FIM MotoGP World Championship Assen, Netherlands June 26, 2009 Qualifying Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), 1:36.025 2. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), 1:36.110 3. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), 1:36.393 4. Casey STONER (Ducati), 1:36.633 5. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), 1:36.760 6. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki), 1:36.953 7. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), 1:37.194 8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), 1:37.237 9. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), 1:37.323 10. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), 1:37.473 11. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), 1:37.637 12. Mika KALLIO (Ducati), 1:37.749 13. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati), 1:37.759 14. Marco MELANDRI (Kawasaki), 1:37.948 15. Toni ELIAS (Honda), 1:38.136 16. Sete GIBERNAU (Ducati), 1:38.453 17. Niccolo CANEPA (Ducati), 1:38.605 18. Yuki TAKAHASHI (Honda), 1:38.619 19. Gabor TALMACSI (Honda), 1:39.407 More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Second row for Capirossi at Assen Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi continued with his recent run of good form to force his way on to the second row of the grid for tomorrow’s Dutch TT at Assen. Capirossi (P6, 1’36.953, 28 laps) made significant steps all the way throughout this afternoon’s hour-long qualifying practice and is confident that there is still more to come from his Suzuki GSV-R during tomorrow morning’s warm-up and the 26-lap race. Capirossi is in determined mood as he prepares for his first Dutch TT on a Suzuki. Vermeulen (P7, 1’37.194, 31 laps) will start just behind his team-mate as he lines up for tomorrow’s race at the front of the third row. Vermeulen and his crew made some big steps in the qualifying session and with an amazing 31 laps of the 4,555m circuit completed in the hour, he equalled the busiest rider on track as he made sure he used every available minute to get the best from his Suzuki GSV-R. Today’s qualifying was held in warm but very overcast conditions with the threat of rain always in the air. World Championship leader Valentino Rossi on his Factory Yamaha set the fastest time to take pole position. Capirossi and Vermeulen will line up their Rizla Suzuki GSV-R’s on the grid for tomorrow’s race at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT), when the lights will change to go for the only MotoGP race held on a Saturday. Loris Capirossi: “Overall we have made another step with the setting and I am quite happy about that, but we still need to take another step tomorrow morning in the warm-up. The whole team is working really hard and they really understand what I need. I am still losing a bit of front feeling, but it’s not that bad and I think it is something we can overcome. Second row is not too bad and we will have to see what sort of start we get and try to keep with the front pack. I am quite optimistic for tomorrow because if we make the small step we are looking for we will be right up there challenging!” Chris Vermeulen: “It was a fairly good qualifying for us and a lot better than the previous two GPs. The team did a great job and made a big step forward with the bike. We went well on both the compounds of tyres today and the softer one gave quite a bit more grip at the rear so we used that to do the qualifying laps on. We were able to do seven or eight laps on them and they stayed very consistent which shows what a good job Bridgestone are doing. Unfortunately on my last run we were a bit close on time and I thought I’d get in one more lap, sadly I wasn’t able to, but I am sure I would have improved my time – and hopefully grid position – because I made a couple of mistakes on my previous lap – which was my fastest – and I’m sure I’d have put them right Seventh place is a bit closer to the front than we have been recently and I’m feeling quite confident and looking forward to a good race tomorrow.” Paul Denning – Team Manager: “It’s been extremely close amongst the fastest riders here at Assen this weekend and we’ve managed to get closer to the front group in qualifying than we were in free practice. I think there are still some sizeable improvements we can make tomorrow to increase the confidence of both riders. Whatever happens with the bike – or indeed the weather – when you start in sixth and seventh places it gives you a much better chance to hang on to the back of the leaders in the early laps and see how the race develops. We don’t have any specific aim for the race tomorrow other than to give Loris and Chris the best GSV-Rs we possible can and ask them to push to the maximum.