2007 FIM MotoGP World Championship Valencia, Spain November 3, 2007 Qualifying Results: 1. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), Michelin, 1:31.517 2. Casey STONER (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:31.603 3. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda), Michelin, 1:31.903 4. Randy DE PUNIET (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:31.963 5. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Yamaha), Dunlop, 1:32.074 6. Makoto TAMADA (Yamaha), Dunlop, 1:32.151 7. John HOPKINS (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:32.165 8. Loris CAPIROSSI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:32.261 9. Carlos CHECA (Honda), Michelin, 1:32.273 10. Marco MELANDRI (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:32.367 11. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:32.617 12. Alex BARROS (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:32.714 13. Shinya NAKANO (Honda), Michelin, 1:32.730 14. Toni ELIAS (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:32.790 15. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:33.021 16. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:33.231, crash 17. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:33.290, crash 18. Kurtis ROBERTS (KR-Honda), Michelin, 1:33.431 19. Chaz DAVIES (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:34.436, crash BMW M Award MotoGP Best Qualifier 2007 (after 19 of 19 rounds, only riders who qualified at all 19 rounds are included): 1. Casey Stoner, 32:23.391 2. Valentino Rossi, -2.184 seconds 3. Dani Pedrosa, -2.593 seconds 4. Randy De Puniet, -10.455 seconds 5. Nicky Hayden, -10.812 seconds 6. Colin Edwards, -12.494 seconds 7. Chris Vermeulen, -15.392 seconds 8. Loris Capirossi, -15.699 seconds 9. Shinya Nakano, -21.565 seconds 10. Alex Barros, -22.361 seconds 11. Carlos Checa, -23.276 seconds 12. Sylvain Guintoli, -32.792 seconds 13. Makoto Tamada, -41.193 seconds More, from a press release issued by Team Roberts: ROBERTS HAS SOME FUN FOR FINAL RACE Kurtis Roberts will start tomorrow’s GP of Valencia from the sixth row of the grid, after qualifying in 19th position for the final race of the year. At a favourite track, however, he hopes to be able to improve on that, to add more points to his season’s score. Kurtis, the second son of legendary triple champion Kenny Roberts, is riding a Honda-powered hybrid, with a made-in-England special chassis, designed and built by Team Roberts, the only independent constructor in the MotoGP class. Like all Honda teams, the project has suffered for a lack of horsepower, top speed and acceleration. But alone among them, Team Roberts is racing with the engine in the same specification as it started the year. All other Honda-powered machines have had at least some upgrades. This will be the last race for the beautifully crafted motorcycle. For 2008, Team Roberts are working on plans for a two-rider team, using engines (or complete motorcycles) from another source. The KR212V has something extra on the mainly black livery for the final outing … a list of more than 15,000 names of fans who subscribed over the internet, in a novel scheme to offer loyal supporters a chance to ride with the machine, if only in name. Team manager Chuck Aksland was delighted by the response. “There are 15,502 names. We offered that option on Sunday at the Australian GP, and we had such a good response we had to stop it at Malaysia, after one week. It’s great. The fans had a good time with it, and the team had a good time with it,” he said. Dani Pedrosa took pole position for a fourth race in succession on the factory Honda, with a lap time of 1:31.517 round the tight and intense 4.005km Ricardo Tormo Circuit outside Valencia. KURTIS ROBERTS – 18th position, 1:33.436 It’s always frustrating, but from the team’s and my standpoint, it’s been good. It’s frustrating when you’re out with guys and you’re easily as fast as them … until you get to the last corner onto the straightaway. If we could accelerate with them it would be a lot more fun. But we’re doing competitive times with the next four or five guys ahead of us, so tomorrow hopefully we’ll be able to race with Colin (Edwards) and them guys, and get a good result for what we’re on. I like this track – it’s a fun layout, one of the better race-tracks. It’s small, but it has a good variety of corners. Turn One is really fast and you can brake in deep. It has some slow corners, but they’re not all one line, which is nice. You can get in too hot and still make the corner, and not lose any time. Normally it’s all one line. CHUCK AKSLAND – Team Manager I think today is probably the best riding I’ve seen Kurtis do in a long time. He was not that far away before everyone put their qualifying tyres on. He was only three tenths behind Nicky Hayden. You have to consider where we are in the engine spec. If we had some more acceleration it would be worth a lot round here. His riding here today is something to be proud of. More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: ROSSI INJURES HAND IN VALENCIA CRASH, EDWARDS QUALIFIES 15TH Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi put his final race of the season in doubt today, after fracturing three bones in his right hand during a crash in qualifying in Valencia. Team-mate Colin Edwards meanwhile had a difficult session, failing to make much progress with the grip issues which troubled him yesterday and qualifying in 15th place. Rossi’s injuries were sustained when he crashed after exiting from turn one, just ten minutes into the session. He was taken to the Mobile Clinic and x-rays revealed fractures to the base of his little finger and to the ulnar styloid and pyramidal bones in his right hand. He also sustained bruising to the base of his spine but x-rays revealed there was no serious damage. The Italian, who has never missed a race in his eleven-year career, will be keen to ride tomorrow, as he needs just one point to seal the runner-up spot from Dani Pedrosa. A final decision will not be taken until tomorrow morning however, after his condition has been reassessed by both Dr. Costa and by the Spanish doctors. If he is able to race he will start from 17th on the grid tomorrow. Edwards, who finished this morning’s session ninth, tried further set-up changes in a bid to improve his pace this afternoon but was unable to make any significant progress on race tyres. He used a different profile front-tyre in an effort to improve his pace with qualifying tyres but was unable to challenge for the top spots. 15th will see him start from the outside of the fifth row tomorrow, while Dani Pedrosa will start from pole. Colin Edwards Position: 15th Time: 1’33.021 Laps: 28 “We tried a different profile front tyre with our qualifying tyres this afternoon, similar to what we used in Le Mans and Donington when I was on pole, but I just didn’t really have enough time to get used to it. Some of the lines were a bit different and I couldn’t quite find the key in the few laps available; I just wasn’t able to make the most of it, which is a pity. On race tyres we’re still having some problems and I’m disappointed to be starting my last race with the Factory Team from fifteenth. I’m determined not to end it there though so I’m going to be going for all or nothing tomorrow. We’ll have a look at the data tonight and do our best to find something radical to help me go out there and fight my way through.” Valentino Rossi Position: 17th Time: 1’33.290 Laps: 5 “So, I’m okay, but I was better before the crash! I was going quite well and able to do 33.3 quite easily, but then at a certain point, when I was accelerating, I lost the rear. I tried to get the bike back but it was too late. After the crash I immediately realised that my hand was broken but I didn’t know how bad it was. I hit my lower back quite hard as well and actually it hurts quite a lot, but luckily there is no bad damage there. Tomorrow morning I will see how I am and then I will take a decision after further consideration with Claudio (Dr. Costa) and also with the Spanish doctors. I have never missed a race in my career and I really don’t want to do it tomorrow. I remember last year in Assen the pain was more or less the same, but then I was challenging for the championship. Tomorrow I am challenging for second place; it’s not quite the same but anyway of course I will would like to be there.” Davide Brivio Fiat Yamaha Team Director “Valentino started in good shape but unfortunately this crash happened and ended his session. Now we will have to wait and see how he is; he is being treated and of course we will leave the final decision about whether to race entirely up to him and the doctors. We don’t know the exact reason for the crash yet but our engineers are analysing the data now to help us to understand what happened. Colin didn’t have such a good session and we still have some work to do on race tyres. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to make the most of his qualifying tyres and he’s starting from the fifth row, so we will be doing all we can to make some improvements to his package so he is in better shape for tomorrow. It’s his last race with us and we know he’s determined to have a good result.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: SECOND ROW FOR DE PUNIET IN SPAIN Qualifying practice for the final Grand Prix of the year took place at Valencia today, with Kawasaki’s Randy de Puniet and Anthony West claiming fourth and 16th positions on tomorrow’s grid, respectively. De Puniet’s impressive second row spot was secured by his best time of 1’31.963, with the Frenchman missing out on a front row start by a mere 0.060 to Nicky Hayden. Furthermore, he is less than half a second off pole position man, Dani Pedrosa, and he set the fastest time of the day, at 300.8kmh. After two days’ worth of practice and preparation, and having found an excellent Bridgestone tyre combination in the process, he is confident he can put in a good performance tomorrow: his race set up giving him the confidence to consistently display superb lap times even without the benefits of a qualifying tyre. Lapping in the low, one minute, 33-second region, it all bodes well for Sunday’s event. Anthony West, meanwhile, has continued to improve his times throughout the weekend, and today recorded a stunning, fourth-fastest, top speed of 296.9kmh, but remains uneasy after a disappointing session. Having struggled with grip on Friday, the 26-year-old Australian succumbed to the gravel today in a lowside at turn two but, undeterred, made his way back to pit lane to continue on his second bike. He was not the only one who suffered in a session which saw a number of riders getting out of shape, including seven times world champion, Valentino Rossi. However, West will tomorrow grit his teeth and give it his all when the race begins. Slow progress for the 26-year-old during practice sessions has, in the past, failed to deter him from the task of taking his 800cc Ninja ZX-RR around any track with the utmost determination. All in all, it looks as if tomorrow’s 30-lap race at the 4km Ricardo Tormo circuit will be a heated affair, with the front ten qualifiers recording times within a second of Pedrosa. What’s more, judging by the large amount of spectators present around the track already, and with a Spaniard on pole, it’s going to be an atmospheric one at that. Randy De Puniet #14 – 4th – Best Lap 1’31.963 “I was hoping for the first row for my last race for Kawasaki but still, my position is pretty good because it’s very difficult to overtake here. We’ve improved the race set up hugely on the bike today and I managed to do good, consistent times during the sessions. I had a big slide on my final qualifier, just before I had to brake for a corner, so I lost a couple of tenths and, because of that, narrowly missed out on the front row. I hope to continue to improve during tomorrow’s warm up but I’m feeling really good.” Anthony West #13 – 16th – Best Lap 1’33.231 “I haven’t been able to find my pace so far and have struggled a bit to find a good set up for tomorrow. I thought I’d show more improvement today than I have but I’m finding it harder at Valencia on the MotoGP bike than on the smaller capacity machines I’ve ridden here. I’m more angry than injured after my small crash, and I don’t have the same confidence I had in, say, Sepang, but now I will look towards the race and do everything I can to do my best.” Christophe Bourguignon De Puniet’s Crew Chief “At the beginning of the afternoon, we evaluated the race tyre choices for tomorrow and I think we’ve found a good option for us to use. Randy managed to do some fast times on that race tyre which means he’ll be able to run at a good pace on Sunday. Our goal today was to be on the front row but Randy missed out by such a small margin; I’m really pleased with the way he’s been riding today and during the weekend as a whole. He suffered quite a bit of movement on the bike but it got a lot better when the track temperature rose this afternoon and, if it’s like this tomorrow, I think we can expect a good result in the race.” More, from a press release issued by Konica Minolta Honda: Improvements at Valencia for KONICA MINOLTA Honda and Nakano In the final qualifying session of the year the KONICA MINOLTA Honda Team made plenty of progress around the 2.764-mile Ricardo Tormo circuit. With temperatures warmer than yesterday Team rider Shinya Nakano found more grip from his Michelin-shod Honda RC212V and with 14 minutes to go in the qualifying hour was as high as 4th place on the grid. As other riders improved, Shinya put his final qualifying tyre on and was setting a fast first and second sector time before a mistake at the end of the back-straight lost him valuable time. Despite this, the 30-year-old Japanese rider had cut almost two seconds from his Friday lap-time during the session to record a best of 1’32.730″ to place him 13th on the grid for tomorrow’s final race of the year. Times were close at the top again, with less than one second covering the top ten grid positions. Gianluca Montiron Team Manager KONICA MINOLTA Honda “Shinya used his final qualifying tyre very well in the first two sectors as he was quite near to the top of the timing sheets, but then in the final sector he lost the front and lost valuable time. For this reason he didn’t reach his potential best lap time. This was a mistake but these things happen. I think in any case tomorrow the race will be exciting, even if at Valencia it’s not always easy to overtake other riders. I think all the riders want to end the season in the best way possible, so it could be a very exciting race. I’m hoping that we can get a top eight finish to end the season with our best result of the year.” Shinya Nakano Rider, KONICA MINOLTA Honda (54 laps 1′ 32.730″) “I had a good rhythm in the first and second sectors on that last qualifying lap, and pushed hard in that final third sector I was giving 120%! Things felt really good but then after the back straight under braking I lost the front, which meant I lost around four or five tenths of a second. On the positive side of things, conditions were much better today with higher temperatures which have given us more grip so I could push much harder than yesterday. We didn’t make many changes to the bike today as we found a good balance on Friday and we’ve also found a good tyre for the race. The start is vitally important here, as things can get busy in the first turn and for the whole of the first lap. I will have to be pushing hard right from the beginning of the race.” Giulio Bernardelle Technical Director, KONICA MINOLTA Honda “Again today our potential was a little better than our grid result. With the last qualifying tyre Shinya made a little mistake at the end of T2 and I think without that we could have perhaps been on the second row or at least stayed in the top ten. Our race setting situation is better than yesterday and I think with the temperature and ground conditions improving we have the potential to break into the top ten tomorrow. We have finalised the tyre choice for the race so we can enjoy a normal warm-up session and be ready for the race.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Stoner leads the Bridgestone charge for 100th race Round 18 Valencia – Qualifying Circuit Ricardo Tormo Saturday 3 November 2007 2007 MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner will line up second on the grid for tomorrow’s season ending event in Valencia, Bridgestone’s 100th MotoGP race participation, after a closely-fought qualifying session in which home hero Dani Pedrosa took pole by just 0.086s. It is the sixth time this year that Stoner has missed out on the top spot by just hundredths-of-a-second this year having been 0.005s adrift in Qatar, 0.084s in Le Mans, 0.017s in Assen, 0.040s in Estoril and 0.041s in Sepang. Combined with the five pole positions he has also claimed in this phenomenal season, Stoner has won the qualifier of the year award based on the cumulative times in all 18 qualifying sessions and the pre-season test in Jerez. Randy de Puniet took fourth in today’s session to continue his fine qualifying form and he will be looking to convert that into a fourth straight top six finish in tomorrow’s race, in what will be his final event for Kawasaki. John Hopkins claimed the seventh quickest time of the afternoon ahead of Loris Capirossi in eighth while Marco Melandri will be aiming to put his strong race pace to good use from tenth on the grid. After 88 practice sessions and the 17 races of this gruelling 2007 season up to now, there remains just one 25-minute warm-up session and a 30-lap, 120-kilometre race to bring down the curtain on this year’s championship which has seen 12 wins, 31 podiums and six pole positions on Bridgestone tyres with a total of 21 different riders racing with Bridgestone MotoGP rubber since the season-opener in Qatar back in March. Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development Are you pleased with the performance of the qualifying tyres this afternoon? “It was a competitive qualifying session this afternoon with all three tyre manufacturers represented in the top five, which is great to see. From Bridgestone’s point of view, while we have not been able to improve on our six pole positions for the season, I think all of our teams have good chances in tomorrow’s grand prix. Casey will start from the front row of the grid again and he has been able to win the qualifying award, the first time for a rider on Bridgestone tyres.” Were the race tyre performances more representative in today’s conditions? “The weather and track conditions this afternoon were more similar to what we expect in the race tomorrow and we have also been able to do some longer runs during the day. Alex Barros and Chris Vermeulen both conducted runs of around half a race distance, about fifteen laps, and the longevity of the tyres does not appear to be an issue. The grip is better than yesterday, especially this afternoon, and most riders were able to improve on their lap times. The temperatures are a bit lower than last year’s event, but I think we can be confident that some of our riders can fight for the podium tomorrow.” Bridgestone Qualifying Practice Session Results Pos Rider Team Best Lap Time Gap P2 Casey Stoner Ducati 1m31.603s +0.086s P4 Randy de Puniet Kawasaki 1m31.963s +0.446s P7 John Hopkins Suzuki 1m32.165s +0.648s P8 Loris Capirossi Ducati 1m32.261s +0.744s P10 Marco Melandri Honda Gresini 1m32.367s +0.850s P11 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1m32.617s +1.100s P12 Alex Barros Pramac d’Antin 1m32.714s +1.197s P14 Toni Elias Honda Gresini 1m32.790s +1.273s P16 Anthony West Kawasaki 1m33.231s +1.714s P19 Chaz Davies Pramac d’Antin 1m34.436 s +2.919s Weather: Dry track – Air 21° C, Track 26°C, Humidity 34% More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Hopkins planning to go out on a high note Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer John Hopkins will start his final race with the Suzuki Factory Team from the front of the third row of the grid tomorrow, after qualifying in seventh place at Valencia this afternoon. Hopkins (1’32.165, 26 laps) will be looking for one his normal good starts as he sets off on his 81st Grand Prix in Suzuki colours. The Anglo-American star looked comfortable in the early part of this afternoon’s qualifying whilst still using race tyres, and was running a podium position pace. Hopkins worked hard with his crew and Bridgestone to select the best available tyres for tomorrow’s 30-lap race and is confident of a good finish. Chris Vermeulen (P10, 1’32.617, 31 laps) will have a slightly tougher job than Hopkins at tomorrow’s start, as he will begin the race from the middle of the fourth row. Suzuki’s Australian racer completed a long test on race tyres during this afternoon’s session and was very pleased with the results. He will also be looking for a good start as the 4,005m long Spanish circuit is notably difficult to pass on. Today’s qualifying was staged in warm and dry conditions with temperatures in the 20’s. Pole position was taken by Spaniard Dani Pedrosa on his factory Honda. Tomorrow’s race is the 18th and final round of what has been the longest premier motorcycle championship in history, and the race that gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (13.00hrs GMT) will also be the 100th race since the start of the MotoGP era and the introduction of the four-stroke regulations in 2002. John Hopkins: “I’d have liked to have at least been on the second row, but I’m not too unhappy with where we have qualified. It was definitely our best session of the weekend this afternoon, and we have made some improvements to the machine. We worked hard with Bridgestone to find a consistent tyre to use in the race and we are really happy with what we have got. The crew have done an excellent job again this weekend to get the bike prepared and I feel really good as well, so now it’s time to get a good start tomorrow and end my Suzuki career on a high. I am going for that podium that’s the ultimate plan!” Chris Vermeulen: “It was quite a difficult session as I didn’t really get on with the qualifying tyres today. We’re on the fourth row and that’s going to be tough here as it’s a difficult track to pass on. At the start of the afternoon I did a 15-lap run on race tyres, the lap times were very consistent and the tyre showed good durability, so we think we will be strong right to the end of tomorrow’s race. The bike is working well, so now it’s down to me getting away from the line and using my elbows to push my way through in turn one!” Paul Denning Team Manager: “The guys gave it their best shot this afternoon, but the positions didn’t quite end up being what we were looking for. Qualifying changes the game significantly in terms of the potential of different riders over a one-lap dash, but the good news for us is that Chris and John both found extra pace on race tyres this afternoon. Chris completed a long run on his chosen race tyre and was able to maintain good lap-times right to the end and John was right on podium pace with his race tyre lap-times. “We shouldn’t take it for granted, but we can be confident that John will get away from the line as well as he always does and try to fight with front group immediately. All of us in the team, at Suzuki and at Rizla are 100% behind John for his final Grand Prix with us. Chris has a slightly harder job from the fourth row but he is pumped-up and we all believe he can do really well tomorrow!” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: SUPERB STONER MISSES POLE BY LESS THAN A TENTH, CAPIROSSI HAPPY WITH HIS RACE PACE Ducati Marlboro Team rider Casey Stoner will start tomorrow’s season-ending Valencia GP from the front row of the grid after missing out on pole position by a tantalising 0.086 seconds. It is his 12th front-row start from the year’s 18 races. Team-mate Loris Capirossi will start from the third row. The pair will be watched tomorrow by the entire staff of Ducati Corse – more than 100 people – who fly into Valencia tomorrow morning aboard a specially chartered plane. The trip is a thank you for their sterling work which has won the riders’, constructors’ and teams’ MotoGP World Championships. Champion Stoner, who missed pole at the Malaysian GP two weeks ago by a similarly narrow margin, was the fastest rider here using race tyres in the three pre-qualifying practice sessions. And this afternoon’s performance was enough to win the awesome Australian the season-long BMW M qualifying award, for which he receives a BMW M3 Coupe. Stoner has already won ten races this year and has also been relentlessly impressive in practice and qualifying, topping a remarkable 29 of the 43 practice, qualifying and warm-up sessions since the German and US GPs, where he led all five pre-race sessions at both events. Capirossi was happy with his day’s work, though he was slowed by another rider in his crucial second run on qualifying tyres. CASEY STONER, 2nd fastest, 1m 31.603s “I’m pretty happy again, we’re on the front row and we’ve been concentrating on the race setting. I’ve probably got the record for the most second places in qualifying this year; again we missed out on pole by a few thousandths, it’s been like that every time we’ve nearly been on pole this year. The race set-up is looking pretty good and we’re quite happy with race distance on the tyres; like this morning we started out with eight laps already on the tyres and finished the session with the same set. But we are still trying to get slightly better lap times towards the end, just to make sure we are competitive at the end of the race. We just need to improve the traction a little bit, because the turning and everything else seems fine. And we’ve still got to decide what rear tyre to run, depending on what the weather does. It’s nice to win the car – Adriana has already scored it!” LORIS CAPIROSSI, 8th fastest, 1m 32.261s “I’m pretty happy because we’ve set up the bike quite well. We changed the weight distribution slightly to put more weight on the rear for more traction and I could feel the improvement. We have still to decide between two different compound race tyres. Maybe we will try the harder tyre in warm-up to see if it will work well in the race. Anyway, I’m happy, I was lapping consistently around the 1m 33.5s mark and that’s not bad. With my qualifying tyres I made a mistake during my first run and I came across a slower rider on the second run. That kind of thing happens, so no problem. The important thing is that we’ve found a good set-up and I think we can have a good race.