FIM MotoGP World Championship Phillip Island, Australia October 16, 2010 Qualifying Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Casey STONER, Australia (DUCATI), 1:30.107 2. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:30.775 3. Ben SPIES, USA (YAMAHA), 1:31.386 4. Marco SIMONCELLI, Italy (HONDA), 1:31.402 5. Colin EDWARDS, USA (YAMAHA), 1:31.415 6. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (DUCATI), 1:31.530 7. Randy DE PUNIET, France (HONDA), 1:31.554 8. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (YAMAHA), 1:31.627 9. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (HONDA), 1:32.018 10. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (HONDA), 1:32.367 11. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (DUCATI), 1:32.542 12. Mika KALLIO, Finland (DUCATI), 1:32.816 13. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Japan (HONDA), 1:33.190 14. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (SUZUKI), 1:33.224 15. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), 1:33.384 16. Hector BARBERA, Spain (DUCATI), 1:33.390 17. Loris CAPIROSSI, Italy (SUZUKI), 1:34.269 More, from a press release issued by Interwetten Honda: Aoyama fighting with critical conditions at Phillip Island The qualifying of the Australian Grand Prix stayed more or less dry today at Phillip Island, until the last four minutes where the rain suddenly started to pour down and Hiroshi Aoyama and his MotoGP fellows decided to retreat to their pit garages in the last two minutes of the session to be save from the wind and water. Aoyama didn’t quite feel comfortable with his bike in these conditions and had not much confidence. The problem was the same as in Sepang where the set up of the bike was too sensible. The Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team is now trying to adjust the settings to the unpredictable weather conditions at Phillip Island. As it is not clear yet what weather will be during the race tomorrow this venture is quite difficult. If you count Aoyama’s split times together, half a second would have been possible to improve his lap time today and this is a good sign for tomorrow. The 28-year-old Japanese will start the race from 5th row and 13th spot on the grid. Hiroshi Aoyama, 13 1’33.190: “The weather here is very critical and I don’t feel much confidence on my bike, especially when it is dry. We have to work hard on finding a solution for tomorrow, so I get a better feeling with my bike and can push more. Unfortunately we don’t have much time left and the weather is changing consistently. We have to work on the settings tomorrow in Warm up and we need to adjust the electronics. I hope we can find a better solution.” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: LORENZO TAKES FRONT ROW AT PHILLIP ISLAND, ROSSI UNLUCKY IN EIGHTH Jorge Lorenzo secured his 15th front row start of the season at Phillip Island today, in a qualifying session made difficult by cold temperatures and windy conditions at the cliff-top track. His Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi came in for some bad luck in the final stages of the session and could only manage to qualify eighth. After yesterday’s downpours today was largely sunny, but strong winds and biting cold made it another testing day on track for the riders. Lorenzo and his crew spent the session focusing on improving their time in the fourth split, where they found they were losing time this morning, and were able to make some improvements although there is still more to be done. The new World Champion spent a brief sojourn at the top of the time sheets before being ousted by Casey Stoner and he was unable to come any closer to the Australian’s time, settling for second place and the middle of the front row. Rossi has been searching for a comfortable set-up all weekend and he made some improvements today but was still lacking race pace in comparison to his rivals. He was hopeful of making a challenge for the front row but luck was not on his side today as all three of his planned qualifying laps, when he was using the softer Bridgestone tyres, were interrupted. He was hampered first by another rider, then a crashed bike on track and then the weather, as it started to spit with rain with three minutes to go. The Italian will start tomorrow from eighth on the grid, in the middle of the third row. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 2nd Time: 1’30.775 Laps: 25 “These conditions were really risky because it was so cold and also incredibly windy. It was hard to stay on the bike sometimes! I’m happy with my race pace which is unusual for me here because I’ve never been so strong in MotoGP at this track, but I think we’ve done a good job. I wanted pole today but the weather and Casey stopped me – he is so quick here. We have the second best time so it is okay and I am feeling very calm after last weekend. We hope the weather is like this or better tomorrow, with no rain, and then we will go for it and see what happens in the race. I am ready for the race; I just want to enjoy it.” Valentino Rossi Position: 8th Time: 1’31.627 Laps: 27 “I was really unlucky today because with each of the softer tyres, when I think I could have improved a bit, I had problems. First it was Espargaro, then Hayden’s bike on the track and then it began to rain, so I couldn’t use any of the tyres how I wanted in the end. We start from the third row, which will be very hard, especially because our race pace isn’t that strong and we don’t have the right set-up yet. We need to work hard tonight and tomorrow morning to try to improve. The conditions aren’t good and it’s a great pity because this is a fantastic track but you can’t enjoy it in this cold, because it takes so long for the tyres to get to the right temperature. Tomorrow will be hard, but we will see what we can do.” Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager The conditions are very difficult but of course it’s the same for everyone. We decided to concentrate on improving the final split because this is where we were losing the most time this morning and in the end we were able to improve quite a lot, but we know we can still do more. We have some ideas, which we need to sit down and discuss now. Second on the grid is good, the rain stopped us at the end but I don’t think we could have got pole anyway today as Casey was very fast. We definitely need to find a few more tenths but anything can happen tomorrow.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “Unfortunately we weren’t really able to try for a good qualifying lap today because Valentino was unlucky with each of his soft tyres today. These issues aside however we are still not set for the race and we need to try to improve our bike more. The starting position is not helpful but if we can fix the bike then we can try, so we will see what we can do in tomorrow morning’s warm-up.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: BIRTHDAY BOY STONER ON POLE FOR HOME RACE, SOLID SECOND ROW FOR HAYDEN Casey Stoner celebrated his 25th birthday with the 25th pole position of his Grand Prix career today, putting himself at the front of the grid for his home race at Phillip Island. A day of typically mixed weather gave way to 58 minutes of sunshine for this afternoon’s qualifying practice, with rain hitting the final two minutes of the session to thwart any attempt late improvements. Nicky Hayden’s opportunity to qualify on the front row had already passed, however, the American sitting out the final four minutes following a small crash in turn four when he was pushing for a faster lap. However, sixth place means a second row start for Hayden and a twin assault on the podium for the Ducati Team tomorrow, weather permitting. CASEY STONER (Ducati Team) 1st – 1’30.107 “I always seem to celebrate my birthday here at Phillip Island but I guess there are worse places to be! We have had virtually every single condition you could imagine thrown at us this weekend so we’ll have to wait and see what happens tomorrow before we make any decisions on set-up but so far I think we have done the best possible job in every condition. I’m quite happy with the setting in the wet even though we haven’t had a fully wet session, which made it difficult to get a good reading from the bike. We have had two good sessions today, making progress in the last half an hour of this morning and another big step again in the last half hour of the afternoon. With the last two soft tyres I was able to make a substantial improvement to the lap time and we’re in the best possible position for tomorrow so I’m pretty happy so far.” NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Team) 6th 1’31.530 “We have had an okay weekend so far in all conditions. We tried a little something on the second bike this afternoon that didn’t quite work so we went back to the first bike. My first run with a qualifying set-up on the soft tyre felt decent and I got a good lap time but I was quite confident I could improve. Then on my second run in turn four I got in hot and let the brake off over the little bumps there and the front closed. I saw a few drops of rain and maybe that didn’t help. I had a couple of warnings but I kept pushing because I thought I could get on the front row. Anyway, the bike is working really well around here and we’ve tried every condition except hot and sunny so we’ll see what we get tomorrow. Even though the track is very cold the tyres are working well and the soft compounds come in so quickly you think maybe even the hard could be an option. To be honest I think we’ll stick with the soft but I have to say grip is good considering the temperatures are so low so we’ll see how things shape up in the morning.