FIM MotoGP World Championship Donington Park, England July 1 Qualifying Results: 1. Dani PEDROSA (Hon RC211V), 1:27.676, Michelin 2. Chris VERMEULEN (Suz GSV-R), 1:28.158, Bridgestone 3. Marco MELANDRI (Hon RC211V), 1:28.205, Michelin 4. John HOPKINS (Suz GSV-R), 1:28.252, Bridgestone 5. Loris CAPIROSSI (Duc GP06), 1:28.394, Bridgestone 6. Randy DE PUNIET (Kaw ZX-RR), 1:28.428, Bridgestone 7. Shinya NAKANO (Kaw ZX-RR), 1:28.431, Bridgestone 8. Casey STONER (Hon RC211V), 1:28.447, Michelin 9. Kenny Lee ROBERTS (Hon KR211V), 1:28.473, Michelin 10. Colin EDWARDS (Yam YZR-M1), 1:28.481, Michelin 11. Nicky HAYDEN (Hon RC211V), 1:28.509, Michelin 12. Valentino ROSSI (Yam YZR-M1), 1:28.808, Michelin 13. Carlos CHECA (Yam YZR-M1), 1:29.294, Dunlop 14. Makoto TAMADA (Hon RC211V), 1:29.362, Michelin 15. Alex HOFMANN (Duc GP06), 1:29.479, Bridgestone 16. James ELLISON (Yam YZR-M1), 1:30.382, Dunlop 17. Ivan SILVA (Duc GP05), 1:31.838, Dunlop 18. Jose Luis CARDOSO (Duc GP05), 1:32.252, Dunlop 19. Michel FABRIZIO (Hon RC211V), no time, Michelin More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: DE PUNIET LEADS THE KAWASAKI CHARGE AT DONINGTON Randy de Puniet was quick to thank his crew today, after changes made to his Ninja ZX-RR overnight all but eliminated the chatter problems that plagued the Frenchman yesterday, allowing him to secure a second row start for tomorrow’s British Grand Prix during this afternoon’s hour-long qualifying session. The Kawasaki rider finished yesterday’s free practice sessions down in a disappointing 14th position on the timesheet, but with his confidence restored in the front-end of his Ninja ZX-RR this morning, de Puniet was able to up the pace and claim a place in the top ten. The 25-year-old Frenchman remained in the top ten on race tyres for the first 45 minutes of this afternoon’s all-important qualifying session, as his crew continued to improve the set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR, before claiming fifth position, and a place on the second row, with his final flying lap on a qualifying tyre. De Puniet’s qualifying prowess has been evident all season, but the Kawasaki pilot is determined to finally realise his full potential by translating today’s outstanding qualifying performance into a good result in tomorrow’s 30-lap race. Starting tomorrow’s race one place, and one row, behind de Puniet will be the Frenchman’s Kawasaki teammate, Shinya Nakano. The 28-year-old Japanese rider looked all set to repeat the qualifying performance that put him on the front row last time out at Assen, until a minor mechanical problem with the gearbox on his Ninja ZX-RR meant that he was unable to take advantage of his two remaining qualifying tyres. Despite his qualifying setback, which will see him start from the third row of the grid, Nakano is confident that the length of tomorrow’s race – which will run over 30 laps of the 4.023 km Donington Park circuit – will provide plenty of opportunities to make up places as the race progresses. Randy de Puniet: 6th – 1’28.428 “I’m very happy to secure a second row start today, especially after the problems we had during free practice yesterday. Our technical people did a fantastic job on transforming the bike overnight; the chatter hasn’t been completely eliminated, but as my lap time today shows, the bike is a lot easier to ride than it was yesterday. Just as important as my qualifying time is the fact that I was able to put in consistently fast laps on the tyre that we’ll run in tomorrow’s race. I’m not so keen on the Donington Park circuit, especially the final sector from the Fogarty Esses to the finish line, but this is the area I concentrated on today, and I’m glad to say we’ve made an improvement through this section. Starting from the second row of the grid, and with a race tyre that we know works well around this circuit, we have put ourselves in the best possible position for tomorrow’s race. Today was a real team effort, so I’d like to thank everyone in the team, and the guys at Bridgestone, for their help. I just hope now that I can translate today’s performance into a good race result tomorrow to repay them for all their hard work.” Shinya Nakano: 7th – 1’28.431 “I’m a little bit disappointed, as I was expecting better after two good free practice sessions yesterday. Tomorrow’s race is 30 laps, which will place a high demand on tyres, so we’ve concentrated today on confirming our tyre choice for the race. I’m happy to say that, once again, Bridgestone have come up with the goods, and I’m confident the tyre we’ve selected will perform consistently throughout the race tomorrow. During qualifying I had a small problem with the gearbox on the bike, which meant I missed the chance to use two of my qualifying tyres. For sure I’d rather be starting from the front or even the second row, but the race is long so I’m sure there will be plenty of opportunities to make up places as the race progresses.” Christophe Bourguignon: Crew Chief, Randy de Puniet “Randy didn’t have confidence in the front of the bike yesterday because of the chattering problems, which meant that he wasn’t able to release the brakes on corner entry where he wanted to and, as a result, lost a considerable amount of time. Overnight we changed a little bit the balance of the bike, moving slightly more weight to the front to improve Randy’s confidence in the front-end, and it seems to have worked. He was really pleased with the set-up from the start this morning, and this afternoon we improved it even further with some fine-tuning of both chassis and suspension settings. Randy has put in some consistently fast laps on race tyres, and by qualifying on the second row of the grid he’s given himself the best possible chance to show his true potential.