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Rossi secures second pole on medium/soft Bridgestone combination Round 7: Dutch GP Qualifying TT Circuit Assen, Friday 26 June 2009 Slick tyre compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium. Rear: Soft, Medium Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi scored his second pole position of the season at Assen using a medium compound front Bridgestone slick and a soft compound rear. He finished just 0.085 seconds ahead of Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and 0.368 seconds clear of teammate Jorge Lorenzo, both of whom also used medium compound front and soft compound rear Bridgestone slicks. In its closing stages it was the closest MotoGP qualifying session since Bridgestone became the series’ Official Tyre Supplier. At one point towards the end of the session, the top five were split by only 0.100 seconds, and a frantic final few minutes changed the order of the front two rows. As has come to be expected this season, most riders set their fastest qualifying times using the harder option front tyre and the softer rear slick. This combination gave the advantage of improved front stability, especially under braking, and added rear traction which is important for drive out of turn five and the last chicane in particular. Rossi’s pole lap was 0.7 seconds faster than the fastest race lap set around Assen on a MotoGP machine, a 1m 36.738 recorded by Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner on Bridgestone tyres last year. So far both practice sessions and qualifying for the Dutch GP have been run in the dry. The forecast likelihood of rain on race day tomorrow means that riders may be faced with a wet race having had no wet running this weekend. Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development “The top four riders were all able to set times faster than the previous race lap record today on our medium compound front and soft compound rear tyres so I am happy with the performance steps we have taken this year as the sole supplier to MotoGP. It shows we have been able to combine good overall performance with consistency and durability, so I am happy with this result. “Jorge completed a long run of 20 laps on medium compound front and rear slicks at the start of the session and was able to lap consistently. His fastest time of that run came on his penultimate lap, so this demonstrates good durability of our tyres at this circuit. If the conditions do remain the same tomorrow, I expect most riders to choose the medium compound for front and rear. We have also seen today that our medium compound front slick is still the favoured option when the track temperature is ten degrees cooler than it was yesterday, showing its wide operating range.” Top ten from qualifying (Friday 13:55 14:55 GMT+2) Pos Rider Team Time Gap 1 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m36.025s 2 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1m36.110s +0.085s 3 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 1m36.393s +0.368s 4 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 1m36.633s +0.608s 5 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m36.760s +0.735s 6 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m36.953s +0.928s 7 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m37.194s +1.169s 8 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 1m37.237s +1.212s 9 James Toseland Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m37.323s +1.298s 10 Randy de Puniet LCR Honda MotoGP 1m37.473s +1.448s Weather: Dry. Ambient 22°C; Track 31°C ( Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: ROSSI TAKES POLE AND LORENZO JOINS HIM ON FRONT ROW TO SET-UP ANOTHER FIAT YAMAHA BATTLE Valentino Rossi, who is looking for his 100th career victory tomorrow, took his second pole position of the season in the Netherlands today with a commanding display at the Assen TT circuit. His Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo filled the third grid spot after just missing out with his final flying lap. Dani Pedrosa will start from second whilst Casey Stoner, who is joint championship leader along with Rossi and Lorenzo, will head the second row. It is the fourth double front row for the Fiat Yamaha Team this season. After yesterday’s bright sunshine today was overcast and cooler but it stayed dry and both riders had a useful morning practice, with Lorenzo running out on top and Rossi fourth. This afternoon’s qualifying saw the usual continuation of set-up work throughout the early stages before Rossi moved into pole with ten minutes to go, with Lorenzo second. The pair swapped positions once more before the Italian set his pole-clinching lap of 1’36.025 to retake pole with four minutes to go. Lorenzo was up on his team-mate’s time on his final flying lap but he dropped a few tenths on the last sector and finished the session 0.368 seconds adrift. Rossi’s other pole of 2009 came at Motegi, when grid positions were in fact decided on free practice after qualifying was rained off. The World Champion’s last ‘proper’ pole was therefore at Indianapolis last year, on his way to a famous inaugural victory at the American track. Lorenzo meanwhile has qualified on the front row for all seven rounds so far this season. Tomorrow’s 26-lap race begins at 1400 local time but with rain forecast the weather could prove a factor in the day’s proceedings once again. Valentino Rossi Position: 1 Time: 1’35.025 Laps: 29 “This is a really good pole position because I’ve only had one other this season, at Motegi in strange conditions. I had a lot of traffic around me in the last few minutes so I had to be careful to judge exactly the right point to push, but I got it right and I was really happy with my great lap at the end. I feel good and I am very strong with the Bridgestone race tyres but it’s going to be a hard race because the others are also very fast. We still have two or three points on the track where we could