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Spies eyes Rookie prize, Edwards seeks season best Ben Spies will launch his bid to clinch the prestigious Rookie of the Year title from the front row of the grid in tomorrow’s Australian MotoGP race, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider producing another excellent qualifying performance at a blustery Phillip Island. Spies’ confidence ahead of qualifying was sky high after he claimed a place in the top three in this morning’s second practice session. And the former World Superbike champion was always a major threat to record his third front row of an amazing debut season after a terrific start to this afternoon’s session. Spies made further tweaks to the suspension set- up on his YZR-M1 machine this afternoon to gain crucial rear grip at the technical and spectacular 4.448km track. The modifications paid immediate dividends with Spies never outside of the top three once a lap of 1.31.387 put him on top of the timesheets with just 19-minutes completed. In sunny but cool and breezy conditions that saw air temperatures marginally higher than yesterday at 12 degrees, the 26-year-old then posted a lap of 1.31.386 to consolidate his place in the top three. His bid to try and challenge for a repeat of his incredible Indianapolis pole position though was foiled when light rain spots began to fall on the picturesque Phillip Island circuit. Each time Spies commenced a fast lap on the softer compound Bridgestone rear tyre, he noticed rain spots on his visor. Sensibly avoiding taking unnecessary risks, he backed off but his earlier time still secure d him a brilliant front row start for the 27-lap race. Colin Edwards had a productive day too, the 36-year-old in terrific form this morning to register the second fastest time behind home crowd favourite Casey Stoner. Edwards was able to comfortably lap inside the top ten during qualifying before modifications to improve turning performance enabled him to drastically drop his lap times. The changes saw Edwards immediately go 0.5s faster, a 1.31.521 moving him from eighth to fourth with eight minutes remaining. He knocked a further tenth off on his next lap and looked like claiming his best qualifying result of the season until Marco Simoncelli dropped him back to fifth in the closing minutes. His best time of 1.31.415 was less than 0.1s behind Spies. Ben Spies 3rd 1.31.386 23 laps “I’m really happy to be on the front row again but a little bit surprised. I was really happy with my pace and the lap times earlier in the session but each time I tried to go quicker in the last part I’d have spots of rain on my visor. I’d warm up the tyres and see nothing but as soon as I’d push going into the first corner to start a fast lap, I was getting a lot of rain on my visor. I didn’t want to take a big risk when I knew I was already pretty close to the front row. My qualifying time is a pace that I can run in the race, so I’m happy with that. I’m confident because I haven’t finished a session thinking I put in a great session. So if we can put everything together and ride really well and the bike is working good, maybe I can fight for the podium. I’ve got the lap time to make the podium but I just want to make the bike better for the last ten laps of the race. It would be nice to clinch the Rookie of the Year title tomorrow. It would be another box ticked in what has been a really po sitive season so far.” Colin Edwards 5th 1.31.415 26 laps “It was almost my best qualifying result of the season but I’m happy with fifth and being so close to Ben on the front row gives me a lot of confidence for the race. I have felt really good on the bike today and finishing second this morning gave me a lot of confidence. I had a fairly good set-up this morning with the bike but I was just missing a little bit of turning performance. We left the bike for the start of qualifying and I was basically doing the same lap times as this morning. So we made some changes to the front for my last rear tyre and immediately I was able to go half-a-second faster. It just felt easy and I gained so much confidence that I could put the bike where I wanted it to be on the track. I’m happy with my race pace and I’m ready, so hopefully I can get my best result of the year. We’ll ha ve to see what the weather throws at us but I’m ready for anything.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Stunning Stoner on pole as Bridgestone’s new slicks well received Round 16: Australian Grand Prix Qualifying Phillip Island, Saturday 16 October 2010 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium. Rear: Hard, Extra Hard (both asymmetric) Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner scored his third successive Phillip Island pole position with a scorching lap just 0.05seconds from the existing lap record and 0.2seconds faster than last year despite the cold and windy conditions. After the torrid conditions of yesterday, today was brighter with only intermittent rain showers. The wind was still strong and the temperature cold, but the morning free practice was run in the dry with just a few damp patches, and the hour-long qualifying session was dry until rain brought a premature halt to proceedings in the final minutes. With a track temperature of just ten degrees in this morning’s free practice, every rider used the softer option slicks front and rear. These softer asymmetric rears feature Bridgestone’s new extra soft compound rubber in the right shoulders and performance was good despite the cold. This new compound was incorporated into the asymmetric rear slicks specifically for Phillip Island because of the expected low temperature. For the qualifying session every rider again favoured the softer option slicks front and rear even though the track temperature was markedly higher. Sitting on provisional pole for a while was Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo until Stoner’s final lap pushed him into second, and Ben Spies starts tomorrow’s race from third for the Monster Yamaha Tech3 team. Conditions for the riders were very tough with the strong winds and spots of rain that interrupted the last quarter of the session. Tohru Ubukata Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department “This morning’s session was very cold, just ten degrees Celsius on track, but still our softer slick tyres worked reasonably well and gave good performance. In qualifying the track temperature was much higher and all the riders used the softer option front and rear slicks for the entire session, testing race-distance consistency and refining setups after getting no dry running yesterday, and tyre performance and temperature were good. I am very impressed with Casey’s lap which was very fast and shows that even in these conditions our tyres are performing well. He is only 0.05seconds off the lap record set back in tyre competition in 2008 so I am very happy with this, and want to congratulate Casey on this lap! “The softer ption asymmetric rear slicks that everyone used in qualifying feature our new extra soft compound in the right shoulders for the first time, and I am very happy with the performance. Especially in the cold morning conditions, the extra soft rubber gave good warm-up performance as it was intended to do and we have received positive feedback from the riders who say that tyre performance is improved since last year. Casey’s pole time is over 0.2seconds faster than last year even though the track temperature is lower, and we can attribute at least some of this to the increased performance of our new extra soft compound rubber so I am happy with today.” Top ten from qualifying (Saturday 13:55 14:55 GMT+11) Pos Rider Team Fastest lap Gap Compounds Front, Rear 1 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 1m30.107s Soft, Hard 2 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 1m30.775s +0.668s Soft, Hard 3 Ben Spies Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m31.386s +1.279s Soft, Hard 4 Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m31.402s +1.295s Soft, Hard 5 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m31.415s +1.308s Soft, Hard 6 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 1m31.530s +1.423s Soft, Hard 7 Randy de Puniet LCR Honda MotoGP 1m31.554s +1.447s Soft, Hard 8 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m31.627s +1.520s Soft, Hard 9 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 1m32.018s +1.911s Soft, Hard 10 Marco Melandri San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m32.367s +2.260s Soft, Hard Weather: Dry. Ambient 14°C; Track 30°C ( Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Tough task ahead for Rizla Suzuki at Phillip Island Rizla Suzuki faces an uphill battle at the Australian Grand Prix tomorrow as both racers struggled to come to grips with the chilly conditions at the Phillip Island circuit today. Álvaro Bautista (P14, 1’33.224, 26 laps) got his first taste of dry conditions around the 4,448m circuit on a MotoGP machine as the expected rain never materialised. Bautista and his crew worked methodically throughout the morning practice session and this afternoon’s qualifying to overcome some turning issues he had with his GSV-R through the corners. Towards the end of the afternoon session he thought they had made a breakthrough, but rain started to fall for the final few minutes and he wasn’t able to further test the modifications. Loris Capirossi’s (P17, 1’34.269, 17 laps) run of bad luck continued as he yet again found himself in the gravel after a heavy crash. He was looking to improve his grid position as the qualifying period came towards its climax, but he crashed heavily and although he was able to walk away unhurt and make his way back to the garage, the time and conditions were also against Capirossi. As he made preparation’s to return to the circuit on his other GSV-R, the first spots of rain started to fall and he had to abort any plans about going back out on track to better his time. Today’s conditions were an improvement on yesterday’s, but only in the fact that it stayed dry for most of the two sessions. The cold wind that kept the rain clouds at bay also meant that although the air temperatures reached 11°C, the wind chill made it only 6°C and kept track temperatures in the low 20s. Local hero Casey Stoner took pole position today as he aims for his fourth successive Australian Grand Prix victory this weekend. Sunday’s race is the 16th on the calendar and will signal the end of a tough three weeks that has seen the Grand Prix circus visit Japan, Malaysia and Australia in consecutive weekends. The main event will get underway tomorrow at 16.00hrs local time (05.00hrs GMT). Álvaro Bautista: “It is a much different feeling here today than it was in Malaysia a week ago! We had the opportunity to ride in dry conditions today, but this morning we had a problem with the bike in the corners and I just couldn’t make it turn quick enough and I kept going out wide. This meant I couldn’t enter fast enough as well so I was losing a lot of time. This afternoon