FIM MotoGP World Championship Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California July 20, 2013 Qualifying Results (all on Bridgestone tires): Qualifying Session One (top two advance to Q2): 1. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), 1:22.017 2. Randy DE PUNIET, France (ART-Aprilia), 1:22.694 3. Hector BARBERA, Spain (FTR-Kawasaki), 1:22.808 4. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (DUCATI), 1:23.253 5. Colin EDWARDS, USA (FTR-Kawasaki), 1:23.272 6. Danilo PETRUCCI, Italy (IODA/SUTER-BMW), 1:23.323 7. Claudio CORTI, Italy (FTR-Kawasaki), 1:23.616 8. Yonny HERNANDEZ, Colombia (ART-Aprilia), 1:23.875 9. Karel ABRAHAM, Czech Republic (ART-Aprilia), 1:23.919, crash 10. Michael LAVERTY, UK (PBM-Aprilia), 1:23.987 11. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Japan (FTR-Kawasaki), 1:24.235 12. Bryan STARING, Australia (FTR-Honda), 1:24.756 13. Lukas PESEK, Czech Republic (IODA/SUTER-BMW), 1:24.809 Qualifying Session One: 1. Stefan BRADL, Germany (HONDA), 1:21.176 2. Marc MARQUEZ, Spain (HONDA), 1:21.193, crash 3. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (HONDA), 1:21.373 4. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (YAMAHA), 1:21.418 5. Cal CRUTCHLOW, UK (YAMAHA), 1:21.420 6. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:21.453 7. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), 1:21.728 8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (DUCATI), 1:22.026 9. Bradley SMITH, UK (YAMAHA), 1:22.075 10. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (DUCATI), 1:22.090 11. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (ART-Aprilia), 1:22.099 12. Randy DE PUNIET, France (ART-Aprilia), no time recorded Combined Qualifying Results: 1. Stefan BRADL, Germany (HONDA), 1:21.176 2. Marc MARQUEZ, Spain (HONDA), 1:21.193, crash 3. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (HONDA), 1:21.373 4. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (YAMAHA), 1:21.418 5. Cal CRUTCHLOW, UK (YAMAHA), 1:21.420 6. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:21.453 7. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), 1:21.728 8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (DUCATI), 1:22.026 9. Bradley SMITH, UK (YAMAHA), 1:22.075 10. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (DUCATI), 1:22.090 11. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (ART-Aprilia), 1:22.099 12. Randy DE PUNIET, France (ART-Aprilia), no time recorded 13. Hector BARBERA, Spain (FTR-Kawasaki), 1:22.808 14. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (DUCATI), 1:23.253 15. Colin EDWARDS, USA (FTR-Kawasaki), 1:23.272 16. Danilo PETRUCCI, Italy (IODA/SUTER-BMW), 1:23.323 17. Claudio CORTI, Italy (FTR-Kawasaki), 1:23.616 18. Yonny HERNANDEZ, Colombia (ART-Aprilia), 1:23.875 19. Karel ABRAHAM, Czech Republic (ART-Aprilia), 1:23.919, crash 20. Michael LAVERTY, UK (PBM-Aprilia), 1:23.987 21. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Japan (FTR-Kawasaki), 1:24.235 22. Bryan STARING, Australia (FTR-Honda), 1:24.756 23. Lukas PESEK, Czech Republic (IODA/SUTER-BMW), 1:24.809 More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Germany’s Stefan Bradl has achieved a career first-ever MotoGP™ pole position at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix in Laguna Seca. The LCR Honda MotoGP rider will start alongside Repsol Honda Team’s Marc Marquez and GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista. Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa have qualified sixth and seventh, respectively. Courtesy of a 1’21.176 lap time, Bradl becomes the first ever German to clinch pole in the premier-class of the World Championship. Not only is he the second rider to clinch a maiden pole this season, but he has also become the first ever rider to achieve the qualifying top spot at Laguna Seca aboard a satellite machine. Marquez – whose challenge ended with a crash at Turn 6, four minutes before the chequered flag came out – was 17 thousandths of a second slower on his first weekend at the Californian circuit, having topped three or the four practice sessions, while Bautista starts on the front row for the first time since taking pole position at Silverstone last year. Row 2 is headed up by Yamaha Factory Racing’s Valentino Rossi, ahead of Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow, who had earlier crashed at Turn 3 during final practice. Crutchlow then also had a difficult qualifying, as an issue with the front suspension sensor threw his electronics out of sorts early on. Rossi’s teammate Lorenzo, still suffering from a broken and very painful left collarbone, who missed last weekend’s German Grand Prix, will set off from sixth place and the back of the second row. Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa was also absent from the Sachsenring race as well as Free Practices 1 and 3 here; he – similarly suffering with his left collarbone – will head up Row 3, ahead of Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso who moved ahead of Tech 3’s Bradley Smith late in Q2. Americans Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards will start tenth and 15th for their respective Ducati Team and NGM Mobile Forward Racing outfits, but compatriot and wildcard entrant Blake Young has withdrawn from the event after damaging his sole Attack Performance Racing APR frame in a crash on Friday. There was also a crash for Randy de Puniet, as the Frenchman – who had reached Q2 for the third time this year – went down at Turn 3. He will start 12th, behind teammate Aleix Espargaro who led the CRTs for the ninth time in as many races this season. In 14th spot will be Ignite Pramac Racing’s Alex de Angelis, making a one-off return to the top class from Moto2™ as a substitute for Ben Spies, who is set to make a comeback at Indianapolis following the summer break. Energy T.I. Pramac Racing’s Andrea Iannone, who would have been alongside de Angelis in the garage, has not travelled to the USA after dislocating his right shoulder last time out in Germany. Another faller in qualifying was Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing, 19th on grid), who went down and slid across the Turn 10 gravel trap in Q1. More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: Thrilling 2nd place for Marquez in all-Honda front row with Pedrosa in 7th Despite a crash in the last minutes of Qualifying, Repsol Honda rookie Marc Marquez secured 2nd place for tomorrow’s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix with teammate Dani Pedrosa, still affected by his collar bone injury, on the third row in 7th. Marc, who was fastest this morning in FP3, suffered a small crash in turn six on his final flying lap of Q2. He was unable to return to the box in time and with his time of 1’21.193 lost out on pole position by just 0.017s to Honda rider Stefan Bradl, with Alvaro Bautista in 3rd to complete a full Honda front row. Dani, who did not take part in the morning FP3 to avoid stressing his shoulder too much, progressed comfortably through Q1 into Q2 and put in a great lap of 1’21.728 to secure 7th spot on the grid. Marc Marquez 2nd 1’21.193 “I am happy, because despite the crash we are going to be starting from second on the grid for my first US Grand Prix. Obviously we would have liked to have taken pole, but I made a mistake at Turn 6 when I went in too fast. I lost the front end and couldn’t prevent the crash. I think that we’ve done a good job so far and have a strong pace, so we are confident that tomorrow we will be able to cap things off with a good race” Dani Pedrosa 7th 1’21.728 “Today went a little better than yesterday. We were able to ride a little faster and I was able to make the cut for Q2. Getting seventh on the grid is very good and I’m happy with the placing, but the most important thing is that we had a good practice session and are in the mix to be able to have a good race tomorrow” More, from a press release issued by Cardion AB Motoracing: Abraham starts from 7th row after the crash Karel Abraham will start from nine nineteenth position on the grid to the Grand Prix of USA at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The Czech rider crashed a few moments before the end of qualification practice, thus he missed to ride last two fast laps. The final position is a big disappointment for Karel, even though he is struggling with virus since the Sachsenring. Karel Abraham: „Today is a big disappointment. The crash is useless to commentate. As to everyone else, I do like to ride laps behind someone rider, so I slowed to wait to Randy De Puniet which was closed to me. Though I slowed down only in one corner, bike slipped after rolling on the gas probably because tyres went cold. This could not happen even there is no hot weather here. I know I made a big problem for tomorrow. It´s very difficult to overtake at Laguna, because there are not any long straights. And that´s also the reason why the circuit is very exacting physically and after two weeks of fever I´m not feeling good. Tomorrow it won´t be impossible to collect few points with some luck. But definitely I have no reason to be in good mood.“ Marco Grana, chief mechanic Cardion AB Motoracing „The entire weekend did not start bad. On Friday morning we were in top fifteen. We had the problem with setting of the rear part of the bike and it was obvious that Karel is not feeling good and it´s hard for him to ride. In spite of that we were hoping to be around fifteenth position on Saturday. Today we were not able to continue with results of the previous day, we did not get faster and we had lot of problems. The race has 32 laps and it will be tough race for Karel because he is still struggling with flu. We will try to set up the bike to make easier work for Karel that it won´t be so physically exacting. I hope that after summer break we will be able to throw problems of first part of the season away and that Karel will be in back in shape. “ More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Factory MotoGP Team: Rossi and Lorenzo Score Second Row for Laguna Seca Laguna Seca (USA), 20th July 2013 Yamaha Factory Racing riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo battled through one of the most hectic qualifying sessions of the season today to take fourth and sixth respectively on the grid for tomorrow’s US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca. The quick fire qualifying heat gathered pace as the clock wound down, with the top five positions constantly changing as the fast times came in. Rossi’s first flying lap put him initially in third before a burst of activity saw him drop several places. The Italian came in to pit for fresh