-out. Now we’ll just stay focused and concentrate on our preparation for tomorrow.” ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 8th 1m 41.309 “I’d like to be further forward on the grid and I think eighth doesn’t actually reflect our potential here, so we’ll be aiming to improve the set-up for the race. My qualifying session didn’t go exactly to plan because I had a small crash near the beginning of the session in Turn 7. At that point in the middle of the turn there’s a change in the asphalt and you have to be more delicate on the brakes at the point. I didn’t change the lever pressure correctly which was the mistake that caused me to lose the front. In fact my feeling from the front end wasn’t perfect today, so this is what we’ll be working to improve for tomorrow. I think the front of the race is going to be run with laptimes below 1m 41s and I’ll need to get a good start from the third row to give me a chance of competing with the leaders. I’m confident we can take a step forward tomorrow.” KAZUHIKO YAMANO – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER “I have to say well done to Dani because he’s done an excellent job this weekend and taking pole position was the natural conclusion of his progress so far. He’s been top in every session and looks in with a good chance of winning tomorrow. We’ve not made big changes to the machine so this performance was down to him and the team. Andrea’s a little bit further back than he wanted, but with some changes to his machine set-up tonight I think he can move forward tomorrow. Also, we know our rivals are very strong so we won’t be relaxing at all.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Indy pole record for Pedrosa on harder front and softer rear slicks Round 12: Indianapolis GP Qualifying Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Saturday 29 August 2009 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Medium, Hard. Rear: Hard, Extra hard (asymmetric) Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa scored his second pole position and sixth front-row start of the season in definitive style today. Fastest in the morning’s free practice by just over a second, the Spaniard used the harder option front and softer option rear Bridgestone slicks to set a pole time 0.506seconds faster than the field. In doing so he also set a new circuit fastest lap, one second faster than the pole position time of last year set by race winner Valentino Rossi on qualifying tyres. After Brno, this is the second pole position record to be beaten on Bridgestone’s race tyres since the demise of qualifying-spec rubber at the end of last season. The Fiat Yamaha duo of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi will start tomorrow’s race in second and third respectively, closely followed by San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alex de Angelis in his best qualifying performance of the season. The top four all used the harder option front slicks and the softer option rear to record their fastest laps, and all went faster than the pole position record set last year. As yesterday’s practice session was wet, and most of the weekend last year was also wet in the wake of Hurricane Ike, the teams and riders do not have a great deal of experience of dry running at Indianapolis so setup time was at a premium today. Tohru Ubukata Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department “For the second time this season we have seen a pole position record broken on our race tyres so I am pleased with their performance today on the first day of dry running here at Indianapolis. We do not have much experience of dry weather running in MotoGP at this circuit because of the inclement weather here this and last year, so the teams had not much time to get their setups perfected on our slick tyres. “We do have quite a good understanding of this track from our work in the Formula One World Championship though, so we try to support all teams with the benefit of this knowledge. Tyre durability on the dry surface was reasonable today in the high temperature, and Jorge completed a long run of 20 laps on the harder front and softer rear Bridgestone slicks with a string of consistent times faster than the previous pole position record.” Top ten from qualifying (Saturday 13:55 14:55 GMT-4) Pos Rider Team Fastest lap Gap Compounds Front, Rear 1 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1m39.730s Hard, Hard 2 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 1m40.236s +0.506s Hard, Hard 3 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m40.609s +0.879s Hard, Hard 4 Alex de Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m40.620s +0.890s Hard, Hard 5 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m40.961s +1.231s Hard, Hard 6 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 1m41.067s +1.337s Medium, Hard 7 Toni Elias San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m41.283s +1.553s Hard, Hard 8 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 1m41.309s +1.579s Hard, Hard 9 Marco Melandri Hayate Racing Team 1m41.530s +1.800s Hard, Hard 10 James Toseland Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m41.620s +1.890s Hard, Hard Weather: Dry. Ambient 24°C; Tra ck 42°C ( Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Indianapolis Motor Speedway: RED BULL INDIANAPOLIS GP MotoGP POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES Saturday, Aug. 29 DANI PEDROSA (No. 3 Repsol Honda Team): “I think for the moment, we did a good job, even (Friday) in the rain. That’s good for us. It’s not easy to be in front of the Yamahas, so I’m happy for that. Starting in the front row is very important. For sure, the other riders will improve. So we have to keep focused and tomorrow for the race try to have the best package we can.” (More Pedrosa to come in press conference transcript) JORGE LORENZO (No. 99 Fiat Yamaha Team): “We made a big step at the beginning of the session. The only thing is we didn’t improve the last lap, the lap time. We had our pace, and we can have hopes to win tomorrow.” (More Lorenzo to come in press conference transcript) VALENTINO ROSSI (No. 46 Fiat Yamaha Team): “We worked a lot this afternoon trying to improve. But we didn’t have enough rhythm. Starting from the first row will be very interesting, very important. We hope we will be more competitive for the race tomorrow.” COLIN EDWARDS (No. 5 Monster Yamaha Tech 3): “It felt good. I felt comfortable. Right there at the end, I was pushing it. I just did my best lap, and it really wasn’t that good of a lap. I thought, ‘Let’s clean it up a little bit and get the lines right.’ And I came into Turn 6, I think, and there’s a bump that’s just huge. It’s right in the middle of the track. I been going inside of it and inside of it, and then if I brake a little deeper, I might go outside of it. But it’s hard to see. I got in there and just kind of got lost and I’m like, ‘Where am I?’ You know, the suspension compressed, and once you hit a bump like that it’s all over.” (Will that section be a problem during the first few laps of the race with so many bikes going into the turn at the same time?): “No; not really. There’s some bumps out there. I’m not going to lie to you. There’s some big bumps out there that I think a lot of these guys aren’t accustomed to as far as motocross skill level on a couple corners. You know, we have to ride the same thing. Bike setup is so important around here; getting everything to work and follow the bumps.” (Overall feeling going into the race): “It’s a home race. It doesn’t matter where we are, if we’re in the backyard racing or at Indy. I got friends and family here and am looking for a good result.” LORIS CAPIROSSI (No. 65 Rizla Suzuki MotoGP): “We were trying to find the best setup on the bike because we have a new chassis after the race in Brno. We have to sort it out. We improved, but not close to the top guy. We will use the warm-up (Sunday morning) to try to fix for a better bike and have a great race. Our position is to try to fight into the top six. That is our target for Sunday.” NICKY HAYDEN (No. 69 Ducati Team): (How was qualifying?): “It’s always the same. You feel like you left a couple of tenths out, but overall we’re quite competitive. We’ll see tomorrow. I know it will be a tough one, but actually it has been a pretty decent weekend for us. I hope to get some solid results