FIM MotoGP World Championship Motegi, Japan September 27, 2008 Final Qualifying Results: 1. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:45.543 2. Casey STONER (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:45.831 3. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda), Michelin, 1:45.971 4. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), Bridgestone, 1:46.060 5. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:46.303 6. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:46.450 7. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:46.496 8. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), Michelin, 1:46.554 9. Shinya NAKANO (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:46.616 10. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:46.863 11. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:46.888 12. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:46.904 13. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), Michelin, 1:46.907 14. Toni ELIAS (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:46.958 15. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:47.400 16. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:47.475 17. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:47.669 18. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:47.680 19. Kousuke AKIYOSHI (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:48.671 More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: ROSSI TO LAUNCH TITLE ASSAULT FROM SECOND ROW AT MOTEGI Valentino Rossi will contest his first ‘match point’ of the 2008 championship from the head of the second row tomorrow, having qualified fourth at Motegi today. Rossi’s Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo sealed an impressive pole position today and will lead the field, with Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden behind him. After the changeable weather of yesterday, today was bright and sunny and Rossi was in good shape this morning and finished the session third. This afternoon he signalled his intentions with twenty minutes to go by going to the top of the time sheets with his first Bridgestone qualifying tyre, although he was displaced soon after by Stoner, who was then knocked off by Lorenzo in turn. Despite improving with his next two tyres Rossi was unable to make a dent in his team-mate’s time and he than ran into traffic on his last run, meaning he was unable to improve a final time and was edged off the front row by Nicky Hayden at the end. Finishing on the podium will be enough for the Italian to secure his eighth world championship tomorrow, although he can also take the title from further down the order depending on where Casey Stoner finishes. Tomorrow’s 24-lap race gets underway at 1400 local time. Valentino Rossi Position: 4th Time: 1’46.060 Laps: 26 “Honestly I’m a bit disappointed because the front row was our target today, but anyway fourth isn’t too bad! Unfortunately we spent a bit too much time with the race tyres and started our qualifying sequence a few minutes late, this meant that I was maybe one or two minutes late going out with my last tyre and I got a bit caught up with traffic when de Angelis fell. Anyway, our race pace is quite good so I am confident that we can be in the fight, although we will have to get a good start. We have one or two small problems that we need to work on so we will use the warm-up to check a few things and I think we can improve a little bit more. I am not thinking about the championship right now, I will just aim for the podium and see what happens.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “I think our starting position could have been a little bit better, as there was some traffic on the last lap which didn’t allow Valentino to improve on his final run. For tomorrow the race pace is good and we’re definitely in the mix but there are three or four riders with a good pace so it will definitely be a hard fight tomorrow. Our target will be to stay in the fight and finish on the podium. Congratulations to Jorge and his team for making a return to pole.” More, from another press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: LORENZO SEALS STUNNING POLE IN MOTEGI FOR YAMAHA’S HOME RACE Jorge Lorenzo was on superb form at Motegi today, taking an impressive pole position on his first visit to Japan as a Yamaha rider. The 21-year-old will head the field for his Factory’s home race tomorrow whilst his Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi, who will be bidding to seal his eighth World Championship crown, will start from fourth. Lorenzo struggled in the dry yesterday afternoon but some overnight set-up changes to his M1 reaped rich rewards today and the Spaniard was in very different shape from this morning, finishing the early session in second. This afternoon saw him sustain an even higher level of performance, improving with three out of four of his Michelin qualifying tyres and holding off Casey Stoner, Nicky Hayden and Rossi to hang on to pole position. With his challengers already back in the pits he had pole in the bag for his final run but was nonetheless able to improve once again, setting a best lap of 1’45.543 and bettering the previous pole record by 0.181 seconds. Lorenzo began his MotoGP career this season with three straight poles, culminating in a win from the third one in Portugal. He has started from third at the last two races and finished in the same position for both, meaning he has been on the podium each time he has started on the front row this season. He will be looking to keep this record intact when the lights go out at 1400 local time tomorrow. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 1st Time: 1’54.543 Laps: 27 “I’m so happy for this pole position because this is how I started my season and it shows that we are returning to how we were. It’s the first pole since Portugal, when I won, and we have had a hard time since then until the last two podiums so this is a great satisfaction for me. I was able to ride so fast all day today, a big improvement from yesterday, and my Michelin tyres worked so well all day so thank you to them. My team have done a great job to set the bike up and this is a fantastic qualifying for us. It’s not the race so now we have to wait for tomorrow, but we’re starting in the best place so I am looking forward to having a great race.” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “This morning’s session gave us a lot of confidence for this afternoon’s qualifying. Today, with more temperature in the ground and an improved set-up, we were able to be very fast and consistent. Many thanks to Michelin for very good qualifying tyres; they worked incredibly well today and gave Jorge the chance to fly. It was very exciting for the team to watch him riding like this. We are confident that tomorrow we will have the chance to fight for podium.