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: Saturday Jul 1 2006 Qualifying Practices – Donington CAPIROSSI SHRUGS OFF PAIN TO QUALIFY FIFTH Ducati Marlboro Team rider Loris Capirossi put in a storming qualifying performance at Donington Park today, going fifth quickest despite suffering from the chest injuries he sustained in the turn-one crash at Catalunya two weeks ago. Alex Hofmann, substituting for Sete Gibernau who broke a collarbone in the same accident, was 15th fastest in this afternoon’s warm, muggy conditions. Courageous Capirossi ended the session just 0.718 seconds off pole position and is particularly happy with his pace on race tyres. Practice and qualifying for tomorrow’s race, which will be the 20th Donington Park motorcycle Grand Prix, underlined the immense progress made by Bridgestone tyres during the past year. Last July Bridgestone struggled in dry conditions at Donington; today the Japanese manufacturer had five riders in the top seven. LORIS CAPIROSSI, 5th fastest, 1m 28.394s “It was a very good idea to miss yesterday’s second free practice session because when I am rested and relaxed I can ride much better. I rode both sessions today because Alex uses different tyres, so the work he does with tyres isn’t so useful to me. As usual, my chest started to hurt after about 30 minutes of riding. I did do a 14-lap run but the race is 30 laps, so I’ve decided to miss morning warm-up to save myself for the race. I won’t use pain-killers and I think I will be able to run a good race pace. If I was 100 per cent fit I would have done better today but considering my condition fifth place is not so bad. I’m happy with Bridgestone because last year we had some problems here but they’ve made good progress since then. I only did a half race-distance run but I’m happy with our race tyres. I’m quite confident for tomorrow, I’ll just try and relax as much as I can before the race.” ALEX HOFMANN, 15th fastest, 1m 29.479s “Fifteenth place obviously isn’t what I was looking for today but I almost did my fastest laps on race tyres, not qualifiers. We didn’t start so good yesterday and we’ve been behind ever since, so we were still working on set-up in the afternoon session. I’m happy I found a way to do 29s on race tyres, we just need to make it a bit more comfortable so I can do that over race distance. At the end of the session I tried three specs of qualifying tyre, the first two didn’t suit my style and that lost me some confidence at a crucial moment. The third made me faster than on race tyres but we missed the chance to do a second run on another of that tyre by just a few seconds, so we were a bit unlucky. The start of the race will be extra important because it’s not easy to overtake here. Everybody is going to be very keen to make some passes on the first lap.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Bridgestone Riders on Top Form in Qualifying Donington Park, Britain Saturday 1 July 2006 Bridgestone-shod riders excelled in qualifying for tomorrow’s British Grand Prix in Donington with Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen maintaining the Japanese tyre manufacturers unbroken run of front row starts this season. Vermeulen’s second place scores the rookie Australian his best dry qualifying performance of the season so far. His team-mate John Hopkins made it two Suzukis in the top four with a strong fourth place as Bridgestone riders locked out the second row of the grid. Having opted to sit out yesterday’s second practice session, Loris Capirossi returned to form in fine style by taking his Ducati to fifth place on the grid. Alex Hofmann was forced to settle for 15th place in only his second race weekend for the Ducati team. Last year’s 250cc winner at Donington, Randy de Puniet, rode his Kawasaki strongly throughout the one-hour qualifying session, setting encouraging lap times on race tyres before claiming sixth on the grid, one place ahead of his Japanese team-mate Shinya Nakano. The performance of the Bridgestone tyres in Donington today underlines the massive improvements made by the team year-on-year. Chris Vermeulen’s second-placed qualifying time of 1m28.158s today represents a 1.1s improvement on the best Bridgestone qualifying lap from 2005 (John Hopkins’ 1m29.231s), whilst Dani Pedrosa’s 2006 pole time is just two-tenths-of-a-second quicker than that of Valentino Rossi in 2005. Shinji Aoki, Assistant Manager Motorcycle Race Tire Development: “I am very happy with today’s results which demonstrate the progress that Bridgestone has made compared to last year. We developed a special compound qualifying tyre for Assen which gave us good results last weekend. We tried the same compound in free practice this morning, but felt that the higher track temperatures better suited an even softer compound, which we had also prepared for the British Grand Prix. This decision proved well-founded with all of our teams able to perform competitively and qualify in the top third of the grid. There are, however, a couple of rivals showing exceptional pace in race trim and this will make our race afternoon more difficult, but we saw some very positive race tyre runs from our riders in this afternoon’s qualifying session, which show our tyres are capable of consistently lapping in the low 1m29s. Therefore we are looking to race near the front pack and aim to finish in some good points-scoring positions, something we had hoped for at the start of the weekend.” Bridgestone Qualifying Results Result Rider Motorcycle Best Lap Gap P2 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1m28.158s +0.482s P4 John Hopkins Suzuki 1m28.252s +0.576s P5 Loris Capirossi Ducati 1m28.394s +0.718s P6 Randy de Puniet Kawasaki 1m28.428s +0.752s P7 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki 1m28.431s +0.755s P15 Alex Hofmann Ducati 1m29.479s +1.803s More, from a press release issued by Camel Yamaha: British Grand Prix Donington Park, UK Saturday 1st July 2006 ROSSI AND EDWARDS ENCOUNTER SECOND DAY PROBLEMS AT DONINGTON Camel Yamaha team-mates Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards will both start from the fourth row of the grid in tomorrow’s British Grand Prix, after running into set-up problems during the second