FIM MotoGP World Championship Jerez, Spain May 1, 2010 Qualifying Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Dani PEDROSA, Spain, (Honda), 1:39.202 2. Jorge LORENZO, Spain, (Yamaha), 1:39.487 3. Casey STONER, Australia, (Ducati), 1:39.511 4. Valentino ROSSI, Italy, (Yamaha), 1:39.558 5. Nicky HAYDEN, USA, (Ducati), 1:39.560 6. Randy DE PUNIET, France, (Honda), 1:39.591 7. Colin EDWARDS, USA, (Yamaha), 1:39.970 8. Ben SPIES, USA, (Yamaha), 1:39.989 9. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy, (Honda), 1:40.021 10. Marco MELANDRI, Italy, (Honda), 1:40.027 11. Loris CAPIROSSI, Italy, (Suzuki), 1:40.206 12. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Japan, (Honda), 1:40.322 13. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain, (Suzuki), 1:40.416 14. Hector BARBERA, Spain, (Ducati), 1:40.482 15. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain, (Ducati), 1:40.555 16. Marco SIMONCELLI, Italy, (Honda), 1:40.586 17. Mika KALLIO, Finland, (Ducati), 1:40.803 More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Pole for Pedrosa on hard front, soft rear slicks Round 2: Spain GP Qualifying Circuito de Jerez, Saturday 1 May 2010 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Medium, Hard. Rear: Soft, Medium Dani Pedrosa marked his fourth pole position on Bridgestone tyres with the Repsol Honda Team in Jerez today, utilising the hard compound front and soft compound rear slicks. Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo finished second and teammate Valentino Rossi was fourth, either side of Ducati Team rider Casey Stoner in third. Nicky Hayden finished fifth for Ducati and Randy de Puniet was sixth fastest, the top six split by just 0.4seconds and all setting a best lap faster than the existing lap record, set last year by Rossi. Every rider with the exception of Hector Barbera set their fastest lap using the hard front and soft rear slicks. Barbera recorded his best on a harder rear. Whilst the gaps at the front were small, competition in the midfield was also close with just 0.6 seconds separating Colin Edwards in seventh from Marco Simoncelli in sixteenth. The track temperature was markedly hotter during the qualifying session than it was for the morning’s free practice which really tested the temperature operating range of the Bridgestone slick tyres. Tohru Ubukata Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department “Today we have seen a good example of the wide range of conditions in which our tyres perform. In the morning’s free practice the track temperature was 32 degrees Celsius and both the harder and softer option rears performed well. Every rider used the hard compound front tyres. In qualifying, the track temperature had risen to 49 degrees Celsius, and still the soft rear tyre proved to be the fastest option so I am happy with the performance of our improved rear slick tyre compounds. “The fastest time from qualifying was just over a tenth slower than the best from free practice this morning, but looking at the times we can see that every rider except Jorge and Andrea went faster in qualifying despite the extra heat. We can also see that the gaps separating the field are smaller than they were from qualifying last year and I am also pleased to see this.” Top ten from qualifying (Saturday 13:55 14:55 GMT+2) Pos Rider Team Fastest lap Gap Compounds Front, Rear 1 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1m39.202s Hard, Soft 2 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 1m39.487s +0.285s Hard, Soft 3 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 1m39.511s +0.309s Hard, Soft 4 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m39.558s +0.356s Hard, Soft 5 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 1m39.560s +0.358s Hard, Soft 6 Randy de Puniet LCR Honda MotoGP 1m39.591s +0.389s Hard, Soft 7 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m39.970s +0.768s Hard, Soft 8 Ben Spies Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m39.989s +0.787s Hard, Soft 9 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 1m40.021s +0.819s Hard, Soft 10 Marco Melandri San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m40.027s +0.825s Hard, Soft Weather: Dry. Ambient 25°C; Track 47-49°C ( Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki racers Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista have a tough afternoon ahead of them at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday after a difficult qualifying session today. Capirossi and Bautista started promisingly in the hour-long session this afternoon and were both running in the top-10 during the first half-hour, when most riders were using the harder compound race tyre. Capirossi recorded a fastest lap of 1’40.206, just one second behind pole-setter Dani Pedrosa, but with the closeness of MotoGP qualifying, Suzuki’s Italian star finds himself on the fourth row of the grid in 11th place for the race. Bautista’s fastest lap of 1’40.416 was his fastest time of the weekend and his progress throughout the day pleased him as he continues to improve his MotoGP riding technique. He will start his first home MotoGP race from 13th on the