we tried two different specifications on the bikes and one of them was a little bit worse and the other was a bit better but still not perfect. We have some hard work to do to still improve, but we have another opportunity in warm-up to try and get things better. We will continue with the way that we followed towards the end of this afternoon’s session and see if we can make some more steps forward. We know it’s going to be difficult, because after last week I had a lot of confidence coming to this race and thought that we could improve in the colder conditions, but it has been a lot colder than we thought it would be and that has made it a lot more difficult. In the race as always I will try to do my maximum and get the best result possible. It will be a tough race but I want to fight for a top-10, I know that is going to be hard, but we must try to be there.” Loris Capirossi: “It was really tough conditions today, but we have a bigger problem at the moment because we don’t know why I have crashed again. I went out on a used tyre and I followed Colin he had a new front and rear tyre and I went slower than him, but when I changed direction to go on the right side the bike just went from under me, this just feels so strange and I don’t know why. When you try hard and you make a mistake then it is normal to crash, but I didn’t make a mistake so I don’t know why the rear went away. I am in a bad position for the start tomorrow, but we will have to see what happens because I know I have to go better in the race.” Tom O’Kane Crew Chief Álvaro Bautista: “It’s certainly been a difficult day, but we started to move in a positive direction towards the end of qualifying and it was a shame the rain came when it did. The modification that we made this afternoon was just as we put in the first soft tyre and it was the first step forward that we had taken all day, we will keep working in that direction in warm-up because I think there is still a bit to come from the bike and Álvaro. We usually have a few issues at this track that is quite well known but our problems are not as drastic as usual, we have grip now where we didn’t have before and we just need to work a bit on the turning to give Álvaro the chance to fight further up the field tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing Team: FOURTH ROW FOR PRAMAC RACING RIDERS IN THE GRAND PRIX OF AUSTRALIA Another day affected by rain at Phillip Island. The official test, valid for tomorrow’s race, saw the early closure of just a few minutes because of rain. Pramac Racing Team riders, Mika Kallio Aleix Espargar, have respectively concluded with the eleventh and twelfth fastest lap time and they will meet tomorrow in the fourth row on the starting grid. The Spaniard had some physical problems in the right forearm that did not allow him to perform in the best way today. Tonight and tomorrow morning he will do some massage sessions to be able to race without any complications. The start of the Australian Grand Prix is scheduled for tomorrow at 4pm local time. Fabiano Sterlacchini – Technical Director “We can feel quite satisfied with how our riders finished the qualifying session today. I’m sure that if the rain had not stopped Mika, he could have done even better. We have both riders in the fourth row and this will be a good opportunity for us in the case of good start to remain with the fastest riders since the first turn. A big question mark for tomorrow’s race, beyond the technical choices, will be the weather conditions. Anything can happen.” Aleix Espargar – Pramac Racing Rider – 11th best lap time in 1’32.542 “Every time I left the pit box after about three or four laps, I felt pain in my right wrist and this didn’t allow me to handle the brakes as I should. This was very risky and did not allowed me to push hard. I received some medical check up and there seems nothing to worry about even if I, as a precaution, will undergo some treatments tomorrow morning. For tomorrow I would like the track to be either fully wet or dry. The middle situation on this circuit becomes very complicated to deal with.” Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing Rider – 12th best lap time in 1’32.816 “Despite the pain in my left shoulder we have given all we could and things worked out quite well. We were going to improve further more but the rain has stopped me. Too bad, but this result gives me good confidence for tomorrow’s race. We have found bike’s best set up for tomorrow race, even though, of course, it will all depend on the track conditions we will find.