rubber with eight minutes remaining then re-joined the time attack, climbing to second place with just over three minutes to go with a 1’21.418. The times then dropped a little more, leaving the nine-time champion on the second row in fourth, just 0.045 seconds from the front row and 0.242 from pole. Lorenzo continued his careful approach to the weekend today, gradually building speed whilst focusing on minimising any risk of damage to his freshly broken collarbone. The world champion was one of the first riders out in qualifying, recording a 1’22.589 before dropping down the timesheets a little as the lap times tumbled. He dropped under the 1’22 mark with his second lap before returning to the pits for fresh rubber. He returned to the track with just over six minutes to go and joined the fight for the front row. He was able to improve again, recording a 1’21.453 to take sixth on the grid just 0.277 seconds from pole. Valentino Rossi 4th / 1’21.418 / 9 laps “I’m quite happy about my position on the grid because I did quite a good lap. Unfortunately I lost the first row but I’m fourth and not so far. We worked a lot on the bike, especially after some laps when the tyre starts to slide. We made some improvements but it’s not enough. I’m quite worried as we have to find a way tomorrow to be a bit stronger and a bit faster, especially after some laps. We have to work to improve, so we have something to do, but starting in the top four is good as starting in the front is important here.” Jorge Lorenzo 6th / 1’21.453 / 9 laps “I felt better physically in qualifying than in the last free practice so I pushed a lot and made some good laps. Maybe I could do one or two tenths faster with a perfect lap and be in the first row but the position is ok. When I saw my lap times I hoped to stay third or fourth but the other riders improved their lap times from the free practice. They are so close, if I could improve one tenth I could be on the front row and with two tenths I could be in pole position. The important thing is I didn’t crash and maybe tomorrow will be even better. It’s a very hard track, almost all the braking zones are not completely straight so I struggle on the shoulder. It’s a very long race with 32 laps so maybe with some painkillers I can be better than at Assen.” Yamaha Factory Racing Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager “We are pleased with the result from today, second row was our target. It’s very tight, one tenth more and Jorge would have been on the first row. Tomorrow is a very long race. It was important to be on the second row to have a good start and be with the front guys in the beginning so there is no hassle in the first coupe of laps. He’s feeling better and better so let’s see tomorrow if he can resist the pain for 32 laps.” Yamaha Factory Racing Massimo Meregalli Team Director “I think overall we did a good job today, we were able to improve our package and the pace was not so bad. For me the time attack also went quite ok. This is not a circuit where it is easy to overtake so starting from the second row is good. For sure it’s going to be a tough race, it’s long and physical so we will try to make something again for tomorrow to close the gap to our competitors, I’m expecting a good race for both riders. For sure for Vale it will be a bit easier because physically he is ok, for Jorge I’m expecting a really tough race. He will take some painkillers to try to have less pain but he will do his best to finish as high as possible.” More, from a press release issued by NGM Mobile Forward Racing: Edwards and Corti on 15th and 17th place for the starting grid at Laguna The qualifying for the 9th round for the MotoGP World Championship will have NGM Mobile Forward Racing Team riders Colin Edwards and Claudio Corti start from fifteenth and seventeenth place for tomorrow’s race at the Mazda raceway Laguna Seca circuit. Edwards finds a good feeling with his FTR – Kawasaki bike after struggling yesterday with the setting choice. The American rider feels confident with both the setting of the bike and his tire choice for tomorrow’s race and hopes for a good start. Corti will be starting at Laguna for the first time from seventeenth place after having a problem during qualifying while changing gears during what could have been his fastest lap of the weekend. Colin Edwards “During qualifying we were playing with two different setups. In the little warm up just before qualifying (FP4) I was still with another setting and then finally at the end of it we tried a different one, did the last few minutes with it and it turned out to be the right choice, which turns out to be the bike that I rode with this morning and felt pretty good. We were just trying to squeeze a little bit more out with the other setting but I think we have a decent setting. During qualifying the tires seemed to work pretty good, I was happy with the soft tires. We are ready to go racing, we just need a good start tomorrow.” Claudio Corti “On my last lap at the end of the qualifying session I went straight after having a problem while changing to third gear making me losing a lot of time. I could have improved my lap time and maybe even qualified in sixteenth place right behind Colin. It’s my first time here at Laguna and everyone says that it’s a very difficult track but so far I am