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Loris Capirossi will start from the second row of the grid for tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix after recording the sixth fastest time on his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R at Motegi today. Capirossi (1’46.450, 27 laps) looked strong throughout the qualifying session and was in with a chance of grabbing a front row start or possibly even pole position as he powered his way around the 4,801m circuit. Unfortunately the Italian star was hampered by traffic on his final lap and lost almost a second on the third section of the track, after previously being quickest over the first two. He is still confident for tomorrow’s race as he plans to continue with his enviable record at Motegi that has seen him record three wins and three podiums from nine visits. Chris Vermeulen (P12, 1’46.904, 27 laps) had his strongest session of the weekend so far as he improved on his race tyre lap-times following important changes made by his crew. Vermeulen will start from the fourth row of the grid which is his best starting position at Motegi to-date. Suzuki’s Australian star is convinced that he will record his best result at a Japanese Grand Prix tomorrow and is determined to break into the top-10 and fight for a high-placed finish. Kousuke Akiyoshi (P19, 1’48.671, 24 laps) had a tough day as he tried to find the best settings for his Suzuki GSV-R. He will be looking to improve on his grid position in tomorrow’s race and is convinced he can get in amongst the points. Today’s qualifying was held in warm and sunny conditions with track temperatures reaching 40ºC. Pole position was set Jorge Lorenzo on his factory Yamaha. Tomorrow’s race is round 15 of the 2008 MotoGP World Championship and the action for the 24-lap spectacle gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (05.00hrs GMT) Loris Capirossi: “I think it has been quite a good weekend for us so far. I am a bit upset about the last qualifying lap, as I hit a lot of traffic and lost eight-tenths-of-a-second in the third section! I am really pleased with the bike and it is probably the best we have had a bike set-up for race distance. We hope that we will have the same conditions in the race tomorrow as we had this afternoon and then we will have to see what happens. I want to say a really big thank-you to all my guys and Suzuki because they have all done a really great job this weekend!” Chris Vermeulen: “That has been the best session of the weekend so far and Tom and the team have done a fantastic job to get the bike set-up for here. The race-tyre pace improved a lot throughout today, but unfortunately I made a bit of a mistake on my last qualifying tyre. If I hadn’t perhaps the time would have been a bit better than it was. It is the best qualifying I have done at Motegi and I am definitely enjoying the track a lot more, so hopefully the race result tomorrow will reflect that.” Kousuke Akiyoshi: “I am really struggling to find the best setting for my bike. We still have work to do with mapping and engine characteristics. We made some big changes and the feeling got a lot better, but we are still pushing the front tyre through the corners so we need to make some more big changes and I hope that will work. I am looking forward to the race and if I can get a good start I am sure I can get up into the points!” Paul Denning Team Manager: “Loris pushed to the absolute limits in qualifying today and it was great to see his confidence back at a high level. A front row start would have been nice, and it looked really possible, but a huge time loss on his last lap caused by traffic ruined the chance of that. Despite this set-back Loris pulled some time back in the final section and still managed to get a second row start. As he said yesterday it’s going to be tough to win his fourth successive Motegi GP, but nobody on the grid will be trying any harder tomorrow! “Chris’s situation has improved a lot today and the guys have taken a big step with the bike. I think he has the race-craft to improve from his grid position and be challenging towards the front during the race. He certainly has the determination to do so and we are looking forward to a fighting performance tomorrow afternoon. “Akiyoshi san has struggled today which has been a surprise to us and to him. Everything we can do to help him find his normal level overnight we will certainly do. We hope he can find enough so that he will be challenging for some points in the race.” More, from a press release issued by Tech 3 Yamaha: Edwards and Toseland ready for Japanese battle Tech 3 Yamaha duo Colin Edwards and James Toseland claimed top ten grid positions for tomorrow’s 24-lap Japanese MotoGP race at the Twin Ring Motegi. Edwards claimed his best qualifying position since his home race in Laguna Seca as he finished an exciting session with the seventh quickest time. Having spent most of the day trying to improve rear traction on race tyres, Edwards was immediately in the groove on his first Michelin qualifying tyre. He jumped to the top of the timesheets with a lap of 1.47.082 with 23 minutes remaining and showed impressive progress throughout. By the end he was only 0.046s off claiming a superb second row start with a best time of 1.46.496. Toseland will start from 10th position as the British rider worked tirelessly on fine-tuning his race set-up to suit harder compound tyres, with conditions much hotter than yesterday’s mixed weather. Toseland steadily improved his pace and he’s confident he can fight his way into contention for a top six finish in Yamaha’s home race. Colin Edwards 7th 1.46.496 24 laps “I felt like I threw everything at it today but I couldn’t get close to Jorge’s time. That was pretty impressive and he did an awesome job. The weird thing is that our qualifier doesn’t usually spin at all but for some reason today that’s all mine did. Michelin have had a great qualifier all year but today it felt more like a soft race tyre, which is very strange and I don’t know if it is down to the tyre or the set-up. Looking at Jorge and how he seemed to make it work, I guess it was our set-up. On race tyres it is the same. Everything I have got it is spinning but there is no variation. I’ve got three tyres I could race and they all feel the same. Normally that would tell you there is a set-up issue. We had spinning problems yesterday and we played around with rear springs and some other suggestions we thought might work, but none of it really seemed to make any difference. We just haven’t found anything yet. Looking at my race pace, I don’t really have a low 47 in my package at the moment and it looks like that’s what we are going to need. It would have been good to be on the second row because history has shown that the first corner here can be pretty tough. It is also not the easiest place to overtake on. There are a lot of hard braking zones but you’ve got lots of momentum going into the corner, so you’ve got to be really confident to dive underneath somebody. This is a big race for Yamaha tomorrow and hopefully I can play a big part in it.” James Toseland 10th 1.46.863 – 23 laps “I paid for my lack of time and experience on this track really. To be in the top ten is not too bad but when you believe you can do a lot better it is