tomorrow. The track conditions were better, but for me, the wet is not so bad. Yesterday, I was second fastest. I think we were due for some dry weather. And it is always nice to be at Indy, rain or shine. It could be snowing, and I would still be happy to be here. I like tracks that go left. I grew up in America, and there are a lot of tracks that go left. In Europe, it’s the opposite. I try to tell myself there is no difference, but all of my best drives go left. The results always say that.” (Can you foresee a top-three finish tomorrow?): “Let’s don’t be talking podium. I’m not going to make any big predictions or nothing. There are a few guys in that front group that are certainly quick. But, you know, in racing anything can happen. We have got to put ourselves in a good position to just be there and capitalize. I’ll certainly try to hold on to the front group as long as I can.” (What would a good finish mean to you remaining with the Ducati team?): “I’ve been in years like this before. Everybody is feeling the pinch on jobs. Truthfully, I try to block it out and let the managers handle the thing. I got a couple of good options. I don’t know if I will be here in this garage next year. But regardless, I feel pretty confident that I will have a good package.” JAMES TOSELAND (No. 52 Monster Yamaha Tech 3): “I’m just really, really frustrated at the moment. We made a change at the end, and the bike improved quite a bit. I was just catching Marco Melandri on my last qualifying lap, and just right on the last two corners he made a slight mistake. I had to roll the throttle, and that cost me the third row. For sure there was a low (1:) 41, high 40, maybe where Colin was. I’m just a bit frustrated, but now I’m really confident with the changes we’ve made. If we get a good start, we can get a decent result. All is not lost, but we should have been on the third row, at least. As I say, with the work the guys have done today, I’m quite pleased about tomorrow.” (Maybe playing with your band this afternoon can take your mind off it a little): “At least we found our setting, because I would have been singing Barry White through the whole gig if not.” GABOR TALMACSI (No. 41 Scot Racing Team MotoGP): “I expected a little bit more. I’m a little disappointed. I the morning practice, I felt I had a little bit more power and would do better. We went in the wrong direction (in qualifying). I’m not happy about the rear weight. I was always sliding a little. We will have to wait and see on the data what happened and try to improve for the warm-up. My target it always to stay in the eighth, ninth, 10th position, and I think with this fantastic team we can do it. We need maybe just a little bit more time because this MotoGP bike is not easy to ride. We have had some difficulties, but I never give up because I feel the team power. We will just do our best in the race. We have to understand what happened today, and maybe for the race we try some different things, maybe a different suspension that will give me better support. My spirits are good, and I will try to race the competition.” CHRIS VERMEULEN (No. 7 Rizla Suzuki MotoGP): “The track was wet Friday, so every lap that the bikes did today, it put rubber down and got faster. Not only that, we’re improving and getting more familiar with the circuit and setting the bikes up. We’re going the right way. We’re going faster, which is better than going slower, but not quite fast enough. We have some work to do Sunday. The plan “¦ to go as fast as I can from the first lap. It’s going to be a tough race. The lap times are very, very close, and a lot of these guys have been World Champions, so they are very consistent with each lap. It’s never easy, but we can make up a few places and fight in the top 10.” ALEIX ESPARGARO (No. 44 Pramac Racing): “I’m happy for the first time here for the MotoGP. It’s not an easy bike. But I’m happy. Riding the Ducati, we’ve had some problems. But I think for tomorrow morning we have to make a good start and have a fun race. The conditions were better than yesterday. Yesterday, everything was new, and with the rain, it was not good. But Saturday was better. I just have two hours, which is fine. But I’m happy, and we just have to continue working like this, and we’ll see tomorrow.” MARCO MELANDRI (No. 33 Hayate Racing Team): “It was a good day for me. We had a lot of fun this morning in the third part of the track. We’ve been working a lot, and we improved this afternoon. We improved a bunch in Turn 2. I’m looking forward to the race. I just need a good start. The start (standing) is very crucial. It’s not very easy to pass. For me, it has always been difficult this year to have a good start, and I have lost a lot of time at the beginning of the race. The weather will be the same for everyone. It’s nice to know it will be a dry day; that’s important to us and to the spectators. I am confident. My bike is working quite good. I’m looking for a good result.” NICCOLO CANEPA (No. 88 Pramac Racing): “It’s not so bad. In the beginning of the session, it was good. And then at the end, when I wanted to do a good lap time, the front tire was too old. My engineer told me to change the front, but I didn’t know what to do. I ended with the old one, but it was better to change it. Anyway, I did a good lap time, and I had a good session. It’s not too bad for tomorrow.” (Did you prefer the weather conditions today compared to yesterday?: “For sure. Yesterday, we had some problems in wet conditions. Usually I’m not so concerned with wet conditions. But anyway, I am excited about it, for sure.” ANDREA DOVIZIOSO (No. 4 Repsol Honda Team): “I’d like to be further forward on the grid, and I think eighth doesn’t actually reflect our potential here, so we’ll be aiming to improve the setup for the race. My qualifying session didn’t go exactly to plan because I had a small crash near the beginning of the session in Turn 7. At that point in the middle of the turn, there’s a change in the asphalt, and you have to be more delicate on the brakes at the point. I didn’t change the lever pressure correctly, which was the mistake that caused me to lose the front. In fact, my feeling from the front end wasn’t perfect today, so this is what we’ll be working to improve for tomorrow. I think the front of the race is going to be run with lap times below 1:41, and I’ll need to get a good start from the third row to give me a chance of competing with the leaders. I’m confident we can take a step forward tomorrow.” TONI ELIAS (No. 24 San Carlo Honda Gresini): “I was faster than this morning. This morning it didn’t feel like I wanted. But I think it’s not good enough. We need to have a second more. We’ll try to find it for tomorrow. If we could do it, it could be very good for us.” MIKA KALLIO (No. 36 Ducati Team): “We started the session well, and my first outing on used tires wasn’t too bad. We tried a different setup in the middle of the session, but it wasn’t as good and I switched back. When we put a fresh tire on to push for a lap time, I had to abort a couple of laps because there were riders in my way. Then I tried to push again and crashed. It was a really similar crash to the one in qualifying at Brno. I just lost front grip, and the next thing I knew I was on the floor. For some reason, my feeling with the front is quite vague, and it is an area we know we need to work on. Hopefully we can find something before the race tomorrow.” RANDY DE PUNIET (No. 14 LCR Honda MotoGP): “This morning, it was not so easy to ride (with the broken ankle), but this afternoon it was getting easier to ride. My pain was getting much better. I finished 12th on the grid, which is not so bad. I’m very close to the seventh position. It’s a very physical track, and with one leg it’s not so easy. I hope to take a lot of points tomorrow. I think we can have a good race. I had hoped to finish in the top 10 (in qualifying), but my plan is to take some points toward the championship. The race will be interesting because Turn 5 is very adventurous. Many riders have crashed in this corner. I think tomorrow the most important thing will be for me to stay on the bike.