FIM MotoGP World Championship Silverstone, Great Britain June 11 Qualifying Results (all on Bridgestone): 1. Casey STONER, Australia (HONDA), 2:02.020 2. Marco SIMONCELLI, Italy (HONDA), 2:02.208 3. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), 2:02.237 4. Ben SPIES, USA (YAMAHA), 2:02.677 5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (HONDA), 2:03.212 6. Karel ABRAHAM, Czech Republic (DUCATI), 2:04.151 7. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (DUCATI), 2:04.304 8. Colin EDWARDS, USA (YAMAHA), 2:04.508 9. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (SUZUKI), 2:04.520 10. Randy DE PUNIET, France (DUCATI), 2:04.589 11. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Japan (HONDA), 2:04.919 12. Hector BARBERA, Spain (DUCATI), 2:05.164 13. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (DUCATI), 2:05.781 14. Toni ELIAS, Spain (HONDA), 2:05.862 15. Loris CAPIROSSI, Italy (DUCATI), 2:06.256 16. Cal CRUTCHLOW, Great Britain (YAMAHA), 2:07.911 More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzki: Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista will start the team’s home Grand Prix at Silverstone from the third row of the grid after qualifying in ninth place today. Bautista (2’04.520, 25 laps) again produced a solid day’s work on his Suzuki GSV-R and made constant improvements to find the optimum set-up for tomorrow’s race. As this afternoon’s qualifying drew to a close he pushed hard to improve on his lap-time, but got caught up in traffic and had to settle for a place on the third row, even though his potential showed he could have qualified higher. The weather at Silverstone looks like playing a very important part this weekend. After the wet/dry session of yesterday, both of today’s sessions were held in dry conditions, but this afternoon saw air temperatures only reach 17ºC and a strong breeze made it feel even cooler. Pole position went to Casey Stoner on a Honda, as the Australian secured his fourth pole of the season. Tomorrow’s 20-lap British Grand Prix gets underway at 13.00hrs local time (14.00hrs GMT), but with heavy rain forecast to arrive in the area of the circuit at around race-time, it could present a whole new lot of variables for Bautista and the rest of the MotoGP field. Álvaro Bautista: “Today we have been able to do both sessions in the dry conditions, so that has been good for us to test many things. I started this morning with the same setting as I had yesterday morning and I immediately felt a lot more comfortable today than I did on Friday. We were able to try the bike with a couple of different settings to make it shorter or longer – I preferred the longer set-up because this track has fast corners and you need more stability. I tried the front hard tyre this afternoon because the soft one this morning was a bit difficult to turn in some corners and I was also able to get a good rhythm with the used tyres today, so that is an important thing for the race. I think I could have improved my lap-time at the end, but I got in some traffic and was never able to follow someone faster than me. I am happy being on the third row, but I think our potential is better than that. The weather says it could rain, but I think we have a good setting for that from yesterday. Whatever happens I want to get a good start and get with the group in front and I’m sure I will be able to improve my rhythm and times. I am pleased with what we have done here this year, because in 2010 I had a bad feeling and wasn’t even able to put my knee down! This year it is a good sign that the bike has improved so much because I now feel comfortable and confident on it. I think we have made a good step forward and I am looking forward to the race.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “It is a sign of Álvaro coming back to full fitness that we are all a little disappointed with the third row! We all believe that he and the Suzuki GSV-R could have been in the high 2’03s if we’d found a better track position and put together a slightly better lap. The front few guys are a long way away, but wet or dry we want to be in the fight for the top-six tomorrow and Álvaro has the ability to make that happen. “As a UK based team, everyone at Rizla Suzuki would like to pass our wishes for a very quick recovery to Call Crutchlow. It’s never nice to hurt yourself, but at your home Grand Prix it must be very upsetting get well soon Cal.