FIM MotoGP World Championship
Misano World Circuit, San Marino
September 12, 2015
Qualifying Results (all on Bridgestone tires):
From Qualifying Two:
1. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:32.146
2. Marc MARQUEZ, Spain (HONDA), 1:32.252
3. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (YAMAHA), 1:32.358
4. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), 1:32.434
5. Michele PIRRO, Italy (DUCATI), 1:32.736
6. Bradley SMITH, UK (YAMAHA), 1:32.801
7. Andrea IANNONE, Italy (DUCATI), 1:32.821
8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (DUCATI), 1:32.934
9. Danilo PETRUCCI, Italy (DUCATI), 1:33.169
10. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (SUZUKI), 1:33.187
11. Cal CRUTCHLOW, UK (HONDA), 1:33.220
12. Pol ESPARGARO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:33.222
From Qualifying One:
13. Scott REDDING, UK (HONDA), 1:33.340
14. Maverick VIÑALES, Spain (SUZUKI), 1:33.439
15. Yonny HERNANDEZ, Colombia (DUCATI), 1:33.710
16. Loris BAZ, France (FORWARD YAMAHA), 1:34.093
17. Jack MILLER, Australia (HONDA), 1:34.137
18. Hector BARBERA, Spain (DUCATI), 1:34.296
19. Stefan BRADL, Germany (APRILIA), 1:34.333
20. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (APRILIA), 1:34.368
21. Eugene LAVERTY, Ireland (HONDA), 1:34.468
22. Mike DI MEGLIO, France (DUCATI), 1:34.722
23. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (HONDA), 1:34.732
24. Claudio CORTI, Italy (FORWARD YAMAHA), 1:35.385
25. Karel ABRAHAM, Czech Republic (HONDA), 1:35.406
26. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (ART-APRILIA), 1:35.684
More, from a press release issued by Team Estrella Galacia 0,0 Marc VDS Racing:
Fifth row start but a big step forward for Redding at Misano
Misano, Italy – 12 September 2015: Scott Redding missed out on a place in QP2 by the narrowest of margins today, which means the Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider will start tomorrow’s San Marino Grand Prix from the fifth row of the grid.
Redding jumped to the top of the timesheet with his first flying lap in QP1, but was pushed back to third as riders took advantage of their second tyre to put in faster laps. The 22-year-old Briton looked set to reclaim the top spot on his final flying lap, but lost time in the final sector when the front tyre closed on him in the ultra-fast Curvone. The loss was minimal, but it was enough to cost him a place in QP2.
Although disappointed not to make it through to the final qualifying shootout, Redding can take many positives from his pace in FP4, used by many riders to run race simulations. The British rider set the seventh fastest time and looked confident on the bike throughout the 30-minute session. Redding’s times over his 15-lap run were both fast and consistent, promising a strong pace during tomorrow’s 28-lap race.
Scott Redding: 13th 1’33.340
“On my last flying lap I lost the front through turn 11 and had to hold it up on my elbow while trying to regain traction on the gas, but it meant I ran wide. It was quite a fast corner to do that on, so I scrubbed quite a lot of speed and that was the main reason that I struggled at the end. We’ve been getting better and better with our race pace. We tried different tyres and everything this weekend and we haven’t had it easy, but we’ve tried a lot of things and in FP4 we made a good step. I think that tomorrow we can have a good race and hopefully get into the top ten and then work from there.”
Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
“I think there was a big step done in FP3 when he could make some laps behind Marc Márquez and learn something else from him about this bike. In qualifying Scott was able to put these lessons into practice and it was a shame that we haven’t made it through to Q1 by only one tenth, but I think that the rhythm is there for the race. He was fast all day and if we can keep this pace in the race I think that a top ten is possible in the race tomorrow.”
More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda:
Second for Marquez in Misano Qualifying with Pedrosa fourth
In a closely fought qualifying battle for tomorrow’s San Marino GP, Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez lost out on pole position by just a tenth of a second, with teammate Dani Pedrosa missing out on a front row spot by seven hundredths of a second.
With such a short lap – 4.2km – Marc opted for a three-run strategy to give himself the best chance to fight for pole. Lorenzo took provisional pole on his first exit, with Marc slotting in just behind him in second. Dani then leapfrogged his teammate into second spot as the riders began to enter the pits for fresh rubber.
On Marc’s flying lap of his second run, he made an error and immediately re-entered the pits for his final fresh tyre, with enough time for two flying laps. Lorenzo improved again and despite his best efforts and improving on his first run time by almost four tenths, Marc had to settle for second place with his time of 1’32.252 (lap 7/8). Dani also improved on his final exit with his time of 1’32.434 (lap 7/9) but missed the front row by just 0.076 seconds to Rossi.