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: PEDROSA TAKES FOURTH CONSECUTIVE POLE, HAYDEN HAULS HIMSELF TO HEROIC THIRD Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa delighted his home fans at the Ricardo Tormo circuit today by claiming pole position for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Valencia in a thrilling qualifying battle. In yet another blistering display of one-lap pace the 22-year-old Spaniard took his fourth pole in successive races to give him the ideal starting position for tomorrow’s 30-lap race. Nicky Hayden joins Pedrosa on the front row after an equally impressive showing on his Michelin qualifying rubber. The American had lay in a lowly 17th place in the afternoon session before producing a stunning 2.4s improvement on his qualifying laps to secure his fifth front-row start from the last seven races. Pedrosa’s qualifying performance came after he had set a series of consistently fast times on race rubber in the first half of the session which will give the Barcelona rider confidence for the race. Should Pedrosa win tomorrow he will be the first rider to have taken victory at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in all three Grand Prix classes: 125cc, 250cc and MotoGP. This was also the fifth consecutive pole position for the Repsol Honda Team, Hayden having begun the impressive qualifying sequence at the Grand Prix of Portugal in September. The last time a single manufacturer claimed five MotoGP pole positions in a row was at the final five races of the 2003 season when the Honda RC211V repeatedly topped the timesheets. With yet another great qualifying performance today Hayden gave himself an excellent chance of getting away at the front of the race, though the 2006 World Champion will be looking for improvements to his machine set-up tonight. Having enjoyed enhanced performance at recent races by using a 16-inch rear Michelin tyre in place of the standard 16-inch version, Hayden has found the choice does not work so well at Valencia and has struggled to find enough grip throughout the weekend. The 26-year-old and his crew will be focussed on making big strides in tomorrow’s warm-up to give Hayden front-running pace for the race. The 30-lap Grand Prix of Valencia begins at 2pm local time (1pm UK time) on Sunday and the Repsol Honda squad will be going all out to convert today’s excellent qualifying display into a podium-topping season finale. Dani Pedrosa Qualifying : Pole Position 1m 31.517s “Well, I’m very happy to be on pole position again and especially here in front of my home fans because I really want to give them a good result. There are already many people here looking for Spanish success and tomorrow I’m sure there will be even more. We must try to improve our machine settings further and find that little bit extra for the race because the lap times are still very close and we cannot relax at all. Thirty laps makes it a long race and tyre choice will be critical of course to give us the best chance of maintaining our pace right until the end. The practice was positive this afternoon and I was able to go fast on race tyres as well. The Michelin qualifiers also worked very well again and I was able to improve on my second lap by quite a lot which was just enough for pole position. The weekend has gone well so far and I hope I can make a good start and challenge for the win tomorrow.” Nicky Hayden Qualifying : 3rd 1m 31.903s “When I put the qualifiers on, the bike was really good and fun to ride that was by far the most fun I’ve had this weekend and I dropped my lap time by two and a half seconds. But it’s honestly been a bit of a nightmare this weekend up to now. For whatever reason I cannot get the race tyres to work for me here. I’ve had a lot of luck with the 16-inch rear tyre at the last few races but at Valencia it’s been really tough. Still, I’ve got some good guys around me and an excellent team so we’ll definitely be trying something huge to improve things for tomorrow. Being on the front row is a big advantage here, though I know these guys are going to make it tough. Race day is always a different story and anything can happen so we’ll just try to stick our nose in there, put a bid in and try to finish off the year really well. I’m excited about the race I wish I was quicker on race tyres but we’ll see what happens when the light goes out. Whatever happens, I’d like to dedicate this performance to Merlyn Plumlee, my mechanic from AMA superbike who died from cancer last week. He will be sadly missed and I’m definitely thinking about him and his family.” Makoto Tanaka – Team Manager “Since Portugal we have had five consecutive pole positions so I must thank both our riders for this great performance, and today especially Dani because this is his fourth pole position in a row. I’m very happy with this. It’s very important to be on the front row here because of the twisty nature of the circuit and Nicky did very well to get third. Still his race settings need to be improved and we will have to re-think and try something new in the warm-up tomorrow morning. For the 30-lap race, fuel consumption and tyre durability need our careful consideration. We want to win this race to give us the best platform for next year so we will concentrate fully on this target.” More, from a press release issued by Gresini Honda: MELANDRI HAPPY WITH RACE PACE DESPITE GRID POSITION GP VALENCIA – QUALIFYING Marco Melandri heads into the final round of the 2007 MotoGP World Championship hoping that his good race pace during practice can help him to a top result at the Grand Prix of Valencia. The Gresini Honda rider worked hard with his team to prepare for the race but unfortunately he wasn’t able to significantly improve his best lap time on a qualifying tyre and dropped to tenth place in the shootout for grid positions. Not for the first time this season, Melandri is now hoping for a good start as he aims to fight through the pack. His team-mate Toni Elias also faces a major challenge as he starts from the fifth row. Toni has struggled for grip over the two days of practice but is still determined to fight for a top result in front of his home fans. MARCO MELANDRI (10th, 1’32.367): “We’ve got a good race pace and we showed that on a long run on used tyres today. Unfortunately the extra grip on a qualifying tyre made the chattering worse and that prevented me from setting a good lap time. I’m disappointed because to start from the fourth row is a big handicap. It’s difficult to get the right side of the tyre warmed up at this circuit over the first few laps but I think we can use this to our advantage and cut down the gap to some of the riders at the front. It will be important to get a good start and get past the riders with a slower pace than me as early as possible in the race. The podium is not impossible, it will be a long and demanding race from a physical point of view because it’s a tight and twisty track. I feel ready for the final race of the year.” TONI ELIAS (14th, 1’32.790): “It has been a tough weekend – we are struggling because we don’t’ have enough traction and the feeling is even worse on a qualifying tyre. We’ll keep working with the team to find a solution for tomorrow and we still haven’t made a tyre choice for the race, which will be crucial. I just hope we can come up with something that allows me to be consistent over 30 long laps in the race.” FAUSTO GRESINI: “The result in qualifying does not reflect the true potential of our riders here. Marco has got a good race pace but we didn’t manage to match that level of performance on a qualifying tyre. Toni suffered even more but he’s still highly motivated to put on a good show at his home race.