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Stoner on a roll with pole and new lap record at Silverstone Round 6: British GP Qualifying Silverstone Circuit, Saturday 11 June 2011 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium. Rear (asymmetric): Medium, Hard Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner scorched to his fourth pole position of the season at Silverstone today, using the harder front and softer rear Bridgestone slicks to post a lap 1.3seconds faster than last year’s pole record. Conditions today were fine and dry and the laptimes were fast: the top five riders were all faster than last year’s pole position record. As the track temperature reached a weekend high of 33 degrees Celsius, every rider used the harder front and softer rear for their best laps, though even using the hard rear Stoner’s pace was faster than the existing lap record demonstrating good tyre performance this weekend. The final two places on the front row were hotly contested in the closing minutes of the hour-long qualifying session as Marco Simoncelli and Jorge Lorenzo traded places with each lap. Simoncelli finally beat the World Champion to second position on the grid by just 0.029seconds, meaning the top three are covered by just 0.217seconds. The second row of the grid for tomorrow’s race comprises Ben Spies, Andrea Dovizioso and Karel Abraham who achieved his best MotoGP qualifying position. Colin Edwards, who broke his collarbone just last Friday in Catalunya, qualified 8th today just behind fellow American Nicky Hayden. Unfortunately, on his third lap of the session Brit Cal Crutchlow crashed and fractured his left collarbone, forcing him to miss his home race. Whilst conditions today were good, the forecast for tomorrow is for rain showers arriving at the circuit at lunchtime, just before the MotoGP race which gets underway at 1300hrs local time. Hirohide Hamashima Assistant to Director, Motorsport Tyre Development Division “I am pleased with performance today as the laptimes were very fast. The conditions were better today than last year but nevertheless it is impressive that Casey’s pole lap is 1.3seconds faster than Jorge’s pole time last year. With a full day of dry running, riders have used both the harder and softer front and rear slick options and I can say that all are working well the soft fronts which are part of our revised tyre selection for Silverstone this year worked well this morning in the cool conditions, and we saw in qualifying how well the harder option worked. With the rears, every rider favoured the softer option for their attack laps but Casey could still lap under the lap record using a harder rear with race-distance on it so I am happy with durability and consistency. We also know from yesterday afternoon that wet tyre performance is good here, so although tomorrow’s conditions are likely to be mixed we are in a good position with our tyre selection and all riders have experience in both conditions. I’d like to wish Cal a speedy recovery after his crash today it is very sad that he will miss his home race tomorrow and I hope he can return soon.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Crutchlow to miss home race, heroic Edwards seventh The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team suffered another cruel injury blow today after it was confirmed Cal Crutchlow will miss his all-important home MotoGP round at Silverstone with a broken left collarbone. The home crowd favourite was just starting his third lap of this afternoon’s qualifying session when he lost control of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team YZR-M1 machine on the entry to the second corner. He landed heavily on his left shoulder and was immediately assessed by trackside medical staff before he was transferred to the Silverstone Medical Centre. He was diagnosed with a broken left collarbone and concussion. The crash will unfortunately prevent the 25-year-old from starting tomorrow’s 20-lap British Grand Prix and he will now commence a period of rest and recuperation to regain fitness ahead of the next round of the 2011 MotoGP World Championship in Assen, Holland. Crutchlow’s injury comes just eight days after team-mate Colin Edwards broke his right collarbone in a practice crash for the Catalunya race in Spain. The American was passed fit to ride in Silverstone and he produced a heroic performance this afternoon to secure a brilliant eighth position on the grid. Brave Edwards shrugged off the persistent pain from a rib injury he also suffered in the Catalunya crash to set a best time of 2.04.508 to finish ahead of several riders in much better physical shape than the popular 37-year-old. He modified the settings of his YZR-M1 machine to help him get more comfortable in the hard braking zone and is confident he can fight for a top ten finish tomorro w. Colin Edwards 8th 2.04.508 14 laps: “My shoulder feels pretty much perfect but my ribs are killing me and that’s the biggest issue at the moment. I feel worse physically than I did yesterday but when I crashed at Catalunya I pulled some of the muscle away from my ribs and I’m finding it hard to do anything. If I breathe, cough, sneeze or do anything it hurts. So on the bike I just don’t have the strength I need to flick the