FIM MotoGP World Championship Donington Park, England July 25, 2009 Qualifying Results: MotoGP: 1. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), 1:28.116 2. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), 1:28.211 3. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), 1:28.402 4. Casey STONER (Ducati), 1:28.446 5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), 1:28.778 6. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), 1:28.865 7. Marco MELANDRI (Kawasaki), 1:29.065 8. Toni ELIAS (Honda), 1:29.175 9. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), 1:29.270 10. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), 1:29.434 11. Mika KALLIO (Ducati), 1:29.599 12. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), 1:29.600 13. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), 1:30.098 14. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki), 1:30.153 15. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati), 1:30.268 16. Niccolo CANEPA (Ducati), 1:30.572 17. Gabor TALMACSI (Honda), 1:31.193 250cc: 1. Hector BARBERA (Aprilia), 1:31.802 2. Marco SIMONCELLI (Gilera), 1:31.894 3. Hiroshi AOYAMA (Honda), 1:32.055 4. Alex DEBON (Aprilia), 1:32.268 5. Mike DI MEGLIO (Aprilia), 1:32.643 6. Alvaro BAUTISTA (Aprilia), 1:32.664 7. Mattia PASINI (Aprilia), 1:32.883 8. Ratthapark WILAIROT (Honda), 1:33.046 9. Karel ABRAHAM (Aprilia), 1:33.145 10. Lukas PESEK (Aprilia), 1:33.203 11. Raffaele DE ROSA (Honda), 1:33.218 12. Thomas LUTHI (Aprilia), 1:33.360 13. Roberto LOCATELLI (Gilera), 1:33.405 14. Hector FAUBEL (Honda), 1:33.503 15. Jules CLUZEL (Aprilia), 1:33.622 125cc: 1. Bradley SMITH (Aprilia), 1:37.442 2. Marc MARQUEZ (KTM), 1:37.573 3. Julian SIMON (Aprilia), 1:37.749 4. Sergio GADEA (Aprilia), 1:37.849 5. Joan OLIVE (Derbi), 1:37.874 6. Nicolas TEROL (Aprilia), 1:37.989 7. Pol ESPARGARO (Derbi), 1:38.117 8. Sandro CORTESE (Derbi), 1:38.367 9. Esteve RABAT (Aprilia), 1:38.471 10. Andrea IANNONE (Aprilia), 1:38.484 27. Cameron BEAUBIER (KTM), 1:40.509 More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: FIAT YAMAHA KEEP UP THEIR BRILLIANT QUALIFYING RECORD WITH POLE AND THIRD IN DONINGTON Valentino Rossi took pole for the second race running at Donington Park this afternoon, his fourth of the season and the 56th of his career. Jorge Lorenzo qualified third and, with four poles for him also this year, the Fiat Yamaha Team has now taken the front grid slot in eight out of the ten races. It is also the fifth consecutive race at which both riders have been on the front row. After yesterday’s downpours, today was dry with sunny intervals and this morning saw Lorenzo second and Rossi third as they got their first chance to work on their dry settings around the 4km track. In this afternoon’s hour-long qualifying session Lorenzo held pole position for most of the session until briefly surrendering it to Dani Pedrosa ten minutes from the end, whilst Rossi struggled slightly to find the best set-up with the hard Bridgestone tyre. 22-year-old Lorenzo moved back to the top just a couple of laps later but was then edged off by Rossi with three minutes to go, as the Italian found his best form at the perfect time. The Spaniard was unable to match the pace of his championship-leading team-mate with the soft tyre and finished 0.286 seconds adrift, whilst a strong charge from Dani Pedrosa edged the Spaniard into third but was not good enough to knock Rossi off pole. Tomorrow’s race will start at the later time of 1530 local time, which is 1630 CET. Valentino Rossi Position: 1st Time: 1’28.116 Laps: 32 “I am quite surprised to be on pole today because we had a couple of problems this afternoon! This morning unfortunately we didn’t try the hard Bridgestone tyre but we weren’t worried because everyone else had good grip with it. But this afternoon when we finally tried it we found the grip to be not as we expected and our pace with it wasn’t so good. We made some modifications and improved it a bit, then we made a few more and used the soft tyre again and then we were very quick. Like that I could ride the bike how I wanted and it felt great, fast and flowing so this was a good job from the team. We need to do some work to improve our pace with the hard tyre, and then we just have to wait and see what the weather does tomorrow. Whatever happens, we’re starting from the front and this is the most important thing.” Jorge Lorenzo Position: 3rd Time: 1’28.402 Laps: 35 “With the harder tyre, we’re definitely ready and I feel very good on the bike. With the softer tyre and on my last run I wasn’t so fast, but we are not too concerned about this. Anyway I feel confident on my M1 and I am enjoying riding here. Tomorrow we don’t know about the weather but I was fast also in the rain yesterday so I know that I can be competitive even if the weather is bad. I am really hoping for a good race here since it’s the last time we will come.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “At the end everything worked out okay and we got a nice pole position, the second in a row. We still have some work to do to improve the race setting to finalise the package in case we have dry conditions tomorrow, but we have the warm-up in to try to fine-tune everything. It looks like it’s more likely that it’s going to rain however, in which case we will use what we learned yesterday.” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “We are on target, because starting from the front row will be very important for this race. Today we concentrated mostly on our race setting and Jorge’s pace is very fast and consistent. Maybe we should have considered something a bit different for qualifying with the softer tyre, but the most important thing is that we’re in good shape for the race. We hope that we can have the same weather as today tomorrow, but if the rain does come then we have yesterday’s good session to help us.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Rossi pole for British GP, top four faster than existing lap record Round 10: Great Britain GP Qualifying Donington Park, Saturday 25 July 2009 Bridgestone compounds available: Front: Slicks Soft, Medium Rear: Slicks Soft, Medium Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi achieved his fourth pole position of the season using Bridgestone’s medium compound front slick and a soft compound rear. On race tyres, his pole time was 0.6seconds faster than the existing lap record set by Honda’s Dani Pedrosa in 2006. In contrast to yesterday’s rain, the qualifying session for the British Grand Prix was run in dry conditions giving all riders a chance to use Bridgestone’s slicks at Donington Park. Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa will start from second in tomorrow’s race, using a medium front and soft compound rear Bridgestone slick to secure his fourth front-row start of the year, just 0.095seconds adrift of Rossi. Jorge Lorenzo was third fastest and Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner fourth, the top four all faster than the existing lap record. The top six all used the same medium front soft rear tyre compound combination. Every rider left the pits on the medium compound Bridgestone slicks, but most riders had opted for the soft compound rear by the halfway point of the hour-long session. If the conditions for the race tomorrow remain the same, it is expected that most riders will favour the medium compound Bridgestone slicks, the harder of the two options. Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development “I am happy with the performance of our medium compound slick tyres today as the pace at the front of the field was very fast. The top four riders were under the lap record and again Jorge rode a consistent 23-lap stint on a single set of tyres at the start of the session, both of which suggest we could see another fast-paced race tomorrow. “If the conditions remain the same for the race, I expect the medium compound slicks to be the favoured choice because their harder compound will give improved durability over the race distance, and even though Donington is a slippery track, warm-up performance was no problem today.” Top ten from qualifying (Saturday 13:55 14:55 GMT+1) Pos Rider Team Fastest lap Gap Compounds Front, Rear 1 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m28.116s Medium, Soft 2 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1m28.211s +0.095s Medium, Soft 3 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 1m28.402s +0.286s Medium, Soft 4 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 1m28.446s +0.330s Medium, Soft 5 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 1m28.778s +0.662s Medium, Soft 6 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m28.865s +0.749s Medium, Soft 7 Marco Melandri Hayate Racing Team 1m29.065s +0.949s Soft, Soft 8 Toni Elias San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m29.175s +1.059s Soft, Soft 9 James Toseland Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m29.270s +1.154s Medium, Soft 10 Randy de Puniet LCR Honda MotoGP 1m29.434s +1.318s Medium, Soft Weather: Dry. Ambient 20°C; Track 32°C ( Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: PEDROSA A SPLIT SECOND FROM DONINGTON POLE, DOVIZIOSO FIFTH Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa today came within 0.095s of taking pole position for the British Grand Prix in a tightly contested qualifying session at Donington Park. The Spaniard, who won the 2006 race here in his debut MotoGP season, was quick in both today’s dry sessions. He finished the morning practice with the fastest time – a lap of 1m 28.787s – and lowered that to a 1m 28.211s in the qualifying shoot-out. Pedrosa was just pipped to pole position by Valentino Rossi and so will the start the 30-lap race nicely poised in the middle of the front row. Pedrosa’s qualifying lap record of 1m 27.676s set on the 990cc Honda RC211V on his way to pole position in 2006 remained in tact. Tomorrow, at the tender age of 23, Pedrosa could become the Spanish rider who has scored the most points ever in Grand Prix racing. Having accumulated 2006 points in his nine seasons so far, if Pedrosa finishes in ninth position or above tomorrow he will overtake the totals of fellow Spaniards Alex Criville (2012 points) and Angel Nieto (2008 points). The result would put Pedrosa in sixth place in the overall Grand Prix point scorers table behind Valentino Rossi in first place, Loris Capirossi, Max Biaggi, Mick Doohan and Alex Barros.