Tomorrow’s 28 lap race will begin at 14h00 local time.
Marc Marquez
2ND 1’32.252
“I’m not happy with the qualifying session I had. I think I could have improved my time, but sometimes things do not go as you hope. The important thing is that, despite this, we will start from the front row in second and we’re only a tenth off Jorge. Tomorrow I expect a tough race as Jorge, Valentino and Dani have great pace, but we will try to keep in the fight until the end.”
Dani Pedrosa
4TH 1’32.434
“It was a bit of a strange qualifying session because I made some mistakes at a couple of points on the track, and could have done a little better. Now we have to focus on tomorrow; we will try to have the best first lap possible and come out strong, to keep position and push for the best pace we can can get throughout the entire race.”
More, from a press release issued by Aprilia:
STEFAN BRADL AND ALVARO BAUTISTA TO START TOMORROW SIDE BY SIDE FROM THE SEVENTH ROW. EXCELLENT WORK BY THE RIDERS ON THEIR APRILIA RS-GP MACHINES IN ANTICIPATION OF THE RACE
Misano Adriatico, 12 September 2015 – The qualifying sessions came to an end today at Misano Adriatico, the thirteenth round in the 2015 Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing season.
The Aprilia Racing Team Gresini riders will start the race side by side from the seventh row tomorrow after working hard specifically on race strategy throughout all the sessions. This is a strategy that, on one hand does not highlight speed on the flying lap, but on the other guarantees that the two riders will be able to ride a more optimistic race tomorrow.
In nineteenth place with a time of 1’34.333 at the end of the qualifiers, Stefan Bradl took a spill without consequences toward the end of the session, just as he was improving on his time. A time of 1’34.368 earned Alvaro Bautista the twentieth spot on the grid, a result the Spaniard intends to improve tomorrow, thanks to the hard work done to ensure consistent performance from his RS-GP on the Romagnolo track.
ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Manager)
“It’s a shame, first of all, about Bradl’s crash as he was putting in a good time, but obviously these things happen when you’re pushing it. Overall the riders are quite pleased with the bike. We’ll try to do some more work tomorrow on our race pace to improve this aspect even more. We don’t have any particular concerns about possible drops in tyre performance. We are able to consistently maintain the pace we demonstrated during the practice sessions, so we expect to improve our positions in the race.”
FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
“It was too bad about Stefan’s crash as he would have improved significantly, probably dropping below the 1’34” mark, but we are still confident for the race tomorrow, which will not be an easy one for anybody. In fact, Stefan achieved a good feeling with the bike today and Alvaro, who will be starting just behind him, also focused a lot on race pace. Hopefully we’ll be able to earn some good points, as has frequently been the case of late.”
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“I had hoped to be faster in qualifying but we worked hard throughout all the sessions to get the bike ready for the race and I’m sure that penalised me a bit on the flying lap. I wasn’t able to push hard but that’s sort of what has happened in recent races as well. We struggle more in qualifying but then we are looking good for the race. Tomorrow will be a long day but I think I’ll be able to manage it well and stay close to the points positions.”
STEFAN BRADL
“During FP4 we found some good solutions that improved the bike’s performance and they helped me to be faster today, although we are struggling a bit more here than on other tracks. I was really pushing hard in qualifying, giving 100% or maybe even a bit more… so I lost grip at the front and took a slide without any significant consequences. It was a shame not to be able to complete the lap, because I could have improved my time quite a bit. Anyway, the important thing is that today we were able to improve the bike setup, which is now more stable in braking and handles better, which also helps me to hold my line in the fast turns.”
More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone:
Record lap launches Lorenzo to pole position at Misano
Round 13: San Marino and Rimini MotoGP™ – Qualifying
Misano, Saturday September 12 2015
Bridgestone slick options: Front: Soft, Medium & Hard; Rear: Soft & Hard (Symmetric) & Medium (Asymmetric)
Bridgestone wet tyre options: Soft (Main), Hard (Alternative)
Weather: FP3 – Dry. Ambient 21-22°C; Track 28-33°C (Bridgestone measurement)
FP4/QP – Dry. Ambient 24-25°C; Track 41-44°C (Bridgestone measurement)
Jorge Lorenzo will start on pole position for tomorrow’s San Marino and Rimini Grand Prix after the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider set a new Misano Circuit Best Lap record of 1’32.146 to finish one-tenth of a second of his closest rival, Repsol Honda Team’s Marc Marquez.