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Dani Pedrosa made it four pole positions in a row this afternoon with a flying lap of the Ricardo Tormo circuit. The Spaniard is looking for his first home victory in MotoGP at tomorrow’s Gran Premio bwin.com de la Comunitat Valenciana, and looks in strong shape for a challenge onboard his Repsol Honda machinery. He clocked a time of 1’31.517 in the final moments of the afternoon session. A win and Valentino Rossi’s failure to score points tomorrow would see Pedrosa take second place in the final standings for the season, and Rossi may be an absentee from proceedings after a nasty crash at the start of the session. The Fiat Yamaha man suffered fractures to the little finger, ulnar styloid and pyramidal of his right hand, and could perhaps miss his first Grand Prix since his 125cc debut back in 1996. 2007 World Champion Casey Stoner joins his former 250cc rival on the front row, trailing Pedrosa by less than a tenth of a second. His consistent form in qualifying this year, which has seen him on the first line of attack on twelve occasions, secured the Australian a brand new sports car as the winner of the BMW M Award for combined times over the course of the season. Struggling with race tyres, 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden will line up alongside his team-mate and title successor courtesy of a spectacular turnaround with qualifiers. The American dropped 2.5 seconds off his race tyre best with his Michelin specials, needing consistency in the 30 lap race tomorrow afternoon as he chases a solitary victory to complete his title-defending year. Bidding farewell to Kawasaki after a final race for ‘Team Green’, Randy de Puniet continued his recent spell of qualifying form to lead the second row. He is joined by the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 pairing of Sylvain Guintoli and Makoto Tamada, who are also moving on to pastures new. The duo benefited from some extended runs with qualifying tyres over the past two days, giving the team their first ever double presence on row two. John Hopkins, Loris Capirossi and Carlos Checa line up on the third row, with Marco Melandri completing the top ten. 250cc At the track where KTM took their first 250cc pole last season, Mika Kallio kept up the tradition with the second top spot of his rookie quarter litre season. He denied newly crowned World Champion Jorge Lorenzo a final pole of his 250cc career with a lap of 1’35.166, the Spaniard missing out on pole by just 0.167 and unable to equal his previous best of ten in a single season. Yuki Takahashi took his first front row of the year at the Ricardo Tormo circuit, a line that is rounded off by Marco Simoncelli. Home rider Hector Barbera, who celebrated his 21st birthday yesterday and has renewed with Team Toth for next season, heads the second row, ahead of Alvaro Bautista, Julian Simon and Alex Debon. The final two riders in the top ten have a tough task ahead of them if they are to end their 250cc stay on a high. Alex de Angelis and Andrea Dovizioso, third and second respectively in the World Championship, move up to MotoGP at the end of the year. 125cc In a fitting finale for the 125cc class, the two riders battling for the World Championship in an all-or-nothing showdown at Valencia will line up alongside each other on the front row tomorrow. Series leader Gabor Talmacsi took his fifth pole position of the season with a 1’39.029 lap, with team-mate Hector Faubel, the only rider capable of denying Talmacsi the title, right beside him on the starting line. It is the 11th time that the duo have been on the front row together this season, and this time there is a twist in the tale in the form of third Aspar rider Sergio Gadea. The Spaniard is strongly motivated to win his home race, but must be careful not to get himself involved in the title fight. It is the second all-Aspar top three of the year, the first being at Catalunya with the same order. The trio are joined by Lukas Pesek on the front row, with the Czech rider gunning for third in the championship this weekend. His rival for the position, KTM’s Tomoyoshi Koyama, could only qualify 15th this afternoon. Pablo Nieto heads the second row, ahead of Simone Corsi, Nico Terol and Mattia Pasini, who competes in his last 125cc race tomorrow before moving up to 250cc next year. More, from a press release issued by Repsol Media Service: FOURTH CONSECUTIVE POLE FOR THE REPSOL RIDER DANI PEDROSA IN MOTOGP Nicky Hayden rounded off a positive day for the Repsol Honda Team with the third fastest time. Julián Simón seventh in 250cc. For the fourth consecutive race the Repsol rider Dani Pedrosa set the best time in the definitive timed MotoGP session today at lunchtime. This is his fifth pole this season. It was a hard fought session where he also got the final set up for tomorrow`s race. Pedrosa set the provisional pole 10 minutes from the end with his first rear classification tyre. Immediately Casey Stoner snatched first position from him, and even Randy De Puniet went faster than the Spaniard. However on his second and final attempt with the other classification tyre, the Repsol Honda Team rider stopped the clock at 1 minute 31 and 517 thousandths of a second, 86 thousandths faster than Stoner, who will be second on the grid. The accident involving Valentino Rossi in the timed session, he has some fractures on his right hand, means that Dani Pedrosa can be this year`s runner-up as the Italian may not race tomorrow second at the moment 24 points ahead of the Repsol rider in tomorrow`s Valencia Grand Prix. To round off a great day for the Repsol Honda Team in Valencia, the third rider on the front row of the grid will be the American Nicky Hayden, who after free practice where he had difficulties deciding on the set up to use on his Honda RC212V, finally put in a good performance using his classification tyres. In 250cc, the Japanese rider Shuhei Aoyama fell badly in the timed session when there were 10 minutes or so left. Aoyama lost control of his bike and fell at high speed but fortunately was uninjured. He returned to the pits to get on his second bike but was unable to improve his time. He is 12th on the grid and starts on the fourth row in the race tomorrow. His teammate Simón set the 7th best time and is on the second row. On his final attempt to set a fastest lap Simón slightly misjudged the line on a curve and this meant he lost a little time. In 125cc things did not go too well for the Repsol Honda Team riders. Esteve Rabat could do no better than 11th position, as he had problems with the set up in both the free practice in the morning, 13th, as well as in the afternoon. His teammate Bradley Smith, will start one place behind him on the grid, and he is also disappointed with how practice went today. The Repsol rider was 4th in the morning but a defective tyre made him lose a lot of time in the afternoon. When he changed it and was out on the track again he only had six minutes to try and improve his time. Quotes MotoGP Nicky Hayden >> Qualifying : 3rd 1m 31.903s “When I put the qualifiers on, the bike was really good and fun to ride that was by far the most fun I’ve had this weekend and I dropped my lap time by two and a half seconds. But it’s honestly been a bit of a nightmare this weekend up to now. For whatever reason I cannot get the race tyres to work for me here. I’ve had a lot of luck with the 16-inch rear tyre at the last few races but at Valencia it’s been really tough. Still, I’ve got some good guys around me and an excellent team so we’ll definitely be trying something huge to improve things for tomorrow. Being on the front row is a big advantage here, though I know these guys are going to make it tough. Race day is always a different story and anything can happen so we’ll just try to stick our nose in there, put a bid in and try to finish off the year really well. I’m excited about the race I wish I was quicker on race tyres but we’ll see what happens when the light goes out. Whatever happens, I’d like to dedicate this performance to Merlyn Plumlee, my mechanic from AMA superbike who died from cancer last week. He will be sadly missed and I’m definitely thinking about him and his family.” Dani Pedrosa >> Qualifying : Pole Position 1m 31.517s “Well, I’m very happy to be on pole position again and especially here in front of my home fans because I really want to give them a good result. There are already many people here looking for Spanish success and tomorrow I’m sure there will be even more. We must try to improve our machine settings further and find that little bit extra for the race because the lap times are still very close and we cannot relax at all. Thirty laps makes it a long race and tyre choice will be critical of course to give us the best chance of maintaining our pace right until the end. The practice was positive this afternoon and I was able to go fast on race tyres as well. The Michelin qualifiers also worked very well again and I was able to improve on my second lap by quite a lot which was just enough for pole position. The weekend has gone well so far and I hope I can make a good start and challenge for the win tomorrow.” 