FIM MotoGP World Championship Sachsenring, Germany July 18, 2009 Qualifying Results: MotoGP (wet conditions, all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), 1:32.520 2. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), 1:33.160 3. Casey STONER (Ducati), 1:33.759 4. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati), 1:34.404, crash 5. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), 1:34.490, crash 6. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), 1:34.564, crashed twice 7. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), 1:34.607 8. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), 1:34.725 9. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki), 1:34.741, crash 10. Mika KALLIO (Ducati), 1:34.771 11. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), 1:34.892 12. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), 1:34.937 13. Marco MELANDRI (Kawasaki), 1:34.938, crash 14. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), 1:35.005 15. Niccolo CANEPA (Ducati), 1:36.012, crashed twice 16. Gabor TALMACSI (Honda), 1:36.055 17. Toni ELIAS (Honda), 1:36.531, crash 250cc (wet conditions): 1. Marco SIMONCELLI (Gilera), 1:32.962 2. Hector BARBERA (Aprilia), 1:33.105 3. Alvaro BAUTISTA (Aprilia), 1:34.246 4. Hiroshi AOYAMA (Honda), 1:34.285 5. Karel ABRAHAM (Aprilia), 1:34.312 6. Mattia PASINI (Aprilia), 1:34.333 7. Alex DEBON (Aprilia), 1:34.632 8. Hector FAUBEL (Honda), 1:34.660 9. Aleix ESPARGARO (Aprilia), 1:34.718 10. Mike DI MEGLIO (Aprilia), 1:34.804 125cc (wet conditions): 1. Julian SIMON (Aprilia), 1:38.671 2. Bradley SMITH (Aprilia), 1:39.686 3. Marc MARQUEZ (KTM), 1:40.010 4. Marcel SCHROTTER (Honda), 1:40.486 5. Nicolas TEROL (Aprilia), 1:40.492 6. Alexis MASBOU (Loncin), 1:40.664 7. Takaaki NAKAGAMI (Aprilia), 1:40.828 8. Efren VAZQUEZ (Derbi), 1:40.966 9. Simone CORSI (Aprilia), 1:41.129 10. Michael RANSEDER (Aprilia), 1:41.341 28. Cameron BEAUBIER (KTM), 1:43.886 More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: ROSSI AND LORENZO TAKE ONE-TWO IN SOAKING SACHSENRING QUALIFYING A soaking wet Sachsenring held no fears for Fiat Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo today, who took pole and second on the grid amidst heavy rain at the German Grand Prix. It is the sixth time the pair has shared the front row this season and Rossi’s third pole of 2009 is also his first ever in the premier-class at this track. Lorenzo meanwhile continues his impressive statistic of having qualified on the front row at every round so far this year. This morning was overcast but dry and it was the young Spaniard who ruled the second practice session, with his team-mate half a second off in fifth. It began to rain heavily at lunchtime and did not let up all afternoon, creating treacherous track conditions with standing water in some places. Both Rossi and Lorenzo looked comfortable in the wet and the Italian took an early lead just ten minutes into the session. 22-year-old Lorenzo meanwhile put together a string of good laps, gradually improving his time as he gained confidence on the soaking surface and he duly moved into pole position as the session entered it’s final stages. The team-mates swapped the lead between them twice more before Rossi staked his claim for his 54th career pole with a masterful final lap which saw him better his team-mate’s time by an incredible 0.640 seconds. Casey Stoner joins the pair on the front row once again, a further six tenths off Lorenzo. Valentino Rossi Position: 1st Time: 1’32.520 Laps: 30 “I’m really happy for this pole because it means I’ve already got more than in the whole of last year! Getting the pole position here is very important for the race because it’s such a hard place to overtake, so I’m really happy. We’ve done some good work today and my team has done a great job to set-up the bike. We’ve made a few small modifications, which have improved the feeling for me and I felt very confident today despite the bad conditions. At the end it was really very difficult and we were right on the limit because there was so much water on the track, but I knew I could push a bit more and the result was this great lap. I really hope it’s dry tomorrow for the sake of everybody but at the moment it’s doubtful so at least we can be confident that we’re well prepared in the wet as well.” Jorge Lorenzo Position: 2nd Time: 1’33.160 Laps: 33 “Yesterday I was quite worried about my injuries but I am happy to say that today I feel a lot better and I was able to ride much more strongly and brake much later. I was really fast in the dry this morning and then this afternoon I did a lot of consistent laps, improving all the time, which is very good because often I struggle in the wet. At the end it was very easy to crash so I didn’t want to push too much or take too many chances, it was important to be careful! Second place is very good and I’m happy about the work we’ve done. I hope I feel even better tomorrow for the race and of course that the weather is a bit better too.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “This is a good pole for us, Valentino improved his split times throughout so at the end it was a case of just putting everything together and this lap was the result. It’s difficult in very wet conditions like this and we had a bit of work to do during the session to adjust everything but it all worked well and it seems that we have a good wet set-up; it was a great job from the rider and the team. Pole position is important here because overtaking is hard, so we’re hoping for a dry race so we can take full advantage.” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “Today was a great day, both the morning and the afternoon. We started the morning strongly, finding a good setting for the dry that enabled Jorge to keep a very fast pace. This afternoon’s session also went very well, despite the terrible weather, and we’ve been able to attain our goal of starting from the front row. Of course we’d prefer it to be dry tomorrow but I think we’re ready for anything More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Bridgestone wets show good performance in rain-soaked qualifying session Round 9: German GP Qualifying Sachsenring, Saturday 18 July 2009 Bridgestone compounds available: Front: Wets Hard Slicks – Hard, Extra hard Rear: Wets Hard Slicks – Hard, Extra hard (asymmetric) In the first qualifying session of the season to be run in wet conditions, Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi took his third pole position of 2009 with a great last lap effort on Bridgestone’s wet tyres. Using the hard compound Bridgestone wets, Rossi’s pole time was 0.2seconds quicker than the fastest lap of last year’s wet race. Rain fell steadily throughout the session, and standing water resulting from torrential rain that fell after the morning’s practice made the Sachsenring circuit incredibly tricky. As a result, all riders used Bridgestone’s wet tyres. The session marked the first time this season that the hard compound wets have been used, and their warm-up performance and ability to clear water from the soaked tarmac was really tested. The track temperature for the qualifying session was 14 degrees Celsius lower than it was during yesterday’s mixed condition free practice, and pools of standing water mid-corner further added to the challenge of the conditions. Fastest in the morning’s free practice on hard front and extra hard rear Bridgestone slicks, Jorge Lorenzo will start tomorrow’s race from second, continuing his perfect record of front-row starts since his switch to Bridgestone tyres this season. Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner was third followed by teammate Nicky Hayden in his best qualifying performance of the year. It was very close in the midfield at the end of the session, with just half a second separating San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alex de Angelis in fifth from Monster Yamaha Tech3’s James Toseland in 14th position. Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development “The amount of water on the track today was very high, and considering this the laptimes were faster than I expected. The warm-up performance of the wet tyres was quite good, even though the conditions were much cooler today, and I am happy with the working temperature range of the hard compound wet tyres. Between yesterday and today we have seen two very different conditions for our wet tyres to deal with the first free practice was damp and drying and today there was much standing water, yet in both instances our wets performed very well. “This morning’s free practice also allowed us to compare our harder compound slick tyres as some riders tried both options. Yesterday the softer of the options was the fastest, yet this morning in colder conditions the extra hard slicks were even faster so I am pleased with the versatility and wide operating range our tyres are showing this season. If conditions tomorrow are dry, we can expect both compounds of slick tyre to be used in the race.” Top ten from qualifying (Saturday 13:55 14:55 GMT+2) Pos Rider Team Fastest lap Gap Tyres 1 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m32.520s Bridgestone wets 2 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 1m33.160s +0.640s Bridgestone wets 3 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 1m33.759s +1.239s Bridgestone wets 4 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 1m34.404s +1.884s Bridgestone wets 5 Alex de Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m34.490s +1.970s Bridgestone wets 6 Randy de Puniet LCR Honda MotoGP 1m34.564s +2.044s Bridgestone wets 7 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m34.607s +2.087s Bridgestone wets 8 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1m34.725s +2.205s Bridgestone wets 9 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m34.741s +2.221s Bridgestone wets 10 Mika Kallio Pramac Racing 1m34.771s +2.251s Bridgestone wets Weather: Wet. Ambient 15°C; Track 19°C (Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Wet qualifying leaves Rizla Suzuki with work to do Rizla Suzuki racers Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen will start tomorrow’s German Grand Prix from the third and fourth rows respectively after a tough qualifying at a soaking Sachsenring today. Capirossi (P9, 1’34.741, 25 laps) seemed likely to get a higher starting position, but was blocked by another rider towards the end of what looked like being his fastest lap. He still had time in the session to begin another lap to improve his grid position, but unfortunately he suffered from a high-side crash – similar to Vermeulen yesterday – which ended his afternoon’s work and left him nursing some slight injuries. Vermeulen (P12, 1’34.937, 23 laps) was still suffering today from the injuries he sustained yesterday and struggled to get a comfortable feeling on his Suzuki GSV-R during both this morning’s dry practice and this afternoon’s wet qualifying. Vermeulen was diagnosed overnight with a Grade One Acromioclavicular Separation of the left shoulder, which caused him severe discomfort when trying to brake hard or change direction quickly around the 3,671m German circuit. He will be able to ride tomorrow – as will Capirossi – but both riders are certainly far from fully fit. Today’s qualifying was held in torrential rain with air temperature only getting up to 14ºC and track temperatures never