Having finished yesterday’s practice sessions as the quickest rider, Lorenzo found extra pace during qualifying and his best lap time in Qualifying Practice 2 beat the previous pole position lap record at Misano by almost eight-tenths of a second. In QP2 Marquez set a time of 1’32.252 to qualify in second place and split the Factory Yamaha riders as clocking the third quickest time was Valentino Rossi, who circulated the Misano circuit in his Yamaha YZR-M1 in a time of 1’32.358. All riders that qualified on the front row used the combination of the medium compound rear and hard compound front slick to set their quickest times.
The Misano circuit was once again subjected to warm and dry conditions today with a peak track temperature of 44°C recorded during qualifying. The favourable conditions allowed extensive testing of the different slick options available and certain compounds of the front and rear slicks firmed as the favourite race tyre choices for tomorrow’s twenty-eight lap race. For the front tyre, the grid looks set to be fairly evenly split between choosing the medium and hard compound front slicks, although the majority of the factory option riders look set to race the hard front slick. Rear tyre choice appears to show a considerable preference for the medium compound rear slick, although a number of open class riders look set to race the soft compound rear slick. A good sign for a close race tomorrow is that all slick options have shown the potential to provide consistent performance over race distance on the new Misano asphalt, with many riders able to lap under race record pace during their race simulations.
The final chance for the teams and riders to confirm their setup and tyre choice for the race will be the morning Warm Up session at 0940 local time (GMT+2) before the 2015 edition of the San Marino and Rimini Grand Prix starts at 1400.
Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department
“After an initial period of familiarisation with the new asphalt yesterday, today more work was made on refining tyre choice for the race and two front and rear slick options have shown to be well suited to the new track surface. The medium and hard compound front slicks are both working well at Misano, the medium compound option reaches its optimum operating temperature quicker and has better turn-in performance, while for others, particularly the factory Honda and Yamaha riders, the hard compound offers better braking performance and is more consistent. Unless track temperatures increase significantly tomorrow, I don’t think we’ll see any factory riders use the hard compound rear slick as in the track temperatures we have had this weekend, the soft and medium compound rear slicks are performing better. Generally, tyre performance during race simulations in FP4 was quite consistent so we hope to see a strong pace throughout the whole twenty-eight laps in tomorrow’s race.”
More, from a press release issued by Forward Racing:
Loris Baz in front of everyone at Misano
The qualifying session of the Grand Prix of San Marino and Riviera di Rimini ends with Open pole for Loris Baz of the Forward Racing team. Baz, second among the Open yesterday, went on track with some new solutions and snatched 16th place on the grid while his teammate Claudio Corti was 24th.
The Frenchman, at the second pole this year, posted a good 1.34.093 despite the rising temperatures in the afternoon. This time grants him the Open pole. The goal for the race remain the points-zone and the Open victory.
Claudio Corti is feeling positive after ending in 24th position. The Italian got his confidence back with his Forward Yamaha after crashing heavily yesterday. He scored a personal best of 1.35.385.
Loris Baz:
“It has been a great weekend until now. Thanks to the changes we made this morning I was able to take a good step forward and get even more feeling on the bike. I thought I could be even faster but temperatures raised a lot and the track was pretty hot. I have a good pace and I’m sure we can fight for the win in the Open class tomorrow“.
Stefan Bradl:
“I am satisfied with this qualifying: in the morning I tried several new solutions and I was able to improve slightly in all sectors. Tomorrow the aim is to increase the feeling in acceleration and grip but I’m confident. We should continue this way“.
More, from a press release issued by Movistar Yamaha:
Yamaha Delights with Double Front Row in Misano
Misano Adriatico (Italy), 12th September 2015
Having broken his previous best lap in this morning’s free practice session, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Jorge Lorenzo kept the pressure on in qualifying this afternoon, taking pole at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. Teammate Valentino Rossi also showed a great pace in the 15-minute shoot-out and qualified in third position on the first row.
Lorenzo made his trademark early exit from the pits as the 15-minute session began and immediately dropped a first flying lap of 1‘32.357s. On a two-stop strategy, he quickly returned to his pit box with ten minutes remaining for a tyre-change and headed back out less than a minute later.
Back on track, he was ready to put the hammer down and bettered his earlier time, clocking a 1‘32.146s, another new circuit best lap record, and extended his lead to 0.443s from his closest rival.
With a little more than four minutes remaining, he came in for his second stop. He returned to the track with over three minutes remaining and, though he was unable to further improve on his best lap, his pole position time remained unchallenged, giving him his third pole of the season by 0.106s.
Though teammate Rossi had revealed his special helmet, that symbolizes how he is being chased by his rivals, he was the last rider to exit pit lane at the start of the Q2 session.