250cc Julián Simón >> 1’35.958 secs, 51 laps, 204 Km. “This was a complicated timed practice session where some riders were quite fast. We had some problems above all on the front end since I could not get the bike into some curves as I would have liked. In the end we tried something new which seemed to make things better, we just have to improve on the big curve at the end on the final sector as I lose a quite a bit of time there. Tomorrow I am confident that I will be helped a lot by being in a group and so be able to set a better time in that sector, and get into the fight with the leaders, and why not, a podium finish here in Valencia, in the final race, because after all we are not far behind the leaders. I can`t wait.” Shuhei Aoyama >> 1’36.103 secs, 46 laps, 184 Km. “This afternoon I tried to improve yesterday`s time, so I went as fast as I could during the whole session. Then towards the end of the practice we changed the tyres and I tried again. But I made a mistake on curve 10 which is very fast and I lost the front wheel when I braked and I fell quite badly. I went to the pits as fast as possible and I got on the second bike but the set up was different and it was impossible to set a better time. Regarding the race we are almost certain which tyres we will use, and I will have to concentrate as much as possible during the whole race so that I do not make any mistakes.” 125cc Bradley Smith >> 1’40.528 secs. 37 laps, 148 Km. “Obviously the timed session was not as good as the morning`s, for the simple reason that we had a a problem with the front tyre, I still don`t know what was wrong. Six minutes from the end we changed it and I was out on the track with enough time. I am not a rider that can immediately set a great lap as I need several laps to get the pace. But this time I only had three laps and I made a mistake on my final fast lap so I could not improve much. There were some positive things in this session, but some negatives too, mainly that I wanted to set a 1.39 and I couldn`t. And I would have liked to have finished on the two front rows, so I am a little disappointed.” Esteve Rabat >> 1’40.488 secs. 39 laps 156 Km. “This was a very difficult day. The morning was quite cold and we had some problems. In the afternoon we also had some setbacks, but at the beginning it did not go too badly later on I had some problems with the brakes. I still have to improve quite a lot on some sections, because of the brakes, although the engine and chassis were quite fine. We are hoping that I can do better tomorrow. The truth is that I am not at all satisfied with today`s result.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: PEERLESS PEDROSA TAKES FOURTH POLE IN A ROW No one could match Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) here today at Valencia as the Spanish superstar put in a 1m 31.517s lap to put his prowess around this tight 4.005km circuit beyond doubt. Casey Stoner (Ducati) was second fastest and Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) completes the front row. In temperate conditions with the track surface at 26 degrees and with riders enjoying an ambient temperature of 21 degrees under sunny skies it was Stoner who topped the early order here in Valencia. But his early marker of 1m 33.378s was soon bettered by John Hopkins the Suzuki rider. With 51 minutes of the hour-long session remaining former World Champion Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) crashed heavily coming out of turn one. He broke bones in his right hand and jarred his back in the crash and will make a decision on whether or not to ride tomorrow. This could have a significant bearing on the destination of runner-up spot in the World Championship. If Rossi does not ride and Dani wins the race, then he would overhaul Rossi for second overall in the points standings. But these are all ‘ifs’ at this stage. Dani ran off track and then pitted just after Rossi’s big crash and the order at the front of the grid at that stage was Hopkins, Stoner and Marco Melandri (Gresini Honda RC212V). As race distance work occupied most riders it was left to Kawasaki man Randy de Puniet to go for an early qualifying tyre and shoot for a pole time. He managed a 1m 32.968s time with 38 minutes of the session left to run, but was shortly outdone by another maverick qualifier in the form of Yamaha rider Sylvain Guintoli who turned a 1m 32.821s lap to temporarily deprive his fellow Frenchman of provisional pole. De Puniet responded with a 1m 32.497s lap and then Guintoli raised the stakes again with 17 minutes to go, upping the ante to 1m 32.444s. Melandri was still holding third until Shinya Nakano (Konica Minolta Honda RC212V) ousted the Italian man. There was more to come from Guintoli though, the French ace lowered his time to 1m 32.188s to tighten his grip on pole and with ten minutes remaining of the session he was in command of the grid. But as Hayden lifted himself to second it was clear that Guintoli’s time would not stand for long. Sure enough it was Dani who first destroyed it when he notched a 1m 32.128s time. Stoner responded with a 1m 32.088s lap and with five minutes left on the clock the order was: Stoner, Pedrosa, Guintoli, Hayden, Melandri then de Puniet. Nicky had more left though and his 1m 31.903s effort was enough to grab pole until Stoner shaved two tenths off Hayden’s best effort to steal number one slot again. But it was left to Pedrosa to put the issue beyond doubt with his 1m 31.517s masterclass that would remain the unbeaten time. Dani said: “Well, I’m very happy to be on pole position again especially here in front of my home fans. We must try to improve our machine settings further and find that little bit extra for the race because the lap times are still very close and we cannot relax at all. This afternoon was positive and I was able to go fast on race tyres as well. The Michelin qualifiers also worked very well again and I was able to improve on my second lap by quite a lot which was just enough for pole position. The weekend has gone well so far and I hope I can make a good start and challenge for the win tomorrow.” Nicky said: “When I put the qualifiers on, the bike was really good and fun to ride that was by far the most fun I’ve had this weekend and I dropped my lap time by two and a half seconds. But it’s honestly been a bit of a nightmare this weekend up to now. For whatever reason I cannot get the race tyres to work for me here. I’ve had a lot of luck with the 16-inch rear tyre at the last few races but here it’s been really tough. Being on the front row is a big advantage here, though I know these guys are going to make it tough. Race day is always a different story and anything can happen so we’ll just try to stick our nose in there, put a bid in and try to finish off the year really well.” Carlos Checa (LCR Honda RC212V) riding in his last Grand Prix, and in spite of a debilitating stomach illness, qualified 9th. He said: “Last night I suffered excruciating stomach pains. I was amazed this morning when I had recovered enough to ride and I’m very satisfied to be ninth on the grid. I will return to the hospital for secondary blood tests tonight so that doctors can confirm their diagnosis. I can only have a liquid diet and continue to take a medicine, with some mild laxative, and hope that I can complete the 30 laps tomorrow.” Melandri ended up tenth and said: “We’ve got a good race pace and we showed that on a long run on used tyres today. Unfortunately the extra grip on a qualifying tyre made the chattering worse and that prevented me from setting a good lap time. I’m disappointed because to start from the fourth row is a big handicap. It’s difficult to get the right side of the tyre warmed up at this circuit over the first few laps but I think we can use this to our advantage and cut down the gap to some of the riders at the front.” Nakano qualified 13th and said: “I had a good rhythm in the first and second sectors on that last qualifying lap, and pushed hard in that final third sector. We didn’t make many changes to the bike today as we found a good balance on Friday