improve our performance a bit more so we still have a bit of work to do, but I am confident that we can make another great race. Of course we don’t know about the weather, but this is normal for Assen and we will just have to manage!” Jorge Lorenzo Position: 3rd Time: 1’36.393 Laps: 31 “I’m happy with the first row, another one for this season, and this is the most important thing with regards to the start of the race tomorrow. Of course I wanted my fourth pole position but I had some problems in the last sector; I’m not sure why yet. We need to continue working to try to improve in that area and to understand the problem, because the race is going to be very hard with quite a few riders up front. We don’t know what the weather will be and so we will have to wait and see until warm-up tomorrow morning.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “Our target is always the front row so to get pole position is the best we can do! This was a good session because we had a strong pace throughout and Valentino is feeling comfortable on the bike. We’re looking forward to tomorrow but of course we are a bit worried about the weather. We have a few small things to fine-tune and then we will hope for a good start, like in Barcelona, and another exciting race.” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “We’re happy because the main aim is to be on the front row, and we have achieved that once again here. In fact we were hoping maybe for second with that last lap, but third is okay as well and Jorge is very fast. He did a long run during the session and his pace was very good, but we still need to improve slightly in T4, because this is where we are losing a bit of time. We will work on this tonight and use the warm-up weather permitting to make final improvements.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: PEDROSA ON THE FRONT ROW AT ASSEN, DOVIZIOSO EIGHTH Repsol Honda ace Dani Pedrosa secured an excellent second place on the grid for tomorrow’s Dutch TT in a congested qualifying practice at Assen that saw him finish just 0.085s from pole position. The Spanish rider expertly steered his Honda RC212V through late-session traffic to take a place in the middle of the front row, a position which gives him a good chance of getting away at the front in tomorrow’s 26-lap race. Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda team-mate, Andrea Dovizioso, finished the morning session in third place and improved his pace still further in the afternoon, featuring consistently in the top six. In the final few moments of qualifying, however, Dovizioso wasn’t able to make maximum use of Bridgestone’s softer tyre option and slipped to 8th. Still, with a good start from the third row of the grid, the Italian is confident he can run near the front tomorrow. While today’s two sessions were held in dry conditions – despite cloud cover at Assen – the forecast for tomorrow is for rain at some stage, so the Repsol Honda Team will be ready for whatever the weather brings when the starting lights go out at 14.00. DANI PEDROSA 2nd 1m 36.110s “I’m pleased with my qualifying position today, especially considering that there was quite a lot of traffic on track in the final few minutes. It’s always good to be on the front row because then you have the best chance to make a clean getaway, so I’m satisfied with second. I was lucky at the end of the session to have Valentino in front and being behind him helped me a lot to set this lap time. The feeling from the machine is quite good, although we still need to make some adjustments to the set-up to make best use of the Bridgestone tyres for the race, and this is what we’ll be working on in the warm-up tomorrow. My physical condition on the bike today was again much better than at the last race in Barcelona and this makes a lot of difference because I am able to concentrate fully on riding. I know that the race will be very physically demanding though, so I can take nothing for granted. Still, with some final set-up improvements, I hope I can make a good start and have a strong race tomorrow.” ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 8th 1m 37.237s “I have to say I’m quite disappointed about my qualifying result this afternoon because starting from the third row makes the race more complicated. Although my race pace was pretty good throughout the session, I didn’t manage to make the best of the soft tyre option, so tomorrow I will really have to focus on making a good start and recovering as many positions as possible during the first two or three laps. Apart from my grid position, I’m confident because I further improved my race pace with the hard Bridgestone tyres by two or three tenths compared to this morning’s session. Me and the crew will take a look at the data this evening to make some final decisions on the set-up solutions we tested this afternoon. The weather is looking uncertain again, but we’ve had some good wet/dry races this season so I’m not worried about the bike change if it happens.” KAZUHIKO YAMANO – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER “Dani did a good job to get on the front row today and we can see with this performance the evidence of his improving physical condition. We still have some work to do to achieve the optimum settings for the race, and the weather here could complicate things because we might have some rain tomorrow – we’ll see. Andrea was unlucky not to get a higher grid position because he was in the top six for most of the session and I don’t think 8th reflects his true potential. Still, with a good start I think both he and Dani can be strong tomorrow and the whole team will be working hard for that.