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: DE PUNIET TAKES 7th SPOT ON THE GRID AT “THE ISLAND” GP QUALIFYING Phillip Island, 16 October: Qualifying for the Grand Prix of Australia was run in dry conditions today with ambience temperature of 11°C (the asphalt temperature rose up to 22°C) after yesterdays notorious Island bad weather which delayed the 3-class first free session. In yesterdays full rain conditions the LCR racer randy de Puniet produced a strong performance and made his way into the top-10. Despite a small crash at turn four in this morning second free session, the Frenchman riding the LCR Honda RC212V kept working hard with his squad chasing the best set up for the ocean track posting his fastest time on 1’31.554 on lap 24 of 29. Randy is the second fastest Honda rider on the grid and will start from the third row for tomorrow’s 27 lap-race that gets underway at 16:00 local time. Pole position was claimed by Australian hero Casey Stoner on Ducati followed by World Champion Lorenzo and Spies. De Puniet 7th 1’31.554 De Puniet: “I think we made a good job both in the wet (yesterday) and in the dry (today) because I lapped consistently fast. This afternoon we focused on traction control race mapping making 2 long run with a good rhythm as I was always in the top-six. I missed the front row for 2 tenths only because I lost too much time behind Kallio in my fastest lap. Anyway it is good to be the second Honda rider on the grid and I am confident we can do a good race in both conditions.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: On the day of his 25th birthday, Casey Stoner took his third pole position of the season with the best time in qualifying for the Iveco Australian Grand Prix of 1’30.107 on Saturday, securing top spot on the starting grid at Phillip Island for the third consecutive season. The Australian, who has also won his home GP for the last three years, was an impressive 0.668s clear of the rest of the field by the end of the session. With conditions changeable throughout the day, only the final few minutes of the MotoGP qualifier was lost to light rain, although some spots had fallen during the hour despite the bright sunshine around the coastal circuit. Stoner admitted, “We have had virtually every single condition you could imagine thrown at us this weekend so we’ll have to wait and see what happens tomorrow before we make any decisions on set-up, but so far I think we have done the best possible job in every condition. We’re in the best possible position for tomorrow so I’m pretty happy so far.” World Champion Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) was the only rider able to get within a second of Stoner, as the Spaniard joined his rival under the 1’31″ barrier. Lorenzo briefly led the session with his time of 1’30.775 but eventually had to settle for second on the grid. Achieving his third front-row start of the season, Ben Spies set the third best time of the session, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider decided to call an early end to his practice after setting a lap 1.279s off the pole time of Stoner. Hot on the heels of the American and registering a best qualification of the season to date was rookie Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini), at just 16-thousandths of a second behind in fourth. Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was a similar distance (0.013s) further back in fifth, with Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) taking sixth position in the session despite crashing at turn four towards the end once the rain began to fall more heavily. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) will head up the third row after setting the seventh fastest time, with Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) failing to overcome the issues he experienced in both free practice sessions and qualifying in eighth, which is his worst starting grid position of the season to date. Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini) completed the top ten. The injured Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) qualified in 15th position despite only having just returned from Spain having undergone surgery on the collarbone he fractured in Japan. However because of the pain, Pedrosa and his team decided that he will not race in tomorrow’s Grand Prix, preferring to rest up before the Portuguese event in two weeks’ time. Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) both crashed during the session and qualified in 16th and 17th positions respectively. Both have suffered muscular injuries and will undergo fitness tests before the race. Moto2 Alex de Angelis’ first pole position of the 2010 season came at Phillip Island on Saturday as the JiR Moto2 rider topped qualifying with a final lap of 1’35.148. That saw him finish the session 0.230s ahead of Scott Redding, who had led until the final moments. The Marc VDS Racing Team rider came close once more to securing his first-ever pole but eventually ended in second position, with his best effort of 1’35.378 ensuring a fifth front-row start in six races. Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) equalled his best qualification of the season by setting the third-best time, with Mike di Meglio (Mapfre Aspar) getting onto the front row for the first time in 2010. Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up) recovered from a fall with 15 minutes remaining to qualify in fifth position, with Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar), Michael Ranseder (Vector Kiefer Racing) and Raffaele De Rosa (Tech 3 Racing) also on row two. 2010 Champion Toni Elías (Gresini Racing Moto2) qualified in ninth, with Karel Abraham (Cardion ab Motoracing), local rider Wayne Maxwell (Matteoni Racing) and Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Racing) completing the top 12. Race winner at the previous round in Malaysia, Roberto Rolfo (Italtrans STR) had a crash during the session and eventually qualified a disappointing 25th position. 