day of practice at Donington Park. Whilst Rossi continued to ride through the pain from the ankle and wrist injuries he sustained at Assen nine days ago, he also struggled to adapt his machine to the demands of the British track, where he has taken victory for five of the last six seasons. Edwards was equally baffled by the lack of progress he made today after making positive initial steps yesterday. The base setting of the YZR-M1 machine has adapted swiftly to the fast and flowing nature of recent circuits such as Assen and Catalunya, but with only the morning warm-up remaining before tomorrow’s 30-lap race the team still have plenty of room for improvement. A small consolation for Rossi was that Nicky Hayden (Honda), the current series leader, was also unable to challenge for a top grid position and will start in between the Yamaha pair on the fourth row in 11th spot. COLIN EDWARDS (10th 1’28.481; 30 laps) “The bike is really not working as well as we would like and to be perfectly honest we’re not sure why. The things that worked so well last weekend don’t seem to be having the same effect here and we’re struggling to come up with an alternative at the moment. It’s not for a lack of trying because my crew have worked really hard all day we played about with the springs and the ride height but kept running down a blind alley. This is one of my favourite tracks and I’m used to turning up here and being in the top three from the first session like I have for the past two years. In theory it should have been the same today but it’s just not happening. Now we have to hope we can find something good in the morning, make a great start and just fight our way through!” VALENTINO ROSSI (12th 1’28.808; 28 laps) “We didn’t expect to have so many problems here in Donington because last year our bike worked really well. It’s a track where I’ve always been able to be really fast and go very well from the start, so it’s quite disappointing. The situation with the wrist isn’t so bad, but I’ve got some problems in the hard braking areas. For sure I can’t ride how I would like to; we’re not at the maximum. We’ve been quite confident because, since the new chassis in Le Mans, the bike has worked very well and been fast from the start, but here we can’t find a good setting for some reason. Tomorrow we will try to find a way to make the situation a little better. Today with Dr Costa I decided to try with some painkillers, to understand better what we need to do for the race tomorrow. With these painkillers it seems I can ride more or less normally. Tomorrow me and my team will try to find the best possible setting to enable me to ride a good race and I will also do some more work with Dr Costa after warm-up in order to be in the best possible shape to ride.” DAVIDE BRIVIO CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR “It is a strange grid because nobody expects to see Colin, Valentino and Nicky all together on the fourth row. For sure the starting position will be the first problem for our riders to overcome tomorrow. I think with Colin has shown that he has the possibility to run a good race pace if we can just refine the setting a little more, and for Valentino we need to analyse things tonight and see if we can make it a little more comfortable – especially for his wrist. Today he was feeling stronger but he is clearly not at 100% yet so we will have to wait and see how he is tomorrow. But his problem is not just the injury the bike setting is not where it should be yet and we are still unclear about the tyre choice for the race.” FIRST ROW Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team, 1’27.676 Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Team Suzuki MotoGP, 1’28.158 Marco Melandri (ITA) Fortuna Honda, 1’28.205 SECOND ROW John Hopkins (USA) Team Suzuki MotoGP, 1’28.252 Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team, 1’28.394 Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki Racing Team, 1’28.428 THIRD ROW Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki Racing Team, 1’28.431 Casey Stoner (AUS) Honda LCR, 1’28.447 Kenny Roberts JR (USA) Team Roberts, 1’28.473 FOURTH ROW COLIN EDWARDS (USA) Camel Yamaha Team, 1’28.481 VALENTINO ROSSI (ITA) Camel Yamaha Team, 1’28.808 More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Vermeulen blasts to front row start in Donington heatwave Chris Vermeulen powered his way to his best dry qualifying position by bringing his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R home in second place during today’s session at a blisteringly hot Donington. Vermeulen (1’28.158, 30 laps) improved consistently during the day and his lap times started to come down as he found more confidence from his bike and the Bridgestone tyres. The rookie Australian had previously struggled to get the best from himself but a study of the data with his crew pointed out a number of things that he was able to change with great effect. His time was only bettered by Dani Pedrosa on his factory Honda. Anglo-American John Hopkins (1’28.252, 30 laps) also looked set for a front row start but just missed out on a top three place by 0.047 seconds. Hopkins suffered a high speed crash in this morning’s session, but he was able to walk away from the accident and get back to the pits and out on his spare bike. Today’s sessions were held in very hot and dry conditions with air temperatures hitting 29°C and track surfaces reaching 47°C. Tomorrow’s race will get underway at 13.