FIM MotoGP World Championship Sachsenring, Germany July 12, 2008 Final Qualifying Results: 1. Casey STONER (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:21.067 2. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), Michelin, 1:21.420 3. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:21.519 4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), Michelin, 1:21.656 5. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:21.795 6. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), Michelin, 1:21.821 7. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), Bridgestone, 1:21.845 8. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda), Michelin, 1:21.876 9. Shinya NAKANO (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:21.920 10. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:21.977 11. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:22.126 12. Toni ELIAS (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:22.256 13. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:22.542 14. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:22.601 15. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:22.938 16. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:23.131 17. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:23.158 More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: REPSOL REPSOL HONDA’S PEDROSA 2nd FASTEST AT THE ‘RING German Grand Prix, Sachsenring Qualifying, Saturday July 12 2008 Repsol Honda rider and World Championship leader Dani Pedrosa had a good day at the Sachsenring today, topping this morning’s free practice session aboard his RC212V and qualifying a promising second fastest in this afternoon’s qualifier. Team-mate Nicky Hayden was also impressive this morning, running third fastest, but wasn’t quite able to repeat the performance in qualifying, coming out eighth. The morning session started on a wet track following an earlier downpour but by the end of the hour Pedrosa and Hayden were both running fast on race tyres, the only riders to improve on their Friday pace. Pedrosa, who scored his seventh front-row start of the year today, still has some further fine-tuning to do before the race as he works to defend his championship points lead. Hayden meanwhile is confident of his race pace and will be focusing all his attention on getting a flying start from the third row to get him into the first corner in a front-running position. Dani Pedrosa, second fastest, 1m 21.420s “Today went quite well for us, so I’m happy with my second position on the grid. I didn’t expect to achieve this result because we were using up the qualifying tyres in the last section of the track. Starting from the front row is especially important at this track because it’s so tight, especially the first section. All in all, it was a good session. We improved the chassis set-up so the bike is giving me a better feeling. We have met the first target of starting from the front row, so I am quite confident for tomorrow, but we still need to make some more adjustments to further improve our race pace. Once again the big question is the weather, the forecast still says there’s a chance of rain tomorrow, so we will have to see what happens.” Nicky Hayden, eighth fastest, 1m 21.876s “This morning we made a bit of an improvement and I was able to improve my lap time even though the track wasn’t so good, so I was quite excited, I thought we had a good chance in qualifying. At the start of qualifying I was going decent on some pretty used tyres that by the end had race distance on them, so I felt pretty good. But the qualifiers didn’t go as we wanted. We had an issue with a front wheel sensor when I went out on my third qualifier, so we had to come in and change the sensor, which lost us some time and some rhythm. Basically we didn’t get it done. On qualifiers my T1 and T2 times were really good but T3 and T4 weren’t so good. It seems like maybe we were a little soft on the front suspension or we’ve improved the rear so much that maybe it’s overworking the front tyre. Looking at tomorrow, I’ve gotten some good starts this year, we’re right in the middle of the third row, so I’m sure there’s going to be plenty of drama, plenty of action. I feel like we’ve got a decent pace, so the race should be okay.” Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager “Dani did a good job today, second is a good result here. It’s important to get a good start because overtaking isn’t easy at this track. His target is still victory. Nicky’s race pace was good but he was a little unlucky on his final attack this afternoon, so he will need a good start from the third row. His pace on race tyres is quite good, so I think it is still possible for him to target the podium.” More, from a press release issued by JiR Team Scot Honda: Andrea Dovizioso enjoys best qualifying of the season with fourth place The second day of practice for the German Grand Prix was concluded under dry conditions with some clouds in the sky but with temperature on the Tarmac down by 10 degrees compared to yesterday. Conditions therefore were good for the Honda/Michelin riders and also for Andrea Dovizioso, who took fifth in the morning despite some competitors actually going slower than yesterday. In the afternoon the JiR Team Scot squad found a good result the best of the season so far in qualifying and Andrea eventually went very close to the front-row but will instead start the German Grand Prix tomorrow in fourth place on the grid. For sure this will be a race full of emotion with Andrea and the team motivated to confirm the good work done during these two days of practice. Cirano Mularoni – Team Manager JiR Team Scot “Today’s result showed the very good job done by the team on these first two days. This morning was spent on the final tuning of the bike, and we have been going in the right direction, which is why we can count on a pace that will be competitive in the race. In the afternoon Andrea definitely used to the maximum the qualifying tyres and will start from the second row tomorrow – in the last minute of the qualifying session we were so close to the first row! The whole job done so far will show to the team that we can focus on daily improvements in our performance.” Andrea Dovizioso Pilot JiR Team Scot MotoGP HONDA RC212V 4th time: 1’21 “656 “I can be very satisfied about our progress made in qualifying conditions today. Using a race front tyre I found a good way to better use the rear qualifying tyre and in the last run I was able to take fourth position. Tomorrow will be different from recent race starts, as we begin the race near to the front and I will need to use at the maximum this sort of advantage to be immediately with the leaders, which is why I do think we can have a very good race. Sachsenring doesn’t require incredible levels of power, but instead it’s better to ride with an engine that has a smooth power delivery and that’s just like the one we have. There are many of us that are close together on times, but I do expect a good ‘show’ tomorrow. The podium will be difficult to reach, but nothing is impossible. My pace is around 1m 22 ‘high’ and other riders able to do 1 22 ‘lows’. The more important target will be consistency, if we want to take maximum results.” Gianni Berti Technical Coordinator JiR Team Scot “We were able to work on a technical package that has proven to be very good and which allowed us to achieve the best qualifying position so far this season. Chief technician Pietro Caprara along with co-ordination with Michelin has shown good team-work and found a balance between tyres and suspension that has allowed us to move forward in a very positive way. This has happened just in time for the race tomorrow, where we hope to get reward for our two days of intense, hard work.