enjoying riding here. The feeling is good, my lap times have been reasonably fast from the start and that is important for tomorrow’s race, maybe the only thing that we have missed today was a bit of luck. We will see what happens tomorrow. I start from seventeenth place, we will focus on doing a good race.” Sergio Verbena MotoGP Technical Director “Fortunately today we were able to solve the problems we were having yesterday with Colin: we had two different settings that seemed to work well and he ended up choosing the one that he preferred. He has done a good qualifying session, he has improved his lap times considerably and he will start from fifteenth place on the grid. Claudio has had a very good first two days at Laguna but this afternoon during qualifying he had a problem while doing his last lap, while changing gears one of the gears skipped, had it not been for that he could have probably finished in sixteenth place. We will have to wait and see what happens tomorrow, both riders have a good race pace; we will see how it goes. Lets hope that the temperature will be a little higher than today, allowing us to have ideal race conditions.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Brilliant Bradl takes first ever MotoGP™ pole position at Laguna Seca Round 9: United States MotoGP™ – Qualifying Practice Laguna Seca, Saturday 20 July 2013 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft & Medium. Rear: Extra-soft (Symmetric), Soft & Medium (Asymmetric) Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Soft (Main), Hard (Alternative) Weather: FP3 – Dry. Ambient 12-13°C; Track 26-26°C (Bridgestone measurement) FP4/QP – Dry. Ambient 15-15°C; Track 42-44°C (Bridgestone measurement) LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl claimed his first ever MotoGP™ pole position as the German star posted a time of 1’21.176 to lead an all-Honda front row at tomorrow’s United States Grand Prix at Laguna Seca. Bradl set his pole-winning time on his penultimate lap in QP2 to relegate Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez to second place by just 0.017 seconds. Rounding out the front row was GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista who achieved his best qualifying result this season by setting a time of 1’21.373 to qualify in third place. The highest placed CRT qualifier at Laguna Seca was Aleix Espargaro whose best qualification time was just 0.923 seconds off Bradl’s benchmark effort and sees the Power Electronics Aspar rider line up on the grid in eleventh position for the race. Weather conditions at Laguna Seca were similar to yesterday, with morning fog and cool temperatures during FP3 before sunshine and warmer temperatures broke through in the afternoon for FP4 and qualifying. Laguna Seca requires good acceleration out of the slower corners and good front-end stability to tame the changes in direction and elevation, hence the predominant tyre combination during qualifying was the softer option rear slick paired with the harder front slick. This same combination will feature heavily in tomorrow’s race, although some CRT riders evaluate their harder option rear slick and may select this for the race if high track temperatures occur. The lights will go out for tomorrow’s thirty-two lap MotoGP™ race at 1400 local time (GMT -7) with the teams having their final opportunity to perfect their setup for the race during Morning Warm Up at 1040. Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department “Today’s weather and track conditions were similar to yesterday so teams had a good understanding of how the tyres would perform today. With the dry track the riders were able to do race simulations on their preferred tyre combination, with almost all riders using the harder front slick paired with the softer rear slick. However, some CRT riders evaluated their harder rear slick option during FP4 and the feedback was positive, so we could see some riders in this class select this option for the race, especially if we have higher than expected track temperatures. The works riders concentrated on finding a setup to get consistent performance out of the soft compound rear slick and I think this will be the popular rear tyre for tomorrow’s race.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: BRADL TAKES HISTORIC POLE POSITION AT LAGUNA SECA Monterey, 20 July: LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl claimed a sensational first pole position at the roller-coaster Laguna Seca circuit today, and in doing so became the first German ever to achieve the feat in the premier class of MotoGP. The Moto2 World Champion will start from top spot on the grid for tomorrow’s 32-lap race after setting the fastest time in qualifying (1’21.176), and will share the front row with Marquez and Bautista. Stefano Bradl “It’s an unbelievable sensation! My first pole position in the premier class at this spectacular circuit, and I am now the first German rider to do this in MotoGP history. I could not ask for more! We knew that we had a good pace all weekend, but this result is yet another step forward for me and the LCR Honda Team. I am really happy with the bike set-up just like in Germany, and I want to thank my team for the job they have done. We didn’t actually make any specific changes to the bike; we just adjusted some small things ahead of