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT) and both Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers will be aiming for glory on British soil. Chris Vermeulen: “I’m very happy with today’s result and being on the front row of the grid. All the guys have worked really hard this week and all credit to all of them. The Bridgestone qualifier worked excellent and it gave me fantastic grip for the lap. Tomorrow’s race is 30 laps long and that is going to be hard work around here. As I said before the last time I was here was on a 600 and it’s a lot different trying to muscle one of these bikes around, especially in this heat. The thing tomorrow is going to be trying to make a tyre last and be competitive for the whole race distance that will be the tricky bit! We have given ourselves the best chance by getting a front row start, so hopefully I can get away well and stay with the lead group.” John Hopkins: “I’m a bit frustrated with myself really! I feel that I could have got another front row start, if not pole position. I feel in myself that I was riding a little timid after this morning’s crash. At the end of the day though we are starting fourth and we have got a good set-up for tomorrow with the bike and the tyres. I think we are ready to go racing in this heat. Cheers to my team, they have done an excellent job this weekend. Well done to Chris, it’s good to see him starting up on the front row. We’re really looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully both of the Rizla Suzukis and Bridgestone tyres will have a good race.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “Yet again both the Rizla Suzuki riders have demonstrated their commitment by riding their machines to the limit today. Chris has struggled a bit with coming to terms with this track so seeing him pushing that hard in qualifying is particularly pleasing and I am sure that will give him added confidence for tomorrow’s race. John is a bit disappointed with fourth, but putting things into context he shouldn’t be because he has given himself a great opportunity at the start of the race to get away with the front group. “In terms of the ability of our tyre and bike package for race day it’s difficult to know what pace we can run over the full 30 laps. But irrespective of that both the guys have given themselves the best opportunity and all we can ask them to do tomorrow is to get the maximum out of themselves and their machines and I have no doubt they will do just that!” More, from a press release issued by Fortuna Honda: FRONT ROW FOR MARCO MELANDRI AT DONINGTON Michel Fabrizio breaks his right collarbone in free practice FORTUNA HONDA rider Marco Melandri, still hurting from his crash at Barcelona two weeks ago, produced a brilliant performance in qualifying for the British Grand Prix today. The Italian, suffering intense pain in his neck and shoulder, was third fastest and will start tomorrow’s race from the front row of the grid. The result once again shows the determination and talent of the FORTUNA HONDA rider. Tomorrow the race will be difficult for him as he has not recovered 100 per cent from the incident. His team-mate Michel Fabrizio, standing in for the injured Toni Elías, himself suffered an injury today as he broke his right collarbone in a morning free practice crash. Tomorrow’s MotoGP race will take place an hour earlier than usual at 1pm (local time). MARCO MELANDRI: 3rd 1’28.205 (+0.529) “It is incredible to have set the third fastest time just two weeks after the accident. This is quite a tough circuit and it will be very difficult tomorrow. Donington requires a lot of physical effort and even though I am not at 100% I hope to finish the race and gain some points. We have to take a step forward with my own pace. In particular I need to improve my feelin with the front in the last part of the track Moreover, I can be fast for one lap but I still suffer a lot if I do more than 3 or 4 laps in a row. All in all, considering the pain I am in it was a very good result today.” MICHEL FABRIZIO (crashed): “I am really sorry. I wasn’t even pushing that hard and I think we were doing a good job with the team. We still had a lot of room for improvement and we knew where it was. I think we were heading for high 1’21s but I fell in the final corner before the straight. It is a shame because it has brought an important experience to an abrupt end.” QUALIFYING PRACTICES 1. D.Pedrosa (Sp/Honda) 1’28″152 2. C.Vermeulen (Aus/Suzuki) 1’28″158 3 M.Melandri (Ita/Honda) 1’28″205 More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Pedrosa seals third MotoGP pole in clinical fashion GAS British Grand Prix Saturday 1st July 2006 The British weather welcomed a large turnout for an all-important day of qualifying at the Donington Park circuit today, as the teams and riders prepared for tomorrow’s race. Dani Pedrosa took his third pole position of the season at the Donington Park circuit, and will line up for the GAS British Grand Prix with a great chance of taking a second premier class win. The young Spaniard had topped the timesheets in all but one of the free practice sessions at the Leicestershire track, where he has never raced before in MotoGP. Chris Vermeulen will start behind Pedrosa at tomorrow’s race, nearly half a second off his Spanish rival’s time of 1’27.676. Third in a tightly-packed top ten was Marco Melandri, qualifying in a position nothing short of outstanding considering his condition after a crash two weeks ago in Catalunya. John Hopkins completed an excellent day for Rizla Suzuki in fourth, continuing the team’s run of strong qualifying positions. Loris Capirossi, who sat out yesterday’s final practice session in order to recuperate from his ongoing abdominal injury, bravely battled against the pain barrier to earn himself fifth on the grid. Randy de Puniet completed the top six, ahead of team-mate Shinya Nakano and Casey Stoner, who struggled with his qualifying tyres having performed well in previous practices. Kenny Roberts Jr. and Colin Edwards completed the top ten. Championship leader Nicky Hayden heads off row four in eleventh spot as he holds a 42-point lead Michel Fabrizio will not participate in tomorrow’s GAS British Grand Prix after fracturing his right collarbone. The Fortuna Honda rider, himself standing in for the injured Toni Elias, suffered a huge highside this morning and was unable to continue. 