* His Repsol Honda team-mate, Andrea Dovizioso, also put on a competitive showing in qualifying today and will start the race directly behind Pedrosa in the middle of the second row, having qualified in fifth with a lap just 0.662s from pole. The 23-year-old Italian still feels there are some set-up improvements to be made ahead of the race tomorrow and will work in the warm-up to improve traction and his feeling on the way into corners. Dovizioso likes the Donington Park circuit and has strong previous form here, having won the 125cc race in 2004 and the 250cc clash in 2007. As seems to be typical for the British Grand Prix, the weather threatens to play a part tomorrow with rain promised by the forecasters. The Repsol Honda Team will be ready for whatever the skies have in mind for the race, which begins later than usual at 15.30 in order to avoid a TV clash with the Formula One race in Hungary. (*Modern day riders have an advantage due to the current point scoring system allocating more points, plus the greater number of Grands Prix per year. Statistics courtesy of Dr Martin Raines.) DANI PEDROSA 2nd 1m 28.211s “We did a good job in both sessions today and I’m happy to qualify on the front row because, in reality, that’s more important than taking pole position. On my last run at the end of the qualifying session I found some traffic on the circuit which caused me to lose my concentration and rhythm slightly, so I think I could have gone a little quicker. But still, the middle of the front row is OK. Our dry set-up is nearly there so we’ll aim to make just a few little improvements before the race. The weather is looking changeable for tomorrow, though at least we’ve had some practice time in the wet yesterday. If it’s raining I’d like to improve my riding and my pace a bit but the weather is out of our control so we’ll have to see. It’s the last MotoGP race at Donington tomorrow and of course I’d like a good result to sign off with – preferably a win.” ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 5th 1m 28.778s “Starting from the second row is not a bad place to be and gives us a chance to get away at the head of the field so I’m satisfied with that. A fast start tomorrow should give us a good opportunity to have a strong race. Having said that, I really like this track and I was hoping to be in a slightly better situation going into tomorrow both in terms of grid position and race pace. We still need to improve our speed and consistency and there is some work to do to take us closer to the frontrunners and be fully competitive. We need to improve on the entry to the corner and also to work on traction, so we’ll look at the data we collected today and I’m confident my team can help me to make these improvements. It could rain tomorrow too, so we’ll come in ready for anything.” KAZUHIKO YAMANO – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER “Dani was very close to pole position and this is another good performance from him and the Team. His starts have been very good this year and so the middle of the front row gives him a clear run into the first corner which could be valuable. Dani’s pace in the dry is good and he’s confident for those conditions. In the wet we need to improve the machine settings so that’s what we’ll be working on in preparation for tomorrow. Andrea is fifth on the grid and did a good job to increase his pace in qualifying. He still needs to find some improvement in terms of set-up to give him consistency for the race so his crew will be focusing on that in the warm-up tomorrow. Of course we are anticipating a range of weather conditions at Donington and whatever it brings I think the Repsol Honda Team can be challengers tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki plans to keep fighting at Donington farewell Rizla Suzuki racers Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi have a tough task ahead of tomorrow’s final MotoGP race from Donington Park in England. Sunday will see the last MotoGP race at Donington Park – for the foreseeable future – and Vermeulen (P13, 1’30.98, 33 laps) and Capirossi (P14, 1’30.153, 28 laps) will have their work cut out right from the start as they try to fight their way through the field after both qualified on the fifth row of the grid today, following a frustrating qualifying session for the pair. Neither rider was able to find the answers that they were looking for to enable them to make significant steps forward with their Suzuki GSV-Rs. With rain forecast for tomorrow, Vermeulen and Capirossi could be called upon to use all their skills in the wet to carve through the field and challenge for a good result at the 4,023m British circuit. Today’s qualifying was held in cool and windy conditions with track temperatures only getting up to 31ºC. World Championship leader Valentino Rossi will start from pole position on his factory Yamaha. Tomorrow’s race will be the last motorcycle Grand Prix since GP racing returned to Donington in 1987 and a big British crowd is expected to turn up and witness end of an era when the lights signal the start at 15.30hrs local time (14.30hrs GMT). Chris Vermeulen: “I am really frustrated because I was looking forward to Donington as I’ve had some success here and the bike has worked well, but this weekend so far has been quite difficult. In the wet we had reasonable success, but it has been really tough for us in the dry today. We have struggled to make the bike turn how we would want it to and to keep the front end feeling and speed through the corners. That is something we will need to work on this evening, it’s an issue we’ve had a couple of times this year and hopefully we can get it resolved for tomorrow. I know I don’t really like the rain, but we might get lucky tomorrow and it will be wet – which would certainly help us this weekend. You never know what the weather will