frustrating. With four qualifiers you need half the session to use them and that just leaves you ten to fifteen laps on race tyres to find a good set-up. We got the bike a bit better and got into the 48s but we really need to be doing high 47s to be challenging for the top six. I’m pretty happy with my progress but with that rain session yesterday it has held me back a little bit. We made a step forward with the set-up yesterday but there is more we need to do. The temperature was a lot hotter today and the softer tyre that was looking good,we can’t use. Now it is warmer we need to run the harder tyre and we need a lot more weight on the rear to make it work. The setting that we had was fine for the softer tyre but with the harder one it wasn’t putting enough load on the rear tyre. On the qualifiers I got into the 46s and I’m only three-tenths off Colin and he has been here many times on the same bike. I could have done with being on that third row so it will be a bit difficult but we’ll try and keep out of trouble early on. You need a good start because there is not much distance between the start and the first corner. There is a top six finish out there if we can improve the setting and I’ll be giving it my all as usual with this being such an important race for everybody at Yamaha.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER JUST MISSES OUT ON POLE, MELANDRI STRUGGLING IN THE DRY It was “A Bug’s Life”, quite literally, for Casey Stoner at Motegi today as a rogue intruder ruined the Australian’s final challenge for pole position in the Grand Prix of Japan. An insect that hit his visor and restricted his vision when out on his third and final qualifying tyre cost the World Champion his concentration and vital tenths off his lap time. However, with a safe second place already in the bank and a good pace in race trim throughout practice here this weekend, Stoner will launch a confident challenge for the podium from the front row of the grid in tomorrow’s race. Marco Melandri, meanwhile, suffered with the upturn in weather conditions here as the dry track contributed to a resurgence of the problems that have hounded him all season. After a positive showing in the wet yesterday, today the Italian could manage no higher than 16th. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 2nd: 1’45.831 “For the race we’re in quite good shape. We’ve still got a few things to improve for tomorrow but we’re reasonably happy because we’re running consistent lap times. I’m a little bit disappointed with qualifying. Of the three qualifying tyres you always use the first one to try and get used to it and build from there but the second tyre didn’t work as we hoped and then on the third one I got a bug on my visor at the start of the lap! I couldn’t get the rip-off visor off because I was trying to push but the bug distracted me and I couldn’t see properly. It’s a silly little thing but stuff just doesn’t seem to be going for us at the moment! Anyway, second place is still good and tomorrow’s another day. We’re in good shape for the race and we’ll do the best we can.” MARCO MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team) 16th: 1’47.475 “Today went more or less like the whole season. When the conditions are bad and the pace drops we’re able to go well, but with a dry track the same old problems come back. I’m quite strong on the brakes and on the way into the corners but I’m really, really slow on the exit because I can’t get the throttle open. The bike is moving around so much and that clearly isn’t my style of riding. Unfortunately I’m expecting a tough race.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: HOPKINS ELEVENTH IN MOTEGI QUALIFYING Kawasaki’s John Hopkins will start tomorrow’s A-Style Grand Prix of Japan at the Motegi circuit from 11th place on the grid, after making further steps forward in race set-up aboard his Ninja ZX-RR. Hopkins made changes to his chassis set-up in this morning’s practice session, particularly to suit a different specification Bridgestone front tyre that he is using for the first time competitively this weekend. The Kawasaki pilot was looking set throughout this afternoon’s timed session to take his first top ten grid position since Brno, but a small mistake during his final run on qualifying rubber left him in eleventh place with a best time of 1’46.888s around the 4.8km circuit. Hopkins is confident that he has a much-improved race pace with the adjustments he and his crew have made today, which has enhanced the braking stability of his Kawasaki race machine. The 25-year-old Anglo-American is looking forward to tomorrow’s 24-lap race and is hoping to fight for a strong finish aboard his Ninja ZX-RR, which also features a new specification engine for this weekend. Anthony West also made a vast improvement during today’s two hour-long sessions, despite qualifying in 17th position on the grid. The 27-year-old Australian worked with his crew to identify the cause of the corner entry difficulties that have caused him great frustration in the last few races. With the changes made to the Kawasaki racer’s chassis and engine management settings in this morning’s stint, West managed to slash a second off his lap time on a race tyre in the afternoon session. Unfortunately this improvement was not evident on qualifying tyres, but West is now concentrating on building his confidence, especially as he now feels much more comfortable aboard his Ninja ZX-RR. John Hopkins #21 – 11th – 1’46.888 “From yesterday to today we’ve definitely made a big improvement with the bike, particularly in the rear end grip and braking stability. The Bridgestone tyres are working well here, and we’re now using the same specification front tyre that the other competitors have been on for some time. We had to make a few set-up changes to suit this, but my confidence is growing, so we’re back on track and going in the right direction. I was hoping to be in the top ten, but I made a mistake on my last qualifying tyre and we didn’t get the best run, which prevented us from achieving a higher starting position. However, it’s a better result than we’ve had in the last few rounds and our race pace is strong, so we’re looking for a good start, and I hope we can get away to fight for a good finish, especially as it’s Kawasaki’s second home event.” Anthony West #13 – 17th – 1’47.669 “I’m obviously disappointed to have qualified so far down the grid, but we’ve made some progress today. I have been really struggling on corner entry when the machine is under heavy braking, because it locks up and makes it feel very unstable to turn. It’s been particularly bad at this circuit, as it’s very tight and there are a lot of corners that require heavy braking and hard acceleration. We made some changes from this morning to this afternoon and this made a huge difference in the way the bike handled on a race tyre, giving me a lot more confidence and the ability to run consistently good times. We just didn’t have enough time to continue our progress, but it’s the first time I’ve felt really comfortable on the bike for a while and I hope this will transfer into a better result for us in tomorrow’s race.” Naoya Kaneko Kawasaki Technical Manager “John made further steps forward today and we have made quite a few changes to his machine to improve his race pace. Although we are still some way off where we need to be in terms of lap times, John has found a good machine setting, particularly on a race tyre, which is definitely positive for tomorrow. With Anthony we made some chassis and engine management changes, which has given him the ability to run a more consistent lap time and improved his braking stability. He was a second faster on a race tyre in the second session in comparison with the first, and he feels more confident on the bike. We still need to develop the package further, but tomorrow is a long race and with what we have found today with both riders, we are making progress.