250cc Grand Prix Jorge Lorenzo took his second consecutive pole this afternoon, bringing his 2006 total up to six. The Spaniard had dominated all but one practice session, and put himself one spot ahead of Championship leader Andrea Dovizioso for tomorrow’s 250cc GAS British Grand Prix. Hiroshi Aoyama will be the other rider on the front row, with his best ever qualifying position for KTM. Alex de Angelis, Shuhei Aoyama and Hector Barbera complete the top six, ahead of Roberto Locatelli, Manuel Poggiali, Marco Simoncelli and Jakub Smrz. 125cc Grand Prix Alvaro Bautista continued his clean sweep of 125cc leadership at Donington Park this afternoon. The Spaniard earned his fourth pole of the season thanks to a time of 1’36.203, more than a second faster than Mika Kallio’s pole-earning time from 2005. The Finn himself was three tenths behind the World Championship leader, whilst Mattia Pasini and Simone Corsi rounded off the front row. Row 2 for tomorrow’s 125cc GAS British Grand Prix will contain Sergio Gadea, Hector Faubel, Lukas Pesek and Joan Olive. More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing: British Grand Prix at Donington Park Saturday July 1, 2006 DANI POWERS TO POLE WITH MARCO ON FRONT ROW The MotoGP qualifying session was totally blitzed by the young man currently lying second overall in the World Championship Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC211V). His 1m 27.676s lap is nearly half a second faster than second-quickest qualifier Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) could manage. Third fastest Marco Melandri (Fortuna Honda RC211V) is only 0.047s shy of Hopkins’ time. This is rookie Pedrosa’s third pole of his debut premier class season and at the halfway stage of the season the Spanish sensation has chosen a perfect moment to put his considerable talents to best use. His time is also a new pole record for the track. Dani’s team-mate Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC211V) could do no better than set the 11th fastest time of this hour-long session of timed qualifying. The American is 0.833 seconds adrift of Dani’s pole time and just at a juncture when he needed a dominant performance, the Kentucky Kid has given himself substantial work to do in tomorrow’s race. Melandri, still recovering from the neck and shoulder injuries he sustained in that multi-bike turn one crash in Catalunya two weeks ago, must be congratulated on the sheer grit he has shown to get onto the front row here. This is the former 250cc World Champion’s first front row start of this season. Aussie rookie Casey Stoner (LCR Honda RC211V) put his machine on row three with a best lap of 1m 28.447s to secure the eighth fastest time here. His only front row start so far this year was his pole in Qatar. But he has proved before that a third row start has been no barrier to a podium finish. He qualified seventh in Turkey and finished second. Alongside Stoner is Kenny Roberts (Roberts KR211V) astride the rapidly improving Honda V-5 powered machine. The American former World Champion is just under eight tenths shy of the pole time, but has proved before he can work his way through the field when the business of racing begins. Makoto Tamada (Konica Minolta Honda RC211V) is clearly still struggling to recapture the race-winning form of 2004. The Japanese man qualified 14th fastest here, on a par with much of his pre-race work so far this season. With the World Championship so finely balanced, Loris Capirossi’s fifth-place qualifying effort could yet prove vital. The Italian, who lies third overall in the points standings, had to dig deep to even finish last week’s race in Assen and secure one point for his 15th place. Like Melandri’s here today, his was a valiant ride. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), another casualty riding with wrist and foot injuries, qualified 12th, 1.132 seconds off the pole time. His injuries have now had only one week to heal, but he proved in Holland that he could still score points when hurting. He qualified 18th and took the flag in eighth place. Poleman Dani said, “I didn’t expect to have such a big gap to the rest today, and to be honest I also didn’t expect to get pole position at Donington, so it’s a nice surprise. We still have to make the final decision on the race tyres, so we’ll see how the weather conditions are and use the time in warm-up tomorrow. I’m pleased because we’ve worked really well so far this weekend, so I’d like to say thank you to my team.” Marco, third on the grid, said, “It’s incredible to have set the third fastest time just two weeks after the accident. This is quite a tough circuit and it will be very difficult tomorrow. Donington requires a lot of physical effort and even though I am not at 100% I hope to finish the race and gain some points. All in all, considering the pain I am in, it was a very good result today.” Eighth fastest, Casey said, “I did my qualifying time on race tyres and worn ones at that. I’m a little frustrated to be this far back I should be much closer to the front. The qualifiers didn’t make the bike react how I wanted and it seems that a good race set-up makes the qualifiers work worse. I’ll just have to figure out where my strong points are when the race starts.” Kenny, ninth on the grid, said, “On race tyres I feel really good and the lap times are fast. I need to get off the line better and get to the front guys early in the race and I should have more chance to pass here than I did at Assen. The team has done a great job to get the chassis finished off in time for me to race it here. I caused them a little extra work when I crashed this morning but they gave me a good bike for qualifying so thanks to them again.” Nicky Hayden, down in 11th, said, “Well, on the positive side I’m only three tenths from the front row, though obviously I’m not thrilled with how qualifying went today. We had some electrical problems at the start of the session which cost me quite a lot of time but that’s just the way it goes in racing sometimes. We’ll put our heads together and try to get an awesome start tomorrow and