do at Donington so we will have to wait and see.” Loris Capirossi: “I don’t really have a lot to say about today! I would like to thank my crew for the fantastic job they did at lunchtime today when they changed an engine in about 25 minutes, which was great work. It has been hard work on the bike today as we tried to find the best solutions for here but we are still struggling a bit. We have a couple of issues to still sort out, but things were better this afternoon compared to this morning. Overall the situation does not look too good, but we are here to fight as hard as we can and we will continue to do our best tomorrow, it won’t be easy but we will be trying!” Paul Denning – Team Manager: “The issues we suffered from at Sachsenring last weekend have unfortunately transferred over to this weekend and we have been unable to give either rider a package to enable them to push to their maximum level. The team has done a good job today to try to overcome the problems and particularly on Loris’s side I must say ‘well-done’ on such a great job to change the bike completely between sessions. Those changes improved some areas but it hasn’t reflected significantly on the stopwatch or the grid positions. We’ll keep pushing hard and do everything we can to give the riders a better package tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Edwards and Toseland confident ahead of British battle Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team duo Colin Edwards and James Toseland will do battle in the last British MotoGP race to be staged at Donington Park from sixth and ninth on the grid respectively. Edwards secured his seventh top six qualifying result of the season with a best lap of 1.28.865, the American using dry and warm conditions to further evaluate new front fork settings and a revised body position on his Yamaha YZR-M1 machine. Bidding to score a third MotoGP podium at Donington Park in tomorrow’s 30-lap race, Edwards was one of only seven riders to lap within a second of Valentino Rossi’s impressive pole position pace. Toseland gave his hopes of a scoring a top six finish in front of a passionate home crowd a huge boost this afternoon. Working closely with his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team crew to improve the setting of his YZR-M1 machine, the 28-year-old performed superbly to equal his best qualifying result of the season. A lap of 1.29.270s was just 1.154s away from pole position and Toseland was just over four-tenths-of-a-second away from a top six spot on the grid after he’d been as high as fifth position on the timesheets. The British rider is confident of fighting for his best result of the season, though all eyes will be on the skies tomorrow, with a repeat of the rain that disrupted yesterday’s practice forecast for the race. Colin Edwards 6th 1.28.865 30 laps “I’m happy with the way I rode but getting close to those guys at the front is getting tough. They are running a pretty fast pace but I’m confident if I can get a good start that I’ll be able to stay with them for the race. If I can get away with them then they might pull me around for a few laps. I’m moving in the right direction with the setting and the changes we’ve made to the front forks and experimenting with my body position has improved the front feeling. But with no testing now it is difficult to get used to something so different quickly and I just need a bit more time to adapt because I know we can make the feeling much better. I’m still not sure which race tyre I’m going to run. I’d like to have the best of both compounds on one tyre. We need the left side of the softer tyre and the right side of the hard one. But deliberating that might be for nothing because I hear we’re probably going to be under water here tomorrow anyway on rain tyres. We got some time in the rain yesterday so I’m happy I’ve got a set-up for rain or dry conditions. I really want a good result with it being the last British GP at Donington Park. I’ve had a lot of success here in the past and it would be good to sign off in style.” James Toseland 9th 1.29.270 30 laps “I’m happy but at the same time a little bit frustrated because we didn’t have a really good base setting this morning. That meant we had quite a bit of work to do this afternoon, but thanks to my guys because they did a great job again. I improved quite a bit but if we had started this morning like we ended this afternoon then I’m sure I could have qualified on the second row. The base set-up didn’t work so well because we were too hard on the front and rear. I didn’t have much feel at all and I was only doing low 1.32s, so to do 1.29s this afternoon I’m really happy. At least I’ve given myself a good chance of battling for that top six tomorrow and that was always my target. Today was definitely better than last year’s qualifying, although it couldn’t really have been much worse. The new electronics are working brilliantly round here, particularly out of the slow hairpins at the end of the lap, so I’ve got say thanks to Yamaha for that again. Obviously I’m desperate t o get a good result tomorrow. I want to make amends for the disappointment of last year and give the British fans something to cheer about. The support out there today was amazing, and they deserve a good result. I can promise them I’ll be giving it my absolute maximum.