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Stoner takes front row for Bridgestone’s home GP Round 15: Japan Qualifying Twin Ring Motegi Saturday 27 September 2008 Ducati rider Casey Stoner has taken second place on the grid for tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix after this afternoon’s qualifying session at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit. It is the Australian’s eleventh front row start of the season. Four Bridgestone riders secured top six positions for tomorrow’s 24-lap race with Valentino Rossi in fourth place for Fiat Yamaha, Dani Pedrosa in fifth for Repsol Honda and Loris Capirossi in sixth for the Rizla Suzuki team. It is only the second time this season that Bridgestone has such a presence on the front two rows of the grid and the first time in dry conditions, the previous occasion being when Bridgestone riders locked out the front two rows of the Brno grid after a wet qualifying session. Today’s qualifying results also represent an improvement over Bridgestone’s performance in last year’s Motegi qualifying in which Randy de Puniet was the highest qualifier in fourth place for Kawasaki. Casey Stoner and pole sitter Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) were the only riders able to set a qualifying time today quicker than that of last year’s pole time with Stoner’s best lap of 1m45.831s marking a 1.3 second improvement over his own qualifying lap from 2007. Bridgestone has also been able to make good use of today’s dry and sunny conditions to evaluate its slick race tyres with some promising lap times set by Stoner, Rossi, Pedrosa and Capirossi who were also among the top six riders on race tyres in this morning’s free practice hour together with Lorenzo and Repsol Honda’s Nicky Hayden who qualified third. Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development What are your thoughts on qualifying? “Our run of consecutive pole positions has come to an end, but I am nevertheless quite satisfied with the results of this afternoon’s qualifying session. Casey claimed another excellent front row and set a best lap time quicker than last year’s pole position time which is very pleasing. We have a total of four riders in the top six which will be good for the race. We tried a new qualifying compound today which some riders were able to derive benefit from but it did not give everyone the expected level of performance. Unfortunately, there was a lot of traffic at the end of the session which prevented many riders from improving their time on the final run.” How is the pace on race tyres? “We have had good weather today and this has allowed us to put a lot of laps on the race tyres. We looked at medium and hard specification slick tyres in the warmer conditions that we have faced and the performance has been quite consistent. The competition is extremely close and the battle for the front positions will be tough in the race. Some riders have put over a race distance on the tyres today, although not on consecutive laps, so durability will hopefully not be a concern. Of course the race is a different matter entirely, but we have several riders near the front of the grid who should all have the pace to fight for the podium tomorrow.” Bridgestone-shod Riders’ Qualifying Session Results Pos. Rider Team Qualifying Time (pos) Gap to Pole P2 Casey Stoner Ducati Corse 1m45.831s +0.288s P4 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m46.060s +0.517s P5 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1m46.303s +0.760s P6 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m46.450s +0.907s P9 Shinya Nakano San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m46.616s +1.073s P11 John Hopkins Kawasaki Racing Team 1m46.888s +1.345s P12 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m46.904s +1.361s P14 Toni Elias Alice Team 1m46.958s +1.415s P15 Sylvain Guintoli Alice Team 1m47.400s +1.857s P16 Marco Melandri Ducati Corse 1m47.475s +1.932s P17 Anthony West Kawasaki Racing Team 1m47.669s +2.126s P18 Alex de Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m47.680s +2.137s P19 Kousuke Akiyoshi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m48.671s +3.128s Weather: Dry Air 22°C, Track 38°C (Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by JiR Team Scot Honda: Andrea Dovizioso ready for another top five finish at Motegi After the final day of testing for the Japanese Grand Prix, Andrea Dovizioso will start from the fifth row of the grid with the daunting prospect of moving up through the field to finish in the top five. During the free practice sessions the JiR Team Scot rider has managed to develop his Honda RC212V with the aim of being able to do consistent lap times. On a track that commits both bike and the rider during both braking and acceleration, Andrea Dovizioso is confident he can achieve a good result, and utilize to the maximum the early laps as he aims to recover vital positions. Cirano Mularoni Team Manager JiR Team Scot “The qualifying session has been demanding for Andrea and tomorrow in the race he will give the maximum at the start and push 110% in the early stages, paying special attention to the first turn, which is both narrow and slow after the long straight. We don’t need to emphasize the ability of Andrea, who is able to make a good start and then able to manage a race that often sees him come up through the field. With this in mind, I am confident that we could get another good result.” Andrea Dovizioso Rider JiR Team Scot MotoGP HONDA RC212V 13th time: 1’46 “907 “Tomorrow will be a race that I must make a good start in. From the fifth row I will have to start very well, but usually I make a fast start, so I might be able to recover some positions. The first turn on the Motegi circuit could be difficult and has to be approached carefully if we are all bunched up. The circuit has a particular character: there’s a lot of acceleration from low speed, out of the slow corners and these characteristics do not help us and also it is pretty challenging to pass on the brakes. Passing is one of my strengths and one, which I will try to exploit to the fullest. I think the first group of four riders will have an advantage, while I can fight for fifth or sixth place in the second group.” Gianni Berti Technical Coordinator JiR Team Scot “In light of the race, we are quite ready and we will work in the warm-up for the development of some minor details. Our position on the grid is just Andrea failing to show his quality in that session, but we are optimistic for tomorrow and I believe that with a good start we can have a good race and collect the rewards.