recover some places quickly.” Tamada, back on row five, said, “I lost the front-end at the very end of the qualifying session, going into the last slow corner. The front-end turned in and I crashed. We’ve been using the 16.5-inch tyres here at Donington, basically because Michelin don’t have the 16-inch available in many compounds and the asphalt here is completely different to Assen.” Former WCM rider, Michel Fabrizio, was meant to be standing in for the injured Toni Elias (Fortuna Honda RC211V) here, but broke his right collarbone during free training and he will not start. In the 250cc category Aprilia rider Jorge Lorenzo secured his sixth pole in nine races. His time of 1m 31.659s proved unassailable in the heat of the afternoon and second fastest qualifier Andrea Dovizioso (Humangest Racing Honda RS250RW) was nearly seven tenths short of the pole time. Hiroshi Aoyama (KTM) qualified third fastest with Alex de Angelis (Aprilia) completing the front row. But Dovi will be undaunted by this qualifying discrepancy, the consistent Italian has proved time and again that he has the capacity to produce a competitive race pace even if his qualifying runs do not always set the track alight. When he is happy with his race set-up he rarely disappoints. Shuhei Aoyama (Repsol Honda RS250RW) heads row two as fifth fastest qualifier and the Japanese ace, who’s in a determined mood to deliver here, will be anxious to get to grips with the front row starters early on but without getting tangled up in any first lap melées of the sort that blighted his race in Assen and injured his team-mate Martin Cardenas (Repsol Honda RS250RW) who broke a collarbone and will not start at Donington. Dovi said, “We’ve definitely improved compared to yesterday; I can be faster and I feel safer on the bike, but still I don’t feel 100% confident as far as race settings. Lorenzo seems to have a better rhythm but I’m not going to give up and tomorrow we will try to do a further step forward during the warm-up. It won’t be easy to stay with Lorenzo but I’ll do my best to stay close to him.” Aoyama said, “I’m not really happy because my aim for today was the first row of the grid, but in my final laps, when I tried to set my fastest times, I ran across several slower riders. But today was actually about setting one fast lap and tomorrow, the most important thing is to make many of them in a row and I think we’re ready for that.” Yuki Takahashi (Humangest Racing Honda RS250RW) qualified 11th, 1,841 seconds off pole. He said, “It’s not been easy today, I thought I could find a better set-up. I don’t feel confident entering the curves, in particular in the faster part of the circuit. Now I’m going to analyse the data with my team and we’ll try to make some changes during tomorrow’s warm-up. Anyway, I’m sure our real potential is higher than the one we showed today during the practice.” Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) scorched to his fourth 125cc class pole position of the season today with a lap of 1m 36.203 seconds. The series points leader was shadowed throughout the final half-hour session on the timesheet by Mika Kallio (KTM) who qualified second fastest, with Mattia Pasini (Aprilia) third fastest and Simone Corsi (Gilera) completing the front row. The Spaniard Bautista is in imperious form and was always in charge here. He opened the session as quickest man and drew it to a close in the ascendant, despite the best efforts of Finn Kallio. Although reigning World Champion Thomas Luthi (Elit Grand Prix Honda RS125R) did his best to get among the front-runners, holding a provisional front row spot at the halfway point, he will start from 10th tomorrow. Czech rider Lukas Pesek (Derbi) who has regularly shown flashes of sheer speed so far this season could only manage the eighth fastest time here, but Brit hope Bradley Smith (Repsol Honda RS125R) pit in his best qualifying result of the season here with the 13th fastest time for a fourth row start at his ‘home’ race (although the 15-year-old currently lives in Spain). Luthi said, “The qualifying session was so-so. In the beginning I ran a good time alone and was aiming for a second row grid position. The bike is very good and engine and chassis set up is OK for this track. When I went out again I was hoping to follow another fast rider but I was unlucky and didn’t find one so I had to push hard alone on the last lap but only got the same time as I did early in the session. We will run with what we have now unless the weather changes.” Smith, who is only 1.3 seconds off the pole time, said, “You’ve got to be happy with thirteenth, and it’s also a good start position for the race. Rather than being on the sixth row I’m now on the fourth. I’m only a tiny, tiny little bit away from ninth position, so everyone is really close. There were some difficult moments out there and I was lucky to stay on.” Fabrizio Lai (Seedorf Racing Honda RS125R) qualified 11th after crashing in this final session while Gabor Talmacsi (Humangest Honda RS125R) qualified 15th. Talmacsi said, “The only negative thing about today is my position on the starting grid. But we have made a good step forward in the set-up. Unfortunately, as I started to push hard, firstly I found traffic on track, then I made a mistake and so I couldn’t improve any more. But it’s important that we’ve found the right direction to go in. I can do better than 15th place in the race.” Honda GP rider quotes: GB Saturday MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1st. “I think we did a good job today – so we need to see tomorrow if we can complete the job. The feeling on the bike is good and the race set-up is just about there too so what I need to focus on now is making a great start tomorrow – this is really important. The first few laps will be crucial too of course. I didn’t expect to have such a big gap to the rest today, and to be honest I also didn’t expect to get pole position at Donington, so it’s a nice surprise. We still have to make