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: WEST LOOKS FOR IMPROVEMENTS AT SACHSENRING Kawasaki’s Anthony West endured another difficult day at Sachsenring today, qualifying in 17th place after a high-speed crash during this morning’s free practice session saw him struggling to regain confidence in the front end grip of his Ninja ZX-RR during this afternoon’s timed session. West crashed heavily halfway through this morning’s hour-long session, losing the front of his Ninja ZX-RR at Turn Eight, the 200km/h downhill right-hander that also claimed pole position man Casey Stoner during yesterday’s afternoon practice. The Kawasaki pilot was lucky to walk away uninjured, but his Ninja ZX-RR required extensive repairs as a result of the crash. West returned to the track aboard his spare bike, but an electrical problem brought the bike to a halt after just one lap, with the result that West only completed eight laps of the 3.761km Sachsenring circuit during the final free practice session. This lack of track time was apparent during the afternoon qualifying session, with West struggling in the limited time available to find a set-up that provided him with the required level of feedback from the front end of his Ninja ZX-RR. A switch to qualifying tyres in the final 30 minutes brought little improvement in West’s lap time, as the super-sticky rear induced chatter in the bike that wasn’t apparent on race rubber. West did manage to improve on his previous best lap time on his final qualifier, but it wasn’t enough to elevate him further up the grid for tomorrow’s 30-lap race. Despite the setbacks, the 26-year-old Australian heads into tomorrow’s German Grand Prix determined to bring his Ninja ZX-RR home in the points. Anthony West #13 – 17th – 1’23.158 “What a completely disappointing day. The conditions this morning were pretty difficult, as the track started wet but then began to dry out after about 30 minutes. I wasn’t pushing so hard because of the track conditions, but I lost the front just as I turned into the right-hander at the top of the hill halfway through the session. It was another big crash, and it came without any warning, which doesn’t do your confidence any good. We lost a lot of track time this morning, and that cost us this afternoon. We simply ran out of time to work on set-up and I just had to try and do the best I could on the qualifying tyres. But even on the soft rubber there were problems, with chatter making it very difficult to get on the gas early and make best use of the extra grip that a qualifier gives you. I’ll be sitting down with my crew tonight to try and figure out how we can make improvements for tomorrow. Whatever we do it’s still going to be a tough race but, as usual, I’ll be getting my head down and trying to make up as many places as I can from the start.” Naoya Kaneko Kawasaki Technical Manager “Anthony’s crash and then the electrical problem with his spare bike this morning meant we lost out on valuable track time, and we paid the price for that this afternoon. Initially we had some issues with grip, because the track temperature was much lower than it was yesterday, but then when we switched to the qualifying tyres we started having issues with rear-end chatter. This meant that Anthony was unable to open the throttle as early as he wanted to and, as a result, it wasn’t possible for him to improve significantly on his lap time on race rubber. We will analyse the data tonight to see if we can eliminate some of the problems Anthony has experienced today, but we need to be flexible because the weather so far this weekend has been very unpredictable, and this looks set to continue tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen will start from 13th and 14th places respectively on the grid for tomorrow’s German Grand Prix after a tough qualifying session at Sachsenring today. Capirossi (1’22.542, 29 laps) again had to overcome the pain and discomfort in his right arm as he fought with his Suzuki GSV-R and the demanding German circuit to find the best set-up for tomorrow’s race. He worked hard with his crew and found a setting that he believes will suit him in Sunday’s race and is confident of improving on his qualifying position in the 30-lap event. Vermeulen (1’22,601, 32 laps) will start next to Capirossi on the fifth row as he was unable to improve upon his earlier good performance on race tyres when he used the qualifying tyres at the end of the session. Vermeulen had been consistently in the top-eight on race rubber in the early part of the hour-long session, but he just couldn’t find the extra edge grip to improve on his times, and knows he has a tough job from the start tomorrow. This afternoon’s qualifying session was held in overcast conditions with track temperatures reaching 28ºC. World Champion Casey Stoner secured his third pole position in succession on his factory Ducati. Tomorrow’s German Grand Prix is round 10 of the season and the 30-lap race gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT). Loris Capirossi: “It’s been very difficult today, but I am quite happy because with the race tyre and the set-up we have a good rhythm. With the qualifiers we struggled a little bit, but on the race tyres we made a big step from yesterday and this is very important. My condition is still not too good, but I tried as hard as I could, but I don’t really have the strength to give it 100%. It is important to follow on working on the things we have been doing this weekend and try as hard as we can tomorrow. This is a difficult track for us, but I am very positive about the race, and I will do my best as always!” Chris Vermeulen: “We made some progress with the bike on race tyres today and I picked up about three-quarters-of-a-second on my lap-times and that put me in the top seven or eight. It wasn’t easy doing those times, but we could do them consistently on a used tyre. Unfortunately when we put in the qualifiers we weren’t able to go any quicker and the last tyre just didn’t seem to work at all, so we will need to look at that later with Bridgestone to figure out why. It sucks being so far back on the grid and it will be hard to get through on this track, but I’ll be going for it from the start and plan to make sure I get up in the top 10 early on and see where we go from there!” Paul Denning Team Manager: “We took some good steps with the bike today, but it wasn’t enough to get near the front guys in qualifying. We struggled to get any benefit from the qualifiers today, which given the fact that the same tyre is on pole clearly indicates that the issue is more ours than Bridgestone’s – Chris’s best lap on qualifiers was the same as on a pair of 14-lap old race tyres. “Loris made a massive effort today, and again the team wants to say thank-you to him for his commitment. I think if he was 100% he’d be a bit closer to the pace, but as always his attitude gives the guys in the garage a buzz and we’re all looking forward to seeing what he can achieve tomorrow! “Chris’s pace was much improved on race tyres today, so we will be focussing on further improvements tonight for both riders and try to salvage the best possible results in tomorrow’s Grand Prix.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Sensational Stoner takes Sachsenring top spot Round 10: Germany Qualifying Sachsenring Circuit Saturday 12 July 2008 Ducati’s Casey Stoner has stormed to his fourth consecutive pole position of the season with a sensational lap of the Sachsenring this afternoon. Stoner’s best lap, set using a Bridgestone rear qualifying tyre in the final minutes of the hour-long session, was nearly 0.4s quicker than second-placed man Dani Pedrosa, and 0.8s faster than the existing pole position record set by Pedrosa in 2006. Colin Edwards will complete the front row after finishing third this afternoon. Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi claimed the seventh best time after a busy afternoon session which saw the Italian miss the front row by three-tenths-of-a-second. However, Rossi showed improved pace on race tyres at the start of the session and was able to lap in the mid 1m22s bracket. Only half-a-second separates Pedrosa in second from the San Carlo Honda Gresini duo of Shinya Nakano and Alex De Angelis in ninth and tenth positions respectively. Both riders have also shown encouraging race pace this weekend, with De Angelis in particularly competitive form, and will be hopeful of making progress up through the order in tomorrow’s 30-lap race. Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development How would you summarise today’s qualifying session? “It was another supreme lap from Casey today, so again congratulations to him and Ducati for their fourth pole position in a row. It is the fifth in a row for a rider on Bridgestone tyres, equalling the run that we had last year which Chris Vermeulen started in Assen and which Casey continued for four races thereafter. In that respect, I am pleased, but our other riders were unable to produce similar performances on qualifying tyres this afternoon with just three additional riders Valentino, Shinya and Alex claiming top ten results. It was very closely-fought for the second and third rows of the grid with just a few tenths-of-a-second making a big difference in position, so hopefully this will give us good racing tomorrow afternoon.” How is the performance on race tyres? “For race tyre performance, I am much more satisfied and many of our riders already have a good indication of the specification tyre for tomorrow’s race. We could not carry out longer runs today, but the initial performance with several of our riders is very pleasing. Casey, of course, continues to set the benchmark, but Alex and Valentino also appear to be in good shape. We will, however, only find out about the longevity of our tyres in the race itself.” Bridgestone-shod Riders’ Qualifying Session Results Pos. Rider Team Qualifying Time (pos) Gap to Pole P1 Casey Stoner Ducati Corse 1m21.067s Pole P7 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m21.845s +0.778s P9 Shinya Nakano San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m21.920s +0.853s P10 Alex de Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m21.977s +0.910s P12 Toni Elias Alice Team 1m22.256s +1.189s P13 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m22.542s +1.475s P14 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m22.601s +1.534s P15 Sylvain Guintoli Alice Team 1m22.938s +1.871s P16 Marco Melandri Ducati Corse 1m23.131s +2.064s P17 Anthony West Kawasaki Racing Team 1m23.158s +2.091s Weather: Dry Air 21°C, Track 29°C (Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: ROSSI FINDS IMPROVED RACE PACE AHEAD OF GERMAN GRAND PRIX Valentino Rossi made significant strides with the set-up of his Fiat Yamaha M1 at the Sachsenring this afternoon, finding an improved race pace around the twisty German track. The Italian will need all the help he can get tomorrow however as he was only able to qualify seventh for the race, at the head of the third row. After a problematical afternoon yesterday, the team’s difficulties were compounded this morning when heavy rain left the track wet and rendered the majority of the first session useless. Luckily the afternoon was dry, if significantly cooler than yesterday, and Rossi and his team were able to find a good balance between their bike and their Bridgestone race tyres to set a string of consistent laps. He was disappointed after this not to qualify better and starting from the third row will complicate issues for him tomorrow as this track is notoriously tricky to pass at, although he defied this in 2006 when winning from 11th. Jorge Lorenzo will start two places in front of his team-mate in fifth for tomorrow’s 30-lap race, when Rossi will set a new record for consecutive Grand Prix starts with his 202nd successive appearance since his first race in 1996. Valentino Rossi Position: 7th Time: 1’21.845 Laps: 31 “Today things didn’t go how we hoped with the qualifying tyres! We had four as usual and, with the best one, unfortunately I found Jorge on the last corner. He was slowing down to enter the pits and he didn’t see me, this was just unlucky because I think that lap could have been good enough for the second row. Then with my last tyre my lap looked like it would be good enough for the front row but I had some problems with grip on the last two corners and I lost about half a second, so finally we are on the third row! I know I have passed many riders before here but everyone is so close now that I know it will be very hard and so it’s going to be very important that I get a good start. Luckily after the problems of yesterday and this morning we have found a good setting and a good Bridgestone tyre, and this afternoon we were as fast as Pedrosa so I think if I can manage not to lose too many places in the first few laps, then I can fight for the podium. This is my target for tomorrow.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “This afternoon we improved a lot and this qualifying position is disappointing because we had a much better potential and the latest modifications that the team and engineers made worked very well. It seems that we have the pace to race and therefore it’s just a pity that we are on the third row; we just couldn’t put everything together on the same lap today. We will continue in the morning to make some final adjustments and then hopefully Valentino can get a good start and try to fight his way forward and stay with the leaders.” More, from another press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: SECOND ROW BOOSTS LORENZO’S CONFIDENCE AT THE SACHSENRING Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo secured his best grid spot since the French Grand Prix back in May today, qualifying fifth for tomorrow’s German Grand Prix. The Spanish youngster put in a promising showing on his Michelin qualifying tyres and set his best time on his 25th of 29 laps. After hot sunshine yesterday, heavy rain early on left the track wet for the morning’s practice session, which meant that Lorenzo and his team were unable to try some of their planned modifications. This afternoon’s qualifying session was dry but the 21-year-old was unable to make much headway on race tyres and is still lacking the pace that came so easily to him earlier in the year. His good performance on qualifying tyres therefore was a welcome confidence boost and he will be looking to make the most of it in tomorrow’s 30-lap race. Lorenzo’s team-mate Valentino Rossi meanwhile will start from the front of the third row, in seventh, when the race gets underway at 1400 CET. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 5th Time: 1’21.795 Laps: 29 “We’ve worked very hard this weekend and I am happy to be on the second row, it’s an improvement and with the Michelin qualifying tyres I was able to go quite fast. However with the race tyre we still have problems and it’s very frustrating; we don’t have enough grip with the rear and this means I don’t have enough confidence in the bike and I can’t ride fast. More than ever today, I am finding it very hard to understand how I was so fast earlier on in the season and now I am so slow! All we can do is keep working and not stop, in order to try to find the confidence we are lacking. I hope tomorrow that I can make the most of starting on the second row, try to stay with the leading riders and hopefully enjoy my race. I’m sorry really that Valentino was behind me on one of his fast laps, I was slowing down to go into the pits and I wasn’t aware that he was there. In fact I didn’t know anything about it until afterwards but I am very sorry that it happened, especially when he was doing such a good lap.” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “Today has been another difficult qualifying session and Jorge still doesn’t have enough confidence to ride with as fast a pace as the front riders. Our biggest problem is the lack of rear grip and the fact that the rear tyre is spinning too much, especially under acceleration. The team is working very hard to improve our package but the weather didn’t help us much this morning and we didn’t have time to try all the solutions we had planned. Therefore we will have to use the warm-up to continue our work! With the Michelin qualifying tyres Jorge was able to make a good second row so for the race we hope he can get a good start and then try to stay with the leading riders.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Casey Stoner completed his dominance of the practice timesheets at Sachsenring with his fourth consecutive pole position, setting a new record along the way. The reigning MotoGP World Champion chasing his third victory in a row- set the fastest time ever recorded at the track with a 1´21.067 lap of the German circuit. Stoner had previously gone round lower than the existing record using race tyres on Friday. Stoner had done enough to confirm his place at the head of the grid with over fifteen minutes remaining in the qualifying session, but further left his mark with an audacious final hot lap that lowered his time by nearly three-tenths of a second. Last year he suffered from a tyre problem that ruled him out of the running for victory, but it appears that it will take something special to defeat the Australian on Sunday afternoon. Many riders looked to be in a position to push the Ducati Marlboro rider when the qualifying rubber was fitted, although none were able to match his pace on the final section of the tight Sachsenring circuit. The closest to doing so was World Championship leader and 2007 racewinner Dani Pedrosa, some 0.353 down on Stoner´s time. The Repsol Honda rider had experienced problems with his first selection of qualifying tyres, and several late laps saw Pedrosa falling short with his attempts at a second pole position of the season. Back on the front row after four races away, Tech 3 Yamaha´s Colin Edwards emerged from the hour-long session as the third quickest rider. The `Texan Tornado´ was just under a tenth of a second from Pedrosa, and was the fastest Yamaha rider once again with the satellite M1. Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo will start from the same row on the grid for the first time since their arrival in the premier class, having battled at Sachsenring in the 250cc category in the past. The final spot on the second line went to LCR Honda´s Randy de Puniet. Fiat Yamaha rider and World Championship challenger Valentino Rossi heads the third row, unable to find the second necessary to join up with the frontliners. Nicky Hayden and Shinya Nakano line up alongside the Italian. 250cc: Marco Simoncelli shed nearly half a second from his Friday provisional pole time to confirm the top spot for the 250cc Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland. The Metis Gilera man broke the pole position record for the Sachsenring circuit with an amazing lap, stopping the clock at 1´23.953. In doing so he became the first 250cc rider ever to breach the 1´24 mark at the German track. Over six-tenths of a second was the difference between Simoncelli´s time and that of second placed rider Julian Simon, with the Repsol KTM Spaniard moving up to the front row with his Saturday afternoon performance. Simon´s attempts at taking pole position were hit by a crash late in the session. Hector Barbera maintained a spot on the front line for the quarter-litre race, with clear track in front of him for a fifth consecutive Grand Prix. The Team Toth Aprilia rider left it late to improve upon his Friday hot lap, which would have also been enough for a front row start. In the final seconds of the qualifying run, World Championship leader Mika Kallio was bowled off-track by Ratthapark Wilairot. The Thai rider lost grip when Kallio was passing him on the outside, catching the back of the Finn´s Red Bull KTM bike and sending him into the gravel. Kallio had already confirmed his fourth place on the front row at the time of the incident. Alvaro Bautista will start from outside the top four for the first time this season, although he will be content to have moved up from a provisional eleventh on the grid. The Spaniard was the winner of the most recent Grand Prix at Assen. Alex Debon, Fabrizio Lai and Roberto Locatelli complete the second row, under a second slower than Simoncelli and showing that a tough, tight race can be expected when the lights go out on Sunday. 125cc: Breaking his Friday provisional pole time with just five minutes to go in the second 125cc qualifying session, Gabor Talmacsi took his first top spot of the year for the Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland. The Hungarian cut just under a tenth of a second off his previous best, holding off a challenge from three-time poleman in 2008 Bradley Smith. Polaris World rider Smith continued to chip away at Talmacsi´s marker, but was unable to better it and settled for second place on the front row rather than risking another late qualifying crash. He is joined on a first line unchanged from that of Friday afternoon. Home rider Stefan Bradl and world title contender Simone Corsi join the top two on the first line for the Sachsenring showdown. Belson Derbi´s Joan Olive heads the second line as he takes another shot at his first World Championship victory, joined by series leader Mike di Meglio, Tomoyoshi Koyama and Raffaele de Rosa. Olive´s teammate, Pol Espargaro, suffered a high speed lowside approaching the fast downhill section of the track, although did not aggravate his collarbone injury. More, from a press release issued by Alice Ducati: OURTH AND FIFTH ROW FOR THE ALICE TEAM IN THE GRAND PRIX OF GERMANY A day with two faces for the Alice Team on the Sachsenring circuit. This morning in fact the white and red duo, Sylvain Guintoli and Toni Elias, concluded with the sixth and the eighth fastest lap time, but in the afternoon they couldn’t go further than the fifteenth and twelfth position. But the French rider couldn’t work in the best way possible during qualifying: in the last lap of free practice, in one of the fastest point of the circuit, he slipped and bike one couldn’t be used in the afternoon session. Tomorrow, during warm up, he will be able to use both bikes to try to find back this morning rhythm. Fabiano Sterlacchini — Technical director “Today we had a positive session because with the race tyre we have constantly improved. Now we have to put together all the positive things from the two bikes used today to result much more competitive in tomorrow’s race. We are trustful because we know Toni is really aggressive during the race and he will do all possible to conquer better positions. We can say that the new updates we received from Ducati are giving us a lot even if we still have to work to do more.” Toni Elias — Alice Team rider (12th best lap time in 1:22.256, Total laps 28) “I am happy today because I felt better on the bike and we have improved our lap times. Twelfth position doesn’t of course satisfy me, but we have been really regular today and the race rhythm compared to yesterday has improved a lot. If tomorrow I will make it to start well we can achieve a good result. Usually I suffer in the firsts laps: I will have to do my best to stay with the fastest riders and don’t lose much time.” Sylvain Guintoli — Alice Team rider (15th best lap time in 1:22.938, Total laps 20) “I am really angry. After this morning’s slip I lost a bit of confidence. We have to forget about this session. Our potential is much better than fifteenth position and tomorrow morning, when we will have both bikes at our disposal, I will have to ride for as many laps possible to find back the best rhythm.