qualifying and my pace was immediately fast. We had a small problem when I had to come into the garage to change the tyre because we had lost half a second, but once I was back out again the track was clear in front of me and I could go for my perfect lap!” More, from a press release issued by Avintia Blusens Racing: Good qualifying of Héctor Barberá who is out of the Q2 because of a tenth This Sunday he will start in thirteenth position from the fifth row Aoyama finishes twenty-first and suffers to find the set-up of the bike Laguna Seca, 20 July 2013. At the hellish American track of Laguna Seca, the Avintia Blusens MotoGP men were strong and achieved a good result, taking into account the circumstances of each rider. While Barberá was fighting to get into Q2, Hiroshi had to struggle against his physical condition, that although it improves every day, it still limits him to be able to ride at 100%, and with the search of a set-up of his bike that allows him to do a good race. Héctor did a fantastic Q1 in which he proved to have a good pace and had been leading the time sheet that could permit him to be in the Q2. Only Pedrosa’s presence and his powerful Honda and a lap of De Puniet benefiting from the Honda rider’s slipstream, prevented Héctor from fighting for the first twelve places in the Q2. Finally he had to content himself with the thirteenth spot and being third among the CRTs. In any case, Barberá did a good job during every practice session and he does not hide that he wants and he can do a great race that allows him to continue with the run of good results. Less attractive, but not less important was Aoyama’s performance. Hiroshi worked throughout the weekend on finding the ideal set-up of his bike for this complicated track, in which he improved little by little in each session. Although he finally did not get a lap time in the qualifying that reflected the job done, Hiroshi expects to do a good race this Sunday. 8 Héctor Barberá (13th, 1.22.808): I am happy of how the practice sessions have gone so far. It has been a pity not getting into Q2 because of a tenth, but I think that we can do a good race because we have a good pace. I have to thank the team for their involvement and effort because we have to think that we are fighting against a factory, I am referring to the Aprilia bike, and it is very hard. We are always the best of the non-official bikes but it is difficult to beat the Aprilia ones. Anyway, tomorrow I practically start next to them with the intention of competing against them for the CRT victory. Now a few days off are coming and I want to get out of here being satisfied and having done a good job as we did in Germany, so I hope to do a good race tomorrow. 7 Hiroshi Aoyama (21st, 1.24.235): It has been a little frustrating qualifying because I have not achieved a good fast lap. In any case, I am happy because we have done a good set-up job during these two days which have allowed us to improve though, it is true, very slowly. I have finally managed to have good feeling with the bike, but I have not been able to make a fast lap. Tomorrow in the warm-up we will continue working on the same direction to further improve, but I repeat that the feeling is good. It is a 30-lap race so it will be important to have a bike at your ease to be able to ride well. More, from a press release issued by Honda: BRADL LEADS ALL-HONDA FRONT ROW AT LAGUNA German rider Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda RC213V) claimed his first MotoGP pole position at Laguna Seca, heading a trio of Hondas taking control of the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s US GP at the exciting and challenging Californian circuit. Bradl’s triumph came with only 30 seconds of an exciting final qualifying session remaining. Repsol Honda RC213V rider Marc Marquez had set the pace all session, but had to watch powerless from the pits after slipping off unhurt while striving to put pole position out of reach. Rookie championship leader Marquez stayed second, and will start from the front row of the grid for the sixth time this season. His earlier lap time was 0.017 seconds slower than pole. Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini RC213V rider Alvaro Bautista stormed to third, for his first front row this year. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V), returned from injury, qualified seventh, to head row three. Bradl’s maiden class pole comes after a run of improving results for the German, following a troubled start to the former Moto2 champion’s second MotoGP season. He claimed his first front-row start at Assen in round seven, and scored his second fourth place of the season at the German GP last weekend. The 23-year-old has his sights firmly set on his first MotoGP rostrum on his second visit to Laguna. Marquez claimed his second win of the year in Germany, regaining the championship lead as his senior-class debut season continues to gather momentum. The reigning Moto2 World Champion arrived at the notoriously tricky 3.610-km Californian circuit sight unseen, since the smaller classes do not race here. He confounded predictions that he would find it hard to learn, taking to the top of the time sheets on the first afternoon, then continuing to force the pace as he polished his corner lines and braking points. The high number of laps