2007 FIM MotoGP World Championship Sepang, Malaysia October 20, 2007 Final Qualifying Results: 1. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), Michelin, 2:01.877 2. Casey STONER (Ducati), Bridgestone, 2:01.918 3. Marco MELANDRI (Honda), Bridgestone, 2:01.944 4. Randy DE PUNIET (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 2:02.107 5. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 2:02.202 6. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda), Michelin, 2:02.225 7. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 2:02.301 8. Toni ELIAS (Honda), Bridgestone, 2:02.432 9. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), Michelin, 2:02.466 10. John HOPKINS (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 2:02.697 11. Loris CAPIROSSI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 2:02.708 12. Alex BARROS (Ducati), Bridgestone, 2:03.022 13. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), Michelin, 2:03.040 14. Shinya NAKANO (Honda), Michelin, 2:03.233 15. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Yamaha), Dunlop, 2:03.408 16. Carlos CHECA (Honda), Michelin, 2:03.525 17. Chaz DAVIES (Ducati), Bridgestone, 2:04.197 18. Makoto TAMADA (Yamaha), Dunlop, 2:04.314 19. Nobuatsu AOKI (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 2:04.604 20. Kurtis ROBERTS (KR-Honda), Michelin, 2:05.404 More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Vermeulen heads the third row after Sepang qualifying Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer Chris Vermeulen will start tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix from the front of the third row after qualifying in seventh place today. Vermeulen (2’02.301, 23 laps) had shown huge improvements in this morning’s final free practice session and had taken over three-and-a-half seconds off his time on race tyres since yesterday’s first practice session. His increase in performance continued into the qualifying session and the Australian star will be looking to carry on with his upward curve during tomorrow’s race. John Hopkins (2’02.697, 21 laps) will start immediately behind team-mate Vermeulen, as he heads the fourth row after setting the 10th quickest time. The Anglo-American also showed a marked increase in his times during this morning’s session, setting the third fastest lap-time. He will be trying to get one of his now trademark fast starts as he goes for as many points as possible tomorrow in his chase for third in the championship. Team Test Rider Nobuatsu Aoki (2’04.604, 18 laps) again gave the prototype 2008 GSV-R another thorough work-out today and was amongst the fastest riders through the start-finish line speed trap. He will start from 19th on the grid and is determined to improve considerably on his grid position in the race. Today’s qualifying was held in hot and overcast conditions with track surface temperatures reaching 58°C. Pole position was set by Dani Pedrosa on his factory Honda. Tomorrow’s 21-lap race is the penultimate round of the MotoGP season and the event gets underway at 15.00hrs local time (07.00hrs GMT). Chris Vermeulen: “It was difficult this afternoon as the track temperature rose a lot and what we thought we had sorted as a race tyre didn’t work that well. So we tried another tyre and the lap-times came quite easily and the rubber lasted well, so we now have a set-up for the race. On the qualifiers it was great because we tried something new and Bridgestone has made a really good job with that. I was a bit tentative at the start of my best lap and made a mistake on turn two; if I hadn’t then I am sure I would have been higher up the grid. I’ve been comfortable here this weekend and for me that is good as it has been a bit of a bogey track for me. Suzuki and Bridgestone have always seemed to work well here and now I am happy that I can get into that groove as well.” John Hopkins: “It was a tough afternoon, but this morning went really well. We made a lot of improvements and the bike worked great. This afternoon I just struggled to get myself into a rhythm and the tyres felt a bit greasy. On the qualifiers we tried some rubber that we hadn’t used before and we didn’t have any data about. It just didn’t seem to suit my riding style and I wore the tyre out a bit too quick! There is no reason though why we still can’t run at the front tomorrow, we’ve just got to come out swinging, make a good start and get up to the front as quick as possible!” Nobuatsu Aoki: “During the qualifying session I had a small problem with my first bike and had to use the other one. It didn’t have the same feel as the one we have been using and didn’t work quite as well. I tried as hard as I could but the chassis and engine just didn’t feel as good. The tyres I chose for qualifying were not quite right either and they just didn’t seem to suit the bike so I now have to start in 19th place. I am optimistic for the race as the setting we have for the race tyre is good and I am confident I can get a top-10 finish tomorrow!” Paul Denning – Team Manager: We took big steps in this morning’s session but the much hotter conditions in qualifying seemed to lose a bit of our potential compared to some of our competitors. Having said that, the direction that the guys need to go in terms of tyres and setting is a lot clearer and assuming we get similar conditions at race-time I think we will be better prepared. “The qualifying result was a little bit disappointing after this morning, but Chris rode a great lap on his final tyre and only just missed out on the second row. John’s disappointed but fortunately we can almost rely on one of his great starts and aggressive passing these days. So, we are confident of a much improved position in the race. “Nobu had a tough session, which is only to be expected with a prototype machine, but I am sure he will bounce back and give it everything during the 21-laps tomorrow afternoon.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: DE PUNIET AND WEST ON THE SECOND ROW AT SEPANG Today’s qualifying practice at Sepang ended with Kawasaki’s Randy de Puniet heading up the second row with his team mate, Anthony West right behind him on the grid for tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix. In the afternoon’s nail-biting session, the Frenchman crashed out, rode his spare bike for much of the allocated hour, then rode home his hastily-repaired, primary Ninja ZX-RR to fourth place on the leader board in the very final moments. He clocked his best qualifying time of 2’02.107 with a top speed of 296.5kmh, just behind Marco Melandri who snatched the last place on the front row in the closing seconds by the tiniest margin of 0.163 seconds. De Puniet began the day with another scorching free practice, which saw him coming second on the results sheets with a time of 2’02.534, just 0.243 behind Casey Stoner. Having notched up such consistently good lap times on race tyres throughout all sessions, de Puniet feels confident for tomorrow’s 21-lap race. It was an electrifying session, which resulted in West’s best qualifying position yet in MotoGP. The 26-year-old Australian enjoyed provisional pole after putting in his best lap time of 2’02.202 on his first qualifying tyre. This was eventually stolen from him but he maintained a front row spot until the very last second, when Melandri and de Puniet pushed him back to fifth in an exciting climax. But West is positive: he, like his team mate, has been having an excellent weekend at Sepang so far. The final practice combined times clocked him as fifth fastest in the field of riders and a long run on race tyres saw him show remarkable consistency, culminating in a best time of 2’02.627. Watching tomorrow’s race will be the President of Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd, Mr Tadaharu Ohashi, who is currently visiting Malaysia on business, and the President of Kawasaki’s