grid, but will certainly be pushing to get up amongst the pack and give all his Spanish fans something to cheer about on race-day. Tomorrow’s 27-lap race is the second round of the 2010 MotoGP World Championship and with Spaniards Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo filling the first two grid positions, the huge crowd that will be trackside can expect an exciting event when the race gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (12.00GMT). Loris Capirossi: “I am very disappointed with today because everybody has tried so hard. We tried to find the best setting for the bike and in this afternoon’s session it just didn’t work like it had done this morning. I just didn’t have the right feel from the front and I struggled a lot. We tried to modify things but we didn’t find a solution. For tomorrow we will need to do something because we are not so far from the front guys – even with this problem – and I am sure we can be competitive. It is not the position I want on the grid, but tomorrow is another day and I will be trying really hard in the race to make things better.” Álvaro Bautista: “I have improved on my best time here and we have done quite a good job today. This morning I tried some different settings between the two bikes and in the afternoon we chose one of the set-ups and I am sure it is the right one. With the hard tyre I did a long ride and was quite happy with my time in the mid 1’40s this is quite positive for me. I still have a few issues after a few laps because I am feeling that the tyre is moving too much, but we will work on that in the warm-up and see what we can do. On the softer rear tyre I tried to push to the maximum, but this is not like 250s, in 250 you can brake much later and with the MotoGP bike it is more difficult to do one fast lap, but I am learning! I am quite happy and want to have a good home race and get into a fight with a group further up the grid. I t is very important to do my best and give a good race for Suzuki, the sponsors and all my family and fans.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “It’s not been one of the best days today, especially for Loris who has won at Jerez before and always goes well at this circuit. The fast corners are where the time is won or lost here and he suffered from a significant lack of front grip this afternoon despite the bike being set up the same as this morning’s session. 27 laps around here with that problem won’t be much fun at all, so we are going to have to try some decent changes for the warm-up and hope that they translate to the race. “Álvaro did a very good 14-lap run at the start of qualifying using race tyres and with a few adjustments his pace looks promising. He’s bunched in a start group with the other 250 guys from last year, so keep your eyes peeled, because I think there will be fireworks on both ends of the grid tomorrow afternoon!” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Edwards and Spies on third row in close Jerez qualifying A thrilling qualifying session at a sun-drenched Jerez circuit ended with Colin Edwards and Ben Spies claiming hard fought places on the third row of the grid for tomorrow’s Spanish MotoGP race. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 pairing will start alongside each other on row three after Edwards qualified his YZR-M1 machine in seventh, with fellow Texan Spies just 0.019s further back in eighth. Seventh spot was reward for Edwards’ efforts in fine-tuning the set-up of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine. The 36-year-old spent much of the session concentrating on improving the electronic set-up of his YZR-M1 while also making crucial front-end geometry changes to improve his corner entry confidence. Fast learner Spies made a mockery of his inexperience at the 4.423km Andalucian circuit to finish just over 0.7s away from pole position and just over 0.4s adrift of the front row. Spies was a superb sixth in free practice with his all-action style thrilling a large home crowd and the 25-year-old has been one of the most consistent on worn race tyres during the weekend, boosting hopes of another impressive display in tomorrow’s 27-lap race. The reigning World Superbike champion is confident he can at least emulate his brilliant top five finish in the season’s opening race in Qatar last month. Today’s qualifying session was a closely contested affair with just 0.825s covering the top ten. Colin Edwards 7th 1.39.970 26 laps “It has been hard work so far this weekend and a bit of a struggle if I’m being honest, so to finish seventh is a pretty good outcome for me. I seem to have been struggling with the electronics all weekend and we just haven’t been able to get to a point where it feels all that predictable, and that has been a big strength of the Yamaha. We’ve been experimenting with that a lot but I feel we made some decent progress. I changed the geometry on the front of the bike to make it more like the set-up that Valentino likes with a bit more weight on the front. That helped me a lot with the bike feeling a lot more balanced and now I’ve got more feel from the front. Tomorrow is going to be a typical Jerez race. You’ve