The Doctor started qualifying by setting a low ’33 with a first flying lap of 1‘33.190 to take provisional fourth. Hot laps by rivals dropped him to ninth, but the Italian had another two laps and set a 1‘32.952, moving him up to fifth before going in to the pits with more than six minutes on the clock.
Having been pushed back to seventh, Rossi started his second stint with two and a half minutes of the session remaining. He gave his all and made the crowd go wild when he posted a hot lap of 1‘32.358 for third on tomorrow‘s grid, 0.212s off pole.
JORGE LORENZO
Rather than pole position, it‘s more important to always be first or second; I finished first in all sessions, apart from the first practice, under all kinds of conditions, with new and old tyres. I think we did a good job with the bike during the whole weekend and we have a good setting. We just need to change the last details for tomorrow. It‘s going to be interesting to see how the rear tyre drops as this new tarmac is more abrasive. It will be difficult to keep up the same pace during the whole race, but almost everyone will have the same problems and we are prepared to do a very good race.
VALENTINO ROSSI
It was difficult at the end of the session, because there was a lot of traffic, I was able to find the right moment to do a good lap. The setting and also my pace improved today and for the qualifying the bike was not so bad. I still have some problems, especially in section three, which we have to improve. Starting from the front row is very important for tomorrow‘s race, because Jorge is very strong and the guy with the better pace. Marc is always able to go with him, so the first lap will be very important. Because this is my home race, everybody wants to beat me, so the big shark on my helmet represents Jorge, Marc, the Ducatis. All these guys want to eat me because I‘m the small fish, but I will try to escape, that‘s the target!
MASSIMO MEREGALLI
TEAM DIRECTOR
It was a strong qualifying session today and we are very pleased with both Jorge and Vale’s performance. Jorge rode very good laps to take his third pole position of the year and his pace is really promising throughout the weekend. Vale was equally impressive. Despite traffic, he did really well to secure third, though there is still some work to do. Our set up and package is already very competitive, but we will continue to work in order to make some further steps overnight. I feel positive that we will be ready for tomorrow‘s warm up and have both riders very much in contention during the race.
More, from a press release issued by AB Motoracing:
We are on 24 th position after qualifying in hot Misano
The bad luck still follows Karel Abraham, which entered in thirteenth qualifying of MotoGP season in Misano. The Czech rider suffered minor hand injury during the crash on Friday. In combination with still not completely healed foot he did not reach on better result than twenty-fourth place. He will start to Sunday race from eighth row.
Karel Abraham
“I´m not satisfied at all. Yesterday we had big problem with setting of the bike, I‘was complaining about it all day. I´m convinced that it was a reason why I suffered minor injury of my left hand. It was highsider I could not do anything with it. Lately I have them too much, it is a sign that the bike is not working properly. Moreover the foot still hurts me. I have big problem to stay on the bike. Then I have no space for acceleration and improvement. I know that I should be doing completely different times.”
More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:
Michele Pirro qualifies fifth for TIM San Marino GP at Misano. Iannone and Dovizioso seventh and eighth
Michele Pirro, test-rider for the Ducati Test Team and entered as a wild-card for this race, set the fifth-quickest time in qualifying and will start from row 2 for the TIM San Marino Grand Prix, which will be held on Sunday at the Misano World Circuit.
The Ducati Team’s two factory riders, Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso, will start the 28-lap race from the third row of the grid after setting seventh and eighth-quickest times respectively.
In the morning’s FP3 session, decisive for access into Q2, Dovizioso was fourth quickest, while Pirro was sixth and Iannone eighth, results that put all three Ducati Team riders straight into the final qualifying session.
The 30-minute pre-qualifying FP4 session in the early afternoon ended with Dovizioso fourth, Iannone eighth and Pirro, who also had a harmless crash, in eleventh.
All three Ducati riders, who went out on soft rear tyres, set their quickest laps on their second exit: Pirro’s time of 1’32.736 was good enough for fifth place and the second row, while Iannone (1’32.821) and Dovizioso (1’32.934) had to settle for seventh and eighth places and so will line up together on row 3 for the thirteenth round of the season.
Michele Pirro (Ducati Team #51) – 1’32.736 (5th)
“I am very pleased because we have always been in amongst the top positions throughout the entire weekend and a row 2 start from fifth place is a fantastic result. It wasn’t easy to achieve, even though I believed I could do it, and above all merit must go to the team, who did an incredible job. I want to thank Claudio Domenicali, Gigi Dall’Igna and everyone who made possible my presence here as wild-card, giving me the opportunity to show how quick I am.”