Consumer Products and Machinery Company, Mr Shinichi Tamba. De Puniet and West will be particularly keen to do well in front of the two men who have done so much in support of Kawasaki’s MotoGP project this year. Randy De Puniet #14 – 4th – Best Lap 2’02.107 “As in the past couple of races, I’d hoped for a better position but I had a small crash early in the session and had to use my second bike for quite a while after that. I had a good feeling from it, although I prefer my other bike. I used two different types of qualifying tyre and one of them didn’t work for me at all: it was impossible to finish a lap. The other one was better and I used that on my normal bike at the end, which got me this good lap time. It was so close and I’m just two tenths of a second off pole. We have a good base for tomorrow with the bike, and we’ve gone very fast on race tyres all weekend, so we should be able to do well.” Anthony West #13 – 5th – Best Lap 2’02.202 “It was good to be up the front for most of the qualifying session and I was feeling really comfortable. We used two different types of qualifiers and the two I didn’t do so well on are the ones which are usually the best at other circuits. Here, it was the opposite way around. The first one I used was really good but the others barely lasted a lap. I’m actually quite disappointed I didn’t stay on the front row but the main thing is I know that with this set up, our race Bridgestones and the good feeling I’ve got, it’s not as if I’ve only been on the pace for the one lap. So I’m pretty confident and we’ll see how it goes tomorrow. Everything’s working really well this weekend; it’s nice.” Fiorenzo Fanali West’s Crew Chief “Anthony’s never ridden on this racetrack on a MotoGP bike so, for him, it’s been completely new and, from the first practice session, we’ve been improving. This morning he did many laps on a race tyre and was still getting better and better times. He was in the top five so he’s riding very well, the bike’s working brilliantly, and so are the tyres, so I feel he can be strong tomorrow. He’s always at his best in the race too so, as he’s starting from a good position, I’m sure he can fight for a top finish.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Competitive qualifying puts Stoner and Melandri on front row Round 17 Malaysia – Qualifying Sepang International Circuit Saturday 20 October 2007 Ducati’s Casey Stoner and Honda Gresini’s Marco Melandri will start tomorrow afternoon’s Malaysian Grand Prix from second and third positions after a nail-bitingly close qualifying hour in Sepang today split the front three by just 0.067s. Honda’s Dani Pedrosa took pole position but Stoner and Melandri’s strong performances ensured that two Bridgestone riders will start from the front row of the grid for the first time since the US GP back in July. Kawasaki continued their recent impressive form; riders Randy de Puniet and Ant West will occupy fourth and fifth positions on the second row of the grid, the team’s best combined qualifying result of the year. Suzuki duo Chris Vermeulen and John Hopkins will line up in seventh and tenth places respectively while Honda Gresini rider Toni Elias finished in eighth spot. In this morning’s free practice hour, with track temperatures hovering just over the 30-degree mark, Bridgestone-shod riders were able to complete some representative times in race trim with Casey Stoner only one-tenth-of-a-second shy of the best race lap set by Loris Capirossi in last year’s race. Stoner’s pace-setting time of 2m02.291s was over two-tenths clear of the chasing pack led by Kawasaki’s De Puniet and Suzuki’s Hopkins in second and third. Some riders were able to complete some consecutive runs on the hard Bridgestone slicks on offer this weekend, with some encouragingly quick and consistent lap times. The two Kawasaki riders both completed a ten-lap unbroken long run, almost half race distance, with West joining his team-mate De Puniet in the top five. Managing tyre degradation levels will be important in tomorrow afternoon’s 21-lap Malaysian GP, as riders experience the new Sepang asphalt for the first time over a complete 116.5km race distance. Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development How difficult is it to produce qualifying tyres for such a long lap and with new asphalt? “It is never easy to produce qualifying tyres for a circuit like Sepang, especially with the new asphalt, because the long lap means that we have to produce harder specification qualifying tyres to give riders the optimum grip over the full lap. When we have new parameters like the new asphalt, this makes our work a little tougher, so I am very happy overall with our performance in qualifying today. Casey and Marco were both so close to the pole position time and it is the first time since Laguna Seca that we have two riders on Bridgestone tyres on the front row. Kawasaki also performed very well and it is great to see both Randy and Anthony on the second row, also considering the potential they have shown with race set-up.” How have track conditions changed during the weekend? “This morning we could start to see the lap times coming down to more representative levels, but the track got quite a bit warmer this afternoon which seemed to affect overall grip levels and lap times. Only Casey and Marco lapped under 2m03s on race tyres this afternoon, compared to seven riders this morning, so we could see slower lap times in tomorrow afternoon’s race if we have similar weather conditions to today. The Kawasaki riders both carried out consecutive ten lap runs this morning, around half race distance, and the consistency and speed of the hard specification race tyres appears quite encouraging. I believe that managing the tyres will be very important in the race and we will only know how our tyres cope with the full race distance tomorrow afternoon, so this remains a question mark.” Bridgestone Qualifying Practice Session Results Pos Rider Team Best Lap Time Gap P2 Casey Stoner Ducati 2m01.918s +0.041s P3 Marco Melandri Honda Gresini 2m01.944s +0.067s P4 Randy de Puniet Kawasaki 2m02.107s +0.230s P5 Anthony West Kawasaki 2m02.202s +0.325s P7 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 2m02.301s +0.424s P8 Toni Elias Honda Gresini 2m02.432s +0.555s P10 John Hopkins Suzuki 2m02.697s +0.820s P11 Loris Capirossi Ducati 2m02.708s +0.831s P12 Alex Barros Pramac d’Antin 2m03.022s +1.145s P17 Chaz Davies Pramac d’Antin 2m04.197s +2.320s P19 Nobuatsu Aoki Suzuki 2m04.604s +2.727s Weather: Dry track – Air 33° C, Track 38°C, Humidity 50% More, from a press release issued by Konica Minolta Honda: 14th for KONICA MINOLTA Honda and Shinya Nakano at Malaysian GP After a difficult Friday practice, things have improved for the KONICA MINOLTA Honda Team, with Shinya Nakano cutting more than two-and-a-half seconds from his Friday time. The 30-year-old Japanese rider was in the top ten for part of the qualifying hour as he took advantage of softer qualifying rubber, but by the time the chequered flag came out he had been pushed back to 14th place on the grid. He and the Team know that they still need to refine the settings on their Honda RC212V machine in time for tomorrow’s 21-lap race at the 3.447-mile circuit. Gianluca Montiron Team Manager KONICA MINOLTA Honda “Today situation is very similar to Phillip Island as Shinya was able to push hard for one lap only. We’ve improved the setting of the 800cc machine and he was faster than this morning. I think the new asphalt on the circuit is difficult for everyone. The circuit is hard on tyres anyway, but this and the new surface and possible high temperatures will mean riders may need to change their riding styles as the race progresses. Shinya’s style is very sensitive and he has not been able to get a good feeling from the hard compound tyres, so it’s necessary for us to find some new