the final decision on the race tyres, so we’ll see how the weather conditions are and use the time in warm-up tomorrow. I’m pleased because we’ve worked really so far this weekend so I’d like to say thank you to my team.” Marco Melandri, Fortuna Honda: 3rd. “It is incredible to have set the third fastest time just two weeks after the accident. This is quite a tough circuit and it will be very difficult tomorrow. Donington requires a lot of physical effort and even though I am not at 100% I hope to finish the race and gain some points. We have to take a step forward with my own pace. In particular I need to improve my feeling with the front in the last part of the track Moreover, I can be fast for one lap but I still suffer a lot if I do more than three or four laps in a row. All in all, considering the pain I am in it was a very good result today.” Casey Stoner, LCR Honda: 8th. “I did my quickest time on race tyres, and worn race tyres at that. So I’m a little frustrated to be starting this far back on the grid, I should be closer to the front. Unfortunately the qualifying tyres were not making the bike react the way I wanted. It seems that the better the race set up I have the worse the bike feels on grippy qualifying tyres. My set up is very good and I’ll have to figure out where my strong points are compared to the other riders once the race starts.” Kenny Roberts Jnr, KR Honda: 9th. “This weekend in qualifying I picked up four-tenths of a second on qualifying tyres and I need to improve on that. But with the new chassis we understand more about the imbalance of the bike on qualifiers than we di before. On race tyres I feel really good and the lap times are fast. I need to get off the line better and get to the front guys early in the race. I should have more chance to pass here than I did at Assen. The team has done a great job to get the chassis finished off in time for me to race it here. I caused them a little extra work when I crashed this morning but they gave me a good bike for qualifying so thanks to team again.” Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 11th. “Well, on the positive side I’m only three tenths from the front row, though obviously I’m not thrilled with how qualifying went today. We had some electrical problems at the start of the session which cost me quite a lot of time but that’s just the way it goes in racing sometimes. We’ll put our heads together and try to get an awesome start tomorrow and recover some places quickly. I’m having a few issues in T4 at the end of the lap, getting quite a lot of wheelying and losing some time there, so we’ll come up with something to work on that. Tomorrow’s the important day and I’m definitely looking forward to the challenge. We had some kids here from the Make A Wish Foundation today and it was really nice to meet those guys too.” Makoto Tamada, Konica Minolta Honda: 14th. “I lost the front end at the very end of the qualifying session, going into the last slow corner, the front end turned in and I crashed. We have been using the 16.5 inch tyres at Donington, basically because Michelin don’t have the 16 in available in many compounds and the asphalt here is completely different to Assen.” Michel Fabrizio (crashed), Fortuna Honda, substitute rider for the injured Toni Elias: “I am really sorry. I wasn’t even pushing that hard and I think we were doing a good job with the team. We still had a lot of room for improvement and we knew where it was. I think we were heading for high 1’29s but I fell in the final corner before the straight. It is a shame because it has brought an important experience to an abrupt end.” 250cc: Andrea Dovizioso, Humangest Honda: 2nd. “We have definitely improved compared to yesterday; I can be faster and I feel safer on the bike, but still I don’t feel 100% confident as far as race settings. Lorenzo seems to have a better rhythm but I’m not going to give up and tomorrow we will try to do a further step forward during the warm-up. It wont be easy to stay with Lorenzo but Ill do my best to stay close to him” Shuhei Aoyama, Repsol Honda: 5th. “The truth is that I’m not really happy after the second qualifying session, because my aim for today was the first row of the starting grid, but in my final laps, when I tried to set my fastest times, I ran across several slower riders on the track that hindered me from being faster. But well, today was actually about setting one fast laps and tomorrow, the most important will be to make many of them in a row and I think that we’re ready for that. We’ll try to improve a bit the bike’s behaviour. This afternoon we’re going to sit down with the Showa technician to analyse some improvements for the suspensions. Now I understand the behaviour of the bike a bit better, so we have to try to get a little bit more out of it for tomorrow.” Yuki Takahashi, Humangest Honda: 11th. ” It has not been easy today, I thought I could find a better set-up of the bike. I don’t feel confident in entering the curves, in particular in the faster part of the circuit. Now Im going to analyse the data with my team and we will try to make some changes during tomorrows warm-up. Anyway, I’m sure our real potential is higher than the one we showed today during the practice” Aleix Espargaro, Wurth Honda BQR: 16th. “I’m not very happy with qualifying today. My grid position is good but not my lap time. When I started pushing to get a good lap time I was having some big rear wheel slides. On the fast downhill section I get a slide when I lean it into the corner and this upsets my rhythm. We need to find a better balance for the bike and will try some things in the warm up. If I can get the bike to be more stable and get rid of some of the slides I will have a good race.” Arturo Tizon, Wurth Honda BQR: 17th. “Its coming better but I still don’t feel comfortable on the downhill section because I cant hold my line through there. You cant close the gas because you will loose so much time you cannot make up again. Tomorrow morning