bike in the fast changes of direction. I’ve got to take my time and be nice and smooth, but to get on the third row is a great result considering this time last week I was lying in a hospital in Barcelona with my right collarbone smashed to pieces. I’m feeling confident for the race but I know it is going to be a big effort. But I’ll grit my teeth and do my best as always and show there’s plenty of fight in this old dog. I was determined to ride this weekend for the Team. My guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 are awesome and they’ve been an unbelievable support to me in the past few years. So I want to race and get a good result for them more than anything. I’m gutted too for Cal. I know what he’s going through unfortunately and I’m really sorry that he’s going to miss his home race. I wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him back giving me a hard time on track in Assen.” Herve Poncharal Team Manager: “Cal’s injury is a very big disappointment and I feel really sorry for him because he was desperate to do well in his home race here at Silverstone. He’s been fast all weekend, so we had high hopes that he could get a good place on the grid and be challenging for the top six in the race. But track conditions were quite cold and it was obvious from looking at the TV pictures that the ty re wasn’t up to temperature. He is in pain right now but I think he is more upset than anything else because he wanted to put on a good show for the British fans. A lot of people have come to support him and he didn’t want to let anybody down. Our luck seems to have completely deserted us at the moment when you think it was only eight days ago that Colin broke his right collarbone. I suppose the only small consolation for Cal is that Colin was back on the bike less than a week later, so we are optimistic that Cal will be back for the next race at Assen. Colin has produced a super human effort to qualify on the third row and his courage and determination has been an inspiration to everybody in the whole Team. At one stage it looked like he might even finish in the top six, which would have been a great reward for him and his Team.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha MotoGP Team: Today’s qualifying session for tomorrow’s Silverstone GP came to a successful conclusion for both Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies this afternoon. The second day of the British round of the World Championship was graced with sunshine, allowing the riders to finalise a good dry set up. The Yamaha Factory Racing riders were quick from the start in the morning’s final free practice session, wrapping it up with Spies in third and Lorenzo in fourth. Qualifying followed in the afternoon, both riders again enjoying a dry track as they evaluated tyres for tomorrow’s race should it be dry. At one point Lorenzo and Spies were threatening to deliver a double Yamaha front row; finally settling at the end of the session for a front row third and second row fourth respectively in a mirror of their Barcelona start positions. Jorge Lorenzo Position : 3rd Time: 2’02.237 Laps: 24 “I am very happy because tomorrow we will start from the first row and today we got a lot closer to the Hondas. I rode at a very high level today and I’m ready and focused for the race. I will do my best to make a good start tomorrow and fight for the front. At this moment our weapon is consistency. You try many things some days and some days you find a solution like today. I don’t know if it is enough to fight for victory but we will give our best. I’m very proud of my crew, they really worked hard to deliver a great package for qualifying!” Ben Spies Position : 4th Time: 2’02.677 Laps: 19 “It was a good day today, we made some improvements to the bike and then tried some different tyres to evaluate and see if they are going to be race tyres for tomorrow if it’s dry. Qualifying went well, when we tried to nail our fast lap we didn’t quite get it all in there, I left out a couple of tenths but they wouldn’t have moved me further up anyway, just a bit closer to Jorge. I gave it my maximum and we’re starting in a good position so we need to get a good start and of course see what the weather is going to do!” Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager “I’m pretty happy with the qualifying session today, the bike improved a lot compared to this morning and yesterday. We found the right way to progress and Jorge improved his riding quite a bit as well. The team worked hard between the two sessions and made a step on the bike so for dry conditions we are ready to race. We are 0.2 behind pole which is the closest we have been all year apart from Estoril. This is especially good considering the length of the track.” Massimo Meregalli Team Director “Overall we should be satisfied with the second day. We have our riders on the first and second row and we led part of the practice. We’ve got a good pace and I think we did a good job today, the team worked really hard. We’re confident and I think we can get good results. Tomorrow I think it’s going to rain but we saw yesterday that in the wet conditions we can be quick so we’ll see what happens.