settings for his machine. Tomorrow it’s important that we will be able to stay with the second group, then we could get into the top 10.” Shinya Nakano Rider, KONICA MINOLTA Honda (40 laps 2′ 03.233 “) “No rain today but we and everyone else are still struggling with this new track surface. In the afternoon we improved a little with suspension settings, but we’re still looking for quicker turning into the corners and overall a better feeling from the front of the bike. At the moment I cannot keep my corner speed up, or keep a decent speed when entering the corner. Tomorrow morning we will try and find a better setting in warm-up. We will keep hoping for the best and never give-up as the race is long and the conditions still could be changeable.” Giulio Bernardelle Technical Director, KONICA MINOLTA Honda “At least the weather is much better than yesterday! We have made some improvements from Friday and our feeling with the tyres is better than yesterday, but our overall improvement was not enough to be able to stay in the top 10. With the qualifying tyre we were having problems and we found it difficult to get the machine settings just right for this track. Yesterday our problem was a lower temperature affecting things, this afternoon the temperature was more what we are used to, but this showed us that things are very different from our winter tests. We still do not have enough grip or feel for Shinya to be comfortable as when he pushes hard he goes off-line and loses a lot of time. For this reason we have tried some modifications to increase the level of mechanical grip from the bike and improve the balance of the RC212V machine. Shinya said that the improvements have worked, but these steps forward haven’t been big enough, so tomorrow morning we will make some further changes to improve our situation still further.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER A FRACTION OFF POLE AT SEPANG, CAPIROSSI ON FOURTH ROW OF THE GRID Ducati Marlboro Team rider Casey Stoner came within four hundredths of a second of scoring his sixth pole position of the year at stiflingly hot Sepang today. His team-mate Loris Capirossi was 11th quickest, less than a second off pole position. The ever-impressive Stoner led the final minutes of qualifying but was pipped to pole at the very end of the session. Nonetheless the World Champion is confident of a good run tomorrow after securing his 11th front-row start of the season and completing an excellent two days of set-up work with his Desmosedici GP7. Capirossi also worked hard on settings and is hopeful of a strong race tomorrow despite his fourth-row start. Conditions were much hotter today – at 33 degrees during qualifying – and typically humid at this tropical venue which is one of MotoGP’s toughest physical challenges. CASEY STONER, 2nd fastest, 2m 01.877s “Race setting-wise everything’s looking quite good again, we’ve concentrated on all the things we normally do and we’ve come up with a good package for the race. Unfortunately for the second weekend on the trot we’ve lucked out on qualifying. At Phillip Island we got held up by another rider, this weekend the bumps were so bad in places that the electronics system didn’t work as well as usual with the qualifying tyre, which lost us some time. I’m a little bit disappointed we didn’t get pole position but we’re second on the grid and on the front row, so we’ll try to get a good start and we’ll see what happens. The new surface here has definitely got a lot better since yesterday. The bumps are still there but for sure the grip has improved a lot and will probably improve again tomorrow. Everything’s going well for doing race distance on the tyres – it doesn’t really matter which tyre we choose, we’re going to be able to last the race.” LORIS CAPIROSSI, 11th fastest, 2m 02.708s “Today we worked on every aspect of the bike and we made a small improvement, but not enough because the bike is still moving around and won’t turn like I want it to. Anyway, I was very fast in the first two splits with my first qualifying tyre but I made a mistake in the third split so it was just a quiet lap. I was sure I was going to improve with my second qualifier but it didn’t work, I do not know why, whether it was the tyre itself or the bike. I didn’t even finish the lap, I came into the pits. Starting from the fourth row is an extra challenge but I think the race pace won’t be so fast. It will be a long and difficult race, so maybe I’ll be able to recover.” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: THIRD AND FIFTH ROWS FOR FIAT YAMAHA IN SEPANG Fiat Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards are faced with a difficult challenge for tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang after struggling during qualifying this afternoon. The team worked hard throughout the day to rectify the lack of grip from which both riders have been suffering, but they were unable to find a competitive package and the pair now face a daunting task for tomorrow’s 21-lap race when they start from ninth and thirteenth positions. The rain stayed away today and during this morning’s session, with temperatures in the low 30s and conditions of the newly improved track becoming increasingly more consistent as more rubber was laid down, times improved all round. Rossi and Edwards both made some positive steps forward and finished the session in seventh and thirteenth, confident of more improvements this afternoon. However this was not to be and a lack of grip on race tyres this afternoon kept the pair down in the lower orders, before they made their qualifying challenges in the last 15 minutes. Rossi briefly held second after his first qualifying lap but several riders went faster and a small mistake with his second tyre meant he was unable to improve again. Ninth place puts him on the outside of the third row, whilst Edwards will start from the head of the fifth row after failing to find a comfortable rhythm with either of his qualifying tyres. Valentino Rossi Position: 9th Time: 2’02.466 Laps: 22 “This morning things were feeling better for us and we were a little bit more confident. Unfortunately this afternoon, with the higher temperatures, our tyres didn’t work in the same way and we were much slower and sliding quite a lot. With the qualifying tyre I was quite confident and they worked quite well, as they have all season, and I thought there was a chance for the front row. With the second one I thought we could improve again but I had a slide in the third section and lost some time, and so now we are on the third row. I am quite disappointed because our race pace is not good at the moment and we needed to be on the front row to give us the best chance possible for tomorrow. It will be difficult to use the warm-up to our advantage because the conditions are different to those we will probably have during the race, but anyway we will do what we can and try to make the best from the situation.” Colin Edwards Position: 13th Time: 2’03.040 Laps: 19 “There’s really very little to say about today and I think it’s better if I say “no comment!” We’ve got some big problems and it hasn’t been fun. I want to say thanks to all my guys; they’re working so hard to try and make a difference and find a way to improve things and I know they won’t give up at any point. It’s going to be a very hard race but it’s not over till it’s over so we’ll just have to wait and see what we can improve before 3pm tomorrow and what happens after the lights go out.” Davide Brivio Fiat Yamaha Team Director “We’re in quite a difficult position and now we have to try our hardest to find a better package for the race. At the moment we just don’t have enough grip and both riders are struggling to contend with this, so we are quite slow. This morning both Valentino and Colin made some good improvements but this afternoon we were unable to continue in the same way. We couldn’t find the right combination to challenge with today but we have some ideas and we will be doing our utmost to give both of them a more competitive package for tomorrow’s race.