got to hope you can come out Turn One unscathed, see where you’re at and then just go for it. It’s going to be a tough race but I’ll be giving it my all for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team. Ben Spies 8th 1.3 9.989 28 laps “I’m happy and it’s good to be in the middle of the third row because I can try and get a good start and see what’s going on in the first couple of laps and try and get up there. I was happier with my race set-up than what I had for the quick lap on the soft tyres. I didn’t mess anything up real big but I just couldn’t get into that qualifying mode and put that fast lap in. From not knowing where I was going yesterday, I’m happy to be in the top ten and hopefully I can get closer to the front and see what is going on up there. I’d like to think I can get in the battle for the top six but it’s going to be hard. Towards the end of the race is where I’ll be more comfortable because I’ll get in that rhythm and when the tyres go off I’ll feel a little better with the bike. I’ve got a pretty good feeling where I’m going on the track and I just need to change a few things for tomorrow and hopefully ride a littl e better. But I’m looking forward to my first race in Jerez.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: PEDROSA CLAIMS INSPIRED JEREZ POLE, DOVIZIOSO ON THIRD ROW Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa took a fantastic pole position at the Jerez circuit today to send his home fans into raptures ahead of tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Spain. Proving once again that Jerez is an inspirational track for him, Pedrosa dominated the final fifteen minutes of the qualifying session and wasn’t knocked off top spot during that time, despite the best efforts of his MotoGP rivals. Pedrosa’s lap time of 1m 39.202s was a substantial 0.285s clear of the next rider, Jorge Lorenzo, in a session where the whole MotoGP field was covered by just 1.6s, and the performance gave the Spaniard his third ever Jerez pole – the others being in 2007 in MotoGP and in 2005 on a 250cc Honda. Despite the impressive display, Pedrosa was understated in his reaction to taking his first pole position since the Grand Prix of Indianapolis last year, and he and his Repsol Honda crew will be looking to match his pace-setting speed today with the consistency required to stay at the front over race distance. This is Pedrosa’s 14th MotoGP pole position and his 32nd in all classes of Grand Prix racing. For Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda team-mate it was a less satisfying qualifying session and Andrea Dovizioso will begin tomorrow’s 27-lap encounter from the third row after finishing in ninth this afternoon. Though Dovizioso was fourth in the morning practice session after making improvements to set-up of his RC212V, he was unable to replicate that performance in the afternoon and in fact his lap time from the morning was 0.1s quicker and would have put him two places further forward on the grid. Despite finishing only 0.8s behind Pedrosa this afternoon, a packed midfield means the 24-year-old starts further back than he would have liked. However, as he Dovizioso proved in the first race of the season at Qatar, he has the capability to run at the front of the race and the Italian and his team will ma ke further set-up adjustments in the warm-up tomorrow before targeting a fast getaway when the lights go out at 14.00. DANI PEDROSA Pole Position 1m 39.202s “It’s always nice to get pole position and especially here because it is my home race and the support from the fans is amazing, so I’m very happy for them. I really didn’t expect this pole to be honest, but I was pushing very hard so I’m very pleased about it. Actually though, it’s not so significant for me because the important thing is the performance in the race and we still need to work very hard on this area. The new frame is delivering some improvements but we’re still not all the way there and we must continue to work on the stability because this is very important in order to be competitive over race distance. Our rivals are also showing a lot of potential so we can’t relax in any way because this will be a long, tough race. Obviously I will start the race thinking about the win, and I know there will be a lot of fans out there cheering for me so I hope we can give them something special.” ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 9th 1m 40.021s +0.819s “I actually think we could have made it onto the second row today so I’m a little disappointed with the result this afternoon because it can be very important to start from the first two rows. We showed our full potential in the morning session where we were four tenths behind the fastest rider, so it’s a shame we couldn’t repeat that in qualifying. For the afternoon we made some adjustments to the electronics and machine set-up and this actually took us back a step, so tomorrow we will return to this morning’s set-up and I’m confident that will give us an improvement. Starting from the third row it will be important to make a good getaway and stay glued to the front riders because this is key to having a good race – as we saw in Qatar.” TOSHIYUKI YAMAJI – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER “Firstly I’d like to say congratulations to Dani on his performance here. We know he is especially strong at this track but his speed in qualifying even surprised me a little bit and this is as much down to him as it is the improvement we’re making to the RC212V. We’ll continue to work on the race settings for his machine to give him the best chance of fighting for the win tomorrow. Andrea was fourth in the morning session and this was reflective of his potential here, although unfortunately he couldn’t match that this afternoon. Still, with a good start tomorrow I think he can have a strong race too.