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Set to run a tribute livery to Lupin III, `the Gentleman Thief´, on Sunday, Jorge Lorenzo stole the show at Motegi with a new pole position record. When all eyes were on Fiat Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi and reigning World Champion Casey Stoner at the A-Style Grand Prix of Japan, Lorenzo tore up the script in qualifying for a fourth pole position of his rookie MotoGP season. On course for pole in the final minutes of the Saturday afternoon session, the Spaniard pulled another hot lap from up his sleeve to record a blistering 1´45.543 time in the final seconds of the afternoon run. Having stepped onto the podium every time that he has taken off from the front row including at the last two races- Lorenzo is a favourite for a spot on the rostrum at the track where he has only finished in the top three on one occasion. Ducati rider Stoner will start from the front row for the ninth consecutive race, knowing that he could lose the title on Sunday afternoon. The Australian elected against a late attempt at beating Lorenzo´s marker, not emerging from his garage in the final minutes of the session. Stoner´s future Ducati teammate Nicky Hayden was the highest qualifying Honda rider for his Japanese manufacturer´s home race, completing the front line. The American made it two Michelin riders on the front row at a track singled out as a Bridgestone track. World Championship leader Rossi was the first rider outside half a second of teammate Lorenzo´s time, and will start from the head of the second row. The Italian could be crowned 2008 titlist tomorrow with a podium finish, whatever happens to his rivals. Repsol Honda´s Dani Pedrosa, another rider with a mathematical possibility of taking the title, will line up alongside Rossi, with the racewinner from the past three years at Motegi Loris Capirossi- rounding off a star-studded second line. Colin Edwards, Randy de Puniet and Shinya Nakano make up the third row for the A-Style Grand Prix of Japan. Alex de Angelis had a late crash in the session, leaving his bike on the racing line, but it was quickly removed and both he and his fellow riders were unaffected by the incident. 250cc Marco Simoncelli took his fifth 250cc pole position of the season with the fastest lap of the second quarter-litre qualifying session, with a 1´51.473 time denying 2005 & 2006 Motegi racewinner Hiroshi Aoyama the top spot for his home Grand Prix. The Italian took his Metis Gilera RSA round the Japanese circuit some 1.4 seconds faster than his provisional front row time from Friday. Aoyama joins the World Championship leader on the frontline as he makes his own charge for a first win of 2008, whilst provisional poleman Alex Debon held on to a place on the first row. Rounding off the top four in the 250cc run was Aoyama´s Red Bull KTM teammate Mika Kallio, the winner of last year´s race and a contender for this year´s title. The track has been KTM territory over the past three years, but this season features two powerful foes for the Austrian factory in the form of the Gilera and Aprilia machines alongside them. Mapfre Aspar rider and frequent podium finisher Alvaro Bautista heads the second row, alongside teammate Hector Faubel, Julian Simon and home rider Yuki Takahashi, who was announced yesterday as an entrant in the MotoGP World Championship for 2009. Although he had done enough for a third row start in the opening qualifying session, Hector Barbera will not be in action at the A-Style Grand Prix of Japan after crashing in the Saturday morning Free Practice session. The Team Toth Aprilia rider picked up fractures to his fourth and fifth thoracic vertebrae, and has been withdrawn from the next three Grands Prix as a precaution. 125cc 125cc World Champipnship leader Mike di Meglio will start the A-Style Grand Prix of Japan from pole position on Sunday, the first qualifying top spot of his Grand Prix career. The Frenchman was the frontrunner in a second qualifying session in which improved track conditions were reflected by the lower cylinder category lap times, with every rider dropping their Friday markers. Riding the Ajo Motorsport Derbi machine, Di Meglio clocked a 1´58.678 lap of which no other rider could get within three-tenths of a second. Joining him on the front row, Stefan Bradl placed on the frontline for the second race in succession, joined by Indianapolis racewinner Nico Terol in another sterling showing for the young Spaniard. Terol was pushing for pole late on in the session, but saw his front wheel raise up and create a nervous moment with the WRB Jack&Jones Aprilia man. Emmi-Caffe Latte´s Sandro Cortese completes the first line, in the top four at the start of a race for the first time this season, in doing so relegating reigning World Champion Gabor Talmacsi to row two. Scott Redding, Dominique Aegerter and Pol Espargaro will be lining up alongside the Bancaja Aspar rider. Provisional poleman Joan Olive could only manage twelfth in the session, whilst title contender Simone Corsi will start from fifteenth on the grid. More, from a press release issued by Honda: HAYDEN ROMPS TO FRONT ROW START, DANI ROW TWO Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) delivered a storming front row qualifying performance here on Honda’s home turf when he put his RC212V on the front row for the third time this year. His team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) delivered an equally emphatic ride to qualify fifth fastest. After his determined second place finish at Indianapolis two weeks ago, and still not quite at peak fitness after the heel injury sustained in August, Nicky is finishing his illustrious career with Honda on a high. Just four tenths away from pole-man Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) and lining up alongside second quickest Casey Stoner (Ducati), the American former World Champion made it to the front row despite having to run two laps on his final set of qualifying tyres. Pedrosa in only his second qualifying stint on Bridgestone tyres showed he is rapidly getting to grips with both the new rubber and the pneumatic-valve RC212V engine. This is his tenth top six start of the year and the hard-charging Spaniard insists there is more to come as he digs deep on home turf. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) showed his intent here topping the timesheet early on before settling for eighth fastest time and third row start, just over a second adrift of Lorenzo’s 1m 45.543s time. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), who will start from fourth on the grid was always in the hunt for the front row, Stoner too looked good for a top slot as he headed the order with fifteen minutes left, a lap time of 1m 45.831 his best at that point. But as the pace hotted up, with sticky but short-life qualifying tyres fitted, the reigning World Champion could not match the speed of Lorenzo around the 4.801km of this challenging circuit. Shinya Nakano (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) made it into the top ten with a measured ride that gives him a fine chance of getting among the front men if he can launch his machine cleanly from row three into turn one. His team-mate Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) struggled somewhat today and could only qualify in 18th place, more than two seconds shy of the top time. The San Marinese man crashed in the late stages of this hour qualifying session while giving it everything thankfully without injury. Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Scot Honda RC212V) too would have preferred a more sparkling afternoon after being confirmed as Dani’s team-mate in the frontline factory outfit for next season. The dogged Dovi will however have more to show in tomorrow’s warm-up and his race efforts will be typically relentless. Hayden’s third front row start of the year was as welcome as the appearance of former World Champion Alex Criville. The 1999 premier class victor appeared on his mighty NSR500 for two demo laps and the affable Spaniard was delighted. He said: “Riding the bike brought back many good and happy memories. I think the NSR500 is probably one of the greatest motorcycles ever made, and it was good to see the fans enjoying the sound of the 500 once more. The engine still makes very good power I had a small slide on my first lap. I got on the gas and had some wheel-spin, so I told myself to be careful. These bikes have no traction control!” Nicky Hayden, 3rd fastest, at 1m 45.971s said: “Honda’s home race, we’re on the front row which is nice, now we’ve got to try and get a result. Yesterday the bike didn’t feel good, balance and all. We made some pretty good changes overnight. A lot of the time when you make changes, in theory they should do this or that but a lot of the time it don’t work out like that, but today everything worked like we thought it would, so my guys did some good work. My race pace is decent but not great, we need to improve tomorrow morning if we want to turn it into a result, which is the plan. My first qualifier went good, my second I didn’t really improve, the third one I did improve, then the fourth felt really good. But going into turn three there was a pack of riders, so I just had to shut it down. The Michelin qualifiers were really good today.” Dani Pedrosa, 5th fastest, said: “I’m happier than I was after Indy qualifying because we are improving all the time. Every time I go out with another qualifying tyre I get faster, but during my last lap today I made a mistake at one corner and lost a lot of time. The second row is OK, it’s important to get a good start here because the first corner is so close to the grid. Today we tried a few different race tyres and did some good work, but we still need to make some improvements in a few different places. This is Honda’s home track, I have always been a Honda rider, so it’s very important for all of us to get a good result here.” De Puniet, eighth on the grid, said: “It was a good day but not perfect. In race trim we improved the feeling since this morning but I am not totally satisfied about the rear grip. I had a too many slides and need more initial grip. We tried to adjust the setting getting some improvements but it’s not enough yet. However I feel satisfied as lapped consistently fast on race tyres. Unfortunately I made a small mistake on qualifiers at turn nine loosing three tenths and the second row. Anyway third row is not bad.” Ninth-fastest Shinya Nakano said: “Today the weather was better than yesterday for both the morning and afternoon sessions, with high temperatures that allowed us to work well. During the morning we worked on the bike set-up and tyre choice, trying a couple more tyre solutions at the start of qualifying and putting together a pace I was happy with. I’m not completely satisfied with ninth on the grid but the third row isn’t bad. It will obviously be important to get a good start tomorrow because it is difficult to overtake here. I’m confident for the race because my pace is good.” Andrea Dovizioso (13th) said: “Tomorrow I must make a good start in. I might be able to recover some positions. The first turn on the circuit could be difficult and has to be approached carefully if we’re bunched up. The track has a particular character: there’s a lot of acceleration from low speed, out of the slow corners and these characteristics do not help us and also it is pretty challenging to pass on the brakes. Passing is one of my strengths and one, which I will try to exploit to the fullest.” Alex De Angelis (18th) said: “It’s been a really tough day today. We have definitely improved the race set-up but we don’t seem able to put it together in qualifying. Unfortunately I crashed on my last lap and couldn’t improve my position any more. In any case I’m confident about tomorrow because we’re in good shape with the race setting. Obviously we’re not going to be challenging for sixth or seventh but I’d be happy with a top ten.” 250cc Marco Simoncelli (Gilera) took pole in the quarter-litre category for the fourth time this season so far and KTM rider Hiro Aoyama will line up alongside the Italian series points leader, just 0.246 seconds short of the pole time. Alex Debon (Aprilia) and Mika Kallio (KTM) complete the front row. Yuki Takahashi (JiR Scot Honda RS250RW) ended the day eighth fastest after nudging the front row positions with ten minutes to go. His fellow Honda runner Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT SAG RS250RW) slots in 14th. Takahashi said: “This morning I wasn’t happy with my number one bike so I took my second bike out but without much improvement. We worked on the chassis settings and electronics of my best bike ready for the qualifying session and we improved our overall performance. My team did a great job for me. I will start the race from the second row but I should be starting from the front row. During my fast qualifying lap I caught a group of slower riders and that cost me time.” Wilairot, 14th, said: “I like this track as I have raced here many times but today I could not get in a perfect lap in qualifying. But I am confident for the race tomorrow because everything is working well for me apart from a small problem with the front end turning in. It was worse yesterday and this morning but the team worked on the front suspension making a few minor changes and putting in stiffer springs. The engine feels strong and I know which tyres I will race with so if I make a good start and I will have a chance of a good result tomorrow.” 