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: PEERLESS PEDROSA POCKETS SEPANG POLE Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa scorched to his third pole position in consecutive races on Saturday as qualifying took place for the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang. The 22-year-old Spaniard claimed top spot by just 0.041s in the dying seconds of the hour-long session with a lap of 2m 01.877s on his super-grippy Michelin qualifying tyres. It was Pedrosa’s fourth pole position of the 2007 season and means a Repsol Honda has been at the front of the grid for the last four Grands Prix a sequence which began with Nicky Hayden’s pole position in Portugal in September. Hayden himself will start tomorrow’s race from the second row of the grid after setting a lap time just 0.348s behind Pedrosa’s best. The 2006 World Champion was fourth fastest in the cooler morning practice before temperatures soared to 33 degrees and the track surface temperature reached a searing 50 degrees during the afternoon session. With grip levels reduced in the extreme heat, Hayden wasn’t able to hit his rhythm on race tyres, though he still pulled out one of his trademark qualifying performances to take sixth spot and give himself a good chance of getting away with the leaders when the race begins at 3pm local time tomorrow (9am CET, 8am UK). (Note: Pedrosa, who rides with race number 26, has now amassed 26 pole positions, 26 wins and 26 fastest laps in all classes of Grand Prix racing 125cc, 250cc and MotoGP.) Dani Pedrosa: Pole Position 2m 01.877s “It’s great to have three pole positions in a row and gives us a good chance for the start tomorrow, but of course the only important thing is the race result because there are no points for pole position. The qualifying laps went quite well and I improved by 0.8s on my second fast lap which was just enough to take pole position This afternoon the conditions were quite different to those we had yesterday and this morning it was much hotter which made the surface a little bit more slippery. We’ve been testing more tyre options today and we still have to decide which ones we’ll race with. It depends on the weather and especially the temperature we expect for tomorrow afternoon. We also need to do some more work on the set-up based on the data from today’s two sessions.” Nicky Hayden: 6th 2m 02.225s “This morning in the cooler temperatures I was able to go a lot faster than this afternoon so we definitely need to come up with some adjustments to improve our speed in the hot conditions. Sixth on the grid is ok, although it hasn’t exactly been the best day for us. My qualifying lap wasn’t perfect and, like at Phillip Island last week, in the last sector of the lap the tyre went a little bit soft. Nonetheless, I was able to move up the field on qualifiers and getting on the second row here is ok. The main thing we have to decide is which race tyre to run with because the track changed so much this afternoon when the temperature came up. The surface was really hot and greasy, it was quite difficult for me to find enough grip and my rhythm was not so good. We got a decent qualifying position to give ourselves a chance now we’ve got to improve the settings in race trim. It’s going to be really important to get a good start tomorrow and latch onto the front guys.” Makoto Tanaka – Team Manager “This is Dani’s third pole position in a row so congratulations to him on another great job. This afternoon was very hot with track temperatures reaching 50 degrees which is much hotter than yesterday. Under these conditions it’s very difficult for the riders and team to determine the tyre performance over race distance so we will have to think about this very hard tonight. Of course we don’t know what the weather will do tomorrow so we must consider all the possibilities. Nicky did a good job to get a second row start which also gives him a chance to get away at the front tomorrow. Our rivals look very strong too so I expect a very interesting race.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Polini Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix – Saturday October 20th Report Day 2 motogp For the third consecutive MotoGP qualifying session, Dani Pedrosa took pole position onboard the 800cc Repsol Honda in a last-gasp move up through the pack. The Spaniard, looking for a happy ending to his season with the mathematical chance of taking second place in the World Championship, clocked a 2’01.877 lap of the resurfaced Sepang circuit after the rest of the front row riders had all finished their hot laps. Pedrosa’s fortunes are looking up, especially when combined with the struggles experienced by rival Valentino Rossi over the past two days. Rossi, who holds a 29-point advantage in the race for second place, could only qualify ninth for the Polini Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix, and will need to remain close to Pedrosa in order to confirm his position in the classification. The times dividing the front row were customarily close, with less than a tenth of a second between Pedrosa, 2007 World Champion Casey Stoner and third place qualifier Marco Melandri. Stoner now regains the lead in the BMW M Award for the fastest combined qualifying times over the course of the season from Rossi, and has a comfortable margin of nearly half a second over the Italian in the battle for a brand new sports car. Randy de Puniet, quickest round the track yesterday, heads the second row despite suffering an early crash in the qualifying session. The Kawasaki man lines up with fellow ‘Team Green’ member Anthony West in a new personal best for the Australian. West was in a strong position for a front row start with just a minute left of the session, but some late flying laps saw him demoted to a nonetheless impressive fifth ahead of 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden. Chris Vermeulen and Toni Elias will begin their push for the top spots from just behind, heading Rossi on the third row. 250cc Although all eyes are likely to be on 250cc World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo and outside title contender Andrea Dovizioso tomorrow, Hiroshi Aoyama reminded fans of the quarter litre class of just why he was tipped for glory this season by grabbing pole in Sepang. The Japanese rider came out of nowhere to steal the top spot from KTM team-mate Mika Kallio, putting in a 2’07.429 lap just three thousandths of a second quicker than the Finn on an excellent day for the team. Kallio had looked sturdy at the head of the timesheets, comfortable at the track where he has finished second three times in the 125cc class. The rookie has already taken his maiden win in the 250cc class, and looks set to be more than a match for the other three established racewinners on the front row. Two of said trio are the only duo with a chance of becoming 2007 World Champion. Lorenzo won the last round at Australia in style by routing his rivals, and any finish ahead of Dovisiozo tomorrow would see him retain his crown before both move up to MotoGP next year. The odds are stacked heavily in his favour, with Dovizioso needing to rely on the Spaniard finishing lower than eleventh even in the event that he wins the race to keep the title chase alive. The second row will be led off by Alvaro Bautista on the 2008-version Aprilia with the speed to put him in the battle for the win tomorrow, and the Aspar rider will be flanked by Thomas Luthi, Hector Barbera and Julian Simon. Ninth placed Alex de Angelis had a disappointing day, triggered by his early collision with Jules Cluzel and the Aprilia of Alex Baldolini. 