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER AND HAYDEN SEAL TOP FIVE STARTS IN SPAIN Casey Stoner will start tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Spain from the front row of the grid in third place with his team-mate Nicky Hayden just two positions behind him in fifth after another highly-competitive display at Jerez this afternoon. This morning the American escaped unhurt from high-speed crash and his team worked hard to repair his bike in time for an intense afternoon session that saw him lap just 0.049 seconds off the pace of Stoner. Both riders are targeting a podium challenge tomorrow as they look to ruin the party for local favourites Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo, who occupy the front two positions on the grid. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 3rd (1’39.511) “We made a really strong start as soon as we rolled out onto the track yesterday but to be honest we haven’t made much progress with the set-up since then and nothing we have tried seems to have worked. As a result we went back to our original setting this afternoon and even though it was good enough for a front row position we still have plenty of room for improvement with it. It is going to be a busy warm-up session for us tomorrow morning and hopefully we can find something that helps us ahead of the race. In general the bike is still working better than it ever has around here though so I feel more confident for the race than I ever have at Jerez and I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow.” NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Marlboro Team) 5th (1’39.560) “The crash this morning wasn’t pretty but other than a couple of scrapes and bruises I’m fine. Considering I had a 130mph tumble I feel pretty good actually! Unfortunately it complicated things for the team because they had to work like dogs to fix the bike. I started the afternoon session on my other bike but we had a few issues with the gear shifter that we couldn’t resolve during the session so I had to jump on the bike I’d crashed. The guys were pretty sure it was okay but I wasn’t riding it because they wanted more time to check some things. I did a couple of 1’39.5s and it’s not crazy to suggest we had a couple more tenths in us that could have put us on the front row. Fifth place isn’t so bad it’s going to be a long, hard race but I can’t wait to get started. I want to say thanks to the team for all their hard work today hopefully I can pay them back with a good result tomorrow.” Circuit Record: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha – 2009), 1’39.818 – 159.518 Km/h Best Pole: Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha – 2008), 1’38.189 – 162.164 Km/h More, from a press release issued by Honda: PEDROSA SCORES HOME RACE POLE FOR HONDA Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) produced a sublime display of riding at sun-drenched Jerez this afternoon to claim his first pole position of the year, ahead of fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha). This was the 24-year-old’s 14th premier-class pole and his first at Jerez since 2007. Pedrosa who is making the most of a revised RCV chassis has an enviable Jerez record to build on tomorrow. Since graduating to MotoGP in 2006 he has never finished lower than second here. Race winner in 2008, the former 125 and 250 World Champion was Jerez runner-up in 2006, 2007 and 2009. He also won the 250 GP here in 2005. Pedrosa’s best lap cheered all the way by a massive and patriotic crowd was a stunning 0.285 seconds faster than the rest, an impressive advantage in modern-day MotoGP racing. But the next five riders were covered by just 0.104 seconds, suggesting that tomorrow’s second round of the 2010 MotoGP series should be a close and thrilling race. Privateer Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) rode another dazzling qualifying session to claim a second-row start at the tail end of that five-strong group, despite sliding off at Turn Ten this morning. The Frenchman who finished fourth at Jerez last year will be gunning for a podium tomorrow. Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V) had expected great things this afternoon after lapping within four tenths of the fastest time this morning. But in the quest for an even better pace, Dovi tried some modifications this afternoon which actually took him back a step. Nonetheless, while his grid position isn’t what he would have wanted, Dovizioso’s pace is fast enough for him to be in the hunt for a podium, so long as he gets away with the front-runners. His best lap was less than half a second off fourth-quickest Valentino Rossi (Yamaha). Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) was a morale-boosting tenth fastest, sixth thousands of a second behind Dovizioso. Melandri’s performance indicates that he is starting to gel with his RC212V after a challenging start to the season in Qatar three weeks ago. He looked rejuvenated on the bike and may well have scored a better grid slot if he hadn’t made a minor error during the final sector during his best lap. Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V) was second best rookie of the day in 12th place, just behind Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) who will start his 301st GP tomorrow. The reigning 250 World Champion continuing his intelligent, step-by-step progress of acclimatisation into MotoGP, improving today from 14th this morning to make the top dozen this afternoon. Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) had another tough day, ending the hour-long session in 16th place, but the Italian rookie already proved in Qatar that he can find plenty more speed when it comes to the race. Weather conditions for tomorrow are expected to be slightly cooler than today, which should add an interesting twist to today’s performances in both MotoGP and Moto2. The new Honda-powered Moto2 World Championship produced a breathtakingly close qualifying session today; the fastest 20 riders separated by just 0.811 seconds! The pack was headed by Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP, Suter), the man who made history in Qatar by winning the inaugural Moto2 race. The 19-year-old Japanese rider set the fastest lap with 22 minutes to go, then slid off his Suter MMX machine two minutes later. Despite that hiccup, the 19-year-old held onto pole position by just two thousands of a second from reigning 125 World Champion Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, RSV). Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) made it two Spaniards on the front row by recording the third fastest time, a further five hundredths of a second behind his compatriot. Elias winner of the 2003 250 GP here and Moto2 pole position man in Qatar three weeks ago is still riding in some discomfort, suffering from a nasty left-hand injury he sustained during a hefty crash at Jerez during preseason testing. Last man on the front row was Yuki Takahashi (Tech 3 Racing, Tech 3), who was less than three hundredths of a second behind Elias and only one hundredth in front of second-row leader Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2, Moriwaki). HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V), pole position at 1m 39.202s, said: “It’s always nice to get pole position and especially here because it is my home race and the support from the fans is amazing, so I’m very happy for them. I really didn’t expect this pole to be honest, but I was pushing very hard so I’m very happy about it. Actually though, it’s not so significant for me because the important thing is the performance in the race and we still need to work very hard on this area. The new frame is delivering some improvements but we’re still not all the way there and we must continue to work on the stability because this is very important in order to be competitive over race distance. Our rivals are also showing a lot of potential so we can’t relax in any way because this will be a long, tough race. Obviously I will start the race thinking about the win, and I know there will be a lot of fans out there cheering for me so I hope we can give them something special.” Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V), sixth at 1m 39.591s, said: “I am very happy because it has been a very good qualifying session. I am just eight hundredths off the front row and the adjustments we have made to the bike work well especially in race trim. This afternoon we concentrated to obtain the second row and we are delighted with this result as we are the first independent team on the grid for the second time after Qatar GP. My target is to keep this placement in tomorrow’s race to repeat the positive result we gained in Qatar, but I know it won’t be so easy.” Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V), ninth at 1m 40.021s, said: “I actually think we could have made it onto the second row today so I’m a little disappointed with the result this afternoon because it can be very important to start from the first two rows. We showed our full potential in the morning session where we were four tenths behind the fastest rider, so it’s a shame we couldn’t repeat that in qualifying. For the afternoon we made some adjustments to the electronics and machine set-up and this actually took us back a step, so tomorrow we will return to this morning’s set-up and I’m confident that will give us an improvement. Starting from the third row it will be important to make a good getaway and stay glued to the front riders because this is key to having a good race as we saw in Qatar.” Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V), tenth at 1m 40.027s, said: “We had a great session today, setting an excellent race pace and I’m really confident about the race. We’re struggling a bit for rear grip but we’re working to improve and I think with a small step forward we can make a big improvement. It is a shame about the qualifying lap because I made a small mistake on my last effort and it cost me a lot of time in the final sector. Anyway, I think that with a good start we can have a fun race tomorrow. I’m happy because we’ve done a good job together, everybody in the team is highly motivated and I think we have created the right atmosphere to improve.” Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V), 12th at 1m 40.322s, said: “My lap times in the qualifying session were not bad today, but the starting position for the race could have been better and therefore I am not 100 per cent satisfied. I am not happy that we are not closer to the front. In general we worked a lot on the setup and it worked out. Tomorrow we want to improve the setup in the warm-up and then I hope we will have a good race.” Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V), 16th at 1m 40.586s, said: “After this morning’s session I was hoping for better this afternoon but we’re still struggling a little and I can’t ride how I want. The reality is that we’re not that far off the top guys 1.3 seconds isn’t a big gap but I am still in sixteenth. All we can do is try to improve a little more before tomorrow and then do our best to make up positions in the race.” MOTO2 FRONT ROW QUOTES Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP, Suter), pole position at 1m 44.372s, said: “I think I was a bit lucky today, because when I crashed I never thought it possible that I could get pole position. I crashed with 20 minutes of the session remaining. I really wanted to continue my time attack, so I managed to ride the bike back to the pit box, where my mechanics worked very hard to repair the bike. They did a great job, so my thanks to them, and I was able to go back out on the track. I wanted to check everything and test the setup once more because the chassis settings have not been perfect so far. We will think a lot this evening and try and find a solution to make the machine even better for the race. This class is very tough, so even though I am on pole position I would never say I will win this race because I am only two thousandths ahead of Simon. In fact I wouldn’t even say I will finish on the podium because all the lap times are so close.” Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, RSV), second at 1m 44.374s, said: “This has not been an easy two days for us, because we started out with some revised chassis parts. We worked hard with them but in the end we decided to go back with the parts we used at Qatar and the bike was immediately much better. I hope we can have a good race here, because we were obviously very disappointed at Qatar when we had problems with the clutch after the start. The start tomorrow will be very important and Shoya will be very difficult to beat; he is very strong.” Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki), third at 1m 44.424s, said: “We have struggled with setup here, so we will try some more changes for tomorrow in order to recover something for the race. The foot I injured in preseason testing is okay now, but I still have some problems with my left hand I can’t put full pressure through the handlebars, which is a real problem when turning and making direction changes.” Yuki Takahashi (Tech 3 Racing, Tech 3), fourth at 1m 44.463s, said: “We have done a good job here. The setup of my Tech 3 machine was good yesterday afternoon and we have worked hard from that initial setting to get a good race setup. After crashing in Qatar, I really want to score a good result for the team.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing: AFTER THE SECOND QUALIFICATION SESSION OF THE 2010 MOTOGP SEASON: FIFTEENTH POSITION FOR ESPARGARO’, SEVENTEENTHS FOR KALLIO A difficult Saturday for both Pramac Racing Team riders, who have not reduced the gap with the other riders. The Green Energy Team riders, Aleix Espargarò and Mika Kallio, have respectively obtained the fifteenth and seventeenth time on the tomorrow starting grid of the twenty-fifth GP of Jerez de la Frontera. Despite the intense work of the Technical Team , the Finn rider was unable to improve his feeling with his motorbike. The rookie Catalan has instead suffered a fall while he was pushing his motorbike, this made him lose a part of the qualifying. The riders shall use as best that they can the warm-up session of tomorrow morning to be more competitive in the race. Fabiano Sterlacchini – Pramac Racing Technical Director “The work done by the technicians on both bikes allowed us to slightly reduce the gap we had with the other riders after Friday first free practice. Unfortunately during the day we had other problems that have adversely affected our qualifications. Thanks also to the rider’s technical reflect, we have identified witch are the changes to make to allow them both to have a balance motorbike the tomorrow Grand Prix. We remain confident