125cc Series points leader Mike Di Meglio took pole while his nearest title challenger Simone Corsi (Aprilia) could only qualify 15th. The front row comprises Stefan Bradl second fastest with Nicolas Terol and Simone Cortese (all Aprilia) completing the front row. Cyril Carrillo (FFM Racing Honda RS125R) qualified 37th and said: “I find it very difficult to understand the bike. I’ll go as far as saying I don’t get it. I need to review everything and completely reassess myself. It’s the first time I’ve ridden on this track and it’s hard to pick up tenths of seconds. There’s a lot of heavy braking at speed. Also I have pain in my right wrist, though I don’t know what’s causing it as I’ve never injured it.” Honda rider quotes. MotoGP: Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 3rd 1m 45.971s. “Honda’s home race, we’re on the front row which is nice, now we’ve got to try and get a result. Yesterday the bike didn’t feel good, balance and all. We made some pretty good changes overnight. A lot of the time when you make changes, in theory they should do this or that but a lot of the time it don’t work out like that, but today everything worked like we thought it would, so my guys did some good work. My race pace is decent but not great, we need to improve tomorrow morning if we want to turn it into a result, which is the plan. My first qualifier went good, my second I didn’t really improve, the third one I did improve, then the fourth felt really good. But going into turn three there was a pack of riders, so I just had to shut it down. I went hard enough for the rest of that lap to keep heat in the tyres and then tried to pull the trigger again. Luckily I was able to get two laps out of it, though the last little bit of the second lap the right side started to go. The Michelin qualifiers were really good today, so I just held on to squeeze on to the front row. That’s important here especially because in the past there’s been plenty of carnage at the first turn. We’ll try to improve the bike in morning, try to get away with them, then see what we got.” Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 5th – 1m 46.303s. “I am happier than I was after Indy qualifying because we are improving all the time. Every time I go out with another qualifying tyre I get faster, but during my last lap today I made a mistake at one corner and lost a lot of time. The second row is okay, it’s important to get a good start here because the first corner is so close to the grid. Today we tried a few different race tyres and did some good work, but we still need to make some improvements in a few different places. This is Honda’s home track, I have always been a Honda rider, so it is very important for all of us to get a good result here. I will do my best.” Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda: 8th 1m 46.554s. “It was a good day but not perfect! On race trim we improved the grip feeling since this morning but I am not totally satisfied about the rear grip. I had a too many slides and need more initial grip. We tried to adjust the setting getting some improvements but it’s not enough yet. However I feel satisfied as lapped consistently fast on race tyres. Unfortunately I made a small mistake on qualifiers at turn 9 losing three tenths and the second row. Anyway third row is not bad but we need to find more rear grip in tomorrow’s warm up session. My wrist still aches a lot so will get some painkillers for the 24 laps.” Shinya Nakano, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 9th 1m 46.616s. “Today the weather was better than yesterday for both the morning and afternoon sessions, with high temperatures that allowed us to work well. During the morning we worked on the bike set-up and tyre choice, trying a couple more tyre solutions at the start of qualifying and putting together a pace I was happy with. I’m not completely satisfied with ninth on the grid but the third row isn’t bad. It will obviously be important to get a good start tomorrow because it is difficult to overtake here. I’m confident for the race because my pace is good.” Andrea Dovizioso, JiR Scot Honda: 13th 1m 46.907s. “Tomorrow will be a race that I must make a good start in. From the fifth row I will have to start very well, but usually I make a fast start, so I might be able to recover some positions. The first turn on the Motegi circuit could be difficult and has to be approached carefully if we are all bunched up. The circuit has a particular character: there’s a lot of acceleration from low speed, out of the slow corners and these characteristics do not help us and also it is pretty challenging to pass on the brakes. Passing is one of my strengths and one, which I will try to exploit to the fullest. I think the first group of four riders will have an advantage, while I can fight for fifth or sixth place in the second group.” Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 16th 1m 47.680s. “It has been a really tough day today. We have definitely improved the race set-up but we don’t seem able to put it together in qualifying. Unfortunately I crashed on my last lap and couldn’t improve my position any more. In any case I’m confident about tomorrow because we’re in good shape with the race setting. Obviously we’re not going to be challenging for sixth or seventh but I’d be happy with a top ten.” 250cc: Yuki Takahashi, JiR Scot Honda: 8th 1m 52.197s. “This morning I was not satisfied with the performance of my number one bike so I took my second bike out to try that one but without significant improvement. We worked on the chassis settings and electronics of my best bike ready for the qualifying session and we improved our overall performance. I have to thank my mechanics for their good work, they did a great job for me. I will start the race from the second row but I should be starting from the front row but during my fast qualifying lap I caught a group of slower riders and that cost me time. I’m ready for a fast race tomorrow. I have to get a fast start and stay close to Simoncelli as he has a very good rhythm.” Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT SAG: 15th 1m 53.356s. “I like this track as I have raced here many times but today I could not get in a perfect lap in qualifying. But I am confident for the race tomorrow because everything is working well for me apart from a small problem with the front end turning in. It was worse yesterday and this morning but the team worked on the front suspension making a few minor changes and putting in stiffer springs, we will fine tune the front end in the warm up tomorrow. The engine feels strong and I know which tyres I will race with so if I make a good start I will have a chance of a good result tomorrow.” 125cc: Cyril Carrillo, FFM Honda: 37th 2m 03.426s. “I find it very difficult to understand the bike. I’ll go as far as saying I don’t get it. I need to review everything and completely reassess myself. It’s the first time I ride on this track where it is hard to pick up tenth of seconds. There’s a lot of heavy braking at speed. Also I have pain in my right wrist, though I don’t know what causes it as I never injured it.