and we’ve also found a good tyre for the race. The start is vitally important here, as things can get busy in the first turn and for the whole of the first lap. I will have to be pushing hard right from the beginning of the race.” Toni Elias (Gresini Honda RC212V) managed 14th on the grid. He said: “It’s been a tough weekend we’re struggling because we don’t have enough traction and the feeling is even worse on a qualifying tyre. We’ll keep working with the team to find a solution for tomorrow and we still haven’t made a tyre choice for the race, which will be crucial. I just hope we can come up with something that allows me to be consistent over 30 long laps in the race.” Kurtis Roberts (Roberts KR212V) qualified 18th and said: “It’s always frustrating, but from the team’s and my standpoint, it’s been good. It’s frustrating when you’re out with guys and you’re easily as fast as them… until you get to the last corner onto the straightaway. If we could accelerate with them it would be a lot more fun. But we’re doing competitive times with the next four or five guys ahead of us, so tomorrow hopefully we’ll be able to race those guys, and get a good result for what we’re on.” Mika Kallio (KTM took pole in the 250cc class with reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo (Aprilia) second fastest, Yuki Takahashi (Scot Honda RS250RW) signaling a welcome return to form with a front row performance as third fastest, and Marco Simoncelli (Gilera) completing the front row. Julian Simon (Repsol Honda RS250RW) qualified seventh, while Andrea Dovizioso (Scot Honda RS250RW) will start from row three as tenth fastest qualifier. Shuhei Aoyama (Repsol Honda RS250RW) who crashed in the final ten minutes of the three-quarter hour session starts from 15th. Takahashi said: “The bike is very good. We had a good machine set-up from the start. The only small problem I had was some front wheel judder when braking hard but the team fixed that quickly. This front row shows I’m again in perfect condition and have not lost my talent. The secret of the race tomorrow will be the start.” Simon said: “My pace was not so bad but I had a front tyre problem all weekend until qualifying today when we tried a new tyre from Dunlop so now I’m happy. The suspension feels good. The only real problem I have is at turn 13 where I can’t run the line I need to I’m very slow through there and it’s costing me time.” Dovi said: “This track is very difficult for me I just don’t like it. I find it difficult to find the fast lines in some corners. We have to try some big changes to the geometry tonight to try in the warm-up. The balance of the bike is not good we need to transfer more weight to the front-end. The big problem is I’m starting from the third row and the first and second corners are vital here. This is my last race in the 250cc class and it’s very important for me to do well.” 125cc qualifying was the preserve of series points leader Gabor Talmacsi who took pole from his team-mate and title rival Hector Faubel. Sergio Gadea (all Aprilia) was third fastest qualifier with Lukas Pesek (Derbi) completing the front row. Faubel headed the timesheet early in the half-hour session with Talmacsi second quickest, and so things remained until with seven minutes to go the Hungarian displaced Spaniard Faubel at the top with a 1m 39.162 s lap. Then just to reinforce his dominance here, Talmacsi went faster again with 1m 39.029s time that remains one third of a second faster than Faubel’s best. Esteve Rabat (Repsol Honda RS125R) qualified 11th with his team-mate Bradley Smith (Repsol Honda RS125R) just behind him as 12th fastest qualifier. Mike di Meglio (Scot Honda RS125R) crashed at the end of the session and starts from 20th on the grid, behind MotoGP Academy rookie Takaaki Nakagami riding a Honda RS125R Rabat said: “Today was difficult for me. In the morning the track was cold and the tyre I tried wouldn’t get hot enough. In the qualifying session I had some problems with chatter when I was braking very hard into the corners. Everything else is OK. Chassis and suspension are good and in the warm-up we just have to check out which tyre will be best for the race. The engine accelerates well and you need that at this circuit. Maybe the rider could have been better!” Smith said: “When I first went out in the qualifying session I felt there was something not right with the front-end and guessed it was the tyre. I’m not a rider who can go fast from the start so it took me a while to get up to speed. With six minutes left I had time for three fast laps, two were good but I made a mistake on the last lap and didn’t better my time. I’m 12th on the grid and not too worried, I should be OK in the race.” Honda Riders Quotes: MotoGP. Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1st “Well, I’m very happy to be on pole position again – and especially here in front of my home fans because I really want to give them a good result. There are already many people here looking for Spanish success and tomorrow I’m sure there will be even more. We must try to improve our machine settings further and find that little bit extra for the race because the lap times are still very close and we cannot relax at all. Thirty laps makes it a long race and tyre choice will be critical of course to give us the best chance of maintaining our pace right until the end. The practice was positive this afternoon and I was able to go fast on race tyres as well. The Michelin qualifiers also worked very well again and I was able to improve on my second lap by quite a lot – which was just enough for pole position. The weekend has gone well so far and I hope I can make a good start and challenge for the win tomorrow.” Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 3rd “When I put the qualifiers on, the bike was really good and fun to ride – that was by far the most fun I’ve had this weekend and I dropped my lap time by two and a half seconds. But it’s honestly been a bit of a nightmare this weekend up to now. For whatever reason I cannot get the race tyres to work for me here. I’ve had a lot of luck with the 16-inch rear tyre at the last few races but at Valencia it’s been really tough. Still, I’ve got some good guys around me and an excellent team so we’ll definitely be trying something huge to improve things for tomorrow. Being on the front row is a big advantage here, though I know these guys are going to make it tough. Race day is always a different story and anything can happen so we’ll just try to stick our nose in there, put a bid in and try to finish off the year really well. I’m excited about the race – I wish I was quicker on race tyres but we’ll see what happens when the light goes out. Whatever happens, I’d like to dedicate this performance to Merlyn Plumlee, my mechanic from AMA Superbike who died from cancer last week. He will be sadly missed and I’m definitely thinking about him and his family.” Carlos Checa, LCR Honda: 9th “Last night I suffered excruciating stomach pains which appears to be from an infection or obstruction in my intestine. I was amazed this morning when I had recovered enough to ride and I’m very satisfied to be ninth on the grid. I will return to the hospital for a secondary blood tests tonight so that doctors can confirm their diagnosis. I can only have a liquid diet and continue to take a medicine, with some mild laxative, and hope that I can complete the 30 laps tomorrow. This is my final grand prix so it is important for me and my fans and friends here. I want to thank the Clinica Mobile staff who treated me at circuit and also remained with me until 3 am in the hospital.” Marco Melandri, Gresini Honda: 10th “We’ve got a good race pace and we showed that on a long run on used tyres today. Unfortunately the extra grip on a qualifying tyre made the chattering worse and that prevented me from setting a good lap time. I’m disappointed because to start from the fourth row is a big handicap. It’s difficult to get the right side of the tyre warmed up at this circuit over the first few laps but I think we can use this to our advantage and cut down the gap to some of the riders at the front. It will be important to get a good start and get past the riders with a slower pace than me as early as possible in the race. The podium is not impossible, it will be a long and demanding race from a physical point of view because it’s a tight and twisty track. I feel ready for the final race of the year.” Shinya Nakano, Konica Minolta Honda: 13th “I had a good rhythm in the first and second sectors on that last qualifying lap, and pushed hard in that final third sector I was