rising above 16ºC. World Champion, and current series leader, Valentino Rossi took pole-position on his factory Yamaha. Rizla Suzuki will take to the track for tomorrow’s 30-lap race at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT); with both riders looking to salvage something from what has so far been a painful weekend for the two. Loris Capirossi: “Overall the practice has not been too bad because we were able to work on getting a good wet setting. We made a few changes half-way through to improve engine-braking and control, but the biggest problem was the amount of rain on the track in the last 15 minutes of the session. I did quite a good lap and then on what felt like my best lap I lost some time behind Melandri, so I decided I had to go for it on the next lap, but in turn seven as I opened the throttle to accelerate out, the rear tyre just let go and I flew a long way off the bike. The good thing for us though is that the feeling in the bike is good in the wet and this will help us if it is like this tomorrow.” Chris Vermeulen: “I am quite disappointed with qualifying because we struggled to get the bike working well for me. That was probably due to my lack of track time at speed today, but we did make some steps during the session. Right at the end, when there was a lot of standing water, we struggled to get good grip from the rear of the bike and that is something we’ll look at tonight so we can be ready if it is wet tomorrow. With my injuries it will be a bit easier for me physically if it is wet tomorrow, but if it’s dry I’m expecting it to be a tough race. My shoulder and my hip are both hurting from the crash on Friday, but I’ll be ok to race and trying as hard as I can!” Paul Denning – Team Manager: “It’s been a tough day and we can probably count ourselves somewhat fortunate that we have two riders to start tomorrow’s Grand Prix, given Chris’s accident yesterday and Loris’s huge high-side today. It will be a difficult afternoon for both of them tomorrow, but hopefully we can take some steps forward during the race and take some positives out of the weekend.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Edwards and Toseland battle rain-soaked Sachsenring Monster Yamaha Tech 3 duo Colin Edwards and James Toseland battled atrocious conditions at the Sachsenring today to qualify seventh and fourteenth on the grid respectively for the German MotoGP race. Torrential rain battered the tight and twisty Sachsenring track for most of the qualifying session, with Edwards clocking a best time of 1.34.607 to finish just 0.3s off a brilliant fourth position. Edwards battled rear grip issues for the majority of the session, but crucial late changes with his Tech 3 crew boosted the American’s confidence that he can put his YZR-M1 in contention for a top six finish in tomorrow’s 30-lap race. James Toseland, who had a small crash this morning on the approach to the third corner, was left trailing down in 14th place despite a hugely encouraging session. The British rider produced his best form in wet conditions in 2009, but he got little reward for his hard work with a best time of 1.35.005 just over 0.4s off sixth position and a place on the second row of the grid. Toseland is still confident he can mount an attack on the top ten tomorrow, the 28-year-old looking for a morale-boosting result ahead of his home race at Donington Park next weekend. Colin Edwards 7th 1.34.607 26 laps “It was a bit of a struggle to be honest, so to be as high as seventh, I’m not going to complain too much. I thought we’d made a big step with the wet set-up yesterday but the rain was much harder this afternoon and the track temperature was a lot cooler. I knew two laps into it that I’d got no feeling from the rear. We made a couple of changes and the lap times were getting a bit better but each time I wanted to push the rear would just come round on me. The Bridgestone front rain tyre is just awesome and you can do what you want with it. If I could chop the bike in half and just ride the front around here it would be fantastic. But as soon as I load the rear tyre it comes round on me and picks me up. I want to push and go faster, but the faster I go the more load I’m generating and that just pushes the rear out even more. The balance isn’t quite right because I feel like I’m riding well in the rain. Tomorrow is all about getting a good start with it being hard to over take. And the start pretty much determines which group you’re going to be battling in. The new electronics I’ve got though are unbelievable. I don’t want to curse myself but my starts have been phenomenal and I need to thank Yamaha because the new electronics have helped me massively.” James Toseland 14th 1.35.005 28 laps “I’m gutted. I felt like I was riding really well, so to come in and see myself four-tenths of sixth is hard to swallow. If I wasn’t riding well and not putting in the effort I know I am, I wouldn’t be so frustrated. I had my best feeling in the wet for a long time and I knew I was riding well, but each time I came across the line I was seeing P12 or P13. And then to find out I’m so close to a top six is really frustrating. We kept one set of tyres through the whole session and just as I did my quickest lap time the rain started coming again and there was a little bit more water. I’d used the best grip of my tyre and I couldn’t go any quicker. So instead of sitting here in sixth or seventh with a big smile on my face and feeling confident of a good result, I’m fourteenth and that makes it a tough race with it being so hard to overtake. But my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 have done an amazing job to give me a good bike for the wet and build my confidence. We kept going softer with the set-up because the edge grip on the Bridgestone rain tyre is amazing. It will be a tough race with overtaking so difficult on this track, but as always I’ll be giving it my all.