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki faces a tough test at the Indianapolis GP Rizla Suzuki racers Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen will start tomorrow’s Indianapolis Grand Prix from the fourth and fifth rows of the grid respectively, after a disappointing qualifying session left them both with a lot of work to do in tomorrow’s race. Capirossi (P11, 1’41.742, 26 laps) was satisfied with the new chassis and several other new parts that he used today from the recent test in Brno. He was over half-of-second quicker today than his qualifying performance last year – in similar conditions – and is determined to make up several places in Sunday’s 28-lap race to challenge for a much higher position. Vermeulen (P14, 1’42.038, 29 laps) consistently improved his bike and times through both this morning’s free practice session and this afternoon’s qualifying, but just couldn’t find the extra speed needed to push him further up the grid. He knows he has a tough job ahead of him tomorrow, but will be giving it 100% to improve during the race. Today’s qualifying was held in dry conditions – very different to yesterday’s torrential rain – with the track heating up to 50ºC, as the air temperatures rose to a comfortable 24ºC. Dani Pedrosa on his factory Honda took pole position for tomorrow’s race, which gets underway at 15.00hrs local time (19.00hrs GMT). Loris Capirossi: “Overall we have improved throughout the day, but it is not enough of an improvement to stay with the front guys, so will try to use tomorrow’s warm-up to set the bike up a bit more. We were able to use a couple of new parts alongside the new chassis and the feeling was good. We are still struggling a bit on the slow corners so we also need to work on that. It has been quite a difficult day today and I hope that tomorrow we will have good weather so we can try to improve in time for the race. I am still quite optimistic though because it is so close and if I improve a small bit I can be up in the top-five.” Chris Vermeulen: “In this morning’s session we worked a lot on the bike’s set-up and improved consistently, then in the afternoon I tried the harder compound tyre but I just didn’t seem to be able to make it work for me, so I used the softer one and it had good durability so I think that will be the tyre we will use tomorrow. We changed engine and suspension settings and improved the bike throughout qualifying, but I am quite frustrated because a few tenths-of-a-second would have moved me up and I was very consistent in reeling the laps off, but just not consistently fast enough. We will try some small changes for tomorrow and hopefully make things better.” Paul Denning – Team Manager: “It’s good that the weather changed for the better today, but unfortunately that was the only good news for Rizla Suzuki. There are always reasons and justifications for disappointing results and it is true that this is the first event that the new chassis layout has been used other than at the Brno test, so naturally we can expect it to take some time to find the best balance in the bike. However, the fact of the matter is that the end result – on a very difficult track to overtake on – is going to make tomorrow’s GP even harder. It is all very well to say that another two or three tenths would have got us into reasonable grid positions, but we didn’t get the job done and the result is not what any of us are looking for. We need to step it up tomorrow; it’s as simple as that!” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Double Top Ten Start for Edwards and Toseland for Indy GP The Texas Tornado, Colin Edwards, is targeting a top five result at his second home race of the season in tomorrow’s Indianapolis Grand Prix at the legendary Racing Capital of the World. Edwards qualified fifth fastest today with a slick performance that could have been even better except for a harmless crash with eight minutes remaining. Edwards had just posted his fastest time of 1.40.961 and was on the pace for a possible front row start when he crashed over a bump at turn six. Edwards had been comfortably in the top five throughout the one hour session. Meanwhile Briton James Toseland is also in stron g position for a top ten result in tomorrow’s 28 lap race following a confidence boosting set-up change to his Monster Yamaha Tech3 YZR-M1. Toseland sliced a massive 1.5s off his morning free practice time to qualify tenth. He was bumped from a certain 8th position when he was slowed by traffic on his final lap. Qualifying was run in warm and sunny conditions, a dramatic contrast to yesterday’s gloomy and wet opening practice session for the 12th race of the season. Colin Edwards 5 th.1.40.961 — 21 laps “I’m excited, I’m starting on the second row and I ‘I’ve got a good race pace and if I keep today’s pace it should be an easy top five, maybe even a fight for the podium. We’ve got a good direction with Bridgestone on tyres and have a choice of either the hard or soft option, depending on the weather. I felt really c omfortable and confident the whole session. I would like to say that I didn’t do anything wrong when I crashed but I guess I did, I hit the one bump that is in turn six. With the suspension compressed, the bike leaned over and big bump the two didn’t mix. It’s kind of deceiving, you don’t know where you are, the corner has a decreasing radius. I can’t decide whether to go around the bump or inside it. I had just just done my fastest lap and I felt I had more in it and I was already 0.2s faster on the first split so I thought a 1.40.4 was possible but I didn’t do it.” James Toseland 10th. 1.41.620 — 26 laps “I’m confident for race, I was good in the wet yesterday and now we have a strong set-up for the dry and the changes have given me a better feeling. I’ve gone nearly two seconds quicker than I did this morning and I’m really pleased with that, so thanks to the team for all their wor k. It’s just shame that I caught Marco Melandri on the last lap and he made a mistake at the last corner and unfortunately just slowed me up a bit, It wasn’t Marco’s fault I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We were both pushing. I was 0.3s up on Marco at that point and still did my equal best lap of the session so I reckon I could have be 0.4s.faster overall. We’ve made a really positive change to the front-end geometry, just raked it out a bit .I’ve sacrificed some weight on the front to get more rear traction and that’s where time is coming from.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: DE PUNIET MANAGED 12th PLACE AT INDIANAPPOLIS QUALIFYING Indianapolis, 29 August: The sun shined at Indianapolis Speedway race track today for final qualifying and the LCR Honda MotoGP Team racer Randy De Puniet qualified in 12th position for tomorrow’s 28-lap race. After yesterday’s torrential rain which brought memories back of last year’s hurricane, blue skies and ambience temperature of 27°C welcomed the premier class riders today at the spectacular 4.216 Km American circuit which hosts the 12th round of the calendar. Yesterday, in full rain conditions, the Frenchman aboard the Honda RC212V no. 14 set the 13th quickest time of the day at the rain-soaked Indianapolis as he wisely stopped the session earlier to protect his injured left ankle. The Indy layout, with 10 lefts and six rights, is taxing the limits of De Puniet’s pain threshold but he bravely gained the fourth row with a best lap time of 1’41.773. Today’s poleman Pedrosa set his fastest lap time of 1’39.730 followed by Lorenzo and Rossi. De Puniet 12th 1’41.773 De Puniet 12th: “As my ankle improved quite a lot after Brno race, we came here with better expectations but this circuit is very demanding with many left corners. That’s why I am struggling a lot and when it’s time to push on the foot rest I honestly do not feel comfortable. I must force with the arms to change direction in the corners and after few laps I feel tired. The Team will improve the machine a bit more to help me and I will attempt to end in the top ten once again. It’s important to score points to maintain my place in the classification”. More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: SECOND ROW START FOR HAYDEN AT INDY, KALLIO FURTHER BACK AFTER QUALIFYING CRASH Nicky Hayden will start his home Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from the second row of the grid after recording his best dry qualifying position of the season so far this afternoon. Sixth place for Hayden, who was second fastest in the dry free practice yesterday, means he will start from the second row although his stand-in team-mate Mika Kallio will be some way