e will try a few options on the suspension to try and find a better bike balance for the race. We improved the balance a bit in that session but we still have work to do.” Fabrizio Perren, Stop and Go Racing: 19th. “I’m quite happy with qualifying on my first visit to this track. This morning I had a problem with the balance of the bike and the quick shifter so I did not get a good lap time. Honda have helped us out with the shifter problem and the team worked on the suspension, the bike was much better this afternoon. The only difficulty I had in qualifying was getting the bike to turn into the corners like I need it to. But that is something I can ride around. I’m really looking forward to the race.” Chas Davies, Molenaar Honda substitute rider for the injured Arnaud Vincent: 23rd. “This is a completely new bike for me and there are a couple of things I need to improve. The engine is very good but the main thing is try to get the bike to hold its line through Redgate and down to the Old hairpin. If you get the first part wrong it hurts you all the way through that section. I’m loosing far too much time there. “: Martin Cardenas, Repsol Honda: Will not race due to crash at previous round in Holland. 125cc: Thomas Luthi, Elit Honda: 10th. “The qualifying session was so-so. In the beginning I ran a good time alone and was aiming for second row grid position. The bike is very good engine and chassis set up is OK for this track. When I went out again I was hoping to follow another fast rider but I was unlucky and didn’t find one so I had to push hard alone on the last lap but only got the same time as I did early in the session. We will run with what we have now unless the weather changes.” Fabrizio Lai, Seedorf Racing World: 11th. “Third row. I want to tell you my tomorrow race: I’ll start very well, as usually, I’ll stay with the leaders, I like the track and in some points I’ll fell to be the best on track. I’ll try to use the best lines not to lose speed but the Aprilia’s will overtake me easily, braking very hard (more than me!) and I’ll drop back. I’ll lose the slipstream and I’ll try to keep a decent position. It is really hard to know it before. But the team is doing a great job and wants that I keep my concentration If only it would rain tomorrow instead to be so hot (Hondas are slower with hot temperatures)”. Bradley Smith, Repsol Honda: 13th. “You’ve got to be happy with thirteenth, and it’s also a good start position for the race. Rather than being in the sixth row and I’m now in the fourth. I’m only a tiny, tiny little bit away from ninth position, so everyone is really close. There were some difficult moments and I was lucky to stay on. We’ve got to be happy, I was lucky, not everyone went as fast in the second session, but still I was the one who put the time, I was the one who got thirteenth so you’ve got to be happy. But tomorrow’s the race. Tomorrow’s when you got to dig in and tomorrow’s when you get points, so I’ve given myself the best opportunity to have a good race so I just have to wait and see.” Sandro Cortese, Elit Honda: 14th. “Everything was good about qualifying today. Yesterday I was snaking into the corners under braking which upset my entry speed but the team fixed that problem. From the third lap of qualifying I was already faster than I was in free practice this morning. I have a good grid position, a good engine and suspension so I am very happy and looking forward to the race.” Gabor Talmacsi, Humangest Honda: 15th.”The only negative thing about today is my position on the starting grid. But we have made a good step forward in the set-up of the chassis and now I’m able to ride better my Honda. Unfortunately, as far as I started to push hard, firstly I found traffic on track, then I made a mistake and so I couldn’t improve more. But it’s important that we have found the right way; for sure I can do better than 15th place”. Tito Rabat, Wurth Honda BQR: 22nd. “This is my first race at Donington and I really like this circuit. But in the last session I couldn’t push hard at the beginning the chassis settings were not so good. In the second part the team improved the bike and the engine was good. On the last lap of qualifying I got in behind Kallio and that helped me set my time.” Lorenzo Baroni, Humangest Honda: 28th. “I have improved compare to yesterday, but not as I would have liked. Unfortunately, I am not able to follow my rivals and so I struggle in finding the right lines on this beautiful but very tough circuit. In tomorrow’s warm up we have to fix more the chassis, but it’s going to be a difficult race for me”. Michele Conti, Seedorf Racing World: 29th. “I’m confident with the new set up we have found. Tomorrow I can do a good race if I catch a fast group and I fight for a good position”. Mike Di Meglio, FFM Honda: 30th. “The free session had well started this morning; I was in the top ten and the modifications made on the chassis and especially on the engine suited me better than yesterday. But after a stop in the pit box to change tyres I crashed whereas I was 7 tenth faster. The technical staff changed the clutch and I could ride again for few laps. I improved my lap time made the previous day of 5 tenth but I couldn’t do better because it was really slippery. Unfortunately I couldn’t improve during the qualifying session because I crashed 15 minutes before the end. So then I had to take the second bike but the setting was different than the first one and it didn’t suit me at all especially the setting of the engine. Tomorrow during the race I will do my best to catch a good group, which won’t be so easy since I will take the start from the 8th row.” Joey Litjens, Molenaar Honda: 39th. “I had a big high side crash in the morning practice session and had to go to hospital for an x-ray on my right arm. The photo shows I have a small crack in my elbow. Its painful right now but I will ride in the warm up and see how it goes. If there is no problem while I’m riding the bike I will race.”