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 1’32.821 (7th)
“Overall today for me was better than yesterday. We are still struggling in some parts of the track and we have to understand how to improve some aspects. To be honest I’m not happy with my Q2 because I was not able to do a perfect lap. Today I could only use two soft tyres and in the end I found I had more confidence with the hard one. But there are no excuses, when the time comes to do a quick time you have to do it and I was not able to because of a few small errors in T1 which made me lose precious time. What is important now is to be set up well for tomorrow, get a good start and try and do a good race.”
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’32.934 (8th)
“Pity about my qualifying but I didn’t do a perfect lap. I feel sure I could have got into fourth or fifth place and so I’m disappointed, because the second row is important. However we managed to improve our performance in FP4 in race set-up and so tomorrow, with a good start, I feel sure we can be competitive.”
More, from a press release issued by Avintia Racing:
Everything ready for the San Marino Grand Prix
12/09/15 Avintia Racing MotoGP – Grand Prix of San Marino – QP
Hector Barbera will start tomorrow’s San Marino Grand Prix from the sixth row of the grid after taking 18th fastest time in today’s qualifying session. The Avintia Racing rider did not shine in one lap as usual, but he worked for the race better than ever. Hector has been testing different steering angles on his Ducati during the weekend to improve the agility of the bike and today he finally found something that should allow him to improve his race pace.
Mike Di Meglio will start from the eight row of the grid after struggling with the higher track temperatures this afternoon. The Avintia Racing French rider is looking forward to make a step in the morning warm-up and try to get the best possible result in tomorrow’s 28-lap-race.
HECTOR BARBERA #8 / 18th (P3 Open) 1’34.296 @HectorBarbera
We had a very productive day. Initially, I did not feel comfortable with the front end and I don’t remember myself testing so many changes with the steering angle in all my career… But finally we found something that I like during the FP3, I’m comfortable, fast and with a good pace for the race. In qualifying I made a mistake in the last two corners in my first attempt, and with the second tyre I met my teammate in the final sector and we passed each other like four times, so I lost all my chances. I think we were able to improve, but anyway I feel very comfortable on the bike. I feel more ready that in the last few races, we did many tests, a lot of laps and I’m comfident for tomorrow’s race.
MIKE DI MEGLIO #63 / 22nd (P4 Open) 1’34.722 @Mikejpp63
This morning, we improved our pace from yesterday, but in the afternoon with higher track temperatures, the bike was completely different even though we hadn´t made any changes to the set-up. We then tried a little change in qualifying and we improved, but not enough. We have to continue to work, because tomorrow the race will be hot and we need to find a solution to solve this lack of grip when the temperature rises. This morning my pace was good, similar to Hector’s. But in the afternoon we went backwards. This bike is very sensible to the weight, the heat and every small change… Tomorrow we’ll try some ideas during the warm-up, but we won’t know if they will work, as the temperature for the race will be different.
More, from a press release issued by OCTO Pramac Racing:
Petrux runs fast and wins a precious third row. Yonny gets confidence for the race
Danilo Petrucci confirms fast over the weekend in Misano and capitalizes with a valuable third row the great result in FP3 in which he managed to win the direct qualification to Q2. For Yonny still some problems to resolve, but also the certainty of having made progress comparing to difficoult Friday’s free practices.
Petrux immediately started strong by notching up a great laptime in FP3 which allowed him to get the tenth place (just two tenths of a second from the second row) and go directly to Q2 for the third time in the season. In qualifying for the pole position the rider from of Terni has made the most in the last available lap starting great with the fourth intermediate in T1 and recording a laptime of 1’33.169 which will allow him to start from ninth place tomorrow.
Yonny has tried to overcome the difficulties of the first free practice and he was able to make tangible progress. This, however, was not enough to put him in a position to fight in the morning for direct qualification to Q2 and in the afternoon to get one of the top two places in Q1. His laptime of 1’33.710 put him in the fifth row (15th place) in the Grand Prize of the Republic of San Marino and Riviera di Rimini.
Petrux runs fast and wins a precious third row. Yonny gets confidence for the race
9° – Danilo Petrucci – OCTO Pramac Racing #9
I’m happy for the qualification. It’s a third row with all Ducati, it will be a great show. I am still not satisfied with the race pace. I have not enough feeling with the used tyre. With the team we will work hard tonight to find solutions ahead of the warm-up. Meanwhile I enjoy this ninth place: starting a bit ahead will be a great advantage for the race tomorrow.
15° – Yonny Hernandez – OCTO Pramac Racing #68
We have improved compared to Friday. I’m sStill missing a bit of feeling, especially in the fast part of the track. I must say though that progress emerged today give me confidence for the race. The lap time says that we are not so far. If I make a good start tomorrow I’m sure to be able to run a good race.