125cc 125cc World Championship contender Hector Faubel took his second pole position of the season in the afternoon qualifying session at Sepang, and will line up alongside team-mate and title rival Gabor Talmacsi on the front row for the crucial race in Malaysia. Faubel faced a nervous wait over the course of the day, having finished outside the 107% qualifying cut-off yesterday afternoon. The Spaniard would have been relieved when the expected rain did not materialise, and immediately put in a fast lap to confirm his presence on the grid for tomorrow’s race. A 2’12.327 lap late on was enough to confirm pole position for the 24 year-old. Talmacsi was unable to take the top spot for a race which he could finish as 125cc World Champion, just over a tenth of a second behind Faubel. A win for the Hungarian, combined with a DNF for his fellow Aspar rider, would see Talmacsi take the title before Faubel’s home race at Valencia. Alongside a duo well accustomed to life on the front row, two riders new to the top four will be gunning for the holeshot in Malaysia. Sandro Cortese and Pol Espargaro will have a clean run in front of them for the first time in their careers, completing the top four. Row two consists of Simone Corsi, Tomoyoshi Koyama, Phillip Island race winner Lukas Pesek and Joan Olive, second in Australia. More, from a press release issued by Gresini Racing Honda: FRONT ROW START FOR MELANDRI AT SEPANG Marco to start from third, Toni eighth Great perfomances from the Gresini Honda riders today at Sepang. Marco Melandri confirmed his good early sensations as he secured a front row start for tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix in this afternoon’s qualifying practice. Third fastest in the grid shoot-out, just 0.06 seconds off the pole time set by Dani Pedrosa (Honda), Marco set a good pace throughout the session and is confident of his chances in the race. His team-mate Toni Elias also enjoyed a good day at the track, securing eighth place and making a tyre choice he is happy with for tomorrow’s penultimate race of the 2007 season. MARCO MELANDRI (3rd, 2.01.944): “I’m happy – we know that I have got a good race pace. A front row position on the grid is a good start for tomorrow. The bike is improving – I can get on the gas early and the speed down the straights is much better. The bike and tyres are working well together and this is a circuit I have always enjoyed. This is probably the first time we’ve had the right conditions to get the most out of it and I felt comfortable today. I had fun and now I feel confident about the race. It will be tough and demanding on both the tyres and our physical condition. It’s really hot here – like going from full winter in Australia to full summer in Malaysia!” TONI ELIAS (8th, 2.02.432): “We’ve done a good job today, together with the team. The bike setting has improved and we were able to do some good tyre tests. We have chosen our tyre for the race after running it in both sessions. Unfortunately I didn’t get a better starting position because I ran out of time on my second qualifying lap. It will be important to get a good start tomorrow to try and stick it out with the lead group.” FAUSTO GRESINI: “I am very satisfied with the performance of both Marco and Toni. Marco made the most of his qualifying tyre and it was a bit of a shame Toni couldn’t do the same with his second one. Anyway, I’m confident for the race and it looks like we’re in good shape for some top results. The team staff and riders have worked tirelessly.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang Saturday October 20, 2007 PEDROSA TAKES POLE WITH MELANDRI ON FRONT ROW Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) once more put his stamp firmly on the MotoGP grid with his third consecutive pole here at Sepang. Casey Stoner (Ducati) qualified second fastest with Marco Melandri (Gresini Honda RC212V) completing the front row. After yesterday’s rain, the skies held clear for qualifying and a track that was ‘green’ and greasy with little grip began to ‘rubber up’ and provide better adhesion for riders today. With ambient temperature at 33 degrees, the track heated up to 45 degrees by the start of this hour-long final qualifying session. And even after extensive re-surfacing work not all of Sepang’s notorious bumps have been ironed out, the turn five/six combination is still rippled and a source of chatter for riders. Nevertheless Dani’s pole lap of 2m 01.877s is still more than a second slower than the 2006 pole time. Randy de Puniet (Kawasaki) fell at turn one in the first ten minutes without injury as Melandri topped the table with a 2m 03.884s lap before Dani replied with first a 2m 03.838s time and then a 2m 03.109s lap as the Spanish ace settled into a race pace tempo. With 34 minutes left on the clock riders began to up the pace and it was Melandri who first dipped into the 2m 02 bracket with a lap of 2m 02.775s to go pole. The order on the front row was Melandri, Pedrosa then Stoner and these men would stay there, although not in that order and not without temporary intervention from others during the remaining half of the hour. Typically it was the Kawasaki pairing of Anthony West and Randy de Puniet who made the first attacks on qualifying rubber. De Puniet at 2m 02.692s, then his Aussie team-mate at 2m 02.202s. With twenty minutes of the session to go, West was on pole. With ten minutes to go Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) hoisted himself to third and Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) who was well down the order managed to grapple his way to a provisional second fastest time. Then newly crowned World Champion Casey Stoner made his bid for pole with a 2m 02.144s time with seven minutes left that looked good enough to head the field. The front row with two minutes left was an all Aussie affair: Stoner, West, Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki). Then Nicky put himself back on the front row and looked good for even more until Stoner shaved his pole time by more than a second with a 2m 01.918s lap that was the first time to go below the 2m 02s barrier. But he had reckoned without the super-consistent pole performances of Dani. Pedrosa dug deep to speed round the 5.548km track at 2m 01.877s. It was an unbeatable lap time here today although in his efforts to beat it Melandri elevated himself to the front row. Dani said: “It’s great to have three pole positions in a row and it gives us a good chance for the start tomorrow, but of course the only important thing is the race result because there are no points for pole position. The qualifying laps went quite well and I improved by 0.8s on my second fast lap which was just enough to take pole position This afternoon the conditions were quite different to those we had yesterday and this morning it was much hotter which made the surface a little bit more slippery. We’ve been testing more tyre options today and we still have to decide which ones we’ll race with.” Melandri said: “I’m happy we know I’ve got a good race pace. A front row position on the grid is a good start for tomorrow. The bike is improving and I can get on the gas early and the speed down the straights is much better. The bike and tyres are working well together and this is a circuit I have always enjoyed. This is probably the first time we’ve had the right conditions to get the most out of it and I felt comfortable today. I had fun and now I feel confident about the race. It will be tough and demanding on both the tyres and our physical condition. It’s really hot here like going from full winter in Australia to full summer in Malaysia.” Nicky ended up sixth and said: “This morning in the cooler temperatures I was able to go a lot faster than this afternoon so we definitely need to come up with some adjustments to improve our speed in the hot conditions. Sixth on the grid is OK, although