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing Team: DE PUNIET MISSES THIRD ROW. CAPIROSSI ON FIFTH ROW The starting grid for the sixth round of the MotoGP world championship, at Silverstone, was finalized during this afternoon’s qualifying session. Compared to the last free-practice session, the Pramac Racing Team riders lowered their respective times in qualifying. Randy De Puniet, who tomorrow will start from the fourth row, posted the tenth-best time, stopping the clock at 2’04.589, missing ninth place by just a few thousandths. Loris Capirossi also improved his time by a second, but rider No. 65 will start from the fifteenth spot, on the fifth row. Meanwhile, tomorrow’s forecast calls for rain at Silverstone, a factor that could affect the race to the possible advantage of Pramac Racing Team. Marco Rigamonti – Randy De Puniet’s Track Engineer “Randy was really good today. All the Ducatis are going through a difficult period, and after all, we’re only 3 or 4 tenths from Abraham’s Ducati, which qualified sixth. We’re also close to Hayden, who did the same times as last year’s MotoGP round, while the others took a big step forward. For tomorrow we’re planning a different solution for the bike’s front end; we’ll try it in the warm-up and see if we can do a good job of improving the feeling in the wet.” Randy De Puniet – Pramac Racing Team 10th, 2’04.589 “It was a challenging, difficult day. We changed a number of things between this morning and this afternoon, for qualifying. I managed to improve my best time, but my goal was to be a bit higher. We’re still far from the others that should be within reach. Tomorrow I’ll try everything to finish in the top ten, maximum top eight. All the Ducatis are having many problems here at Silverstone, so I think I’ll have to give more than 100% to reach my goal. Today everyone on the team did our best, and our best, unfortunately, was only tenth place. Tomorrow, with the rain, we’ll try to prepare the bike as well as we can.” Loris Capirossi – Pramac Racing Team 15th, 2’06.256 “We had a very hard time today and yesterday. In the afternoon, during qualifying, we went faster, improving our best lap time, but not enough. I wasn’t able to go fast, and this is probably my fault. It wasn’t a good performance. At the end of the session, we put on new tires to try to improve the situation, but the back of the bike was hopping and there was nothing to do. Maybe the rain tomorrow will help us for the race. More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: ELIAS 14TH AT DARKENING SILVERSTONE GP QUALIFYING Silverstone, 11 June: todays’ second day of practices at Silverstone circuit was held in dry conditions despite some cloudy skies and low temperatures (32° on the asphalt) with Stoner setting the fastest lap time in the afternoon qualifying session (2’02.020) ahead Simoncelli and Lorenzo. The 60-minute qualifying at the 5.902 km race track saw the LCR Honda racer Toni Elias posting the 14th lap time (2’05.862) despite a crash in the first half of the session. The Iberian rider escaped unhurt from the incident and continued to ride on soft tyres using a new suspension link. Elias could not make the most of his RCV but obtained some small improvements so far. Elias 14th – 2’05.862: “Despite the crash and the lap time we obtained some small improvements using a new suspension link that makes me more stable now. Obviously the crash has spoiled our TO DO list for the qualifying session but I am lucky I am unhurt: I was lapping on hard rear tyre pushing a bit too much and I crashed out. Honestly I do not feel very comfortable in the dry so I am hoping to race in the wet tomorrow because it seems we have found a good direction”. More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: Stoner roars to fourth pole of the year with Dovizioso on the second row Casey Stoner left nothing to chance this afternoon and scored his fourth pole of the season and thirtieth of his career (26 in MotoGP class) at the Silverstone circuit, which will tomorrow host the sixth round of the 2011 MotoGP World Championship. Team mate Andrea Dovizioso will start on the second row of the grid, in fifth position. The Australian Repsol Honda rider completed a stunningly fast lap seven minutes before the end of the qualifying session. His 2’02.020 lap was 1.2 seconds quicker than the 2010 pole position set by Jorge Lorenzo. However, Stoner’s pace is not only impressive on the flying lap but also for race pace: in the one hour qualifying practice, he