More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda:
CRUTCHLOW BATTLES ON TO FOURTH ROW AT MISANO
LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow produced a battling display to qualify in 11th position for Sunday’s San Marino Grand Prix at Misano. The Briton endured a difficult day, but showed real guts to advance to Q2 after finishing second fastest in the Q1 session earlier on Saturday.
Crutchlow conceded afterwards that he had struggled with the set-up of his Honda throughout the day. However, he remained upbeat ahead of Sunday’s race and insists the LCR team will work hard overnight and tomorrow morning to ensure they are competitive at the tricky Rimini circuit.
Cal Crutchlow #35 (11th – 1’33.220)
“We had a tough day for sure. We tried different set-ups on two bikes and it didn’t make much difference, we’re struggling a bit for tomorrow’s race. I think you can see from me and Scott (Redding) how much we’re struggling compared to the factory guys, but there’s no apparent reason for it, we need to look at the data tonight and work hard, then hopefully we can have a good race.
“The goal is always to win, but the reality is a long way from that at the moment, but we have to keep our spirits high and keep the team motivated. We try our best every weekend, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but we have some ideas for tomorrow morning as I think we went the wrong way today.”
More, from another press release issued by LCR Honda:
MILLER ON THE SIXTH ROW AT MISANO
Jack Miller produced a solid ride to qualify in 17th position for Sunday’s San Marino Grand Prix at Misano. The LCR Honda rider improved markedly from Saturday morning’s free practice session to secure a spot on the sixth row of the grid for tomorrow’s MotoGP World Championship race.
Miller admitted afterwards that he was particularly pleased with the pace he had found using a hard tyre option. The Australian believes it will prove very beneficial during the race and is now confident of producing a good result at the Rimini circuit.
Jack Miller #43 (17th – 1’34.137)
“I’m reasonably happy with how it went. Our pace on the hard tyre is really, really good and I’m impressed with that as normally we’ve not felt good at all on the hard.
“I’m looking forward to how it goes tomorrow in both the warm-up and race and also in terms of how we go with the hard tyre in the race as it’s looking like a lot of the other open guys are opting for a softer option. But we’re confident we’ve got the same speed that they’ve got on the soft on the hard tyre, so it shouldn’t lose me much on the opening laps and then it should benefit us later in the race”.
More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office:
TOUGH DAY BUT FASTER TIME FOR SUZUKI ECSTAR AT MISANO
Qualifying at the Misano MotoGP today saw some improvements for Team SUZUKI ECSTAR riders Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Viñales as they both went faster than yesterday.
The morning’s FP3 was difficult, with no direct access to Q2, so both riders had to run in Q1 to fight for the last two-slots for the first four-rows of the grid.
In Q1, the pace was high, and Espargaro and Viñales both settled in the top-five, being provisional leaders several times throughout the session, but at the end the more-experienced Espargaro gained access to Q2, with Viñales putting his GSX-RR in 14th place with the time of 1’33.439. However, in this last session of the day, Espargarò set his best lap-time of 1’33.187, giving the Spaniard 10th place overall.
Davide Brivio – Team Manager:
“These have been two days of intense work for us. Following the test here in July we found different conditions and so we had to review some parameters and set-ups. We worked hard: Aleix managed to find a good feeling, therefore tomorrow he will try to make-up some places and stay in the group. His pace looks not-so-bad so we hope for a better race. With Maverick, we are yet in a good shape and also in qualifying he couldn’t exploit the soft tyre and couldn’t improve as he wished to. We still need to work to finalise the best machine for him, so tonight we will try to find something different from the data; even if we know that Maverick feels more confident with the hard tyre than the soft tyre, this disappointed us in qualifying but could be a good point for the race.”
Aleix Espargaro:
“We improved the machine from yesterday and now we are a little closer to the top. Yesterday we had many issues with the grip and today things went better, even if the problem’s pretty the same: We lack some acceleration and we can’t deliver effectively our power to the ground, but oday my crew did a great job; Tom made some good settings that helped me to limit power-sapping wheelies. Beside the qualifying time I believe that my pace improved a lot so I will try to make a good start and keep contact with the top-10 tomorrow.”
Maverick Viñales:
“I’m unsatisfied with the day; this was probably the worst qualifying of the year for me. When we came here for testing, my lap times were faster but more-importantly our capability to set the machine-up competitively was much higher. Here we couldn’t find the proper set-up, I felt the bike sliding a lot and I couldn’t get close to my previous times. It’s a pity, we worked a lot here to prepare for the race and now that we are in a race situation we can’t find the solution. Anyway, with the hard tyre, I don’t feel so bad and my pace is pretty consistent and fast, so I will try to recover as many places as I can at the start and keep in contact with the top-10 tomorrow.”