behind him in 15th after suffering a crash in the final phases of this afternoon’s single hour-long qualifying session. NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati MotoGP Team) (6th; 1’41.067) “It seems the story is always the same: even though this is my best dry qualifying result and second best grid position of the year I still feel I could have gone faster at the end and I’m not completely happy. I set a good lap chasing Dani (Pedrosa) but I think the tyre went off right at the end because it started to spin up in the last sector and it cost me some time. Anyway, I’m on the second row and we’re competitive so it’s not all bad. I’m using a slightly different set-up here than before Brno something we found in the test there and it’s definitely helping me through some of these flip-flop direction changes. I know what I’m in for tomorrow and I’m not expecting to find a full second in the morning. The main thing will be to see about the tyre choice if it is a lot cooler, as a lot of people are expecting. I’m really looking forward to racing in front of my fans, friends and family here at Indy and the plan is to get the best start possible, try to hang on to that front group as long as I can and just give the absolute maximum.” MIKA KALLIO (Ducati MotoGP Team) (15th; 1’42.250) “We started the session well and my first outing on used tyres wasn’t too bad. We tried a different set-up in the middle of the session but it wasn’t as good and I switched back. When we put a fresh tyre on to push for a lap time I had to abort a couple of laps because there were riders in my way, then I tried to push again and crashed. It was a really similar crash to the one in qualifying at Brno I just lost front grip and the next thing I knew I was on the floor. For some reason my feeling with the front is quite vague and it is an area we know we need to work on. Hopefully we can find something before the race tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing Team: CANEPA THIRTEENTH DURING INDIANAPOLIS QUALIFYING SESSION. ESPARGARO SIXTEENTH Qualifying session on dry track after yesterday’s rain that has characterized the first free practice session. Pramac Racing riders, Niccolò Canepa and Aleix Espargaro, have worked hard progressively improving during the session valid for the starting grid of the Indianapolis Grand Prix. Niccolò was in eighth position after thirty minutes, but notwithstanding he improved his best lap time he couldn’t manage to maintain the position concluding in thirteenth. His teammate has done quite well as first timer in MotoGP qualifying, finishing in sixteenth position. The white and red duo will try to improve tomorrow at the starting of the Indianapolis Grand Prix that will start at 3pm local time. Niccolò Canepa – Pramac Racing rider – 13th in 1’41.910 “Unluckily I made a mistake as I didn’t change the front tyre that already had more than twenty-five laps on it. I wanted to follow someone at the end of the session, but if I had entered the box I would have lost too much time. Anyway we will start from an acceptable position on the starting grid. I want to do really well here: this is a track that I like and I know I can have fun on it. This will be a really important race for me.” Aleix Espargaro – Pramac Racing rider – 16th in 1’42.577 “Today the weather helped us to ride for many laps. My feeling with the bike has improved even if I am not too happy: I hoped to do better in the classification. We have found a problem with the rear brake that has limited our performances. I wanted to ride with faster riders in the last couple of laps but I couldn’t make it. I feel good on the bike and I believe we can have a good race tomorrow. We will have to make a good start to stay with other riders and fight for good positions.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: Final Qualifying Indianapolis Indianapolis Grand Prix, Indianapolis Qualifying, Saturday August 29 2009 Weather: sunny, 27 degrees PEDROSA ON POLE AT “THE BRICKYARD” Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) will try to sweep the American GP’s after taking the pole position for Sunday’s Indianapolis Grand Prix with a new lap record in this afternoon’s sun-soaked qualifying session at the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, site of the twelfth round of the MotoGP World Championship. Pedrosa, who earlier this season won the U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca, was instantly among the leaders, and to the top of the order for the first time within six minutes. Twice more he’d lower his mark while battling for supremacy, and with less than 15 minutes to run he again seized the top spot, never to give it up. For the final 45 minutes he ran a succession of fast, consistent laps, lowering the mark five times to finish at 1m, 39.730s for the 4.216ks road course that’s mostly tucked inside the famous oval. Not only was Pedrosa the only rider to breach the 1:39’s, he did it with authority. His second pole of the season the first was in Le Mans-was taken by .506s. The time was over a second faster than the 2008 pole mark of 1m, 40.779s set by Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha). Rossi finished third today, .373s behind teammate Jorge Lorenzo who will start the 28-lap race from the middle of the front row. Alex De Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) set a personal best qualifying effort by finishing with the fourth fastest time. The San Marinese had been in line for his first front row start when he was bumped to row two by Rossi after the hour had expired. Still, the second row pole will give him his best opportunity to finish on the podium. Team-mate Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda Gresini) is on the row three pole, but by only .026s over Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda). Elias was pushing hard to move closer to De Angelis when he crashed near the end of the session. That denied the Spaniard the chance to improve, but he was unhurt and hopeful of getting away with the riders just in front. British GP winner Dovizioso didn’t believe that his eighth place qualifying effort reflected his potential. The Italian was hampered by a small crash early in the session, which cost him valuable set-up time. The culprit was a lack of front end feeling, which he was certain to improve during the Sunday morning warm-up. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) was 12th fastest and still suffering from the motocross injury suffered more than two weeks ago. The broken left ankle was considerably improved, but the track is heavily biased with left hand corners-10 lefts to six rights-which made changing direction punishing. An adjustment to his riding style has allowed De Puniet to use his upper body to change direction, which could be tiring over the course of 28 laps. In his first visit to Indianapolis on a MotoGP bike, Gabor Talmacsi qualified 17th. The Hungarian rider was encouraged by his morning qualifying effort, but he wasn’t able to continue the momentum in the afternoon. He was going to try a “radical” set-up in the morning in a bid to be part of the mix on Sunday. Current 250 World Championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Honda) came within a tenth of a second of taking his second pole in a row. The Japanese rider qualified second to Mike Di Meglio (Mapfre Aspar Team), the Frenchman who knocked Aoyama from the top spot with his final lap of 1m, 44.341 s. Aoyama’s lap of 1m, 44.461s secured the second position and a clear track ahead to maintain his championship lead. Team-mates Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT SAG) and Hector Faubel (Honda SAG) will start Sunday’s race from the first two spots on the third row of the grid. Wilairot was hoping to get a second row spot before being blocked by a slower rider on what would have been his fastest lap. Faubel was testing suspension settings when he had a small crash in the middle of practice. The 27C temperature today was higher than expected and his suspension wasn’t set properly. Tomorrow’s race is expected to be held in cooler temperatures and the Spaniard is confident of having the right set-up. Raffaele De Rosa (Scot Honda) crashed on lap five, landing hard on his right shoulder. After an initial diagnosis by the doctors in the Clinica Mobile, it was recommended that he be transported to a local