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Edwards and Toseland equal season best qualifying in Assen Colin Edwards and James Toseland equalled their best qualifying performances of the season in Assen today to boost hopes of a double top six finish for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team in tomorrow’s Dutch MotoGP race. Edwards’ hopes of a third MotoGP podium at the legendary Assen circuit were boosted by his best lap of 1.36.760 securing him fifth place on the second row of the grid in a session run in cool and cloudy conditions. The American made big progress in finding a more confidence-inspiring front-end setting on his YZR-M1 machine and Edwards topped the timesheets with just under 20 minutes remaining. The 35-year-old, who currently lies sixth in the overall standings, only slipped off the front in a dramatic final few minutes, but he’s confident his race pace is fast enough to mount a podium challenge tomorrow. Toseland will start round seven of the 2009 world championship from ninth position on the grid, the British rider gaining more crucial experience on a radically revised YZR-M1 set-up. It was Toseland’s second successive top ten grid position and showed the significant strides he has made recently in improving his qualifying performance. The 28-year-old clocked a best time of 1.37.323 to finish just over a second off Valentino Rossi’s pole position time and he was just over half-a-second away from fourth place. Using a YZR-M1 with new footrest, handlebar and seating positions that he tried for the first time yesterday, Toseland is confident that he can claim his first top six finish of the campaign in tomorrow’s 26-lap race. Colin Edwards 5th 1.36.760 25 laps “It certainly wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be because at the start of the session I was in and out of the pits a lot making adjustments and normally that’s not a good sign. I’ve got a busy feeling on race tyres now I’m using the longer wheelbase. It puts a bit more weight on the front and while it’s not chatter I don’t feel I’m absorbing the bumps as well as I need to be. At certain times it feels like I’m skimming over the bumps, but despite that I’m pretty happy with my pace. I did a 37.3 on race tyres and for race pace that’s acceptable. I think low 1.37s or high 1.36s will be the pace if it stays dry, and I’m confident I can run those times. I put my head down on the softer rear tyre and on my last lap I managed to set my best time even though the hard front had eight laps on it. After eight or nine laps the front will start to lose that special feeling and I had a couple of slides on my last couple of laps and I wasn’t going to go any quicker than wha t I did. Considering that I’m happy to have equalled my best qualifying of the year, particularly as I feel we can make the bike better. I think we’re looking good for tomorrow because the fourth section has always been a bogey section for me and that’s where you can gain or lose a lot of time. On the Bridgestone’s it is unbelievable through that last section. They are just so stable you don’t get the handlebars shaking or flapping through the fast sections. Everything just rolls nice and smooth and I think we can get out there and fight at the front tomorrow.” James Toseland 9th 1.37.323 28 laps “I’m really happy even though I’m only ninth again on the grid. We’ve spent a lot of time working on the race setting with the new set-up and I’m feeling really confident on race tyres. The weight we’ve put on the rear is really helping the Bridgestone work and its helping keep load on the tyre. We put a bit more weight on the rear again today and we’re getting better rear grip. I’m just trying to work the rear tyre a lot more with that extra load on it and that means I can exit the corner a lot better. I’ve also got more stability going into the corner but on the softer tyres there was so much traffic that I got held up a bit otherwise I might have gained another couple of places. I had to roll off when I came across Toni Elias and that was a big shame because I’d just done my best first split of the whole session. Fingers crossed it will be dry tomorrow because I feel I’m getting close to where I need to be. After Catalunya I’ve done about 15 practice starts this week end because it is crucial that I get away to give myself a chance of a top six. I’m trying a slightly different clutch just to be a bit smoother because as I release the clutch it has been a bit aggressive in the first few races. But I’m desperate to give Yamaha and my guys at Tech 3 a good result after all the help they’ve been giving me this weekend.” More, from a press release issued by Playboy LCR Honda: Grip issues affect qualifying but De Puniet hopeful for race Assen, 26 June: Qualifying for the Ducth Grand Prix was run in dry conditions today with ambience temperature of 23°C despite cloudy skies welcomed the MotoGP riders at the 4.555 Km race track this morning. After yesterday’s storming first position in the free practice no. 1, the LCR Honda MotoGP racer