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: DUCATI MARLBORO PAIR PREPARED FOR A TOUGH RACE AT DONINGTON Ducati Marlboro Team riders Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden will ride for potentially the final time at Donington Park tomorrow, with the British Grand Prix set to move to Silverstone next year. The Australian and the American start from fourth and fifteenth place respectively on the grid after qualifying practice was held in dry and warm conditions this afternoon. Stoner’s chance of a front row start were spoiled with a front-end crash halfway through the session, whilst Hayden struggled to find grip in the dry conditions despite an impressive showing in the wet during yesterday’s opening free practice. Unsurprisingly, neither rider would be disappointed to see the local weather forecast of rain for tomorrow afternoon bear out. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) (4th ; 1’28.446) “I’m a bit frustrated because I think we could have been on the front row today but considering everything, fourth place isn’t that bad. It was actually a really difficult day for us, we had a few problems this morning, we have struggled to find the good feeling with the bike that we’ve had in the last few races, but we modified the set-up for the afternoon and things felt better, allowing me to go fast from the start. We were trying a different configuration on each bike but unfortunately about halfway through the session, when we were trying something with the front, I crashed and damaged my number 1 machine and that obviously made things worse. We didn’t have enough time left to transfer that setting onto the second bike so we managed to improve a little on the soft tyre but it still wasn’t enough. We’ll have to see what happens tomorrow and to try to get as many points as possible. I’d almost prefer it to rain because it would be better for my physical condition”. NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Marlboro Team) (15th; 1’30.268) “It hasn’t been a very productive day for us at all. We’ve struggled a lot to get feel into the bike, especially on the left side it has been a problem getting enough heat into the tyres to give me good feedback. My qualifying lap was only an improvement of about a second on my first run this morning, which was our first time on the track in the dry, and obviously that’s not good enough. I did a pretty poor job today at the end of qualifying and probably stayed out too long when I had another soft tyre I could have come in and changed to, but time was running out. I also had a little clutch problem there at the end, which didn’t help but the bottom line is we haven’t been fast enough all day. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping for rain tomorrow. I’ll be sorry for the fans if it does but selfishly we might need it!” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: SUN SHINES IN DONINGTON GP QUALIFYING Donington, 25 July: LCR Honda MotoGP rider Randy De Puniet will start tomorrow’s UK Grand Prix from the fourth row following today’s qualifying session at Donington Park race track which hosts the tenth round of the season before 2-weeks summer break. The French rider rode his Honda RC212V to the 10th place with a best lap time of 1’29.434 as he could not take a big advantage from the soft tyres at the 4.023 Km race track. After yesterday’s mixed conditions opening day of the British GP, this morning free session was conducted in the dry and the hour long qualifying session was ridden in the same condition with ambience temperature of 21°C ( 31°C on the asphalt). However the 28-year-old was unable to feel comfortable on the bike as he is not a fan of the British track. Today’s poleman is Rossi followed by Pedrosa and Lorenzo. De Puniet 10th 1’29.434 De Puniet -10th: “Well “¦ it hasn’t been an easy day for me and I always struggle to set my pace on this track especially in the last two corners. Since the beginning of this week end we had some issues to understand why we could not keep the pace of the front group. We have been focused in the last part of the track because that’s where it seems we lost too much time. We tried to improve the machine between the two sessions and I did my best to suit my riding stile to these corners for winning some tenths. Honestly we expected a third row start but I am still hoping for a top eight end”. More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Valentino Rossi took pole position number four of the 2009 season on Saturday afternoon with the fastest lap of MotoGP qualifying at Donington Park. The Fiat Yamaha rider’s time of 1’28.116 gave him his first top spot for the British Grand Prix since 2005 the last occasion in which he won at the Midlands track. Rossi now has twice as many pole positions as he did for the entire 2008 season and, following his pole position last week in Germany, heads the qualifying timesheet for consecutive races for the first time since the beginning of 2007. His hot lap came at the end of the session in a frantic shootout, in which he sent Dani Pedrosa, the top man in both Free Practice sessions, packing by just under a tenth of a second. Teammate and title rival Jorge Lorenzo was also hot on the Italian’s heels, placing third on the grid and maintaining his 100% record of front row starts in the current campaign. He relegated Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner, who lowsided at Macleans for his second fall of the day, to the second line by just 0.044. Andrea Dovizioso and Colin Edwards join Stoner