giving 120%! Things felt really good but then after the back straight under braking I lost the front, which meant I lost around four or five tenths of a second. On the positive side of things, conditions were much better today with higher temperatures which has given us more grip so I could push much harder than yesterday. We didn’t make many changes to the bike today as we found a good balance on Friday and we’ve also found a good tyre for the race. The start is vitally important here, as things can get busy in the first turn and for the whole of the first lap. I will have to be pushing hard right from the beginning of the race.” Toni Elias, Gresini Honda: 14th It has been a tough weekend – we are struggling because we don’t’ have enough traction and the feeling is even worse on a qualifying tyre. We’ll keep working with the team to find a solution for tomorrow and we still haven’t made a tyre choice for the race, which will be crucial. I just hope we can come up with something that allows me to be consistent over 30 long laps in the race.” Kurtis Roberts, KR212V: 18th “It’s always frustrating, but from the team’s and my standpoint, it’s been good. It’s frustrating when you’re out with guys and you’re easily as fast as them … until you get to the last corner onto the straightaway. If we could accelerate with them it would be a lot more fun. But we’re doing competitive times with the next four or five guys ahead of us, so tomorrow hopefully we’ll be able to race with Colin (Edwards) and them guys, and get a good result for what we’re on. I like this track – it’s a fun layout, one of the better race-tracks. It’s small, but it has a good variety of corners. Turn One is really fast and you can brake in deep. It has some slow corners, but they’re not all one line, which is nice. You can get in too hot and still make the corner, and not lose any time. Normally it’s all one line.” Chuck Aksland – Team Manager team Roberts.”I think today is probably the best riding I’ve seen Kurtis do in a long time. He was not that far away before everyone put their qualifying tyres on. He was only three tenths behind Nicky Hayden. You have to consider where we are in the engine spec. If we had some more acceleration it would be worth a lot round here. His riding here today is something to be proud of.” 250cc: Yukio Takahashi, Kopron Scot Honda: 3rd “The bike is very good. I am happy with the whole weekend we had a good machine set up from the start. The only small problem I had was some front wheel judder when braking hard but the team fixed that quickly. This front row shows I am again in perfect condition and have not lost my talent. The secret of the race tomorrow will be the start I hope to get a good start and then decide my tactics. I have to thank my team and my friends who have supported me through some difficult times I hope to be on the podium tomorrow as a thank you to them.” Julian Simon, Repsol Honda: 7th.”My pace was not so bad and the lap time. I had a front tyre problem all weekend until qualifying today when we tried a new tyre from Dunlop so now I am happy. The engine is good and the chassis settings and suspension feel good. The only real problem I have is at T13 I cannot run the line I need to I am very slow through there and its costing me time. “ Andrea Dovizioso, Kopron Scot Honda: 10th”This track is very difficult for me I just don’t like it. I find it difficult to find the fast lines in some corners. We have to try some big changes on the geometry tonight to try in the warm up. The balance of the bike is not good we need to transfer more weight to the front end. The big problem is I am starting from the third row and the first and second corners are vital here. This is my last race in the 250cc class and its very important for m to do well.” Shuhei Aoyama, Repsol Honda: 12th “This afternoon I pushed really hard to improve on my good lap time of yesterday but I was not able to I crashed at the fast right hand corner when I braked too hard. I went back to the pit to take my second bike but it was not set up as well as my number one machine. My race bike is good and I know the tyres I will race with.” Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT-SAG: 19th “This afternoon I could lap as quick as this morning and it was quite frustrating as I believe I could have lapped under 1’36. However, the bike set-up is pretty good for the race and tomorrow, I think the fact I tested here before will eventually show. The whole team feels at home this weekend and I want to finish the Championship on a high.” Eugene Laverty, LCR Honda: 26th. “Finally in the qualifying session we found a positive direction with the front-end set-up, it’s much better, although I’m still 0.5s off my best time in pre-season testing.” 125cc. Tito Rabat, Repsol Honda: 11th “Today was a difficult day for me. In the morning the track was cold. I tried an H tyre but it would not get enough heat. In the qualifying session I had some problems with chatter when I was braking very hard into the corners. For the rest everything is OK. Chassis and suspension are good, in the warm up we just have to check out which tyre will be best for the race.. The engine accelerates and you need that at this circuit. Maybe the rider could have been better!” Bradley Smith, Repsol Honda: 12th”When Ii first went out in the qualifying session I felt there was something not right with the front end and guessed it was the tyre, maybe it had a defect. We had planned to run five laps and come in but when I did we had to change the tyres and that cost me time. When I got back onto the track I didn’t have much time left. I’m not a rider who can go fast from the start so it took m a while to get up to speed. With six minutes left I had time for three fast laps, two were good but I made a mistake on the last lap and didn’t better my time. I’m 12th on the grid and not too worried, I should be OK because the engine accelerates and we have found a good front tyre.” Alexis Masbou, FFM Honda: 18th “After my good performance from yesterday we tested a new rear tyre this morning during free practice, but it wasn’t totally satisfying. For the last qualifying session we went back to yesterday’s rear tyre and set-up. And yet the sensations weren¹t the same, maybe this is due to the slight temperature rise. Anyway I didn’t have a good feeling with the front and as I was trying to push some more in a corner to be in a better position to accelerate on the exit, I lost the front. By the time I was back in the pits to take my spare bike, I only had one fast lap before the end of the session and was unable to improve my lap time.” Mike Di Meglio, Kopron Scot Honda: 21st.”I don’t know what it’s happening in these days. We have worked hard trying some different machine settings but we were not able to solve the problems. We changed the geometry to make the bike shorter and turn faster and it felt better but my lap time did not improve very much. Today at the end of the qualifying session I crashed on the run down lap because the front closed on me. I’m disappointed because I really wanted to have a good weekend race at the conclusion to this difficult year.” Danny Webb, Molenaar Honda: 28th.”I’m not really satisfied with qualifying. I went out behind Krommenacher and tried to close him down and set fast times but I only took one tenth of a second off my best time. We had changed the front suspension to softer settings after the morning practice and I was running the Dunlop H tyre. It was good for 15 mints after that it lost grip and the front was chattering under braking. I came I for new tyres but there was not much time left and I could not find a fast group everybody was sitting behind me waiting for a fast rider. Chassis, suspension and tyres we know and the engine is flying so I hope for a good race tomorrow. “ Joey Litjens, Molenaar Honda: 32nd.”Not so bad at the end of the session I was in the group with Danny (Webb) and set my best time but at the end of the session I crashed at the left hander after the fast right. I’m OK I banged my head but no concussion I’m just bruised so I think I will be racing tomorrow. The bike is good and I pushed very hard today. The engine is fast, the suspension and tyres are working good. It’s just a pity about the crash because I had such a good rhythm.” Dino Lombardi, Kopron Scot Honda: 34th.”I’m angry and demoralized, there are many setting problems that today have slowed down me by about two tenths of a second compared to yesterday’s lap time. I’m sorry because I would have liked to finish the season with a good performance. I hope that next year will be better.”