about the tomorrow race, where we can redeem the negative result of Qatar. ” Aleix Espargaro – Pramac Racing Team – 15th best time in 1’40 .555 “After the good feeling of the second free practice in the morning, where I got a time that made me hope for the qualifications of the early afternoon. Unfortunately while I was pushing to improve my lap time, I stumbled upon a crash that made me lose precious time. In any case I have greatly improved the feeling with the motorbike and the track, reducing my best lap time more than a second. Tomorrow I will do my best for the many Spanish fans who come here to follow me. ” Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing Team – 17th best time in 1’40 .803 “Starting in last place on the grid is not the best, I will fight very hard to overtake my competitors. The first corner is near the starting line and if I start well I can take many positions already at the end of the turb. Today I had some problems handling my motorbike, I could not control it perfectly. The positive think that remains is that I have reduced my lap time compared to yesterday morning’s free practice time. I hope to get a good result tomorrow in the race and to give a turn to my season. The whole team deserves a good result for all the work they are doing for me. ” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Dani Pedrosa went fastest in a thrilling qualifying session at the Jerez circuit today to take pole position for the Gran Premio bwin de España. The 24 year-old’s time of 1’39.202 led a competitive MotoGP field in which the top ten riders were separated by less than 0.9s. It was the Repsol Honda rider’s 23rd of 25 laps on board his factory RC212V that placed him at the head of the grid and sent the Spanish crowd into enthusiastic raptures, with the front row completed by fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) and Ducati Marlboro rider Casey Stoner. Lorenzo had actually set a quicker time during the morning’s free practice but was unable to replicate with his best qualifying time eventually 0.285s off the pace of Pedrosa, with Stoner a further two-hundredths down the timesheet as he secured third spot. World Champion Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) rode through the pain in his injured right shoulder to lead the second row, whilst Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro) bravely bounced back from a big crash in free practice to qualify in fifth position, just two-thousandths behind Rossi. LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet completed the second row, as the top six all finished within 0.4s of one another. Monster Yamaha Tech3 duo Colin Edwards and Ben Spies set the seventh and eighth quickest times respectively, with Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) also inside the tightly packed top ten. The MotoGP race takes place at 2pm local time on Sunday. Moto2 Shoya Tomizawa will continue his early season charge from pole position in tomorrow’s Moto2 race, after his lap of 1’44.372 secured him the top time in qualifying by just two-thousandths of a second from Julián Simón. The Japanese rider could count himself fortunate to have set his time shortly before he crashed with 20 minutes of the session remaining, but his hot lap remained intact. Hot on his trail was Mapfre Aspar rider Simón, with Toni Elías (Gresini Racing Moto2) and Yuki Takahashi (Tech3 Racing) completing a front row for Sunday’s race separated by less than a tenth of a second. Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Racing) secured fifth place at the head of the second row, which was also very tightly grouped, as Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing), Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up) and Sergio Gadea (Tenerife 40 Pons) all set times inside the top eight. The third row, all of whom recorded lap times well within half a second of Tomizawa’s pole, will be comprised of Kenny Noyes (Jack&Jones by Antonio Banderas), Simone Corsi (JiR Moto2), Anthony West (MZ Racing) and Yonny Hernández (Blusens-STX). 125cc Marc Márquez (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) will start the 125cc race from pole position on Sunday, after breaking a five-year-old 125cc pole position record at the track. The young Spaniard’s hot lap of 1’46.829 took over a tenth off Mattia Pasini’s 2006 record, and secured him his second consecutive pole of the new season. Joining him on the front row of an all-Spanish grid will be Pol Espargaró, who dominated both practice sessions but was unable to better Márquez’s stunning time in QP. His Tuenti Racing team-mate Efrén Vázquez and Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX), who was just over half a second off Márquez’s time, occupied the remaining top-four spots. The second row of the grid will be made up of early Championship leader Nico Terol (Bancaja Aspar) and Sandro Cortese (Avant Mitsubishi Ajo), with British duo Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar) and Danny Webb (Andalucia Cajasol) securing top-eight times too. Webb’s team-mate Alberto Moncayo and Swiss rider Randy Krummenacher (Stipa-Molenaar Racing) complete the top ten.