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: FOURTH STRAIGHT POLE FOR STONER, MELANDRI IMPROVES RACE PACE Casey Stoner took his fourth consecutive MotoGP pole position and the fourteenth of his Grand Prix career today, smashing Dani Pedrosa’s pole record at the Sachsenring circuit, set in 2006 on the 990cc machine, by eight tenths of a second. In an exciting climax to this afternoon’s hour-long qualifying session the Australian improved his lap time with each of the three qualifying tyres available to him, after again showing impressive form on race tyres. Marco Melandri was unable to make such good use of his qualifying tyre, meanwhile, although his feeling in race trim has improved and he is looking forward to making up positions in tomorrow’s race. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1st: 1’21.067 “Qualifying never used to be a strong point of ours but now we seem to be turning it into one and that is a credit to the team, but also to Bridgestone, who have worked relentlessly on this aspect. We have to be thankful to them for that and to have enjoyed four consecutive pole positions together is fantastic for everybody. It has been a good weekend so far but not perfect because of the crash yesterday, which dented my confidence a little bit. The feeling with the front through that corner was good today though, which means I could get on the attack again today. I was struggling a little bit with the rear spinning up in T4 and I didn’t expect my final lap to be enough for pole but we made up enough time in T3 to pull it off and I’m delighted. We have a decision to make on the race tyre depending on the weather because track temperature today was about 15 degrees less than yesterday so the hard compounds we were using just struggled a little bit today. We couldn’t do quite the same lap times although I wasn’t pushing as hard either, so it would make the decision easier if the sun comes back out tomorrow! We’re trying our best to chase down this championship and we’ll see if it will be possible.” MARCO MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team) 16th: 1’23.131 “I’m disappointed that I couldn’t make more of the qualifying tyre because I think we’ve taken a good step forward today with the race set-up. If we have a dry race tomorrow I don’t think we’ll be in bad shape and we could make up some positions, hopefully I’ll enjoy myself too. I know that it is never easy to go full race distance here because the track really puts the bike and tyres to the test but I feel much more confident than I have done lately.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: PEDROSA ON FRONT ROW AND IN THE HUNT FOR WIN Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) worked typically hard in a tough hour of final qualifying to snatch a front row start from second on the grid behind poleman Casey Stoner (Ducati) with Yamaha rider Colin Edwards completing the front row. This is Dani’s seventh front row start of the season so far and the current World Championship points leader had to work hard for it. Stoner, who has been in commanding form here, looked set to boss the hour-long session and it took Dani until the final five minutes to cement his place on the front row. But when he did it was a convincing lap, just 0.353 seconds shy of his Australian rival’s 1m 21.067s pole time. Title rival Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) could only manage seventh on the grid for a third row start that could hamper his podium ambitions here at this narrow track. Stoner topped the timesheets at the start of the session with a 1m 23.149s time and with the track surface at a vastly reduced temperature compared to yesterday, riders had to re-establish a rapport with grip levels at this tight and tricky 3.671km circuit. Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V), who was second fastest yesterday, began well and lay third after ten minutes, but he gradually slipped down the order, unable to find anything more from qualifying tyres to compete at the sharp end of the grid. He ended the session with the tenth fastest time, but only 0.910s off Stoner’s pole. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V), who was charging hard throughout this session, was an early provisional pole-sitter in the first fifteen minutes until Edwards relieved the Frenchman of top slot with a 1m 21.794s lap. At the halfway point the front row comprised Edwards, De Puniet and De Angelis. Specks of rain began to spatter riders with twenty minutes to go and this threat of a downpour prompted many to pit and fit qualifying tyres in case the weather worsened it held off but the rush for super-grippy rubber was underway. Stoner reclaimed pole with a 1m 21.666s lap while Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V), who was riding typically hard, finally had something to show for his endeavours with a 1m 21.876s lap, good enough for provisional fourth. With ten minutes left of the stint Stoner again shaved his lap down. This time to 1m 21.330s and Dani responded by elevating himself from seventh to second with a 1m 21.692s time knocking Rossi off the front row. The Italian former World Champion would then drop to fifth after his Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo snatched fourth. There was more to come from Stoner though. The Aussie slashed his time again, a 1m 21.067s lap almost a second quicker than the existing record lap. The final seconds of the session however would yield further surprises. Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Scot Honda RC212V) who’d been quietly whittling away at his lap times found all he needed from qualifying rubber with seconds to spare and hustled his RCV to second on the grid, before Edwards and then Dani snatched that spot back. He ended up fourth, knocking Lorenzo back into fifth. All six Honda riders are in the top ten here with Dani at two, Dovi fourth to head the second row, De Puniet sixth, Hayden eighth, Shinya Nakano (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) ninth and De Angelis tenth after looking like a potential front row contender yesterday. Dani said: “Today went quite well for us, so I’m happy with my second position on the grid. Starting from the front row is especially important at this track because it’s so tight, especially the first section. All in all, it was a good session. We improved the chassis set-up so the bike is giving me a better feeling. We have met the first target of starting from the front row, so I am quite confident for tomorrow, but we still need to make some more adjustments to further improve our race pace. The forecast still says there’s a chance of rain tomorrow, so we will have to see what happens.” Dovizioso, fourth on the grid, his best qualifying ride so far in his rookie season, said: “I’m satisfied about our progress in qualifying today. Tomorrow will be different from recent race starts, as we’re near the front and I’ll need to use this advantage to be immediately with the leaders, which is why I think we can have a very good race. Sachsenring doesn’t require incredible levels of power, but instead it’s better to ride with an engine that has a smooth power delivery and that’s just like the one we have. There are many of us that are close together on times, but I do expect a good ‘show’ tomorrow. The podium will be difficult to reach, but nothing is impossible.” De Puniet, sixth fastest on row two, said: “I’m quite satisfied today because we improved the bike set-up, then my pace in race trim is very competitive and I also gained a good lap time on qualifiers. I shaved 0.6 seconds off my time on race tyres compared with yesterday and this is very important. We could have got on the front row but I found Nakano in front of