completed 5 laps under the 2010 pole position and 8 laps under the circuit record (2’03.526). Andrea Dovizioso has tried to make the most of today’s two sessions in dry conditions to take another step forward. The Italian, who scored a second place finish here in 2010, has improved his time from yesterday by more than 1.5 seconds and he will fight for the podium from the second row on the grid. CASEY STONER 1st 2’02.020 “Everything has gone really well this weekend, we were lucky it stayed dry for qualifying but it doesn’t look so good for tomorrow. We’ve been competitive in each session and in various weather so I hope we have prepared ourselves for the race tomorrow, whatever the conditions. We haven’t changed too much from the set up we had in Barcelona and this afternoon was important for us to see what we could get from the hard tyre, what our pace is and if we can find some more edge grip, and we definitely found some more traction so I’m very happy with how everything is working at the moment. For the pole position we changed the set up and balance of the bike a little and on my best lap I closed the front a few times and wasn’t so confident with the balance, so I feel lucky to have got the pole but for sure it’s the best way to start the Grand Prix. We’ll see what the weather does tomorrow but I love this track and love this part of the UK and I’m really happy to be here!” ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 5th 2’03.212 “Compared to this morning’s practice we improved the bike and I had quite a good feeling with my machine. We worked on the set up to have more control especially over the bumps and the different track surfaces. After 10 laps we managed a 2’03.8 with the hard tyres, which is not too bad. In the afternoon we were faster, but the others also improved a lot. We need to analyse the data and understand in which areas we can work to gain some tenths. Tomorrow we will begin from the second row and it will be very important to have a good start and maintain contact with the riders at the front.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Under darkening skies on Saturday afternoon Casey Stoner outran the competition to pole position in a spellbinding MotoGP qualifying session for the AirAsia British Grand Prix, setting a new lap record of 2’02.020, over a second faster than last year’s pole position record set by Jorge Lorenzo at the then brand new track. Marco Simoncelli ran a close second with a qualifying time of 2’02.208, with Lorenzo in third, 0.029s behind the Italian. Simoncelli leapt to the top of the timesheet at the start of the session, followed by Lorenzo at the 30-minute mark with a lap 1.5s faster than his best practice time, then by Stoner, who set a time of 2’02.442, and again by Simoncelli who overtook the lead with a lap of 2’02.389, only to have Stoner set an unstoppable lap that sent him to the front of the field. The rest of the field set far faster times than those of the previous day, with Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) heading the second row for the AirAsia British Grand Prix race with a time of 2’02.677, over a second faster than his best practice time, followed by Stoner’s team mate Andrea Dovizioso in fifth with a time of 2’03.212. Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing), who had a crash in the morning session, finished qualifying in sixth, putting his Ducati in the last spot on the second row, with a time of 2’04.151. Nicky Hayden will start in seventh position 0.153s behind Abraham, followed by Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) who continued to improve his times while still recovering from a broken collarbone. Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) qualified ninth, 0.012s behind Edwards, and Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) completed the top ten times with a 2’04.589. Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) finished the qualifying session down in 13th, behind Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) in 11th and Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) in 12th. The Italian has struggled all weekend to find a set up for the GP11 while simultaneously learning his way around the track after missing last year’s race due to injury. Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was enjoying a good weekend until a crash after completing just two laps resulted in a broken collarbone and concussion. Toni Elías also crashed in the first half of the session. Moto2 Moto2 qualifying began under dark skies and blustery wind, with Marc Márquez again leading the timings from early in the session, setting a new circuit Moto2 record with a time of 2’08.101 to take pole. Championship leader Stefan Bradl pushed hard in the last five minutes to challenge Márquez for the pole, sliding into corners around his second to last lap, but ended the session in third with a time of 2’08.618, behind the Suter bike of Scott Redding in second. Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing) moved up to third in the last ten minutes, finally posting a time 0.305s behind Bradl, putting the French rider on the second row of the grid. Simone Corsi put his Ioda Racing Project bike in fifth, 0.053s behind Cluzel and 0.045s in front of the Moriwaki of Michele Pirro (Gresini Racing Moto2). Aleix Espargaró (Pons HP 40) will start the race from the head of the third row, followed by Randy Krummenacher (GP Team Switzerland Kiefer Racing) and Mike di Meglio in ninth, a substantial improvement for the Tech 3 Racing rider, whose time earlier in the day had him down in 23rd spot. Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2) starts from tenth on the grid after qualifying with a time of 2’09.646, with Claudio Corti (Italtrans Racing) and Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing) behind the San Marino rider. Bradley Smith, who set practice times that put him 13th in the running in the earlier practice, suffered engine problems during the session, returning to the pits to solve them without great success, setting him back on the grid in 28th. Max Neukirchner of MZ Racing crashed out around the halfway point of the session, and later Axel Pons (Pons HP 40) crashed in the last minute., though set a time earlier of 2’09.994, putting him 16th, one place in front of the German Neukirchner. 125cc Spanish riders Nico Terol and Maverick Viñales battled for pole position in a windy 125cc qualifying practice, with 16 year-old Viñales grabbing the top spot with three minutes to go to seal his first ever pole with a time of 2’14.684s. Terol, who finished fourth at Silverstone last year, was 0.036s behind the rookie Viñales and will start the race from second position. Johann Zarco, Efrén Vázquez and Sandro Cortese battled for the remaining front row spot the entire session, with Zarco landing it with a time of 2’15.266. The French rider finished eighth in the 125cc race at Silverstone last year, after starting from fifth place on the grid. Vázquez will head up the second row after posting a time of 2’15.284. Cortese sits next to Vázquez on the second row in fifth place, followed by Luis Salom who posted a fast lap of 2’15.713. Third row starts with Héctor Faubel, with Jonas Folger and Alberto Moncayo completing the top nine. Sergio Gadea, who finished 15th in the Moto2 race last year at Silverstone will lead the fourth row, with Adrián Martín next to Gadea and the first British rider on the grid, Danny Kent following Martín in 12th spot. Luigi Morciano (Team Italia FMI), who had a highside in FP3, was declared fit to participate in the qualifying practice and will start 28th on the grid. More, from a press release issued by Honda: STONER AND SIMONCELLI RULE SILVERSTONE QUALIFYING Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC212V) rode to his fourth pole position of the year at Silverstone today. The winner of last weekend’s Catalan Grand Prix fought off a strong challenge from Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) to end the hour-long session a slender 0.188s in front. Final man on the front row is World Championship leader Jorge (Lorenzo). Conditions were cool and cloudy at Silverstone today, with rain a real possibility for race day. Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V) will start tomorrow’s race the sixth round of the 2011 MotoGP series from fifth on the grid, the exact same position from which he started last Sunday. Once again, Stoner and Dovizioso are the only two Repsol Honda riders on track because Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) is still recovering from the broken right collarbone he sustained at last month’s French Grand Prix. Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) qualified 11th while Toni Elias (LCR Honda MotoGP RC212V) had another challenging day, crashing in qualifying and completing the session in 14th spot. Stoner and Simoncelli were the star performers of the second half of qualifying. Lorenzo led at half-distance, but as the pace increased, first Stoner went ahead, by one tenth, then Simoncelli moved past Stoner by just 0.05s. The Italian held the advantage until the Australian launched into his final run after his crew had made adjustments to improve edge grip. Stoner’s ultra-aggressive, inch-perfect riding produced the track’s fastest-ever lap, almost 1.3s inside last year’s pole time. It was a remarkable lap, Stoner controlling several front-end slides. Simoncelli wasn’t ready to accept defeat, however. After the first three sections of his final lap he was 0.001s inside Stoner’s best, but he didn’t end the lap as well as he had started it and so Stoner ended the day on top. After securing his first pole position in the