Randy De Puniet could not take a big advantage from the soft tyres ending the day in 10th position. Despite a small crash in this morning free session, the Frenchman and his squad, continued their TO DO list chasing the best set up for the Dutch track. However the 28-year-old riding the Honda RC212V no. 14 struggled with rear grip and could not perform as he expected clocking his best lap time of 1’37.473. The seventh round of the season gets underway at 14:00 local time with Rossi heading the front row followed by Pedrosa and Lorenzo. De Puniet 10th 1’37.473 De Puniet 10th: “After this morning crash we decided to go for a longer run to confirm our race set up. Basically we have an acceptable lap time on race tyre but I struggled with rear grip on the edge. We do not have to much time to work on that and so we moved to soft tyres but we could not really improve our lap time. The bike slid to much and do not want to take any risk. We expected a better grid position after yesterday’s performance but it’s not the end of the world; I am hoping to get a top eight finish”. More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing Team: FOURTH ROW FOR KALLIO IN THE DUTCH GRAND PRIX. CANEPA SEVENTEENTH Cloudy day at the Assen circuit where the Dutch Grand Prix qualifying session took place. Pramac Racing riders, Mika Kallio and Niccolò Canepa, have respectively concluded in twelfth and seventeenth position. The Finnish rider was expecting a bit more from this day of work and hopes to recover tomorrow in the race. Niccolò made it to improve compare to yesterday by more than two seconds and will start the race tomorrow from the sixth row. Weather forecast promises rain for tomorrow’s race with more than sixty percent of chances to have a wet race. Fabiano Sterlacchini – Pramac Racing Technical Director “It has been a hard day of work for us. We have worked a lot on the set up of the bike finding some good solutions. For sure looking at the classification we can’t be too satisfied, but for tomorrow we believe we can do better. Mika is a really determined rider and, as always, he will not give up not even a centimeter to his opponents during the race.” Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing rider – 12th in 1’37.749 “I was expecting to enter the top ten today, but unluckily it didn’t go this way and I am a bit disappointed. I thought I would have been able to be at least half of second faster. I have encountered some complication with the front part of the bike that didn’t allow me to push more. Tomorrow we will have to modify the balance of the bike making it higher in the front during the warm up to understand if the bike will be more easy to ride. Anyway it seems the weather forecast for tomorrow will be completely different compare today and this would change the situation to everyone.” Niccolò Canepa – Pramac Racing rider – 17th in 1’38.605 “Unluckily I slipped in the most important part of the qualifying session and with the second bike with only a few minutes left it hasn’t be easy to improve my performances. I tried, but we will have to start from the seventeenth position. The situation compared to yesterday has improved a lot and we will have to try to make another step forward tomorrow during the race to gain some more positions.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Valentino Rossi will start his quest for a 100th Grand Prix victory from pole position in The Netherlands on Saturday afternoon, after taking the top spot for the Alice TT Assen with a 1’36.025 lap. Although it is Rossi’s second pole position of 2009, it is also the first time that he has topped a qualifying practice timesheet this season. His previous pole came courtesy of combined free practice times when the QP session in Japan was cancelled due to rainfall. The Fiat Yamaha rider was trailed by Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, who was less than a tenth of a second slower than the Italian’s hot lap. Pedrosa returns to the front row after two races away. Jorge Lorenzo continued his 100% record of front line starts with a time 0.368s down on teammate Rossi’s marker, and the Spaniard made a final push for pole in the closing stages of the session. He is now the only rider to have qualified on the front row for every race of the 2009 season to date, having relegated Casey Stoner to fourth place today. Although Stoner had crossed the line with enough time to perform another hot lap, the Australian sat up due to traffic on-track and opted against a further attempt at pole. Problems with grip had plagued the Ducati Marlboro rider throughout the morning and afternoon sessions, and he had another wobble that left him obviously agitated. Colin Edwards once again qualified on the second row after leading the session for a small period of time, alongside another veteran in Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi. The only crash in the session came from Niccolò Canepa, the Pramac Racing rookie escaping uninjured. 