it hasn’t exactly been the best day for us. My qualifying lap wasn’t perfect and, like at Phillip Island last week, in the last sector of the lap the tyre went a little bit soft. The surface was really hot and greasy, it was quite difficult for me to find enough grip and my rhythm was not so good. It’s going to be really important to get a good start tomorrow and latch onto the front guys.” Toni Elias (Gresini Honda RC212V) qualified eighth fastest and said: “We’ve done a good job today, together with the team. The bike setting has improved and we were able to do some good tyre tests. We have chosen our tyre for the race after running it in both sessions. Unfortunately I didn’t get a better starting position because I ran out of time on my second qualifying lap. It will be important to get a good start tomorrow to try and fight it out with the lead group.” Shinya Nakano (Konica Minolta Honda RC212V) managed 14tgh and said: “No rain today but we and everyone else are still struggling with this new track surface. In the afternoon we improved a little with suspension settings, but we’re still looking for quicker turning into the corners and overall a better feeling from the front of the bike. At the moment I cannot keep my corner speed up, or keep a decent speed when entering the corner. Tomorrow morning we will try and find a better setting in warm-up. We will keep hoping for the best and never give-up as the race is long and the conditions still could be changeable.” Carlos Checa (LCR Honda RC212V) qualified 16th. He said: “It is not normal that I’m almost two seconds slower than my times from pre-season testing here, especially as we now have the updated chassis and engine parts from Honda. Nothing we tried seemed to work and on the qualifying tyres I had a big problem with chatter and the front-end jumping around the bike would not turn. But we will not give up and we’ll continue to try 100%. I will work with my crew chief, Ramon Forcada, examine the data, and see what we can try in the warm-up to improve the performance.” Kurtis Roberts (Roberts KR212V) will start from 20th on the grid and said: “I’m struggling for grip. I keep losing the front. The first qualifier didn’t last the lap, and anyway we went the same speed as on the race tyres”¦ so none of the tyres are working very good right now. It could all be me. I don’t know. We’ll find out tomorrow. The bumps are alright. I’m just losing the front a lot. Could be me, could be tyres. I don’t know.” The 250cc grid is headed by Hiro Aoyama with his KTM team-mate Mika Kallio alongside him. Crucially in terms of the World Championship Jorge Lorenzo (Aprilia) lines up third with his World Championship rival Andrea Dovizioso (Scot Honda RS250RW) just behind him in fourth. Julian Simon (Repsol Honda RS250RW) qualified eighth fastest, Yuki Takahashi (Scot Honda RS250RW) 12th, while Ratthapark Wilairot (Stop And Go Racing Honda RS250RW) managed to out-qualify Shuhei Aoyama (Repsol Honda RS250RW) in 15th with Aoyama 16th. Dovi said: “This morning we were able to improve a lot, in particular on the front. In the afternoon, despite these hot temperatures, we had a good pace with a smooth drive that satisfied me. Tomorrow the race will be hard with these temperatures but I’m relaxed. I’m conscious that for the Championship I can’t do a lot, just win this race. I have a good feeling with the circuit and with the bike, so I’m very confident.” Simon said: “Qualifying was so so I had a small problem with the front end – it kept trying to turn in on me. The track was a little dirty on the race line after the MotoGP qualifying session and maybe that was part of the problem. The tyre compound is OK so I think it is the construction, it needs to be stronger the suspension is good. “ Wilairot said: “Staying on the fourth row wasn’t easy because the weather was really hot today, but in the end I was able to improve on yesterday’s lap times. In the morning, we worked on stiffening the suspension as the grip improved, but it wasn’t enough. We did a good job anyway, finding a good set-up for the race.” World Championship contender Hector Faubel took pole in the 125cc class by just 0.116 seconds from his team-mate and title rival Gabor Talmacsi. Sandro Cortese and Pol Espargaro line up third and fourth on the grid for tomorrow’s 19-lap race (all Aprilia). Alex Masbou (FFM Racing Honda RS125R) was best Honda qualifier in 12th, with Bradley Smith (Repsol Honda RS125R) lining up in 15th. Esteve Rabat (Repsol Honda RS125R) managed 17th and Mike di Meglio (Scot Honda RS125R) 18th. Masbou said: “We did a lot of work on the Australian Grand Prix data and changed the chassis settings to improve our performance entering the long corners. It handles more easily and I’m faster. Now I’m having a few problems in the tighter corners but the overall feeling of the bike is good. It all augurs well for the race because with the slipstreaming I can maybe gain another few tenths and stay with a good group.” Smith said: “I don’t know what’s going on, we just can’t set up the front-end well enough for the fast downhill corners. ‘ OK running into the corners but when I close the gas a little I have a lot of front-end chatter and that puts me off line and onto the dirty part of the track so I can’t get back on the gas as fast as I need to. We have changed the centre of gravity to try and help but it’s not much better. We have had this problem before but it was OK at Catalunya so we have to find a solution. The engine is as good as all the Honda’s except Mike di Meglio’s.” Honda rider quotes GP Malaysia, qualifying October 20, 2007. MotoGP. Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1st”It’s great to have three pole positions in a row and gives us a good chance for the start tomorrow, but of course the only important thing is the race result because there are no points for pole position. The qualifying laps went quite well and I improved by 0.8s on my second fast lap which was just enough to take pole position This afternoon the conditions were quite different to those we had yesterday and this morning it was much hotter which made the surface a little bit more slippery. We’ve been testing more tyre options today and we still have to decide which ones we’ll race with. It depends on the weather and especially the temperature we expect for tomorrow afternoon. We also need to do some more work on the set-up based on the data from today’s two sessions.” Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 6th “This morning in the cooler temperatures I was able to go a lot faster than this afternoon so we definitely need to come up with some adjustments to improve our speed in the hot conditions. Sixth on the grid is ok, although it hasn’t exactly been the best day for us. My qualifying lap wasn’t perfect and, like at Phillip Island last week, in the last sector of the lap the tyre went a little bit soft. Nonetheless, I was able to move up the field on qualifiers and getting on the second row here is ok. The main thing we have to decide is which race tyre to run with because the track changed so much this afternoon when the temperature came up. The surface was really hot and greasy, it was quite difficult for me to find enough grip and my rhythm was not so good. We got a decent qualifying position to give ourselves a chance now we’ve got to improve the settings in race trim. It’s going to be really important to get a good start tomorrow and latch onto the front guys.” Marco Melandri, Gresini Honda: 3rd “I’m happy – we know that I have got a good race pace. A front row position on the grid is a good start for tomorrow. The bike is improving – I can get on the gas early and the speed down the straights is much better. The bike and tyres are working well together and this is a circuit I have always enjoyed. This is probably the first time we’ve had the right conditions to get the