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: TOP FOUR STARTS FOR STONER AND HAYDEN AT SACHSENRING Ducati Marlboro Team riders Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden will both start from the higher echelons of the grid in the German Grand Prix tomorrow after qualifying third and fourth fastest respectively in difficult conditions at Sachsenring this afternoon. A torrential rainstorm severely reduced grip levels and huge sections of standing water on the track made for a crash-strewn session. No fewer than nine riders crashed out, seven of them in the tricky downhill turn eight, including Hayden. The American spectacularly high-sided his GP9 and incredibly landed on fellow Ducati rider Niccolo Canepa, who was also sent tumbling into the gravel. Thankfully Hayden, who also suffered a gearbox problem early in the session, already had a fast lap in the bag that proved enough for his best grid position of the season. With track conditions growing more and treacherous due to the continuing downpour, Stoner decided to take a rain check for the final few minutes with his place on the front row secure. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) (3rd; 1’33.759) “That was a crazy session because of all the standing water on the track and the grip levels were minimal. There were riders crashing all over the place so once we knew we had a decent lap time in the bag I decided to sit out the last few minutes of the session because the last thing I needed was a crash. I’m still feeling the effects of the qualifying crash at Laguna two weeks ago so to be honest the first thing I’m pleased about is to have stayed upright today, the second thing is to be on the front row! I have to take my hat off to Rossi and Lorenzo today because whilst everybody else was sliding around all over the place those two looked like they were on rails. They are clearly the guys to beat again tomorrow in wet or dry conditions although to be honest I’d prefer it to be wet at least that way I know I am physically fit enough to be strong to the end of the race!” NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Marlboro Team) (4th; 1’34.404) “In some ways the session was a complete disaster but I ended up with my best grid position of the year so I’ll take it! I went out on the first bike and immediately something happened to the gearbox going into turn one and I almost went down. It was stuck in second gear so I had to ride it all the way back to the pits like that. I didn’t feel as comfortable on my second bike but I knew that was all I had to work with for the rest of the session so I was a little tentative. Then we made a couple of changes and got going pretty good. Things were coming together so I went out with ten minutes to go, got right on the pace and felt I could do something special. I set my best time through the first split but then in the downhill section I lost the rear and there was no way of getting it back, unfortunately it took Niccolo out too. I’m basically okay from the crash and I hope Niccolo is okay too because it was my fault. I was trying too hard when it was getting too slippery it was raining harder but I felt like I could go faster” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: REPSOL HONDAS WEATHER THE GERMAN STORM Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso did well to steer clear of trouble and come through a treacherously wet qualifying session unscathed at the Sachsenring circuit today. With rain lashing the short and technical German track, the Repsol Honda pair secured eight and eleventh places on the grid for tomorrow’s race during an hour-long period that saw many riders fall in the tricky conditions. Pedrosa was quick in this morning’s dry practice session and was able to better his lap time from yesterday by 0.7s on his way to third place on the timesheets. Continuous rain from lunchtime meant the afternoon was spent focusing on reaching the optimum wet machine settings for the RCV212, and avoiding accidents. Though Pedrosa wasn’t satisfied with eighth on the grid, one of his habitual fast starts tomorrow should see him getting away at the front of the race. Andrea Dovizioso will also be looking for a quick getaway from his place at the centre of the fourth row. With times very close in the middle of the pack, the Italian’s best lap was less than half a second behind 4th place on the grid, but he too erred on the side of caution as riders fell at an alarming rate this afternoon. While he was hoping for a more advantageous grid slot, Dovizioso is confident that, with some improvements to set-up, he can be competitive in the race. Tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Germany marks the halfway point of the 17-race MotoGP season. Following a 20-minute warm-up in the morning, the 30-lap race begins at 14.00. DANI PEDROSA 8th 1m 34.725s “Qualifying in eighth isn’t ideal, so I’ll be trying to make another good start tomorrow. That’s going to be important here because the first turn is quite close to the start line, plus it’s difficult to overtake at this track. The conditions were quite difficult this afternoon, they were changing all the time and I was struggling to get into a good rhythm. There were a lot of riders crashing out there and I don’t have a lot of experience on this year’s wet tyres because I missed some testing earlier in the season. This was why I wasn’t going so quickly this afternoon. It wasn’t because of my crash in last year’s wet race. It was good that we had a dry practice session this morning and of course I’d prefer a dry race tomorrow. The forecast is not certain so we’ll aim to improve our set-up for both wet and dry conditions.” ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 11th 1m 34.892s “The grip levels were quite low this afternoon which meant the machine was sliding a lot – this was the same for everyone of course. We were working on wet settings and the area we primarily need to improve is the stability of the rear on the entry to the corners. This is where the bike was tricky to control in the slippery conditions. It was raining throughout the session and this meant the track was getting increasingly wet. If I had the choice, I’d prefer the less wet conditions from earlier in the session – and ideally fully dry of course. We’ll have to see what the weather does tomorrow, aim to make a fast start and make up some places quickly.” KAZUHIKO YAMANO – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER “It was an eventful session and Dani and Andrea did well to avoid the problems that some other riders faced. Of course our grid positions are not as far forward as we would have liked and there is still some set-up work that we can do to get the best out of our machine in these slippery conditions. Using the information we collected in today’s dry and wet sessions we’ll work on this in the warm up and get ready to fight hard in the race tomorrow, whatever the weather sends us.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing Team: POSITIVE DAY FOR KALLIO TENTH IN QUALIFYING. UNLUCKY CANEPA FIFTEENTH Two hours of practice with totally different condition today at the Sachsenring circuit, but Pramac Racing rider Mika Kallio has always remained in the top ten. With dry track during the last free practice of the morning he constantly remained between the top ten concluding in eight position, while in the afternoon session under heavy rain he lost the ninth position and therefore the third row for only a few thousands of a second. Mika will have therefore to start from the tenth position and the fourth row. Niccolò was doing well in the qualifying session but has slipped twice losing too much time. In the last occasion he stepped back on track while he was trying to improve Nicky Hayden has unintentionally hit him while crashing. Even if the collision looked pretty bad Niccolò will be able to ride tomorrow but will have to start from fifteenth position. Fabiano Sterlacchini – Pramac Racing Technical Director “A pity today for Niccolò who was doing really well and could have finish pretty close to Mika in the classification. Niccolò will be ok for tomorrow’s race that should be with a much better weather conditions compared to this afternoon. Mika hasn’t been too lucky today because in the last moment he lost the third row and his best qualifying session of the season. He has done a really positive session maintaining always between the top ten riders. We are anyway satisfied today because in both session with different track conditions we have been really competitive.” Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing – 10th best lap time in 1’34.771 “A very intense day. This morning we have done really well with a dry surface keeping really close to the firsts positions. Then, in the afternoon with really wet surface, we stayed in the top ten and conquered the fourth row. Any weather condition there will be tomorrow we are trustful to be able between the fastest. I am sorry for Niccolò because he was having a good qualifying session and I hope he will be ok for tomorrow’s race.” Niccolò Canepa – Pramac Racing – 15th best lap time in 1’36.012 “What a hit! I didn’t understand what happened until I saw the replay while I was in the mobile clinic. When I was on the ground after the accident I saw and heard Hayden saying to me “Sorry, sorry, sorry”, but I didn’t understand why. He doesn’t have to worry because this sort of things can happen and the most important is that both of us are ok and ready to race tomorrow. I suffered a hard contusion on my back, head and ankle, but nothing is broken. I felt a lot of heat in my lower back but everything seems back to normality now. I want to thanks the mobile clinic doctors who have helped me to relax and will do all possible to put me back in top form for tomorrow’s race.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Valentino Rossi added a third pole position to an enviable haul from 2009 at Sachsenring on Saturday, coming out on top in a drenched qualifying session at the Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland. Rossi’s last gasp 1’32.520 lap was not only enough to head the timesheet by over six-tenths of a second, but it was also sufficient to give him a first ever MotoGP pole at the German track. Rossi relegated Fiat Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo to second on the grid, and the two share the front row for the sixth time this season. Joining them in the first line of attack will be fellow title contender Casey Stoner, a further six-tenths down on Rossi’s marker in the qualifying run. Lorenzo and Stoner had experienced big crashes at Laguna Seca last time out, but this time they were two of the few riders not to have experienced ‘a moment’ in preparation for the Sachsenring race. An area ahead of turn eight proved costly for a number of riders on Saturday afternoon, with falls for Marco Melandri, Toni Elías, Randy de Puniet, Alex de Angelis, Nicky Hayden and Niccolò Canepa adding to Chris Vermeulen’s Friday hit and James Toseland’s morning moment. Canepa first hit the gravel of his own accord, then later became involved in Hayden’s crash when the American speared him off track. Hayden took his best qualifying result