More, from a press release issued by Dorna:
Dominant Lorenzo takes sensational pole at Misano
Jorge Lorenzo sets a new Pole Record to take his third pole position of the season with Marquez and Rossi completing the front row.
Movistar Yamaha’s Lorenzo produced an incredible display of riding to take his 33rd MotoGP™ pole position in perfect conditions at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli to set a 1’32.146. The Spaniard obliterated Marquez’s 2013 Pole Record (1’32.915) by almost eight-tenths of a second as he set the fastest ever lap by a MotoGP™ bike around the 4.2km track on the Adriatic coast.
Lorenzo utilised two stops to allow him to put in three runs on fresh slicks. He set his fastest time on his second run, and looked on for a 1’31 on his third before he was hampered by his teammate Rossi riding slowly on the racing line. Lorenzo – who has never finished off the podium at Misano – showed complete domination on Saturday by topping FP3 & FP4 before going on to take his 59th career pole.
Repsol Honda’s Marquez had been the main threat to Lorenzo over the course of the weekend, topping FP1 and finishing in second behind his compatriot in every other session. Marquez also made two stops and set his best time on his third run but still found himself 0.106s behind Lorenzo and will start from the middle of the front row.
Movistar Yamaha’s Rossi only went for a one-stop strategy but it paid off for the nine-time World Champion as he managed to improve his time from practice by over four-tenths to claim only his third front row start of the season. Rossi was just 0.212s behind Lorenzo as he looks to defend his 12-point lead in the standings over his teammate and take back-to-back wins at his home grand prix. He had earlier tried the aerodynamic ‘winglets’ in FP4 that Lorenzo debuted on Friday, but neither Yamaha rider used them during qualifying.
Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa (+0.288s) will start from the front of the second row as the Spaniard aims to make it three podiums in a row at Misano in Sunday’s race. He finished ahead of the Ducati Test Team rider of Michele Pirro (+0.590s) who will start as the leading Ducati in fifth despite a crash earlier in FP4.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith (+0.655s) will start as the leading Satellite rider in sixth as he looks to make it 19 points scoring finishes in a row. Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone will start from the front of the third row ahead of his teammate Andrea Dovizioso in eighth.
Octo Pramac Racing’s Danilo Petrucci made the most of his upgrade to the Desmosedici GP14.2 this weekend to complete the third row. Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) had earlier made it through from Q1 and will start in 10th and 11th respectively. Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) will have to start from 12th after he crashed at turn 9 ending his session after just two laps.
EG 0,0 Marc VDS’s Scott Redding well start from 13th after failing to make it through from Q1 by just 0.194s, while Loris Baz (Forward Racing) is the leading open class rider in 16th. Australian Jack Miller (LCR Honda) will start from the front of the sixth row in 16th, while Aspar MotoGP Team riders Eugene Laverty and Nicky Hayden are in 21st and 23rd respectively.
Zarco snatches Moto2™ pole from Rins grasp
Championship leader Johann Zarco takes his 6th pole of season by just 0.002s from Alex Rins with Tito Rabat completing the front row.
Ajo Motorsport’s Johann Zarco left it late to deny Alex Rins pole position by just two-thousandths of second at the GP TIM di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini. The Frenchman took almost a second off Pol Espargaro’s 2013 Pole Record (1’37.666) to set a 1’32.754 with 4 minutes left, the fastest ever time by a Moto2™ bike around the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.
Paginas Amarillas Rins had been on top of the timesheets for most of the session but had to settle for second behind Zarco as he starts from the front row for the sixth time this season. EG 0,0 Marc VDS’s Rabat (+0.100s) was third fastest as he claimed his 11th front row start of 2015 after the reigning Moto2™ World Champion had earlier topped FP3.
Forward Racing’s Simone Corsi (+0.367s) heads up the second row in his best qualifying performance since Assen. Dominique Aegerter (+0.418s) on the Technomag Racing Interwetten will start from fifth with Petronas Raceline Malaysia’s Hafizh Syahrin (+0.466s) producing his career best Moto2™ qualifying result to complete the second row.
Speed Up Racing’s Sam Lowes heads the third row ahead of Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) and Jonas Folger (AGR Team), while Julian Simon (QMMF) completes the top ten.
Axel Pons (AGR Team) crashed for the third time on Saturday as he hit the deck at turn 10. There was an incredible incident for wildcard Xavi Vierge (Tech 3) as he crashed coming out of turn 7 and his rider-less bike veered across track twice, luckily missing other riders on track before hitting the barriers.