elite class at last weekend’s Catalan GP, Simoncelli was happy enough with second fastest, especially since he feels he is more comfortable with his race pace than he was this time last week. Simoncelli’s aim for the race is the same as it has been at the last few events to score his first MotoGP podium, or, if possible, his first win. Dovizioso worked hard throughout practice to perfect the set-up of his RCV, a particularly difficult job at Silverstone because of the bumpy surface and frequent changes of tarmac. This evening the Italian will sit down with his crew to analyse his data, in the hope of finding a little extra speed during the morning warm-up session. Aoyama doesn’t have great memories of Silverstone. He ended his 2010 season at this track when he fell in morning warm-up, breaking a vertebra. This year he has worked methodically to get his RCV performing across all the bumps and changes of tarmac. He will start tomorrow’s race on the fourth row between Ducati riders Randy de Puniet and Hector Barbera. Elias slid off at Vale in the early stages of qualifying, but continued on his second machine, running soft tyres and experimenting with a softer rear suspension linkage. Although he wasn’t happy with his position on the grid, the reigning Moto2 World Champion believes his team has made some progress with race set-up. Marc Marquez (Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol-Suter) scored his first Moto2 pole position at Silverstone this afternoon, bettering local hero Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team-Suter) by the relatively comfortable margin of 0.497s. Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing-Kalex) took the last spot on the front row after an impressive final run. Spanish teenager Marquez who finished first and second in the last two Moto2 races got into the groove during qualifying after focusing on fine-tuning machine set-up during free practice when he was sixth fastest, almost a second behind Redding. Redding has had a difficult start to his second season in the Honda-powered Moto2 series, but feels that his performance today might be something of a turning point. The Briton always goes in well in front of his home crowd and will be aiming to score his first podium of the season tomorrow. Bradl has been the standout Moto2 performer of the year so far, with victory in three of the first five races. The German also took pole position at each of the first five races the first time anyone in Moto2 has scored five consecutive poles. But this time Bradl is happy enough with third fastest, because he’s once again on the front row and he has a good race pace. Winner here last year, Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing-Suter) was fourth fastest this afternoon to lead the second row, where he is joined by Simone Corsi (Ioda Racing Project-FTR) and Michele Pirro (Gresini Racing Moto2-Moriwaki). Aleix Espargaro (Pons HP40-Pons Kalex) who scored his first GP podium at Catalunya last weekend leads row three in seventh position. MotoGP rider quotes Casey Stoner, Repsol Honda: pole position 2m, 02.020s “Everything has gone really well this weekend. We were lucky it stayed dry for qualifying, but it doesn’t look so good for tomorrow. We’ve been competitive in each session and in various weathers, so I hope we have prepared ourselves for the race, whatever the conditions. We haven’t changed too much from the set-up we had in Barcelona, and this afternoon was important for us to see what we could get from the hard tyre, what our pace is and if we can find some more edge grip, and we definitely found some more traction so I’m very happy with how everything is working at the moment. For pole position we changed the set-up and balance of the bike a little and on my best lap I lost the front a few times and wasn’t so confident with the balance, so I feel lucky to have got the pole, but for sure it’s the best way to start a Grand Prix. We’ll see what the weather does tomorrow, but I love this track and I love this part of the UK and I’m really happy to be here!” Marco Simoncelli, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 2nd 2m 02.208s “I didn’t get pole position today, but I am happier than I was last weekend because at Barcelona it was only my last lap of qualifying that was really fast. This time my race pace is better on both hard and soft tyres, and I feel confident I can be fast in the dry and in the rain.” Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: 5th 2m, 03.212s “Compared to this morning’s practice we improved the bike and I had quite a good feeling with my machine. We worked on the set-up to have more control especially over the bumps and the different track surfaces. After 10 laps we managed a 2m 03.8s with the hard tyres, which is not too bad. In the afternoon we were faster, but the others also improved a lot. We need to analyse the data and understand in which areas we can work to gain some tenths. Tomorrow we will begin from the second row and it will be very important to have a good start and maintain contact with the riders at the front.” Hiroshi Aoyama, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 11th 2m, 04.919s “This is a difficult track and, of course, where I had my big fall last year. It has been a busy two days, trying to get the machine settings correct and trying to deal with all the conditions. We have had so many different weathers rain, wind, sunshine. Hopefully warm-up will be dry because we have more things to check for the race. I will do my best in the race.” Toni Elias, LCR Honda MotoGP: 14th 2m 05.862s “Despite the crash and the lap time we obtained some small improvements using a new suspension link that makes me more stable now. Obviously the crash spoiled our ‘to do’ list for the qualifying session, but I am lucky I am unhurt: I was lapping on hard rear tyre pushing a bit too much and I crashed out. Honestly I do not feel very comfortable in the dry so I am hoping to race in the wet tomorrow because it seems we have found a good direction.” Moto2 rider quotes Marc Marquez, Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol-Suter: pole position, 2m, 08.101s “Step by step I feel more confident with the bike. I’m happy with my first pole in this class, but more important are the race and the points for the championship. If it’s in the dry we know have a good race pace because lap by lap we were very consistent, although there are a few points on my bike I want to improve in warm-up. But the weather forecast is not so good. If it rains for the race it’s important to finish and a podium would be great.” Scott Redding, Marc VDS Racing Team-Suter: 2nd, 2m, 08.598s “We’ve had a difficult start to the year, so to come here and get a front-row start is really good for us. We were aiming for the first or second rows, so we’re happy to be second fastest. It’s a good for our confidence and now hopefully the tables will be turned and we can start getting some good results.” Stefan Bradl, Viessmann Kiefer Racing-Kalex: 3rd, 2m, 08.618s “The set-up has been quite good from the beginning and I’m happy to be on the front row. For qualifying it was very windy out there and there were big black clouds arriving, so everyone was immediately pushing for a fast lap time, in case the rain came. It’s important to be on the front row and we will do our best to ride a fast and clever racer tomorrow. But first we have to see what the weather will do.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati: DIFFICULT SILVERSTONE QUALIFYING FOR THE DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi qualified with the seventh- and thirteenth-best times, respectively, for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Although it was his best qualifying performance so far this season, the American had hoped to build on his strong Friday performance and qualify on the second row. Valentino Rossi and the team weren’t able to find a good setup for the English circuit. The Italian lacks experience from last year and was only able to ride in good weather conditions in today’s two sessions, though without finding enough feeling to decisively improve his performance. Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro Team) 7th, 2:04.304 “Although we had problems, this is my best qualifying position of the year, but to be two seconds off is too much. We tried some options to get it better, but from my first outing of the weekend, we haven’t really gone much faster. We tried stuff to make it better””maybe we tried to do too much””and we haven’t improved. Certainly the front isn’t good over the bumps, and the rear is spinning a lot and moving around. It was pretty frustrating, really, but I hope for rain tomorrow. Doing 20 laps in the wet around here wouldn’t be easy, but I think it would help our chances.” Valentino Rossi (Ducati Marlboro Team) 13th, 2:05.781 “It’s been a very difficult day””actually, a very difficult weekend. We were a long way off Friday, but in a way it was understandable since I didn’t know the track. Today, though, I had hoped to do much better, but we only lowered our time by one second, while the others cut two. The gap is considerable, and we’re even having trouble compared to the other Ducatis, so evidently we haven’t managed to work well at this track. I’m having difficulty riding, I’m slow on corner entry, and I’m not able to take the lines I want. We found many things with the bike’s settings, but without making progress. They’re saying it’s supposed to rain tomorrow, so we’ll see. I don’t think we can be as competitive in the wet as we have been on other tracks, but it would probably be a bit better than dry. Anyway, we have to do the best with what we have.”