hospital for further tests. He qualified 15th for the race. Team CIP Honda will go into Sunday’s race one rider down. Shoya Tomizawa has been ruled out of the race after damaging his lone chassis in a Friday practice crash. The team tried to secure an alternative, but weren’t able to. Instead they will be represented by Valentin Debise, the young French rider who qualified 17th in his first visit to “The Brickyard.” The experience was a bit overwhelming at first, racing in such a famed venue, but once Debise learned the track and its intricacies, his lap times quickly came down. Bastien Chesaux (Racing Team Germany Honda) qualified 22nd in his first visit to the track on a 250. Chesaux had the advantage of having raced in the 125cc class last year, when weather conditions canceled the 250cc race. What he found early in today’s qualifying was a lack of acceleration, which cost him valuable time at the end of the straightaways. The young Swiss rider believes with a few small adjustments he can improve his lap time considerably. HONDA MotoGP RIDER LAP TIMES AND QUOTES Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1st 1m 39.730s. “I’m really happy with this pole position because we have been fast all weekend so far – in the wet as well as the dry – so this is very positive. The lap times are quick and also consistent which should give us a good chance in the race tomorrow. I’ve been comfortable on the machine from the start and things have just clicked here – it’s not as if we’ve made any big changes for this race. We can’t relax at all though because I’m sure the other riders will improve and we know how strong our rivals have been this season. So we must make a few small adjustments to make sure we have the best possible package tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to the race because it looks like the weather should be good – a big contrast to last year – and it will be great to feel the race-day atmosphere at Indianapolis in more normal conditions than last year’s wash-out. Now we’ll just stay focused and concentrate on our preparation for tomorrow.” Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 4th 1m 40.620s. “Clearly, I would have preferred to start on the front row but this is still a wonderful day for me. The team have worked well and so far it has been a perfect weekend. It is never easy to get near the pace of the front three but I’m enjoying riding my bike here and we have never been this close, so I’m delighted. I could have gone even faster on a new tyre at the end but we had an electrical problem and I had to roll off the gas. It sorted itself out but by that time the tyre had gone cold and I couldn’t push. Anyway, I’ll be going on the attack in the race because this is a big opportunity for me to score a top result and to move up in the championship, with there being a small gap to the guys currently ahead of me. I have always believed I have the talent but it was good to show everybody today that when things are right I can be there.” Toni Elias, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 7th 1m 41.283s. “We improved from the morning to the afternoon but I’m still not as comfortable as I would like to be with the set-up and at the end I crashed, purely because I was pushing too hard to try and stay with Valentino. Having said that, seventh on the grid isn’t bad. The race will be pretty tough tomorrow, so the target is just to get a good start and follow the group ahead of me.” Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: 8th 1m 41.309s. “I’d like to be further forward on the grid and I think eighth doesn’t actually reflect our potential here, so we’ll be aiming to improve the set-up for the race. My qualifying session didn’t go exactly to plan because I had a small crash near the beginning of the session in Turn 7. At that point in the middle of the turn there’s a change in the asphalt and you have to be more delicate on the brakes at the point. I didn’t change the lever pressure correctly which was the mistake that caused me to lose the front. In fact, my feeling from the front end wasn’t perfect today, so this is what we’ll be working to improve for tomorrow. I think the front of the race is going to be run with lap times below 1m 41s and I’ll need to get a good start from the third row to give me a chance of competing with the leaders. I’m confident we can take a step forward tomorrow.” Randy de Puniet, LCR Honda: 12th 1m 41.773s. “As my ankle improved quite a lot after the Brno race, we came here with better expectations, but this circuit is very demanding with many left corners. That’s why I am struggling a lot, and when it’s time to push on the foot rest I honestly do not feel comfortable. I must force with the arms to change direction in the corners and after few laps I feel tired. The team will improve the machine a bit more to help me and I will attempt to end in the top ten once again.” Gabor Talmacsi, Scot Honda: 17th 1m 42.736s. “After what we were able to do this morning, I thought it could be better, this afternoon. What worries me mostly is that the pace is not as good as it could be. I presume we have to modify our set-up trying something radical tomorrow morning. We have to risk, if necessary.” HONDA 250cc RIDER LAP TIMES AND QUOTES Hiroshi Aoyama, Scot Honda: 2nd 1m 44.461s. “We found a good set-up for the race, and good tyres. The critical issue tomorrow will probably be the tyre consumption. This means that we must still work on the bike to improve the package, and particularly to help the tyre to last.” Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT-SAG: 9th – 1m 45.396s. “We changed the settings of the bike (suspension and engine) because the conditions changed to warm from this morning. I made two important mistakes when I was riding in my best laps; one in the sixth corner, where a lot of riders crash there, and another when I was following (Alvaro) Bautista. In the last lap I found in the middle of the track a slower rider and I lost my last oportunity to be in the top eight. Anyway , ninth is a good position and tomorrow is important to do a good setting in the warm-up and also a good start in the race.” Hector Faubel, Valencia CF-Honda SAG: 10th 1m 45.438s. “Today I began very good, riding in a high pace, but in the middle of the practice I crashed because the temperature was warm and the suspension was soft for these conditions. Finally I lost the front. After this we changed the spring to a harder one than before. At the end of the practice I was riding in my fastest lap, but I found slow riders and I couldn’t do my best. The crash in the middle of the practice broke the qualifying for me, but we have to be optimistic for tomorrow and take care with the adjustments of the bike thinking of the weather conditions.” Valentin Debise, Team CIP Honda: 17th 1m 47.838s. “I think it’s been going quite OK. The first practice was a bit difficult because I didn’t know the racetrack, but now I’m putting everything together and the lap time is OK. So we’re quite happy. After the first few laps I came in and said ‘This is really weird.’ And also the tarmac here is very different. There are three different kinds of tarmac. It’s a bit bumpy. At the beginning I was a bit lost. Then I put my head down. By the end of the practice I started to come good. Coming here for the first time the Speedway is quite huge, quite big, and you’re a little bit more impressed by the place first and you get a bit distracted. But now I’m just focused on racing.” Bastien Chesaux, Racing Team Germany Honda: 22nd 1m 49.888s. “It was really difficult. The track is really different from the other tracks. I tried to push a lot at the beginning and the bike was really good; I think I have a good bike. But we must find a solution for the acceleration and for the end of the corners, because I’m too slow on all the straights. I must find a solution with my mechanics for tomorrow morning to take a good start and take the group just in front of me. Yeah, I think I can make up two seconds in lap time, maybe, for tomorrow.” Gilles Bigot, Team CIP Honda: Shoya (Tomizawa) crashed and bent his chassis yesterday and we don’t have a spare chassis. So we tried to run a standard production bike, but we couldn’t find one. Unfortunately he won’t be racing tomorrow. This is the problem of a small team with a low budget. By Misano we’ll be able to fix it; unfortunately for