as a Ducati Marlboro rider to date with fourth place, ahead of San Carlo Gresini Honda’s De Angelis and LCR Honda man De Puniet on the second row. 250cc Marco Simoncelli took his second pole position of the year in a similarly wet 250cc qualifying session. The reigning World Champion cannot take the leadership of the series with a win at Sachsenring, but needs a strong result in order to move back into the title frame. The Metis Gilera rider’s task will be made more difficult by the men joining him on the front row. Héctor Barberá’s run of pole positions came to an end, but he still placed alongside his Italian rival and showed a promising pace in the wet. The top two in the class, Hiroshi Aoyama and Álvaro Bautista, made marked improvements from a disappointing Friday session to come good in qualifying. Mapfre Aspar rider Bautista used a late push to maintain his perfect record of front row starts thus far in 2009. One of the most diligent riders in the wet morning session, Karel Abraham’s labour paid off with fifth on the timesheet, his best ever qualifying position. Team Toth rider Mattia Pasini who crashed twice in the space of 30 minutes- placed sixth and joins Abraham, Alex Debon and Hector Faubel on row two. 125cc Julián Simón followed up his timesheet-topping exploits in both 125cc Free Practice sessions with the quickest lap of the smaller class’ qualifying session. The Bancaja Aspar rider did so after riding round in 1’38.671 on a drenched track, just edging out teammate and title rival Bradley Smith. The duo were out on their own as the only riders to go round in under 1’40, with Marc Márquez the closest to their times onboard the Red Bull KTM. Completing the front row for the German round of the series is home wildcard Marcel Schrotter, surprising onboard a Honda. Nico Terol was unable to put in a late hot lap after crashing out when leading the way, and dropped down to the second row to join Alexis Masbou, Takaaki Nakagami and Efren Vazquez. More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: SECOND ROW FOR DE PUNIET IN GERMAN GP QUALIFYING Sachsenring, 18 July: LCR Honda MotoGP Team racer Randy De Puniet made solid progress today getting the sixth fastest time overall in the fully wet qualifying session for the Grand Prix of Deutschland that gets underway tomorrow at 14:00 local time. As predicted by the weather forecast, cloudy skies and heavy rain welcomed the 800cc riders this morning at the 3.671 km German track for the second day of practices which saw de Puniet 7th overall in this morning second free session. The 60-minutes afternoon qualifying session was conducted in the wet with ambience temperature of 14°C ( 16°C on the asphalt) and the Frenchman riding the Honda RC212V no. 14 posted his best lap time of 1’34.564 (on lap 12 of 25) obtaining the second row for tomorrow’s 30-lap race despite he crashed twice during the practice. Rossi set the fastest lap time (1’32.520) followed by Lorenzo and Stoner. De Puniet – 6th 1’34.564 De Puniet 6th: “We have got a good grid position and I am quite satisfied but it has not been easy as wet session is always a gamble. Everybody push to find the limit but sometimes we push to much and we crash. I was very fast in the first run (12 laps) and my machine wet set up was almost perfect. Unfortunately I crashed on turn seven because I opened the throttle to much and the asphalt was like an ice-skating rink! After that I went out on my second bike but it took me some time to find the right pace. When I started to push I had some engine brake issues and at two laps to go I went out in the gravel. The guys must work hard to repair both bikes for tomorrow but I feel confident as we made a good performance in both conditions”. More, from a press release issued by Honda: DE ANGELIS & DE PUNIET ON SECOND ROW FOR GERMAN GP Conditions could hardly have been worse for this afternoon’s MotoGP qualifying session at the Sachsenring, with heavy rain contributing to a rash of crashes, none of them with serious consequences. Reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) took pole position at the very end of the soaking one-hour session, demoting team-mate Jorge Lorenzo to second fastest. Casey Stoner (Ducati) completed the front row. Honda’s quickest two riders were Alex De Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) who will start tomorrow’s German Grand Prix from the second row of the grid, despite both men falling during the session. De Angelis and de Puniet were two of many riders to fall foul of ultra-slippery tarmac in the fast, downhill section at turns seven and eight, but both men were able to return to the pits after their tumbles and continue on their second machines. Other fallers included De Angelis’ team-mate Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda Gresini), Ducati riders Nicky Hayden and Niccolo Canepa and Marco Melandri (Kawasaki). Good grip and feedback are the real secrets to going fast in the rain, and that’s what Honda’s riders focused on today. But with the track badly flooded in several places riders had to work hard to control aquaplaning, let alone find any real feel from the waterlogged tarmac. De Puniet likened turn seven to “an ice-skating rink”, pole man Rossi talked of “deep rivers” around the track and 2007 MotoGP World Champion Stoner called the conditions “dangerous”. This morning’s final free practice session was run in very different conditions, with a dry track allowing the fastest riders to lap well inside the lap record. Tomorrow’s weather forecast is uncertain with a possibility of a wet or dry race, but Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) knows what kind of race he’d prefer. Winner of the recent US GP, Pedrosa was a close third fastest this morning, but in rain-soaked qualifying he was eighth, giving him a third-row start. Pedrosa took a while to get up to speed in the rain because he has less experience of Bridgestone’s rain tyres than most of his rivals, having missed a lot of preseason testing due to injury. De Angelis briefly led the session, getting good feeling from a used rain tyre, but when he switched to a new tyre he struggled to get the same level of feedback and ended up sliding off at turn eight. The San Marino rider continued on his spare bike and depite being unable to better his previous pace was happy with his best qualifying performance of the year which puts him on the second row for the first time in 2009. Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) worked hard on perfecting the chassis set-up of his RC212V, focusing on rear-end stability into corners. The Italian found the rain-lashed conditions risky and knows he will need a fast start tomorrow to come through from the fourth row of the grid. Gabor Talmacsi (Scot Honda) rode a MotoGP bike for the very first time during practice for last month’s Catalan GP. Today he rode a MotoGP bike in heavy rain for the very first time. The Hungarian made steady progress throughoutthe qualifying and ended the one-hour outing with plenty of ideas to improve his wet-weather pace. Elias struggled to get feeling from his tyres and ended up last on the grid following a spectacular tumble at turn eight. The Spaniard was highsided from his RC212V but ended up lying on the top of the bike, finally falling to the ground as the machine careered towards the air fence, making impact at 142km/h. He was unharmed in the fall but has a mammoth task ahead of him tomorrow fighting through from the very back of the grid. 250 World Championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Honda) continued his excellent form with his sixth front-row start of the year. Both of today’s 250 sessions were run on a wet track, the first rain arriving after the morning MotoGP outing, and the Japanese rider made light of the conditions to go fourth quickest aboard his RS250RW. Aoyama knows that a good start will be crucial tomorrow, since the first few corners here are very tight, making it very difficult to recover places after a slow start. Hector Faubel (Valencia CF-Honda SAG) went well in qualifying, taking a second-row start with eighth-fastest time, though the Spaniard reckoned he might have done better with a slightly stiffer rear-end set-up for the final stages of the session when the rain had eased somewhat. Team-mate Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT-SAG) was 16th in qualifying. The Thai ace pushed as hard as he could but felt he needed more time to get the rear suspension just right for the faster corners which are so crucial to a good lap time. Raffaele De Rosa (Scot Honda) hurt his chances of another great qualifying result when he slid off at the second corner. But the impressive young Italian is confident he can bounce back in tomorrow’s race, whetever the conditions. GP rookie Shoya Tomizawa (Team CIP Honda) once again had to learn another racetrack from scratch. The young Japanese rider loves the Sachsenring layout but maybe pushed too hard in yesterday’s dry first session before his RS250 was well set up; the price of his keeness was a fall. In the wet today he struggle to get useful feel and ended up 18th. Tomizawa’s team-mate Valentin Debise (Team CIP Honda) was 21st quickest, focusing on improving his wet-weather set-up, especially for braking into corners. Bastien Chesaux (Racing Team Germany Honda) has high hopes of a good run today but was knocked down by another rider. He was able to continue the session on his only bike but the crash damage gave him gear selection problems which hurt his lap times. He qualified 23rd. HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 5th – 1m 34.490s “We started out really well and my lap times were good in the early part of the session when we were using a tyre that we had put a few laps on in yesterday’s damp session. With a new tyre it was really hard to generate the heat to get it working at optimum temperature but gradually I started to feel better. Then unfortunately I crashed in the corner where everybody else went down too. It is never a nice feeling to crash but especially when I know that I could have made an attack at least for the front row. Anyway, fifth place is a fantastic result for us and if it rains again tomorrow then we’re ideally placed. Even if it is dry we know we have a good starting position and good pace for what I hope can be my best race of the season.” Randy de Puniet, LCR Honda: 6th 1m 34.564s “We have got a good grid position and I am quite satisfied but it has not been easy because wet sessions are always a gamble. Everybody pushes to find the limit but sometimes we push too much and we crash. I was very fast in my first run (12 laps) and my wet set-up was almost perfect. Unfortunately I crashed at turn seven because I opened the throttle too much and the asphalt was like an ice-skating rink! After that I went out on my second bike but it took me some time to find the right pace. When I started to push I had some engine brake issues and with two laps to go I went out in the gravel. The guys must work hard to repair both bikes for tomorrow but I feel confident as we made a good performance in both conditions.” Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 8th 1m 34.725s “Qualifying in eighth isn’t ideal, so I’ll be trying to make another good start tomorrow. That’s going to be important here because the first turn is quite close to the start line, plus it’s difficult to overtake at this track. The conditions were quite difficult this afternoon, they were changing all the time and I was struggling to get into a good rhythm. There were a lot of riders crashing out there and I don’t have a lot of experience on this year’s wet tyres because I missed some testing earlier in the season. This was why I wasn’t going so quickly this afternoon. It wasn’t because of my crash in last year’s wet race. It was good that we had a dry practice session this morning and of course I’d prefer a dry race tomorrow. The forecast is not certain so we’ll aim to improve our set-up for both wet and dry conditions.” Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: 11th 1m 34.892s “The grip levels were quite low this afternoon which meant the machine was sliding a lot this was the same for everyone of course. We were working on wet settings and the area we primarily need to improve is the stability of the rear on the entry to the corners. This is where the bike was tricky to control in the slippery conditions. It was raining throughout the session and this meant the track was getting increasingly wet. If I had the choice, I’d prefer the less wet conditions from earlier in the session and ideally fully dry of course. We’ll have to see what the weather does tomorrow and aim to make a fast start and make up some places quickly.” Gabor Talmacsi (Scot Honda: 16th 1m 36.055s “This was my first time on a MotoGP bike in the wet. We began with a basic set-up, then we stopped, as programmed, to switch to my second bike and we improved. With 17 minutes to go I stopped for the third time to change tyres and to modify the set-up. We did not get what we desired from a set-up point of view, but we now have a few ideas to help us improve in case the race is wet.” Toni Elias, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 17th 1m36.531s “I didn’t feel as comfortable today as I did yesterday in the wet or the dry. Track temperature was 15ºC lower and I really felt the difference. It was taking too long to get any heat into the tyre and even when I did the feeling wasn’t there. It wasn’t a good day and it finished off with a crash, which I was lucky to come away from without any injury. I’d had a few warnings beforehand, the bike was sliding around in a lot of places, and then I lost control and the next thing I knew I was laying on top of the bike like I was sunbathing or something! It’s funny to watch on television but I can assure you it wasn’t so funny for me. Hopefully the fans get the chance to sunbathe tomorrow because we need a dry race. I’m starting from last place so it will be a tough race for sure. My only option is to fight and pass as many people as I can. Let’s hope we have the conditions and a set-up that allows me to do so.” HONDA 250cc RIDER QUOTES Hiroshi Aoyama, Scot Honda: 4th 1m 34.285s “I’m happy: the first row is a good result. Tomorrow a good start will be really important to handle the traffic in the first corners. If it’s going to be wet for the race we already have a good set-up and we can improve further. In the case of a dry race we will see: this weekend we’ve not had much time to prepare a proper set-up for the dry, but everybody has the same problem.” Hector Faubel, Valencia CF-Honda SAG: 8th 1m 34.660s “I’m happy because I reached my second-row goal but I think that with only a little more of time I could have got a better position on the grid. My chassis settings were good but at the end of qualifying when the track was a bit more dry my suspension settings were too soft. Also, I had difficulties changing gear from fifth to sixth because the engine needed more rpm. Afterwards we found out that the problem was in the airbox there was a lot of water in there! We have already fixed this problem, so everything should be perfect for the race.” Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT-SAG: 16th 1m 36.078s “In the morning I wanted to get confidence with the bike in wet conditions and in the afternoon I tried to push hard at my 100 per cent but it was difficult for me. Also I had a problem with the rear end of the bike in the fast corners. I hope to have a race in dry conditions tomorrow but anyway I plan to make a good start so I can get away with the front riders and stay with them.” Raffaele De Rosa, Scot Honda: 17th 1m 36.097s “We made a good start to the qualifying session, better than in the morning, which was already quite good. Then suddenly, in turn two, I lost the rear and slid off. I was annoyed because when it’s raining you really need to do as many laps as possible. I’m confident we can improve for the race. Head down, let’s push.” Shoya Tomizawa, Team CIP Honda: 18th 1m 36.387s “Not so bad. But we had a difficult time trying to find a good setting for these very tricky wet conditions. I wanted to push harder but I couldn’t feel the track well enough to do that. We must work some more on suspension set-up. in the dry yesterday I tried to push too hard before we had the correct setting and I fell off. But I like this circuit and I think I can go well if we have a good set-up for the race.” Valentin Debise, Team CIP Honda: 21st 1m 37.633s “The conditions were very, very slippery this afternoon. It was very easy to crash, so we need to work some more on the set-up to get more grip and feedback.” Bastien Chesaux, Racing Team Germany Honda: 23rd 1m 39.234s “I was riding with quite a fast group when Pesek came into turn 13 too fast, collided with me and caused me to crash. I only have one bike so we were lucky it wasn’t badly damaged. I went out again but I had a problem with the gear shifter which kept losing me time. I am okay in the slower, technical corners but I need to change my style for the fast corners, maybe putting more weight over the front.”