on row two, riding for Repsol Honda and Monster Tech 3 Yamaha respectively. Edwards’ teammate and the only home rider in the premier class, James Toseland equaled his best qualifying performance of the year with ninth in the session. In addition to Stoner’s fall, Scot Racing rider Gabor Talmacsi also came off his bike during the run-out. 250cc Hectór Barberá took his third pole position in four races with a final throw of the dice in the 250cc category, as the Spaniard looks for a second victory of 2009. Riding the PepeWorld Aprilia RSA, Barberá was just 0.094 quicker than Marco Simoncelli when the session was shut down. Hiroshi Aoyama bounced back from a morning cylinder problem to clock the third fastest time of the session, just over two-tenths of a second down on Barberá’s 1’31.802 hot lap. He starts from the front row as the World Championship leader, with the final spot on the first row occupied by Alex Debón. Mike di Meglio out-qualified Mapfre Aspar teammate Álvaro Bautista for the first time in his rookie year, heading the second row. Bautista ended his 100% record of front row starts in 2009 after suffering the after-effects of two crashes in previous sessions, but will begin from sixth. Mattia Pasini, a faller in qualifying, and Ratthapark Wilairot complete the row. 125cc Bradley Smith will start his home Grand Prix sitting on 125cc pole position for the second time this season. The Bancaja Aspar rider had to pull something special out of his box of tricks in the final minute of the qualifying session, duly obliging with a 1’37.442 lap to grab the top spot from Marc Marquez. Red Bull KTM rider Marquez separates Smith and World Championship leader Julián Simon on the grid, with third Aspar rider Sergio Gadea putting the entire squadron on the front line for only the second time this year. Simón had crashed early on in the session. Row two continues the Spanish theme, lining up Joan Olivé, Nico Terol, Pol Espargaró and German rider Sandro Cortese. The British Grand Prix MotoGP race starts at 3.30pm local time, with 125cc commencing at 12.30pm and 250cc at 1.45pm. More, from a press release issued by Honda: Weather: warm and sunny Temperature: Air 22 degrees, ground 35. Humidity: 34%. IMPRESSIVE PEDROSA NINE HUNDREDTHS OFF POLE Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) will start tomorrow’s British GP from second on the grid after an impressive run in this afternoon’s qualifying session. The Spanish RC212V rider a winner and a close-run third in the last two races has been quick in all weathers here. He led yesterday’s opening session run in mostly damp conditions and topped this morning’s session in the sunshine. More rain is forecast for tomorrow, so his speed in all conditions could prove to be vital. Pedrosa currently fourth in the points standings ended this afternoon’s sunny qualifying session just 0.095 seconds off pole position man Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) and 0.191 seconds just ahead of compatriot Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha). And he believes he may have had a chance at pole if he hadn’t lost concentration during his final run when he got caught up with some slower riders. Pedrosa is confident of a good pace on race tyres, unlike Rossi who believes his bike is currently working better on soft ‘qualifying’ tyres than on hard race tyres. Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) also had a good run this afternoon, coming through to fifth fastest, which puts him in the middle slot of the second row, between 2007 World Champion Casey Stoner (Ducati) and Honda’s former World Superbike king Colin Edwards (Yamaha). The Italian who has won 250 and 125 GPs at Donington Park is still honing his set-up, looking for a bit more corner-entry speed and a little more traction. Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda Gresini) was eighth fastest today, allowing him to be optimistic about another good result after two consecutive sixth-place finishes in the US and German GPs. The Spaniard has made major forward strides with the set-up of his RC212V in recent weeks, his team finding a setting which allows him to feel comfortable at speed. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) and Alex De Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) finished qualifying tenth and 12th fastest, both of them struggling with Donington’s tricky low-speed final section, which requires a very different set-up and riding style from the faster and more flowing first half of the track. De Angelis’ biggest problem has been corner-exit wheelies, which his crew will be working hard to solve overnight. Gabor Talmacsi (Scot Honda) slid off this afternoon but was able to continue on his second bike. The Hungarian and his crew are working hard to improve the balance of his RC212V for this challenging circuit. Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Honda) led much of the 250 qualifying session, eventually ending up third fastest for another start from the front row of the grid. This is the seventh front-row start from nine races for the World Championship leader who was just 0.253 seconds slower than pole position man Hector Barbera (Aprilia). Aoyama and his team fixed a few bike set up issues during this morning’s session to challenge for pole position, and the Japanese is confident that he can push hard and fight for another win tomorrow. Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT-SAG) produced a brilliant display in qualifying, going eighth fastest despite suffering some pain from a back injury sustained in last Sunday’s German GP. Aoyama’s team-mate Raffaele De Rosa (Scot Honda) ended the day a promising 11th quickest, still searching for more corner-exit traction, an issue that his crew will work on before tomorrow morning’s warm-up session. Hector Faubel (Valencia CF-Honda SAG) had a more difficult day, ending up 14th for the grid and looking for improvements for tomorrow. Donington Park first-timers Shoya Tomizawa (Team CIP Honda) and Bastien Chesaux (Racing Team Germany Honda) are finding the complex British track difficult to learn. The high-speed, downhill and off-camber Craner Curves section is causing them the most headaches. Yesterday Tomizawa had a spectacular tumble there, from which he walked away unharmed. Chesaux is also trying to work out how to get through Craner without falling or losing too much time. Valentin Debise (Team CIP Honda) went the wrong way on set-up today and will revert to the settings which he used earlier in the weekend. Tomorrow’s British GP is the last MotoGP race at Donington Park; next year the event moves to Silverstone. Donington has hosted the event since 1987. Tomorrow’s race is also the last of four MotoGP races in five weekends, the paddock now gets to enjoy two weekends off before the Czech GP at Brno on August 14/15/16. HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES AND LAP TIMES Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 2nd 1m 28.211s “We did a good job in both sessions today and I’m happy to qualify on the front row because, in reality, that’s more important than taking pole position. On my last run at the end of the qualifying session I found some traffic on the circuit which caused me to lose my concentration and rhythm slightly, so I think I could have gone a little quicker. But still, the middle of the front row is OK. Our dry set-up is nearly there so we’ll aim to make just a few little improvements before the race. The weather is looking changeable for tomorrow, though at least we’ve had some practice time in the wet yesterday. If it’s raining I’d like to improve my riding and my pace a bit but the weather is out of our control so we’ll have to see. It’s the last MotoGP race at Donington tomorrow and of course I’d like a good result to sign off with – preferably a win.” Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: 5th 1m 28.778s. “Starting from the second row is not a bad place to be and gives us a chance to get away at the head of the field so I’m satisfied with that. A fast start tomorrow should give us a good opportunity to have a strong race. Having said that, I really like this track and I was hoping to be in a slightly better situation going into tomorrow both in terms of grid position and race pace. We still need to improve our speed and consistency and there is some work to do to take us closer to the frontrunners and be fully competitive. We need to improve on the entry to the corner and also to work on traction, so we’ll look at the data we collected today and I’m confident my team can help me to make these improvements. It could rain tomorrow too, so we’ll come in ready for anything.” Toni Elias, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 8th 1m 29.175s. “I’m pretty happy. Obviously I would have preferred to be on the second row and I think we were capable of that today but the third row isn’t bad. It is certainly I big improvement on Germany a week ago, where I started last! We started out well this morning and improved the setting of the bike even more this afternoon. I feel comfortable, my rhythm is good, so the target for tomorrow has to be to get a good start and try to stick with the front group for the whole race.” Randy de Puniet, LCR Honda: 10th 1m 29.439s. “Well”¦ it hasn’t been an easy day for me and I always struggle to set my pace on this track especially in the last two corners. Since the beginning of this weekend we had some issues to understand why we could not keep the pace of the front group. We have been focused in the last part of the track because that’s where it seems we are losing too much time. We tried to improve the machine between the two sessions and I did my best to adapt my riding style to these corners to win some tenths. Honestly, we expected a third row start but I am still hoping for a top eight end”. Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 12th 1m 29.434s. “We’re having a problem in the slow section, which we expected after Sachsenring. Basically the bike wants to wheelie out of the slow corners and obviously with the chicane, followed by the two hairpins in that last section, that is where we are losing time. I got behind Lorenzo for a lap today and was able to follow him all the way around until that part, where he disappeared! If we can just sort the set-up out for those last two corners we will be ready if not for the same result as Sachsenring then something close to it. If it’s dry that will be the target. If it is wet, I was constantly in the top eight yesterday in those conditions so there’s no reason why we couldn’t repeat that.” Gabor Talmacsi, Scot Racing Team: 17th 1m 31.193s. “To be honest, I’m not able to tell you why I crashed. I’m going to check the data, but my feeling is that I was on the same line and at the same speed than in previous laps. I simply lost the front, and fell down. The team has been great when I entered the garage, everything was ready and we lost no more than 15 minutes. In the last part of the session I did not find a situation suitable to get the time I wanted. One of the problems with us is the rear grip. The other is the braking when entering into the turns”. HONDA 250cc RIDER QUOTES Hiro Aoyama, Scot Racing Team 250cc: 3rd 1m 32.055s. “We had a few problems in the morning. My crew did an excellent job, and when I went out to qualify the situation was quite good: the speed was higher, the handling better. We did a good job on the set-up and we studied the tyre selection. We have ideas to improve even furthermore, and we are going to try them tomorrow, during the warm-up. I’m confident for the race.” Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT SAG: 8th 1m 33.046s. “I am very happy with this eighth place, it’s a great result for us. The bike seems to work really well around here, you need a bike with a very good balance which is happy through the fast, flowing corners and through the stop-and-go sections.” Raffaele De Rosa, Scot Racing Team 250cc: 11th 1m 33.218s. “Session by session, we did better and better. We fixed a problem that we had with the gearbox and got a good set-up. We have now to find a better solution for the rear I still cannot open the throttle as I would like. We have ideas and we are going to test them tomorrow morning. I hope that for the race the weather stays as it is sunny because with the wet this circuit is very slippery”. Hector Faubel, Valencia FC Honda SAG: 14th 1m 33.503s. “I’m struggling a little bit with rear grip here, especially out of the fast corners, which obviously loses us some time. The engine is working well but we still need to make some further improvements. I need a good start, then I will have to work hard during the first lap or two to make up for this grid position.” Shoya Tomizawa, CIP Moto Honda: 17th 1m 33.901s. “We’ve been struggling a bit here. Yesterday I crashed at Craner Curves and that lost us a lot of time, which isn’t good when you are learning a track for the first time. It also made me a little tense about today’s sessions. At first I was trying too hard and the lap times weren’t coming, but finally my lap times were okay, all things considered.” Valentin Debise, CIP Moto Honda: 21st 1m 35.600s. “This morning wasn’t so bad. The grip seemed pretty good so we fitted a harder spring and ran hard race tyres this afternoon, but with more temperature the bike didn’t feel so good. When we tried a softer tyre it was better, but for the race we are going to go back to the setting we started off with.” Bastien Chesaux, Racing Team Germany: 23rd 1m 36.309s. “This is my first time here and it’s quite a difficult track to learn. The place I’m losing time is through Craner Curve and the nest few corners, I need to find a solution to be faster through that section. The bike is working really well again, it feels good and the acceleration is good.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing Team: FOURTH ROW FOR KALLIO IN DONINGTON. CANEPA SIXTEENTH After yesterday’s heavy rain, today at Donington Park, England, sun has shined allowing the MotoGP riders to work without any complications during the last free practice at their disposal and the afternoon qualifying session. Mika Kallio has concluded in eleventh position just outside from the top ten. The Finnish rider has started well this afternoon session valid for tomorrow’s starting grid, but around the last part of the session he didn’t make it to improve enough to conquer the hoped third row. His teammate, Niccolò Canepa, made it to sensibly improve from the morning free practice and will start tomorrow in sixteenth position. Tomorrow’s weather forecast promises a lot of rain and therefore the situation could be diverse for all MotoGP riders. Fabiano Sterlacchini – Pramac Racing Technical Director “We were expecting something more today. It has been since the beginning of the season that we are trying to improve during qualifying but for some reasons we can’t make it to take a step forward. Both here and last weekend in Sachsenring we have gotten really close and we will try with all we can after the summer break in Brno. Niccolò has progressively improved during the weekend and it is a good sign even if he can do much better. Tomorrow we expect also from him a good performance to have both riders scoring some world championship points.” Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing rider – 11th best lap time in 1’29.599 “I am not happy about how things went during today’s session. Around half session we made it to be quite fast and I thought to be able to improve by almost half of a second but it didn’t go as planned. We have improved but not enough to start from the third row. This was today’s objective for us. For tomorrow’s race we hope to start well so that we can remain with the group of the fastest riders. Clearly everything will depend also from the weather conditions.” Niccolò Canepa – Pramac Racing rider – 16th best lap time in 1’30.572 “I can’t consider my self satisfied with today’s qualifying session. In the first part of the track we make it to maintain Mika’s rhythm but in the second part we still lose too much time. We have to work well tomorrow morning in the warm up to find a last minute solution. Anyway for tomorrow the weather conditions seems to bring a lot of rain and maybe this can play in our favor.”