tomorrow, no. More, from a press release issued by Indianapolis Motor Speedway: PEDROSA EARNS RED BULL INDIANAPOLIS GP POLE WITH TRACK RECORD INDIANAPOLIS, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009 Repsol Honda Team rider Dani Pedrosa won the pole Aug. 29 for the 2009 Red Bull Indianapolis GP at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a MotoGP track-record lap of 1 minute, 39.730 seconds. Pedrosa, a 23-year-old native of Barcelona, Spain, maintained a narrow lead over second-place qualifier Jorge Lorenzo until he pulled off his record lap on his 28th of 30 total laps in the qualifying session. Racing starts at noon (ET) Sunday at IMS, with the MotoGP race at 3 p.m. Morning warm-ups in all three classes MotoGP, 250cc and 125cc start at 9:40 a.m. Pedrosa and Hayate Racing Team rider Marco Melandri also set the record for the fastest speed by a motorcycle in IMS history during qualifying, as both riders recorded a trap speed of 197.8 mph (318.3 km/h) on the main straightaway. Fellow Spaniard Lorenzo will start on the middle of the front row after posting a top lap of 1:40.236 on the No. 99 Fiat Yamaha Team entry. His teammate, 2008 Red Bull Indianapolis GP winner and six-time MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi, will start third on the No. 46 machine after lapping the IMS road course at 1:40.609. Rossi set the previous MotoGP track record in qualifying for the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP in 2008 at 1:40.776. “I’m really happy with this pole position because we have been fast all weekend so far, in the wet as well as the dry, so this is very positive,” Pedrosa said. “I’ve been comfortable on the machine from the start and things have just clicked here it’s not as if we’ve made any big changes for this race. We can’t relax at all, though, because I’m sure the other riders will improve and we know how strong our rivals have been this season. “I’m really looking forward to the race because it looks like the weather should be good a big contrast to last year and it will be great to feel the race day atmosphere at Indianapolis in more normal conditions than last year’s wash-out. Now we’ll just stay focused and concentrate on our preparation for tomorrow.” The forecast for the second running of the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Sunday is excellent, calling for partly sunny skies and a high temperature of 70 degrees. Saturday’s weather conditions were ideal for speed as cool, partly sunny conditions prevailed throughout the MotoGP morning practice and the afternoon qualifying session. No. 15 San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Alex De Angelis will start fourth, his MotoGP career-best qualifying effort thanks to a lap of 1:40.620, and American riders Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden will start fifth and sixth, respectively. Edwards, of Houston, posted a lap of 1:40.961 on the No. 5 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine and Hayden, of Owensboro, Ky., ran 1:41.067 on the No. 69 Ducati Team bike. Edwards slid off his bike in Turn 7 less than 10 minutes before the end of the qualifying session but was unhurt. His fifth-place qualification ties his season best set in Japan, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. Hayden’s sixth-place start is his best since qualifying fourth at Germany. Julian Simon, the 22-year-old rider of the No. 60 Bancaja Aspar Team 125cc motorcycle, won pole for Sunday’s 125cc class race with a record lap of 1:49.337. It was his fifth pole of the year in 125cc World Championship competition. Simon, of Villacañas, Spain, qualified 10th at the 2008 Red Bull Indianapolis GP in the 250cc class, returned to 125cc for the 2009 season and leads the series points standings. Mike Di Meglio, of Toulouse, France, will start on pole for the 250cc World Championship race Sunday after a record lap of 1:44.341 on the No. 63 Mapfre Aspar Team 250cc bike. Di Meglio, 21, won the 125cc World Championship in 2008. This is his first-career pole in the 250cc series. Public gates open at 7 a.m. (ET) on Race Day, and track activity begins at 9:40 a.m. with the 125cc class warm-up session, followed by the 250cc and MotoGP class warm-up sessions at 10:10 and 10:40 a.m., respectively. The first race of the day is the 23-lap 125cc class race at noon. The 250cc riders will contest their 26-lap race at 1:15 p.m. The grid presentation for the 2009 Red Bull Indianapolis GP begins at 2:15 p.m. and the 28-lap MotoGP race gets underway at 3 p.m. The race will be broadcast live on FOX. *** 2009 IMS tickets: Established in 1909, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has long prevailed as an icon of motorsports excellence. Beginning in 2009, the Speedway celebrates its Centennial Era, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the facility in 2009 and the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race in 2011. Tickets for the final event of 2009 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 28-30 can be purchased online at www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com at any time. Tickets for groups of 20 or more also are on sale. Contact the IMS Group Sales Department at (866) 221-8775 for more information. More, from a press release issued by Indianapolis Motor Speedway: 2009 RED BULL INDIANAPOLIS GP PRESS CONFERENCE Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi (MotoGP) Mike Di Meglio (250cc), Julian Simon (125cc) Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009 MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, a warm welcome to the Front Row Press Conference, of course, for the MotoGP race and also the 125s and the 250s for this Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix, of course, here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In pole position in the MotoGP class, he’s got a good record in America. He won the race at Laguna Seca a couple of months ago; tremendous performance by Dani Pedrosa in practice and in qualifying. Joining him on the front row of the grid, Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, of course both of them riding the Fiat Yamaha. In the 250cc class and the 125cc class, a great day for the Aspar Aprilia team. And what a day for Mike Di Meglio, his first ever 250cc pole position. Of course, Mike is the current 250cc World Champion. And in the 125cc class, Julian Simon. He leads the World Championship, and it’s his fifth pole position of the season. The BMW Award for the MotoGP best qualifier, Jorge Lorenzo has just opened a slight lead now; Jorge Lorenzo on 244, Valentino Rossi on 240. So four points between the Fiat Yamaha riders. Tissot, of course, the official timekeepers of MotoGP. We always thank them for that. To make the presentation today, Anthony Biglizo, a strategic partnership for the U.S. for Tissot. We’d like to make the first award of the watch to the man who’s in pole position for the 125cc class, Julian Simon. Thank you, Anthony. (Applause) For the 250cc class, it’s been quite a session for Mike Di Meglio, a crash in the qualifying session but the very first pole position in the 250cc class, Mike Di Meglio, ladies and gentlemen. (Applause) Thank you, Mike. The MotoGP class, Dani Pedrosa, as I say, won the race in Laguna Seca, he’s dominated practice and qualifying and is in pole position here. (Applause) Anthony, thank you very much indeed for the presentation and thank you to Tissot once again. Thank you. We start the press conference. Obviously we’ll start with MotoGP, start with Dani. Dani, it’s been a very, very good weekend. In the wet you were the fastest, this morning you were the fastest. This afternoon you’re in pole position. Very good. DANI PEDROSA: Yes, it’s been great. The practice I think we did a good job, even in the wet. So this was important for us. And today also in the dry. So I’m happy. I think still we have to work because, of course, for tomorrow’s race we have to look for something else. I think the other riders sure will keep them working and try to improve tomorrow. MODERATOR: I think the weather forecast is pretty good tomorrow. Perhaps a little bit cooler, but that’s not going to be a problem like last year. PEDROSA: Yeah, last year, I think, was special, you know because that was hard. But I mean, looks much more nice, so this is good for, I think, everybody. MODERATOR: On the circuit, quite