most out of it and I felt comfortable today. I had fun and now I feel confident about the race. It will be tough and demanding on both the tyres and our physical condition. It’s really hot here – like going from full winter in Australia to full summer in Malaysia!” Toni Elias, Gresini Honda: 8th “We’ve done a good job today, together with the team. The bike setting has improved and we were able to do some good tyre tests. We have chosen our tyre for the race after running it in both sessions. Unfortunately I didn’t get a better starting position because I ran out of time on my second qualifying lap. It will be important to get a good start tomorrow to try and stick it out with the lead group.” Shinya Nakano, Konica Minolta Honda: 14th “No rain today but we and everyone else are still struggling with this new track surface. In the afternoon we improved a little with suspension settings, but we’re still looking for quicker turning into the corners and overall a better feeling from the front of the bike. At the moment I cannot keep my corner speed up, or keep a decent speed when entering the corner. Tomorrow morning we will try and find a better setting in warm-up. We will keep hoping for the best and never give-up as the race is long and the conditions still could be changeable.” Carlos Checa, LCR Honda: 16th It is not normal that I am almost two seconds slower than my times from pre-season testing here, especially as we now have the updated chassis and engine parts from Honda. Nothing we tried seemed to work and on the qualifying tyres I had a big problem with chatter and the front-end jumping around, the bike would not turn. But we will not give up and continue to try 100%. I will work with Ramon, examine the data, and see what we can try in the warm-up to improve the performance.” Kurtis Roberts, KR212V: 20th I’m struggling for grip. I keep losing the front. The first qualifier didn’t last the lap, and anyway we went the same speed as on the race tyres “¦ so none of the tyres are working very good right now. It could all be me. I don’t know. We’ll find out tomorrow. The bumps are alright. I’m just losing the front a lot. Could be me, could be tyres. I don’t know. Chuck Aksland Team Manager Team Roberts As Kurtis said, we’re struggling for grip. Our rear grip is kind of bad on race tyres, and we’re probably even worse off with the front right now. When we went to qualifiers, the first qualifier didn’t last a full lap, and on the second the front went away. Kurtis is doing okay for not having been here for a long time. Every time he goes out he gets more acquainted with the race track, but it’s a tough struggle here, and it’ll be a long race tomorrow. If it does rain it’ll better our chance a little bit. If it doesn’t, we’ll do the best we can, like we always do. 250cc: Andrea Dovizioso, Kopron Scot Honda: 4th “I’m quite happy because we really improved the front end of the bike this morning and I can hold my line in the corners without pushing the front. Today I quickly found a smooth fast rhythm in the fast corners. The track temperature was very high and this helped us a lot with finding a good overall machine set up. If the race is held in the same conditions I will be very happy. I am mentally very relaxed as I have a good bike and I like racing at Sepang and I feel very. As for the championship I have to win the race, nothing else will count.” Julian Simon, Repsol Honda: 8th “Qualifying was so so I had a small problem with the front end – it kept trying to turn in on me. The track was a little dirty on the race line after the MotoGP qualifying session and maybe that was part of the problem. The tyre compound is OK so I think it is the construction, it needs to be stronger the suspension is good. “ Yukio Takahashi, Kopron Scot Honda: 12th “This morning I had a good feeling with the bike but it needed a little work on rear end. W changed the suspension and the rear tyre but it was worse so we changed back but ran out of time. I could not understand why. When we checked the computer I could see that I had been riding with my foot on the rear brake. I thought my injured foot was better but didn’t have any feeling in it.” Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT-SAG: 15th “Remaining on the fourth row wasn’t easy because the weather was really hot today, but in the end I was able to improve on yesterday’s lap times. In the morning, we worked on stiffening the suspensions as the grip improved, but it wasn’t enough. We did a good job anyway, finding a good set-up for the race.” Shuhei Aoyama, Repsol Honda: 16th “I didn’t really have any big problems with my machine but I didn’t have a good feeling. I don’t know the track and the new surface was very slippery in qualifying. There as only on really good line to use to set a good time but I could not get the best out of the bike today. Tomorrow I don’t think I can get with the top group from 16th on the grid but I hope to be fighting in the second group.” Eugene Laverty, LCR Honda: 20th “Considering I lost about 30 minutes this morning with the crash I’m very happy with my progress, I’m only 0.4s away from 13th on the grid. We have made a big improvement to front grip and braking stability.” 125cc. Alexis Masbou, FFM Honda: 12th “With Tiziano, my chief mechanic, we did a lot of work on the Australian Grand Prix data and changed the Honda’s chassis settings to improve our performance entering the long corners. It handles more easily and I’m faster entering the long corners. Now I’m having a few problems in the smaller corners but the overall feeling of the bike is good. We will further fine tune these settings for tomorrow¹s race. I achieved my fastest lap time alone, which augurs well for the race because with the slipstreaming I can maybe gain another few tenths and stay with a good group. Bradley Smith, Repsol Honda: 15th “I don’t know what is going on we just cant set up the front end good enough for the fast downhill corners. Its OK running into the corners but when I close the gas a little I have a lot of front end chatter and that puts me off line and onto the dirty part of the track so I cant get back on the gas as fast as I need to. We have changed the centre of gravity to try and help but its not much better. We have had this problem before but it was OK at Catalunya so we have to find a solution. The engine is as good as all the Honda’s except Mike di Meglio’s.” Tito Rabat, Repsol Honda: 17th “Tat was a very difficult session for me I had problems with my engine it was slow this afternoon it just would not pick up, no pull at all. The chassis is not so bad but the tyres are sliding a lot in the fast turns if I push too hard the front wants to turn in. We can fix the front end OK and I hope the engine will be good in the warm up. I need a good start to try and get with the top group but I am on the fifth row of the grid.” Mike Di Meglio, Kopron Scot Honda: 18th “I don’t understand the qualifying session at all. I went out with the same set up as in the practice this morning, when I was 11th fastest, but in qualifying I was not fast. My engine was overheating but not much and second gear a little too long but that was not the problem. Normally I can make a fast lap alone but I had to wait for a fast rider to help with the slipstream but I didn’t find one and had to do it alone.” Danny Webb, Molenaar Honda: 25th “I ran my fastest lap behind Masbou but it could have been better but I hit a bump and almost lost the front. I lost the tow from Masbou but I’m still happy with my time. I don’t have enough grip on the front end and the rear is sliding but that’s the same for everybody. The engine is fast but struggles against the Aprilia’s. To be honest the only real problem I have to fix is my second gear, its too long but I’m fast off most of the corners and can hold my own with most when I’m braking.” Joey Litjens, Molenaar