round the very short track helped him to unlock the circuit’s secrets, and he seemed set for a second successive pole position, his third this year, when he slid off on the fast Turn 6. He was able to ride back to the pits, but there was not time to essay a clinching final lap. Bautista’s first front row of the season came after steady improvement through the free practice sessions, where he was fourth fastest. He went one better with a series of improving laps in final qualifying. The Spanish former 125 World Champion has a dual role for Honda, race-testing Showa suspension, the only rider on the grid to use it. The team reports encouraging recent progress with this project. Factory rider Pedrosa was ruled out of last weekend’s German GP with temporary low blood pressure problems after suffering a partial collarbone fracture in a practice crash. Courageously returning to this race, in spite of the risk of further damage, the Spanish star took a cautious approach. He did not take part in the morning free practice sessions and placed 11th on Friday afternoon. This meant he had to take part in the first of two final qualifying sessions, needing to be first or second fastest in Q1 to go through to Q2 with the top ten. He ran just four flying laps to secure a significant top time; then came out again after a ten-minute break, missing a second-row start by a quarter of a second to fellow returned injury victim and title rival Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha). Pedrosa’s aim will be to gather as many points as possible in his weakened condition, to limit damage to his championship score as the first half of the season ends and the summer break begins. Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR Honda rider Bryan Staring was another rider meeting Laguna Seca for the first time, and qualified his CBR1000RR-powered machine 22nd. The grand-prix first-timer is seeking to add to his championship points score as he continues to gain experience with the CRT machine. Honda is seeking a third straight win at Laguna Seca, where the retired Casey Stoner took successive victories on the Repsol Honda machine in 2011 and 2012. In eight previous visits Honda has won five times, with Nicky Hayden victorious in 2005 and 2006, and Dani Pedrosa in 2009. Tomorrow’s race is the ninth of 18 rounds, and the halfway point of the season is followed by a three-weekend break. Honda MotoGP rider quotes Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda MotoGP: pole, 1m 21.176 “It’s an unbelievable sensation! My first pole position in the premier class at this spectacular circuit and I am the first German rider to get this result in the MotoGP history. I cannot ask for more! We knew that we have a good pace all the weekend but this result is another step forward for me and the team. I am happy with the bike set-up, as happened in Germany, and want to thank my team for their job. We did not make any particular changes, just adjusted some small things ahead the qualifying and my pace was immediately fast. We had a small problem when I stopped at the garage to change the tyre and we lost half a second but once I was out again the track was clear in front of me and I could go for my perfect lap. I think it was my best lap ever.” Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda: 2nd, 1’21.193 “I am happy, because despite the crash we are going to be starting from second on the grid for my first US Grand Prix. Obviously we would have liked to have taken pole, but I made a mistake at Turn 6 when I went in too fast. I lost the front end and couldn’t prevent the crash. I think that we’ve done a good job so far and have a strong pace, so we are confident that tomorrow we will be able to cap things off with a good race.” Alvaro Bautista, Team FUN&GO Honda Gresini: 3rd, 1’21.373 “We did some more work this morning on our race pace and I felt really confident on the bike. This afternoon we finally got the front row position that we have missed out on in recent races. Qualifying has been our weak point but I was on the pace from the start today and everything felt good. It means we have the opportunity to make a good start tomorrow and not lose time trying to pass riders over the early laps. I am happy, confident and thankful to the team for all the work they are putting in. Hopefully we can have a lot of fun tomorrow.” Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 7th, 1’21.728 “Today went a little better than yesterday. We were able to ride a little faster and I was able to make the cut for Q2. Getting seventh on the grid is very good and I’m happy with the placing, but the most important thing is that we had a good practice session and are in the mix to be able to have a good race tomorrow.” Bryan Staring, Team FUN&GO Honda Gresini: 22nd, 1’24.756 “I am quite happy with our performance although we’re still lacking a little something if we want to run with the guys ahead of us. We have made some steps forward but we need to improve further in the race tomorrow. I feel confident with the bike but need to get more comfortable with the track. It’s not an easy task because Laguna Seca is a difficult track to learn but we’ll try our best.