a few riders had a few problems, I think the bump at Turn 16 was the one that caused a lot of problems. You have to concentrate very, very hard around there. PEDROSA: Yes, there are some big bumps, you must concentrate and try to avoid them. But, of course, they are there and you cannot really do many things to avoid them. But, I mean, it’s like this. MODERATOR: You won Laguna Seca in America. We’re back here, it’s a very different circuit, but you seem to like it very much indeed. PEDROSA: Yeah, Laguna was great, and here we are doing great job, also. Maybe, I don’t know how you say it in English, but I think it’s great to be in front. I think in practice already it’s difficult to beat the Yamahas, so I think for us the practice went well and that’s all. MODERATOR: Yeah, you would imagine pretty certain the two guys sitting beside you, that’s probably going to be the race tomorrow. PEDROSA: Yes, sure. Also, I think De Angelis is doing great, but, of course, with the Yamahas we have to focus. MODERATOR: Dani, thanks very much. And congratulations on pole position. Second fastest, ladies and gentlemen, Jorge Lorenzo, of course riding the Fiat Yamaha. Jorge, really, really good start for the session for you. Again, a lot of fast laps and a great number of laps as well. JORGE LORENZO: Yeah, we make a big improvement at the beginning of the session, compared to the morning. We very far to the first position in the morning, but now we are a little bit more close. So we hope to improve a bit for tomorrow, especially in corners we have some difficulty. I think in three parts of the track we struggle a little bit, but our pace for the race is good, and our confidence is very high. MODERATOR: What about the circuit? This is the first time we’ve spoken to you over the weekend. Do you like the circuit? LORENZO: Yeah, it’s nice to be here in the USA, because it’s a nice country, a big country, and for the MotoGP it’s very important to make a good show here. MODERATOR: A special helmet for you that you have worn to signify that you are in America? LORENZO: Yeah, I wanted to use this helmet in Laguna Seca, but it was not possible. So at the end we make a helmet with some little things that I don’t like, but for next year for sure I will improve the helmet. MODERATOR: A big race for you, Jorge, obviously disappointment at Donington and Brno, so an important race for you to score points for you. LORENZO: Yeah, for sure, I crash because I want to win, but now the philosophy is different. Now we have to concentrate in finishing races and try to be second in the championship. MODERATOR: And a big week for you. You made a very big decision, I spoke to you earlier, you said you change your mind every day for a number of days, but you’re obviously happy with the decision to stay with Yamaha. LORENZO: Yeah, for sure. When you are looking for your future in the one or two years, you have to be very calm, very quiet to decide the right decision. But I think we take the right decision, and now we are more quiet and more focused to the track. MODERATOR: Jorge, thank you very much indeed. We come to third fastest, ladies and gentlemen, completing the front row of the grid. Of course, Valentino Rossi won the race here last year. Quite a tough weekend for you, Valentino. You just got there at the end past Alex De Angelis for the front row start. VALENTINO ROSSI: (Speaks in Italian.) (Laughter) Ciao, ciao. MODERATOR: Marco had already told us. ROSSI: Yeah. But, anyway, speaking serious, is a difficult day for us. We strike quite a lot already from this morning. This afternoon we try to fix the setting of the bike, but we are a little bit in trouble because I’m not able to ride like I want. I’m not strong enough in the pace, and also in the lap with the soft tires. So the first row is so important. I’m happy because I beat De Angelis in the last moment and tomorrow start in the first row will be very important for the race. Now we have to understand, we have to check the data for improve our pace because anyway Dani is very strong. But Jorge is stronger compared to us with the same bike. So we have to understand why, and we have to try to be more strong for tomorrow and arrive — make other important point for the championship. MODERATOR: And the morning warm-up, as always, seems to you so very important. You seem to be able to make those changes. ROSSI: Yeah, for sure, because we arrive with the great memories from last year, but today the lap time, also the pace is more than two seconds quicker than last year. So we have to throw away all the remember and improve our setting. I don’t feel confident with the bike, especially with the rear using soft or hard tire. Anyway, I don’t have enough grip for push a lot. I think it will be a tough, tough race for the rear tire tomorrow for the 28 laps because this surface is big abrasion on the tire, so it’s possible also see some good spin, I think. But we need to improve our pace because like this we are not able to fight for the victory. MODERATOR: Did this morning’s Dani’s pace and the pace of the Honda surprise you? ROSSI: I think from Brno when arrive the new rule of the engine, we lose a little bit in acceleration compared to Honda. But especially Dani here is very fast also in the corners, so it looks like he fix his problem and then become so, so strong, also a little bit too much. (Laughter) MODERATOR: Thank you, Valentino. Congratulations. 40, wasn’t it? ROSSI: Four zero, yes. (Laughter) MODERATOR: Congratulations. We come to the 250cc class, ladies and gentlemen. Mike Di Meglio, first pole position in the 250cc class, but it was a very difficult session for you, wasn’t it? First the crash and then the pole position. MIKE DI MEGLIO: Yes, I feel the bike very well, and I can push. And I can also go for position for one time and after I try to push too much and some braking, and I did a mistake, but I’m very happy because I have the time for come back in the box and my bike was OK. I’m very happy of this lap because I try to do my best. Normally I don’t do so much for pole position, I need all time to work for the race and to understand all the best my bike for try to have a good run. MODERATOR: Apart from the weekend, apart from the crashes, there’s been some good times for you, hasn’t there? It’s looked impressive throughout the weekend. DI MEGLIO: Yes, on the weekend we are on the top, and we are a good bike, I think good for the race. I hope to drive and to keep the best what I can and so much is important tomorrow is the start because sometimes I lose so many place and I need to push. But we’ll see tomorrow. MODERATOR: Mike, thank you. Congratulations. To the 125cc class, ladies and gentlemen, Julian Simon. Julian leading the World Championship, this is his fifth pole position of the season. So things looking pretty good for you at the moment, Julian. JULIAN SIMON: Yeah, I’m happy for this pole because yesterday was a little bit problem with the suspension. And, also, my position yesterday was a little bit later, so happy for this point. Also for my bike because today was very good. The team did very good work. And my object for tomorrow is start very good and make the maximum, make a good race. But the more important is finish for take the points. MODERATOR: I think in Brno we saw that you do have the championship in your mind and you would take 20 or 16 points if you have to rather than push too hard to win. SIMON: Yeah, if it’s possible to win, I try for this. But it’s difficult, maybe better to finish and take the maximum points. This track is difficult at the moment for me. I like but this some parts is difficult. So, yeah, my objective for tomorrow is to finish because, also, many riders sure tomorrow stay in the front. And, yeah, my objective is finish the race and try to win, sure. MODERATOR: And it’s a very, very long track from the final corner to the finish line, and for 125s that could be very, very interesting. SIMON: Yeah, very interesting. Only also all race I think is very interesting for tomorrow because many riders stay in the same time. So tomorrow nice racing 125s, sure. And the last corner, to arrive to the finish, sure very interesting, yeah. MODERATOR: I’m sure it will be very interesting. Thank you, Julian. It’s a great day for the Aspar Team and the 250 and 125 pole positions. Any questions from the floor, ladies and gentlemen? Put your hands up, the microphone