250cc A second consecutive 250cc pole went to Hector Barberá, as the PepeWorld rider took his sixth career top spot with a 1’40.019 lap. Barberá was just over a tenth of a second speedier than the two riders above him in the overall standings, with Scot Racing man Hiroshi Aoyama and Mapfre Aspar’s Álvaro Bautista both coming close to the front marker on the grid. Joining the trio on the front row is reigning 250cc World Champion Marco Simoncelli, concluding a first row quartet sure to provide some thrills. The second line is also packed with talent, as Balatonring stand-in Aleix Espargaró continued his impressive one-off showing to head Alex Debón, Raffaele de Rosa and Mattia Pasini. There were fewer crashes in the afternoon run than in the morning session, but a fall for Stevie Bonsey was notable for its flinging the American from his Aprilia machine and onto the asphalt. Bonsey is expected to ride tomorrow despite the incident. 125cc Whilst all eyes were on the established names putting in their final hot laps in 125cc qualifying, Ajo Interwetten’s Sandro Cortese snuck out from behind Julián Simón’s Aprilia and onto the first grid spot for the first pole position of his career. The German had been outside the front two rows with his previous best time, but as the clock ran down he pulled a 1’45.430 lap out of the hat to relegate Simón to second place. Both were on flying laps in the final seconds of the session, knocking Jack&Jones WRB’s Nico Terol down to third in a front row split by just over two-tenths of a second. Another German, Stefan Bradl, joins Cortese on the front row for the Alice TT Assen, leaving two of the series’ title contenders aiming for victory from the second line. Bradley Smith and Andrea Iannone – winner of the last race in Barcelona – are accompanied by a rejuvenated Simone Corsi and Spaniard Pol Espargaró. More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER AND HAYDEN READY FOR COMBAT AT DUTCH TT Ducati Marlboro Team riders Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden are both steeling themselves for a tough battle around the legendary TT circuit at Assen tomorrow after qualifying on 4th and 13th on the grid for the seventh round of the MotoGP World Championship. Stoner was in impressive form on race tyres, lapping in the low 1’37 mark that looks like being a pace capable of challenging for victory in tomorrow’s race, although when he switched to softer tyres for an assault on the grid positions he was held up by a host of slower riders on track. Hayden was seventh fastest in this morning’s final free practice and despite making a couple of minor wrong turns with his set-up in the afternoon, the American was only 0.010 seconds from a fourth row star. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 4th (1’36.633) “Pretty much all weekend we’ve been very fast on race tyres and even though we’re normally good for a single qualifying lap on a soft tyre we’ve had a few issues here. With my second soft tyre I was up out of the seat a couple of times but we changed it and the next one was a lot better. Unfortunately a couple of riders got in my way, waiting for a two in a dangerous and fast part of the track, which obviously cost me time but could have cost me a whole lot more if I had crashed. It is a frustrating situation which seems to be happening more and more in MotoGP and it is about time something was done to stop it. Thankfully I’m starting from fourth on the grid, which I am fine with because I can still challenge at the front from there and with the times we set today there is no reason not to be confident.” NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Marlboro Team) 13th (1’37.759) “Unfortunately qualifying is not our strong point at the moment but we made some improvements with the bike in free practice this morning. We changed the transmission, which helped a bit, and made a few more tweaks that made the general feeling of the bike a bit better but for the afternoon we tried some stuff that didn’t work so well. We had to go back to what we had this morning and I was only able to go a little bit faster, which is why the qualifying position isn’t great. The cooler track today made it hard to get heat into the left-hand side of the tyre. You don’t get good balance with the single compound tyres around here, for me at least, the right side is really good but it’s hard to get heat into the left. We’ll see what the weather brings, obviously we could do with it being nice and hot, line up and see what we got!” Circuit Record: Casey Stoner (Ducati – 2008), 1’36.738 169.509 Km/h Best Pole: Casey Stoner (Ducati – 2008), 1’35.520 171.670 Km/h More, from a press release issued by Honda: PEDROSA AND HONDA 0.085 SECONDS OFF ASSEN POLE Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) this afternoon rode a stunning lap of Assen to go second fastest and put himself on the front row of grid for tomorrow’s Dutch TT. The Spaniard, who is still hurting from recent injuries, rode the lap with reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) who will start the race from pole position. The pair were separated by just 0.085 seconds. Following yesterday’s bright sunshine, today’s conditions at Assen were warm and cloudy, but rain is forecast for race day. Pedrosa, who fell during the recent Italian and Catalan GP weekends, isn’t using painkilling therapy here but he is still in pain and struggling with fitness, because his injuries have interrupted his usual training regime. With those circumstances in mind, today’s performance was nothing short of heroic. No doubt his performance was also boosted by a revised-spec RC212V chassis, which he first tried at Catalunya two weeks ago. Pedrosa has both his bikes equipped with the new chassis which offers improved braking stability and front-end feedback. Team-mate Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) is also using the revised-spec chassis, though he currently has one of his RC212Vs equipped with that chassis while his other bike uses the previous spec. The Italian is impressively fast in race trim here, ending the first two practice sessions a close third fastest, but he was unable to take full advantage of the softer tyre during qualifying. He will start the race from the third row of the grid which means that a strong getaway will be essential. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) had high hopes for today after topping yesterday’s opening practice session but he was another rider who didn’t have the set-up to use the soft tyres to their maximum in qualifying and he ended up tenth fastest. De Puniet had a minor tumble this morning after he lost the front into the final chicane. Alex De Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda Gresini) placed 11th and 15th. De Angelis may well have been higher up the grid if his final lap hadn’t been spoiled by another rider going slow on the racing line. De Angelis had to take avoiding action which nearly brought him into collision with Gabor Talmacsi (Scot Honda) who was forced to take to the grass to avoid contact. Elias also rued what might have been after letting his tyres cool off too much while waiting for a faster rider to follow during the final minutes of the qualifying session. The Spaniard owned up to the mistake which put him on the fourth row. Yuki Takahashi (Scot Honda), who cracked a bone in his right hand when he fell on the first lap of the Catalan GP, was 18th quickest, one place ahead of new team-mate Talmacsi who continues his MotoGP apprenticeship. The Hungarian had his first ride on a MotoGP bike at Catalunya two weeks ago and feels more and more at home with the 200-plus horsepower machine. World 250 contender Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Honda) was in fine form once again today, using the rider-friendly characteristics of his RS250RW to conquer Assen’s sinuous curves and take second place on the 250 grid. Currently just seven points off the championship lead, the Japanese set the pace for a while during qualifying, slipped to fourth, then fought back to second. Aoyama’s team-mate Raffaele De Rosa (Scot Honda) excelled once again, the 250 rookie mastering Assen to secure himself a second-row start. Team-mates Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT-SAG) and Hector Faubel (Valencia CF-Honda SAG) both suffered with straight-line speed in the windy conditions, the pair 11th and 13th quickest at the end of the 45-minute session. Assen rookie Shoya Tomizawa (Team CIP Honda) had a miraculous escape during qualifying. The Japanese lost the front at turn one and had both hands on the tarmac when the bike righted itself, so he didn’t even crash! Finding Assen’s fast line has been tricky for Tomizawa who impressed at the end of the session with 16th fastest time. Bastien Chesaux (Racing Team Germany Honda) was content with his progress at this uniquely complex racetrack, the young rookie qualifying 23rd. HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 2nd – 1m 36.110s, said: “I’m pleased with my qualifying position today, especially considering that there was quite a lot of traffic on track in the final few minutes. It’s always good to be on the front row because then you have the best chance to make a clean getaway, so I’m satisfied with second. I was lucky at the end of the session to have Valentino in front and being behind him helped me a lot to set this lap time. The feeling from the machine is quite good, although we still need to make some adjustments to the set-up to make best use of the Bridgestone tyres for the race, and this is what we’ll be working on in the warm-up tomorrow. My physical condition on the bike today was again much better than at the last race in Barcelona and this makes a lot of difference because I am able to concentrate fully on riding. I know that the race will be very physically demanding though, so I can take nothing for granted. Still, with some final set-up improvements, I hope I can make a good start and have a strong race tomorrow.” Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: 8th – 1m 37.237s, said: “I have to say I’m quite disappointed about my qualifying result this afternoon because starting from the third row makes the race more complicated. Although my race pace was pretty good throughout the session, I didn’t manage to make the best of the soft tyre option, so tomorrow I will really have to focus on making a good start and recovering as many positions as possible during the first two or three laps. Apart from my grid position, I’m confident because I further improved my race pace with the hard Bridgestone tyres by two or three tenths compared to this morning’s session. Me and the crew will take a look at the data this evening to make some final decisions on the set-up solutions we tested this afternoon. The weather is looking uncertain again, but we’ve had some good wet/dry races this season so I’m not worried about the bike change if it happens.” Randy de Puniet, LCR Honda: 10th – 1m 37.473s said: “After this morning’s crash we decided to go for a longer run this afternoon to confirm our race set-up. Basically we are doing acceptable lap times on race tyres but I struggled with rear grip on the edge. We do not have to much time to work on that and so we moved to soft tyres but we could not really improve our lap time. The bike slid too much and I didn’t want to take any risks. We expected a better grid position after yesterday’s performance but it’s not the end of the world. I am hoping to get a top eight finish.” Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 11th – 1m 37.637s, said: “Overall I’m quite satisfied with our performance today it’s just a shame that Capirossi and Takahashi got in my way through the last couple of corners of my last lap because I know I could have gone much faster. I’m sure Loris didn’t do it on purpose but he is very experienced and it was a big mistake for him to make. I’m not angry but obviously very frustrated because I’m sure I would have moved ahead of de Puniet on the grid and maybe even Toseland, which would have meant an extra row and that would have been really important to me. The good thing is that I did a 1m 38.0s on race tyres and that is encouraging for tomorrow, even though I think it’s going to rain.” Toni Elias, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 15th quickest – 1m 38.136s, said: “To be honest everything worked better today but in the end I screwed it up. I have to hold my hands up and say that I made the wrong decision and it is my fault we’re down in 15th place, which is not good enough, so I want to apologise to the team. Basically I spent the last few laps looking for a tow but by the time I got one and tried to push for a good grid position, the tyre temperature had dropped too low. It was the last lap and it didn’t work out like I thought it would. We can’t do anything about it now the only option is to get a good start and pull back as many positions as I can.” Yuki Takahashi Scot Honda: 18th – 1m 38.619s, said: “My injured finger does not hurt too much but I’m not able to use that hand as I normally would which is causing me problems. The worst thing is the pain in my back, which I also hurt in my fall at the last race. I’ve been told that tomorrow we can expect rain. Rain could be an advantage for because as my fitness isn’t at its best, so a dry race would be more difficult for me.” Gabor Talmacsi – Scot Honda: 19th – 1m 39.407s, said: “I feel better and better on a MotoGP bike. Every lap I improve, you can see it by the lap times, and I always do my best times in the last run of the session. We have now arrived at a point where we must begin to work on the set-up to improve further. In the very last moments of qualifying a couple of riders almost touched in front of me, and to avoid them I had to go on the grass. Normal stuff it’s racing.” HONDA 250cc RIDER QUOTES Hiroshi Aoyama, Scot Honda: 2nd – 1m 40.192s, said: “I’ve had a good feeling with the bike since the beginning of practice here and since then we have improved constantly. My lap time wasn’t quite enough to catch pole position but I’m satisfied. I’m in a good position on the grid and I’m feeling confident for the race.” Raffaele De Rosa, Scot Honda: 7th – 1m 41.023s, said: “Very good, I’m satisfied with my second row. Tomorrow, the very first laps will be crucial: if I can stay in the leading group it should be a good race for me. We did a good job especially in fixing a problem that I seemed to have in one very precise point of this track. Then, everything went okay.” Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT-SAG: 11th – 1m 41.235s, said: “The front and rear suspensions adjustments we made have improved things, so the bike is coming better. But I was losing some time on the back straight because there was a lot of wind which hurt out engine. This track is a little bit difficult for me, there are some corners where I’m not using the good line, so I was trying different lines to improve my times. At the end I was down to 1m 40s but the issue with the engine lost me a good tenth of a second, otherwise I might have had a chance of the second row.” Hector Faubel, Valencia CF-Honda SAG: 13th – 1m 41.462s, said: “I tried my best but the strong winds were causing some difficulties with the engine. I think that the Honda chassis is really good, the bike handles and steers very well, so we haven’t had to make any settings changes. Tomorrow I will start from 13th on the grid, so I will need a good start to have a chance of running with the front group.” Shoya Tomizawa, Team CIP Honda: 16th – 1m 42.038s, said: “I had a huge moment going into turn one. I lost the front, the bike went down, I had both hands on the tarmac, and then it came back”¦ incredible! I have struggled a bit here because it is very difficult to find the right line at this track. After that moment I went out again with new tyres and did my best time, in fact I was quite surprised by the lap time! We have been working hard to get the rear suspension correct and we have more to do on that in warm-up.” Bastien Chesaux, Racing Team Germany Honda: 23rd – 1m 44.704s, said: “Not such a bad day. We fixed some things with the engine and the bike is working well, I’m getting a good feeling from it. I think the Honda works well at this track because the chassis and suspension is so good. We have one change to make for the race, we will put a bit more weight on the front end for better turning.”