me during my fast lap and lost three tenths; I was a bit disappointed but this is racing and everybody tries to get the maximum on soft tyres. Tomorrow’s race will be very close and I’ll have to do a very good start to stay with the first group.” Nicky, eighth fastest, said: “This morning we made a bit of an improvement and I was able to improve my lap time even though the track wasn’t so good, so I was quite excited, I thought we had a good chance in qualifying. At the start of qualifying I was going decent on some pretty used tyres that by the end had race distance on them, so I felt pretty good. But the qualifiers didn’t go as we wanted. We had an issue with a front wheel sensor when I went out on my third qualifier, so we had to come in and change the sensor, which lost us some time and some rhythm. Basically we didn’t get it done. I feel like we’ve got a decent pace, so the race should be OK.” Nakano in ninth said: “The third row meets our minimum expectations but ninth position is not 100% satisfactory. This morning we struggled with the lower temperatures, but in the afternoon we got our pace back together and I pushed hard on race tyres, so now I feel ready for both kinds of conditions. Obviously we still have room for improvement on the qualifying tyre because even though ninth place is not bad we are only a couple of tenths off the second row and that is my true target.” His team-mate De Angelis, on row four, said: “Twelfth place equals my best grid position so far, which was at Mugello, but I’m not satisfied. After being so fast in the three free practice sessions I feel I deserve to be higher up the grid. Unfortunately I still don’t seem able to get the best out of the qualifying tyre and we’ll have to keep working hard together with Bridgestone over the next few races to find a solution that best suits my riding style.” 250cc Marco Simoncelli (Gilera) was comfortably in charge of this 45-minute 250cc qualifying session securing pole with a 1m 23.399s lap with three minutes to go after topping the timesheet from the start. Julian Simon (KTM) qualified second quickest, Hector Barbera (Aprilia) third and Mika Kallio (KTM) completing the front row. Yuki Takahashi (JiR Scot Honda RS250RW) qualified tenth, 1.25 seconds adrift of the pole time, while Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT SAG RS250RW) was slowed on a fast lap when he tangled with Kallio. The Thai rider eventually qualified 17th. Takahashi said: “My time is good but I wanted to do better and I am not satisfied. I’ll have to make a good start. We’re all very close, as the lap-times show, and I think we can do a good race. Yesterday, we worked very hard, because I wasn’t happy with the feeling of the front-end of the bike, and even if today it improved, it is not perfect. If it doesn’t rain tomorrow in the warm-up we should try to find a solution. In case of rain everything will change as the race may be run in wet conditions too.” Wilairot said: “I’ve improved my lap times over last year by 1.5 seconds but it’s not enough because the level is so high this year. It is hard work to qualify on the first three rows. Today in qualifying I was fast running alone but when I went for my fast lap I almost collided with Mika Kallio. The bike is running very well here we changed the front-end settings last night and it was better today. I’m on the fifth row and I will need to get a very good start if I’m to take good points from this race.” 125cc Reigning World Champion Gabor Talmacsi notched his first pole position of the season here with a lap of 1m 27.552 seconds. Bradley Smith qualified second fastest with Stefan Bradl third quickest. Fourth place on the front row goes to Simone Corsi (all Aprilia). Louis Rossi (FFM Racing Honda RS125R) qualified 39th on his first visit to this notoriously hard-to-learn track while former Honda rider and World Championship points leader Mike Di Meglio (Derbi) qualified sixth fastest. Rossi said: “I’m really struggling. I’ve already been here but it feels like I¹d never ridden on this racetrack. I’m completely lost. I can’t lean the bike over and have it turn in to accelerate hard out of the corners. It’s a difficult moment.” Honda rider quotes. GP Germany, Sachsenring, Qualifying. July 12, 2008. MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 2nd 1m 21.420s. “Today went quite well for us, so I’m happy with my second position on the grid. I didn’t expect to achieve this result because we were using up the qualifying tyres in the last section of the track. Starting from the front row is especially important at this track because it’s so tight, especially the first section. All in all, it was a good session. We improved the chassis set-up so the bike is giving me a better feeling. We have met the first target of starting from the front row, so I am quite confident for tomorrow, but we still need to make some more adjustments to further improve our race pace. Once again the big question is the weather, the forecast still says there’s a chance of rain tomorrow, so we will have to see what happens.” Andrea Dovizioso, JiR Scot Honda: 4th 1m 21.656s. “I can be very satisfied about our progress made in qualifying conditions today. Using a race front tyre I found a good way to better use the rear qualifying tyre and in the last run I was able to take fourth position. Tomorrow will be different from recent race starts, as we begin the race near to the front and I will need to use at the maximum this sort of advantage to be immediately with the leaders, which is why I do think we can have a very good race. Sachsenring doesn’t require incredible levels of power, but instead it’s better to ride with an engine that has a smooth power delivery and that’s just like the one we have. There are many of us that are close together on times, but I do expect a good ‘show’ tomorrow. The podium will be difficult to reach, but nothing is impossible. My pace is around 1m 22 ‘high’ and other riders able to do 1:22 ‘lows’. The more important target will be consistency, if we want to take maximum results.” Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda: 6th 1m 21.821s. “I am quite satisfied today because we improved the bike set-up, then my pace on race trim is very competitive and I also gained a good lap time on qualifiers. I shaved six tenths on race tyres compared with yesterday and this is very important. This morning the track condition was not good for the bike set-up and we decided to stay in for 30 minutes. After we had two different set-up’s to compare and we chose the best one for the afternoon session. We could get the front row but I found Nakano in front of me during my fast lap and lost three tenths; I was a bit disappointed but this is racing and everybody tries to get the maximum on soft tyres. Tomorrow’s race will be very close and I have to do a very good start to stay with the first group.” Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 8th 1m 21.876s. “This morning we made a bit of an improvement and I was able to improve my lap time even though the track wasn’t so good, so I was quite excited, I thought we had a good chance in qualifying. At the start of qualifying I was going decent on some pretty used tyres that by the end had race distance on them, so I felt pretty good. But the qualifiers didn’t go as we wanted. We had an issue with a front wheel sensor when I went out on my third qualifier, so we had to come in and change the sensor, which lost us some time and some rhythm. Basically we didn’t get it done. On qualifiers my T1 and T2 times were really good but T3 and T4 weren’t so good. It seems like maybe we were a little soft on the front suspension or we’ve improved the rear so much that maybe it’s overworking the front tyre. Looking at tomorrow, I’ve gotten some good starts this year, we’re right in the middle of the third row, so I’m sure there’s going to be plenty of drama, plenty of action. I feel like we’ve got a decent pace, so the race should be okay. Shinya Nakano, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 9th – 1m 21.920s. “The third row meets our minimum expectations but ninth position is not 100% satisfactory. This morning we struggled with the lower temperatures, which really changed track conditions in comparison with yesterday, when it was much warmer. In the afternoon we got our pace back together though and I pushed hard on race tyres, so now I feel ready for both kinds of conditions. Obviously we still have room for improvement on the qualifying tyre because even though ninth place is not bad we are only a couple of tenths off the second row and that is my true target.” Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 10th 1m 21.977s. “Twelfth place equals my best grid position so far, which was at Mugello, but I’m not satisfied. After being so fast in the three free practice sessions I feel I deserve to be higher up the grid. Unfortunately I still don’t seem able to get the best out of the qualifying tyre and we’ll have to keep working hard together with Bridgestone over the next few races to find a solution that best suits my riding style.” 250cc: Yukio Takahashi, JiR Scot Honda: 10th 1m 24.652s. “In these two days of tests we have continually improved things, but not enough. My time is good but I wanted to do better and I am not satisfied. For the race I will have to make a good start, and do my best to get ahead in order to not to lose contact with the leaders. We are all very close, as the lap times show, and I think we can do a good race. Yesterday, we worked very hard, because the feeling with the front-end of the bike I’m not satisfied with, and even if today it is improved, it is not perfect. If it does not rain tomorrow in the warm-up we should try to find a solution to this. In case of rain everything will change as the race may be run in wet conditions too.” Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT SAG: 17th 1m 25.926s. “I have improved my lap times over last year by 1.5 seconds but its not enough because the level is so high this year. It is hard work to qualifying on the first three rows. Today in qualifying I was fast running alone but when I went for my fast lap I almost collided with Mikka Kalio. He had shut off after a fast lap and as we turned into the next corner Mikka came across the front of me and I lost time. The bike is running very well here we changed the front end settings last night and it was better today. I’m on the fifth row and I will need to get a very good start if I am to take good points from this race. “ 125cc: Louis Rossi, FFM Honda: 39th 1m 31.308s. “I’m really struggling! I’ve already been here but it feels like I’d never ridden on this racetrack. I’m completely lost. I can’t lean the bike over and have it turn in to accelerate hard out of the corners. It’s a difficult moment.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Edwards on front row, Jorge Lorenzo starting from fifth Colin Edwards handed the Tech 3 Yamaha team its sixth front row start of 2008 after another impressive qualifying performance at the Sachsenring today. Wary that rain might disrupt the session after a weather-hit final practice session this morning, Edwards used one of his Michelin qualifying tyres early and he jumped to the top of the timesheets with a lap of 1.21.794. More than half the session still remained at that stage, but Edwards was always in contention for his fourth front row start of the season. And in the closing seconds, a best lap of 1.21.519 on his final Michelin qualifying tyre saw him claim third on the grid, just 0.099s behind. MotoGP world championship leader Dani Pedrosa and dominant Casey Stoner. Edwards is confident that his race pace will be good enough to challenge for a third podium of the season in tomorrow’s 30-lap race. A late set-up change with his YZR-M1 machine reaped immediate rewards for British team-mate James Toseland. The 27-year-old was able to knock a full second off his previous best time with the alteration, which helped with rear traction. Toseland moved up as high as ninth on the third row before he slipped down to 11th in the closing stages. He was only 0.5s away from the front row with another determined display. Colin Edwards 3rd 1.21.519 – 26 laps We tried something different this morning and I don’t know if I woke up on the wrong side of the bed or what we tried was bizarre, even though it wasn’t far from what we had yesterday, but it just didn’t work. I threw a qualifier in early just to make sure I’d got a time in with the skies looking a bit threatening. You’d hate to be on the pace and not try an early qualifier and be back in ninth or something on the grid. Being on the front row is great for my team because it is so important here with it being so hard to pass on this track. I’ve never gone well at this track, so if somebody had told me on Thursday I’d be on the front row and ready to fight for the podium, I’m not sure what I would have said. But it’s a testament to how good everything is working well together. The bike, the tyres and the team just make a great package. I’d still like a bit more feeling on the front and it kind of feels a bit vague but I think a lot of that’s down to the temperature. We have to run a harder front for endurance and it works okay, but it would work great in hotter conditions because the surface was only about 26 degrees out there today. But the Michelin qualifiers are awesome because you can just go and push on them. It might rain tomorrow and we have been trying to sort out a wet setting with the geometry of this year’s bike and we have struggled a bit. We have a wet setting that I used to finish second at Donington last year and I used it at Donington in qualifying last month. Just about every time it rains I pull this setting out and use it. So tomorrow I’m not going to mess around and try and make something new work. I’ll just get 20 minutes of good time on that setting if its wet in the warm-up. I expect to be up there challenging at the front tomorrow because the total package is working awesome.” James Toseland 11th 1.22.126 – 26 laps “I made a change for the last qualifier and it was night and day difference. I found it difficult on the first three tyres and couldn’t break the 1.23 barrier. With that weight transfer problem pitching weight to the front, I wasn’t getting the best out of the extra grip from the qualifier because I didn’t have much feel from the rear going into the corners. I’ve got to say a big thanks to my guys because at the end we made a slight change to the rear of the bike and I did a 22.1. Before that I’d hit a bit of a wall. The change helped massively with the weight transfer and to go a second quicker from one qualifier to the next is a massive improvement. I’m only 11th but another half-a-second and I would have been on the front row, so I’m reasonably happy. I need to get a decent start and hold my position in the top ten because it is a long race and it could rain. Like I said yesterday, this is a tough track. The throttle control knowledge you need for this track is unbelievable. You have got to be so precise and it is almost like you have to learn which position of the throttle you need to be in rather than where you need to be on the track. Too little throttle and you’re going too slowly in the corner and too much and you run wide or it unsettles the balance of the bike. In terms of throttle control I’ve never known a track where you need to be so accurate for lines and apexes and it is so hard because you spend so much time at full lean angle.” Second row boosts Lorenzo’s confidence at the Sachsenring Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo secured his best grid spot since the French Grand Prix back in May today, qualifying fifth for tomorrow’s German Grand Prix. The Spanish youngster put in a promising showing on his Michelin qualifying tyres and set his best time on his 25th of 29 laps. After hot sunshine yesterday, heavy rain early on left the track wet for the morning’s practice session, which meant that Lorenzo and his team were unable to try some of their planned modifications. This afternoon’s qualifying session was dry but the 21-year-old was unable to make much headway on race tyres and is still lacking the pace that came so easily to him earlier in the year. His good performance on qualifying tyres therefore was a welcome confidence boost and he will be looking to make the most of it in tomorrow’s 30-lap race. Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 5th Time: 1’21.795 Laps: 29 “We’ve worked very hard this weekend and I am happy to be on the second row, it’s an improvement and with the Michelin qualifying tyres I was able to go quite fast. However with the race tyre we still have problems and it’s very frustrating; we don’t have enough grip with the rear and this means I don’t have enough confidence in the bike and I can’t ride fast. More than ever today, I am finding it very hard to understand how I was so fast earlier on in the season and now I am so slow! All we can do is keep working and not stop, in order to try to find the confidence we are lacking. I hope tomorrow that I can make the most of starting on the second row, try to stay with the leading riders and hopefully enjoy my race. I’m sorry really that Valentino was behind me on one of his fast laps, I was slowing down to go into the pits and I wasn’t aware that he was there. In fact I didn’t know anything about it until afterwards but I am very sorry that it happened, especially when he was doing such a good lap.” Daniele Romagnoli – Team Manager “Today has been another difficult qualifying session and Jorge still doesn’t have enough confidence to ride with as fast a pace as the front riders. Our biggest problem is the lack of rear grip and the fact that the rear tyre is spinning too much, especially under acceleration. The team is working very hard to improve our package but the weather didn’t help us much this morning and we didn’t have time to try all the solutions we had planned. Therefore we will have to use the warm-up to continue our work! With the Michelin qualifying tyres Jorge was able to make a good second row so for the race we hope he can get a good start and then try to stay with the leading riders.” Rossi finds improved race ahead of German Grand Prix Valentino Rossi made significant strides with the set-up of his Fiat Yamaha M1 at the Sachsenring this afternoon, finding an improved race pace around the twisty German track. The Italian will need all the help he can get tomorrow however as he was only able to qualify seventh for the race, at the head of the third row. After a problematical afternoon yesterday, the team’s difficulties were compounded this morning when heavy rain left the track wet and rendered the majority of the first session useless. Luckily the afternoon was dry, if significantly cooler than yesterday, and Rossi and his team were able to find a good balance between their bike and their Bridgestone race tyres to set a string of consistent laps. He was disappointed after this not to qualify better and starting from the third row will complicate issues for him tomorrow as this track is notoriously tricky to pass at, although he defied this in 2006 when winning from 11th. Rossi will set a new record for consecutive Grand Prix starts with his 202nd successive appearance since his first race in 1996. Valentino Rossi – Position: 7th Time: 1’21.845 Laps: 31 “Today things didn’t go how we hoped with the qualifying tyres! We had four as usual and, with the best one, unfortunately I found Jorge on the last corner. He was slowing down to enter the pits and he didn’t see me, this was just unlucky because I think that lap could have been good enough for the second row. Then with my last tyre my lap looked like it would be good enough for the front row but I had some problems with grip on the last two corners and I lost about half a second, so finally we are on the third row! I know I have passed many riders before here but everyone is so close now that I know it will be very hard and so it’s going to be very important that I get a good start. Luckily after the problems of yesterday and this morning we have found a good setting and a good Bridgestone tyre, and this afternoon we were as fast as Pedrosa so I think if I can manage not to lose too many places in the first few laps, then I can fight for the podium. This is my target for tomorrow.” Davide Brivio – Team Manager “This afternoon we improved a lot and this qualifying position is disappointing because we had a much better potential and the latest modifications that the team and engineers made worked very well. It seems that we have the pace to race and therefore it’s just a pity that we are on the third row; we just couldn’t put everything together on the same lap today. We will continue in the morning to make some final adjustments and then hopefully Valentino can get a good start and try to fight his way forward and stay with the leaders.” More, from a press release issued by Michelin: MICHELIN MEN PACK THE FRONT OF THE GRID Michelin was the dominant tire brand at the top of MotoGP qualifying at the tight and technical Sachsenring this afternoon, Michelin men filling five of the six places on the front two rows of the grid. Pole position man Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro Desmosedici) was in a class of his own but the battle for second place was thrilling, with three changes of second place in the final seconds of the qualifying session. Class rookie Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot Honda RC212V-Michelin) held the runner-up spot for a matter of seconds before he was toppled by Colin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin) who was then bettered by World Championship leader Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin). Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) also featured well, ending the day fifth fastest, just ahead of Randy de Puniet (Honda LCR RC212V-Michelin). Just four tenths covered the top five Michelin men. “The qualifying session went quite well for us,” said Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing. “It’s good to see our qualifiers working well, though the most important thing we have done this year is our work on race tires, improving grip, operating range and warm-up. Dani and the rest of our guys did some good laps on race tires today, but much will depend on the weather, which seems to be the story of this season. Conditions are once again very changeable. Tomorrow could be cooler or it could be warmer and even rain is a possibility. In this morning’s damp session we had enough time so see that our intermediates are working well here. “Dani is in really good shape. He has done a really good job with his team, but it will be a tough race for all the riders because everyone is pushing hard. This track is so demanding on the left side of the tires, so track temperature can have a big effect on lap times. Conditions were a bit cooler today than they were yesterday when the high track temperature meant we had to work hard to improve front grip, using the hardest front tires, then adjusting tire pressure and compound and making machine settings adjustments.” Pedrosa reckons he can make some further overnight adjustments to improve his race pace after scoring his seventh front row start of the year. “Today we improved the chassis set-up so the bike gives me a better feeling,” said the Spaniard. “But we still need to make some more adjustments to further improve our race pace.”