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: DE PUNIET 8th FASTEST AT MOTEGI GP QUALIFYING Motegi, 27 September 2008: LCR Honda MotoGP rider Randy De Puniet rode his Michelin-shod Honda RC212V to 8th place today in the qualifying session at the 4.801m Twin Ring Motegi circuit in readiness for the tomorrow’s 24-lap race. After yesterday’s morning rain shower, today’s both premier class sessions were dry with ambient temperature of 25°C while the asphalt rose up to 40°. After this morning’s 8th position in the free practice, De Puniet worked on suspensions setting and tyres choice to improve his pace clocking his best lap time of 1’46.554 (on lap 20 of 23). The 27-year-old made good progress on race set-up showing his potential around the Japanese track even if he made a small mistake on qualifiers in the last minutes of the session loosing the second row. However Randy feels confident for tomorrow’s race as he already experienced the podium here last year. Today’s pole man Lorenzo set the quickest lap time of 1’45.543 followed by Stoner and Hayden. De Puniet 8th: “It was a good day but not perfect! On race trim we improved the grip feeling since this morning but I am not totally satisfied about the rear grip. I had a too many slides and need more initial grip. We tried to adjust the setting getting some improvements but it’s not enough yet. However I feel pretty satisfied as lapped consistently fast on race tyres. Unfortunately I made a small mistake on qualifiers at turn 9 loosing three tenths and the second row. Overall third row is not bad but we need to find more rear grip in tomorrow’s warm up session. My wrist still aches a lot so will get some painkillers for the 24 laps”. More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: REPSOL HONDA’S HAYDEN ON MOTEGI FRONT ROW Japanese Grand Prix, Twin Ring Motegi Qualifying, Saturday September 27 2008 Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden stormed to a front-row start at Motegi this afternoon, signalling his intention to play a leading role in tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix. The American ended the qualifying session third fastest, just four tenths off pole position, despite having to ride two full-speed laps on his final set of Michelin qualifiers after he had been baulked by a group of slower riders at the start of his final run. A good grid position is vital at Motegi because the first corner is tight and close to the start. This is Hayden’s third front-row start of the year, after Catalunya and Laguna Seca, Two weeks ago at Indianapolis he recorded his first podium finish of the year with a great ride to second. Nicky Hayden, 3rd fastest, 1m 45.971s “Honda’s home race, we’re on the front row which is nice, now we’ve got to try and get a result. Yesterday the bike didn’t feel good, balance and all. We made some pretty good changes overnight. A lot of the time when you make changes, in theory they should do this or that but a lot of the time it don’t work out like that, but today everything worked like we thought it would, so my guys did some good work. My race pace is decent but not great, we need to improve tomorrow morning if we want to turn it into a result, which is the plan. My first qualifier went good, my second I didn’t really improve, the third one I did improve, then the fourth felt really good. But going into turn three there was a pack of riders, so I just had to shut it down. I went hard enough for the rest of that lap to keep heat in the tyres and then tried to pull the trigger again. Luckily I was able to get two laps out of it, though the last little bit of the second lap the right side started to go. The Michelin qualifiers were really good today, so I just held on to squeeze on to the front row. That’s important here especially because in the past there’s been plenty of carnage at the first turn. We’ll try to improve the bike in morning, try to get away with them, then see what we got.” Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager “Nicky and his team have done a great job here. His machine and the Michelin tyres are working very well, so he could make the front row, and it is very important to start from the front here. His pace on race tyres is also good. After his podium at Indy he is very motivated to fight for the win here.” More, from another press release issued by Repsol Honda: PEDROSA FIFTH FASTEST, AND MORE TO COME Japanese Grand Prix, Twin Ring Motegi Qualifying, Saturday September 27 2008 Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa will start tomorrow’s Japanese GP from the second row of the grid after recording fifth-fastest time in this afternoon’s qualifying session. Conditions were warm and sunny as the Spaniard sped to fifth place in only his second qualifying session on Bridgestone qualifying tyres. Earlier in the day he had recorded fourth fastest time in the final free practice outing. Tomorrow morning Pedrosa is confident he can make further set-up improvements to his RC212V so he can be a part of the front-running pack in the race. Dani Pedrosa, 5th fastest, 1m 46.303s “I am happier than I was after Indy qualifying because we are improving all the time. Every time I go out with another qualifying tyre I get faster, but during my last lap today I made a mistake at one corner and lost a lot of time. The second row is okay, it’s important to get a good start here because the first corner is so close to the grid. Today we tried a few different race tyres and did some good work, but we still need to make some improvements in a few different places. This is Honda’s home track, I have always been a Honda rider, so it is very important for all of us to get a good result here. I will do my best.” Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager “Dani is going well here, he has improved his race pace since yesterday and still has some small improvements to make to his set-up during morning warm-up. This is his second qualifying sessions with Bridgestone tyres, he is starting to understand the tyres, though he can still get faster with them at the next races. Considering this, the second row is a good result. It will be a tough race with many riders running similar lap times.” CRIVILLE AND REPSOL HONDA NSR500 RIDE AGAIN Alex Crivillé rode his 1999 World Championship-winning Repsol Honda NSR500 at Motegi today. The Spaniard completed two laps as part of the track’s ten years of GP racing anniversary Motegi hosted its first GP in 1999. “Riding the bike brought back many good and happy memories,” smiled Crivillé. “I think the NSR500 is probably one of the greatest motorcycles ever made, and it was good to see the fans enjoying the sound of the 500 once more. I have my other 1999 NSR at home in Spain. This bike is looked after by the Honda Collection Hall and it felt good. The engine still makes very good power I had a small slide on my first lap. I got on the gas and had some wheelspin, so I told myself to be careful. These bikes have no traction control! Compared to the modern MotoGP machines, everything is different, the 500 doesn’t have any engine braking, and the powerband is narrower than that of the four-strokes.” Crivillé rode for the Repsol Honda team for seven seasons, winning 14 of his 15 GPs for the team, including six victories during his title-winning year.