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Crutchlow and Smith in top 10 in close Laguna Seca qualifying Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team riders Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith will start inside the top 10 on the grid together for the third race in succession after a tense and exciting qualifying battle at the spectacular Laguna Seca track this afternoon. An eventful afternoon for Crutchlow began when the on form British rider recovered from a heavy fall at Turn 3 to finish third quickest in FP4. Confident he had the speed to secure a fourth consecutive front row start in the 15-minute QP2, the 27-year-old’s second YZR-M1 machine encountered a minor technical problem that prevented him from taking to the track with the rest of the field. His Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew were able to rectify the issue and Crutchlow was quickly able to make up for lost time and put up a tremendous fight for a fifth front row start of the campaign. He clocked a personal best lap of 1.21.420 that was only 0.047s away from the top three and tomorrow’s 32-lap race promises to be an epic battle with the top six split by just 0.277s in a closely contested qualifying session. Smith’s seventh successive top 10 position in qualifying was a great reward for the hard work and effort his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew have been putting in to help him feel comfortable and confident on the tight and technically challenging California track. Smith has made excellent progress throughout his first experience of the US Grand Prix and his best time of 1.22.075 was almost 0.7s faster than he’d managed earlier in the weekend. He finished just 0.899s off pole position and he has been able to set an impressive pace in full race trim throughout the weekend, raising expectations for another positive result in tomorrow’s race. Cal Crutchlow 5th 1.21.420 – 7 laps : “Today has been a tough day, so still to be on the second row of the grid is not too bad considering what has happened. I crashed on my first lap out of the pits in FP4 and we need to check the front tyre because I wasn’t even pushing. It was strange but we will sit down and analyse the data with Bridgestone to identify what happened. Unfortunately the bike couldn’t be repaired in time and we had a small technical problem with the second bike at the start of QP2. We are still checking to see what happened but it meant I only really got one flying lap in. I am fifth and very close to the front row but it is still my worst qualifying result of the season and it is a bit disappointing. But I am optimistic for the race. The times are incredibly close and as always the goal will be to fight for the podium.” Bradley Smith 9th 1.22.075 – 10 laps : “I am very happy with the improvement in my lap times all weekend. To do a 1.22.0 was a great step and I have to say a big thanks to my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew because they did a brilliant job in improving the bike. I felt we had been going round in circles with the set-up a little bit but the bike felt great in QP2 and we really made a big step. This is not an easy track and tomorrow’s race is going to be really tough over 32-laps. It is always crucial to get a good start but tomorrow it will be essential because I believe I can learn a lot in the race. If I can find another couple of tenths from myself then I can stay in a fight and gain a lot of experience and that’s what I need more than anything. I am happy with my race pace and I am looking forward to the race.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: Eighth and tenth in qualifying for Ducati Team at Laguna Seca Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden didn’t achieve the results they had hoped for on day two at the United States Grand Prix, and they’ll start tomorrow’s race on the third and fourth rows, respectively. The Italian is convinced that the updated version of the Desmosedici GP13 frame is a step forward, although he recognized that making a charge up the field from eighth place will be difficult. Hayden hasn’t yet managed to find a solution to the understeer problem, but he’ll try some setup changes in the morning warm-up. Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team, 8th (1:22.026) “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do a lap with all good splits, or I could’ve done a bit better and gone under 1:22. It’s been kind of a strange weekend in the sense that we’ve been faster than on other weekends and a bit closer to the others, but if we look at the pace of all the riders that are in front of us, they’re pretty far ahead and we don’t have much chance of gaining many positions. Anyway, the only thing to do is to concentrate on our rhythm and try to be consistent. The goal is to do the whole race at a pace under 1:23, which would be good for us. It’ll be hard tomorrow, but as always, we’ll do our best.” Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team, 10th (1:22.090) “It hasn’t been an easy weekend for me so far. We went backward a bit in FP4, and my lap in qualifying wasn’t that great. I’ve been struggling all weekend, with a lack of grip and especially with the bike running wide over bumps. Really, my time wasn’t so bad, but we missed a little bit to maybe move up a couple of positions. It hasn’t been the weekend I hoped for so far, but it’s a long way from over, so we’ll see what we come up with for tomorrow.”