Bastianini claims third Moto3™ pole of 2015
Enea Bastianini takes his third pole position of the season while Brad Binder and championship leader Danny Kent complete the front row.
Gresini Racing Team Moto3’s Bastianini set a 1’42.486 in a qualifying session that saw times slower than in FP3 at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. Despite this, Bastianini’s time was good enough to beat Jonas Folger’s 2013 Pole Record by almost three-tenths of a second to claim his first pole position since Assen.
Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Brad Binder seems to have gelled brilliantly with the new chassis and swingarm KTM brought to Misano for all of its teams as he starts from the front row for the first time in his career. The South African was just 0.037s off pole as a number of riders saw lap times cancelled due to running wide at turn 6.
Leopard Racing’s Danny Kent (+0.296s) completes the front row after leaving it late to make his move. The championship leader was down in 14th with just 6 minutes to go, but recovered brilliantly to set his best time on his last lap, although it was over half a second slower than the lap record he set in FP3.
Ongetta-Rivacold’s Niccolo Antonelli (+0.326s) heads up the second row ahead of Romano Fenati (+0.497s) on the Sky Racing Team VR46 KTM in fifth. Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Miguel Oliveira (+0.522s) was in sixth with Kent’s teammate Efren Vazquez setting a time good enough for seventh despite crashing out of the session with 15 minutes to go.
Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Husqvarna Factory Laglisse) pulled off his best ever qualifying performance to start the race from eighth in just his third Moto3™ race. Phillip Oettl (Schedl GP Racing) and Hiroki Ono (Leopard Racing) completed the top ten with less than a second separating the top 15 riders.
Scotsman John McPhee had his worst Qualifying of the season and will start the race from 26th. Andrea Locatelli (Gresini Racing Team Moto3) crashed out of the season at turn 10 and will be assessed in the morning after scans revealed he had a sacral fracture. Estrella Galicia 0,0 riders Jorge Navarro and Fabio Quartararo were both ruled unfit after crashes on Friday and will take no further part in the race weekend.
After the session Race Direction decided to give both Hiroki Ono and Jorge Martin (Mapfre Team Mahindra) a penalty of three grid places and they will be forced to miss 10 minutes of Warm Up for riding slow on the racing line. Jakub Kornfeil (Drive M7 SIC) had his qualifying session cancelled after a technical infringement and will have to start from the back of the grid.
More, from a press release issued by Aspar Team:
POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar aiming for race revival
Laverty and Hayden with ground to make up after a crash and a technical problem respectively
The second day of action at Misano finished just as it started with Lorenzo, Márquez and Rossi on top of the timesheets, although that doesn’t tell the whole story. Like at Silverstone it seemed Lorenzo and Márquez had the edge here in practice, with Valentino slightly off their pace in third place, but as the pace increased in qualifying so did the competition, with just a couple of tenths separating the trio as Lorenzo claimed pole position with a sensational lap that almost broke the fabled 1’32 barrier.
POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar riders Eugene Laverty and Nicky Hayden are hoping to serve up an exciting race of their own tomorrow after qualifying further back than they had hoped due to respective setbacks today. Laverty suffered a front-end crash this morning and was unable to recover his good feeling in the afternoon, eventually qualifying in 21st position. Hayden will start from two positions further back despite making improvements this morning, the American suffering an untimely technical problem in qualifying.
21st Eugene Laverty 1.34.468: “Today we noticed that the tyres were taking a little time to get up to temperature and I can’t push until they have three or four laps on them. We’ll have to watch out over the first couple of laps tomorrow but it’s a 28-lap race so we have time to get a feeling. I had a crash this morning that set us back and then in the afternoon the rise in temperature made the track slippery and we didn’t get the result we were hoping for. The time flies past on a Saturday and any little problem creates a mountain of work. Luckily the bike has been working well since yesterday and we have a strong pace so even though we’re starting from quite far back I think we can fight back and finish the weekend with a positive result.”
23rd Nicky Hayden 1.34.732: “We improved a little this morning, especially in the fast corners, which helped the lap time and the feeling. We set a decent pace in FP4 but then qualifying didn’t go to plan. I was ready to push a little harder on the second tyre when we had a technical issue and that brought the session to an early end for us. It was a shame because I think we could have qualified much higher up. Grid position is important at this circuit because it’s not easy to overtake here, especially in the first sector. Hopefully tomorrow we can find a little more pace in warm-up, especially in acceleration because at the moment the bike is a little nervous and unsteady.”