will come your way. Q: This is for Dani. You guys came close today to hitting 200 miles per hour there on the trap speed on the front straightaway. Do you think you can get to 200, and is it kind of important at a place where speed is very, very famous? PEDROSA: I mean I don’t know tomorrow, only if the wind change maybe we can go faster in the top speed spot. But other than that, I don’t think from today you cannot really improve. In the corners you can try, but straight line is maybe what we have now. MODERATOR: Anybody else, ladies and gentlemen? One at the back here, yeah. Q: MotoGP riders, have you already decided for soft or hard tires? It seems that here is the first track where somebody will use different tire than the other one. PEDROSA: Well, I think at the moment it’s not really, really clear. But for tomorrow I think we have to wait for the temperature. They say is going to be cooler, but until tomorrow we don’t know. And already I think in some tracks, I think it was Germany, Valentino, I think, was on the soft, and we were on the hard. So and more or less the performance was similar. So, yeah, it can be something important, but finally maybe it’s going to be similar. MODERATOR: Jorge? LORENZO: I am going to use the hard one, and there’s some other one. (Laughter) No, the hard one. Speaking seriously, I think this track will be the first one to use the soft. ROSSI: Yes, I think we have to wait the condition, but I think softer at this time is better. MODERATOR: Anybody else, ladies and gentlemen? Over here. Q: Dani, it would mean a lot to win here, but would it mean more to beat the two guys on each side of you? PEDROSA: Well, I mean this year, if you want to win, you have to beat them. They are always there. (Laughter) Q: This is really for all the riders. What are the special challenges of this track? There are no elevations here, but what special challenges are here at Indianapolis that you don’t find at other tracks? ROSSI: So, yes, no elevation change, always flat. But especially the strange thing of this track for me is that we going opposite way. So all the corners are study for going the other way. And with the bike it’s very difficult to reach the perfect line in the entry for to have the right speed and acceleration. I think this is the most difficult things. And Turn 1, Turn 5, your entry is so fast with a lot of bumps, you cross three or four different type of surface and this is another big problem. Q: Valentino, could you address the 200-mile per hour barrier? What would it mean if you guys were able to break that here in America? ROSSI: Yes, I don’t know how much we miles do today. Q: 197. ROSSI: Maybe tomorrow, Dani, with the slipstream is possible, no? (Laughter) But we always used to calculate in kilometers, so for us it’s different. For us is already good, go over the barrier of 300 kilometers per hour. Q: For Valentino and Jorge. Do you think that Dani could have the good pace to run away alone as well as in Laguna and what you can do? ROSSI: About me, so about practice I think that Jorge is not so far from Dani in the race pace. And so before we have to try to go like Jorge. So we know that Dani from the pole position always make a good start and looks like he’s OK. For sure, he will push from the first, from the first turn. So for sure the work will be difficult for us tomorrow. But we have to try. LORENZO: For sure, I hope that Valentino don’t go in the front group, but I don’t know. Maybe if we can make another step forward, we can have a chance to win, yeah. Q: Dani, is there any new in setting or something else on your bike from Brno that you get so big step to go so fast? PEDROSA: No, no. Q: Just a feeling with the track from you or from the bike? PEDROSA: From Friday everything was working fine. We had some other situations that it was the opposite, nothing was working. But here from Friday in the wet, everything was working. From the Brno test, we just test what the new — I mean the new parts they bring, but nothing new is on the bike. MODERATOR: Anybody else, ladies and gentlemen? One here. Q: Dani, the new parts are the new swingarm and you were testing in Brno? PEDROSA: Yes, but I don’t use. I’m not using it, no. MODERATOR: I think we’re there, are we? OK. Gentlemen, if you would stand for the photograph, please. Thank you. Thank you, gentlemen, very much indeed. More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: MotoGP qualifying at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix on Saturday concluded with Spaniard Dani Pedrosa in pole position, following a superb performance from the Repsol Honda rider. Pedrosa’s best effort of 1’39.730 gave him a new pole position record and his second pole of 2009, with his nearest rival and compatriot Jorge Lorenzo of the Fiat Yamaha team unable to get within half a second of him. Indeed, Pedrosa has been quickest in all three sessions so far at The Brickyard. Lorenzo’s team-mate Valentino Rossi is also on the front row, though the World Champion left it very late as he slotted into third place with his best time in the final moments, placing nearly nine-tenths of a second down on Pedrosa. That late lap from the legendary Italian denied Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) a front row start by just one hundredth of a second, but the San Marino rider still qualified in fourth and is looking good at Indy so far, ahead of his home round next week. There was a rare crash for Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) with less than ten minutes to go, but he still ended up fifth, with his fellow American Nicky Hayden (Ducati) just behind him in sixth, rounding off row two. There was also a late crash for Toni Elías (San Carlo Honda Gresini) but he went round seventh quickest and he is joined on the third row by Italians Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and Marco Melandri (Hayate Racing). Briton James Toseland (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) completed the top ten. Mika Kallio also hit the deck and finished down in 15th place on the factory Ducati he is temporarily riding. 250cc An exciting 250cc qualifying session saw provisional pole change hands numerous times during the final ten minutes, with Frenchman Mike di Meglio eventually taking his first pole in the category. The 125cc World Champion, who had a small crash earlier in the session, is one of the few riders in the quarter litre class to have raced at Indianapolis as the 250cc contest was of course cancelled last season due to bad weather. Behind Di Meglio in second place on the grid is standings leader Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Racing Team), whose 1’44.461s time was 0.120s off the pole pace. There were two crashes in the session for World Champion Marco Simoncelli, following an earlier accident in the free practice, but a sterling job from his Metis Gilera team saw them put both of his bikes back in working order and he concluded the QP in third place. Héctor Barberá (Pepe World Team) held provisional pole for several minutes but was fourth at the end. The second row comprises another Frenchman Jules Cluzel (Matteoni Racing), Álvaro Bautista (Mapfre Aspar Team), Mattia Pasini (Team Toth Aprilia) and Alex Debon (Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens). 125cc Earlier in the afternoon Julián Simón (Bancaja Aspar) took first place in 125cc qualifying as he set a new pole position record for the category at Indy by more than a second, with a 1’49.337 hot lap around the famous American venue. Lapping just behind the Aspar rider was Germany’s Sandro Cortese (Ajo Interwetten), whose best effort came late in the session and was just 0.05s off Simón’s. Adding to the Spanish representation on row one are last year’s race-winner Nico Terol (Jack & Jones Team) and last year’s pole man Pol Espargaró (Derbi Racing Team) in third and fourth respectively. Britain’s Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar) heads the second row, which also features Italy’s Simone Corsi (Jack & Jones Team) and two more Spaniards, Sergio Gadea (Bancaja Aspar) and Efrén Vázquez (Derbi Racing Team). The race action at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix commences at 12 midday local time on Sunday, with the 125cc contest. The 250cc riders will get away at 1.15pm and the main event, MotoGP, starts at 3pm. All times quoted are Eastern Time Zone.