Honda: 27th “This morning everything was super good but this afternoon it went wrong for me on very first lap of qualifying. For some reason the rear brake locked on then freed itself. I went into the pit and the team took only five minutes to fix it but when I went back onto the rack I could not find my rhythm or a good group to run fast times with. Just before the end of qualifying I got in behind Danny (Webb) and managed to set 27th time. I will need one of my super fast starts tomorrow if I am going to get a good finish. More, from a press release issued by Repsol Media Service: THIRD CONSECUTIVE POLE FOR DANI PEDROSA IN MOTOGP The Repsol Honda Team rider set the best time on the Sepang track in Malaysia. His teammate Nicky Hayden will start from the second row of the starting grid, in sixth place The Repsol Honda Team rider Dani Pedrosa got his third consecutive pole in MotoGP today, at the Malaysian track of Sepang, after others in Japan and Australia. Pedrosa, the ninth best in the morning, set the pole in the afternoon`s timed session with his second classification tyre. Pedrosa said after the practice that he still had work to do on the Honda RC212V`s set up, and he must make a decision together with his team regarding the race tyres. The different track conditions today, compared to yesterday and the high level of tyre wear on the new asphalt were two of the decisive factors in the two practice sessions. The big doubt for tomorrow is the weather, this will affect the state of the track and makes the tyre choice especially difficult. Today was an especially difficult day for his teammate Nicky Hayden. In spite of setting the fourth best time in the morning`s free practice session, the rider from Kentucky was not able to find a good enough set up that would let him keep up a good pace in the race this afternoon. In spite of this the Repsol Honda Team rider was able to set a fast lap with classification tyres, and so he will be on the second row of the starting grid as he set the sixth best time. In 250cc, another difficult day for the Japanese rider Shuhei Aoyama. He was 13th in the morning`s free practice session, but in the afternoon in the definitive timed session he could only finish in 16th position. His teammate Julián Simón guaranteed himself a position on the second row of the starting grid after setting the 8th best time in the second timed practice. Simón, who had some problems with his front tyre and so could not ride with total confidence, hopes to find a solution tomorrow in the warm up so that he can race with complete confidence. Complicated day for the young riders in the Repsol Honda 125cc Team. After yesterday`s two positive performances yesterday, with Esteve Rabat 8th and Bradley Smith 10th, today things went wrong for the riders schooled by Alberto Puig. In the morning, Rabat set the 16th best time and his teammate Smith was right behind him. In the afternoon, the same problems, a lack of power on their Hondas, did not let them keep the positions they got yesterday; Smith finished 15th fourth row of the starting grid – and Rabat 17th fifth row. Smith fell but was unhurt at the end of the session, when his engine broke down, and so was unable to fight for a better place on tomorrow`s grid. The two riders hope to take advantage of tomorrow`s warm up to try and improve the set up on their bikes. Quotes MotoGP Nicky Hayden >> 2’02.225 secs. 45 laps, 250 Km. “This morning in the cooler temperatures I was able to go a lot faster than this afternoon so we definitely need to come up with some adjustments to improve our speed in the hot conditions. Sixth on the grid is ok, although it hasn’t exactly been the best day for us. My qualifying lap wasn’t perfect and, like at Phillip Island last week, in the last sector of the lap the tyre went a little bit soft. Nonetheless, I was able to move up the field on qualifiers and getting on the second row here is ok. The main thing we have to decide is which race tyre to run with because the track changed so much this afternoon when the temperature came up. The surface was really hot and greasy, it was quite difficult for me to find enough grip and my rhythm was not so good. We got a decent qualifying position to give ourselves a chance now we’ve got to improve the settings in race trim. It’s going to be really important to get a good start tomorrow and latch onto the front guys.” Dani Pedrosa >> 2’01.877 secs. 44 laps, 244 Km. “It’s great to have three pole positions in a row and gives us a good chance for the start tomorrow, but of course the only important thing is the race result because there are no points for pole position. The qualifying laps went quite well and I improved by 0.8s on my second fast lap which was just enough to take pole position This afternoon the conditions were quite different to those we had yesterday and this morning it was much hotter which made the surface a little bit more slippery. We’ve been testing more tyre options today and we still have to decide which ones we’ll race with. It depends on the weather and especially the temperature we expect for tomorrow afternoon. We also need to do some more work on the set-up based on the data from today’s two sessions.” 250cc Julián Simón >> 2’08.496 secs. 39 laps 216 Km. “This was a couple of positive practice sessions. The truth is that I am not where I would like to be on the grid, I will start on the second row which is near enough to be up with the leaders from the first curve onwards. Tomorrow the most important thing will be the start and also my physical condition, because my arm is hurting a little after the injury I got at Estoril. This is a circuit that once again is a little too demanding for my arm, nevertheless tomorrow I will try not to think about it and I will aim to be with the leaders. The bike is not going too badly. We just have some problems with the rear wheel on certain curves. That may make it more difficult for me in the race. In the warm up we are going to try something new which I am sure will bring good results. I want to thank the team because they are working hard and they are spending a lot of time on solving my problem. I am dying to race tomorrow, I want to put in a good peformance again, even better than the one in Australia where I fought a lot and I enjoyed myself.” Shuhei Aoyama >> 2’10.664 secs. 34 laps 189 Km. “Today went very badly, but we have turn the page and think about tomorrow, when we race. I think that both the set up on the bike and the tyre selection are fine, but what I have to change is my mentality. When I am on the track alone I find it hard to find the right line, and what is more I was not able to set a good time. I tried to follow other riders, but they just slowed down or went to the pits. Tomorrow we will have to do all we can to improve.” 125cc Bradley Smith >> 2’15.635 secs. 28 laps, 155 Km. “This morning we had some problems and then we made some important changes to try and find the right way to do things, instead of making small changes. We tried totally opposing things and when you do this type of thing you never know whether it will come off or not, but where the bike should have worked better it didn`t, and that is why I lost so much time. Then the engine broke and I fell, and that did not help… At least we know what the problem is and we sure have some work to do tomorrow, but I hope to improve in the warm up and get off to a good start.” Esteve Rabat >> 2’15.835 secs. 30 laps, 166 Km. “In this session classification I had a lot of problems with the engine. And at the beginning of the practice it was raining on some parts of the circuit. The engine was not fast either and I made a mistake with the rear tyre choice, which wore out too much. But we hope to solve some things on the chassis and engine for tomorrow and so have a good warm up, get off to a good start and be with the leaders again”