125cc Marc Márquez became the first rider to achieve 11 poles in a single season in the 125cc class when the 17 year-old, who leads the Championship by three points ahead of Nico Terol going into this round, topped the timesheet by an impressive 0.616s with a best lap of 1’38.236. Following him onto the front row was team-mate Sandro Cortese, with the Avant Mitsubishi Ajo rider slotting in ahead of Pol Espargaró (Tuenti Racing), who was the final rider under the 1’39″ barrier with a time of 1’38.991. Bancaja Aspar rider Terol secured the fourth and final position on the front line and was also the final rider to get within a second of Márquez’s time. Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar), who finished second in the 125cc race at Phillip Island last season, will head up the second row after qualifying in fifth, with Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX), Efrén Vázquez (Tuenti Racing) and Tomoyoshi Koyama (Racing Team Germany) accompanying him. More, from a press release issued by Honda: Australian Grand Prix, Phillip Island MotoGP and Moto2 qualifying October 16, 2010 Weather: Cold, windy and sunny Track temperature: 22 degrees Ambient temperature: 11 degrees SIMONCELLI QUALIFIES A CAREER BEST ON WINDY DAY AT PHILLIP ISLAND Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) came within .016s of his first ever front row start by qualifying a MotoGP career best fourth on a day of blustery winds and bitter cold at the majestic Phillip Island circuit high above the Bass Straits south of Melbourne. But the day was less kind to Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V). Pedrosa found the rigors of racing with a still mending broken collarbone to be too onerous and chose not to ride in Sunday’s 16th round of the MotoGP World Championship. Pole position went to Casey Stoner (Ducati), the Australian who was celebrating his 25th birthday. Recently crowned world champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) was second, with Ben Spies (Yamaha) third. Simoncelli and Spies are fighting for Rookie of the Year honors and the Italian’s best ever MotoGP grid position certainly helped his cause. Prior to the race in Australia, Simoncelli had never qualified higher than eighth, which he’d done on five different occasions. But under extremely difficult conditions, the Italian came tantalizingly close to the front row, which was a good omen heading into Sunday’s race. The winner of the last two 250cc races here, Simoncelli saved his best for last, lapping the 4448m road course in 1:31.402m on his 23rd and final lap. That put him on the row two pole in front of Colin Edwards (Yamaha) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati) LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet was on the row three pole with Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) next to him and Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V) ninth. De Puniet didn’t have an easy path to seventh fastest. He’d begun the day with a small crash in the morning’s free practice session. And on his best lap, he was balked by a slower rider, which likely kept him off the front row. Still, he was happy with his race pace and happy to be the second fastest Honda rider. Dovizioso had come to Phillip Island after a pair of stunning qualifying efforts. The Italian had taken his first ever pole two weeks ago in Japan and was on the front row again last weekend in Malaysia. Expectations were high for Dovi at Phillip Island, but he had a difficult start to the session. He spent most of the first 25 minutes at the bottom of the order before making gradual improvements that would take him to the ninth fastest time. The problem was the wind. Dovizioso struggled with the high winds today, which made it difficult to control the bike on the racing line. The cold temperatures almost meant that rear tyre grip was elusive. Team-mate Pedrosa rode valiantly to the 15th fastest time. Riding with a still mending left collarbone, the brutal conditions were exactly what he didn’t need. Controlling the Honda RC212V in the gusting winds was especially taxing on his neck and shoulder. On reflection, he realized the best course of action was to not do the collarbone any further damage. Rather he chose to rest the collarbone to be at closer to full strength for the final two races of the year, as well as the very important first off-season test in Valencia. Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) crashed heavily in the morning, but recovered in the afternoon to record the tenth fastest time. Melandri caught a puddle on the inside of corner that sent his rear wheel sluing sideways. The crash looked worse than it was and didn’t affect him in qualifying. But he never found a comfortable setting and wasn’t confident going into Sunday’s race. Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP) was disappointed to qualify 13th fastest in his first visit to Phillip Island on a MotoGP bike. Aoyama found the conditions unsettling which affected his confidence on the high speed circuit. He was hopeful of finding a solution in the morning and also hopeful the weather would improve. Coming off a fine second place finish in Malaysia last weekend, Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2, Motobi) was ecstatic after his first ever Moto2 pole position. The San Marinese, who signed on with the JIR Moto2 team in Aragon, used the last of his 17 laps to get his first Moto2 pole position at his favourite track. De Angelis ran a best time of 1m, 35.148s, which was .230s faster than Scott Redding, the Marc VDS Racing Team rider who has yet to earn a pole position. The only worry for de Angelis was rain. Though this was his fourth race with the team, he’d yet to race it in wet conditions, though his confidence in the dry was sky high. Redding toyed with trying another soft tyre towards the end of qualifying, but in the end chose not to. Rather he was able to spend more time fine tuning his race setting in advance of Sunday’s race. The young Brit has become something of a wizard in qualifying. After a slow start to the season, he’s been on the front row for five of the last six races, including the second position four times. Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kieffer Racing, Suter) was on the front row for the third time this year. He’d begun the season by qualifying third in Qatar and was back on the front row for the July British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Now he was back on the front row and hoping for good weather for Sunday’s race. Mike di Meglio (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter) put in a qualifying performance for the ages. The Italian hadn’t qualified better than 13th, which came in the Qatar season-opener. But under difficult conditions, the Italian turned in his best Saturday performance by taking the final spot on the front row. HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Marco Simoncelli, San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V: 4th 1m, 31.402s “I am really happy because we have qualified on the third row for the last few races but today I managed it and with a little bit more I could have been on the front row! I’m really pleased with this although being honest I have to admit that (Ben) Spies is probably a bit faster. We have made a good step this morning though and now all we have to do is look ahead to the race. The wind was a bit of a problem today, especially when I was on my fast lap. I was behind (Casey) Stoner at that point and I honestly cannot understand how he manages to go so fast!” Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda RC212V: 9th 1m, 31.554s “I struggled to ride in the high winds today and actually my body position on the bike was making things difficult in these conditions. The main reason for my grid position is that with the gusty wind I cannot control the bike as I want and hold the racing line, and we also need to find some more grip as well. I expected to be higher than ninth, but of course riding in a group during the race will be different and I hope we will have a better feeling tomorrow afternoon. We will look at the data we gathered today and try to come up with a solution for tomorrow, and also I will try to modify my riding if we encounter these strong winds again. I have been on the front row for the last two races so I’m not happy to be back in ninth, but with a good start from the third row we can get away with the leaders. We are fast in wet conditions so I don’t mind if it rains for the race. It’s a shame for Dani today. Riding injured is never easy and in these conditions it’s even more difficult.” Randy de Puniet, LCR Honda RC212V: 7th 1m, 31.554s “I think we made a good job both in the wet (yesterday) and in the dry (today) because I lapped consistently fast. This afternoon we focused on race mapping making two long runs with a good rhythm as I was always in the top six. I missed the front row by two-tenths, only because I lost too much time behind (Mika) Kallio in my fastest lap. Anyway, it is good to be the second Honda rider on the grid and I am confident we can do a good race in both conditions.” Marco Melandri, San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V: 10th 1m, 32.367s “Another terrible day. We’re working hard without a minimal sign of improvement. We have so many problems, to be honest I can’t wait for the season to finish.” Hiroshi Aoyama, Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V: 13th 1m, 33.190s “The weather here is very critical and I don’t feel much confidence on my bike, especially when it is dry. We have to work hard on finding a solution for tomorrow, so I get a better feeling with my bike and can push more. Unfortunately we don’t have much time left and the weather is changing consistently. We have to work on the settings tomorrow in warm-up and we need to adjust the electronics. I hope we can find a better solution.” Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda RC212V: 15th 1m, 33.384s “After the operation in Spain my target was to come back in Australia. But having ridden in the three practice sessions here it’s clear that it is really impossible for me to maintain a high pace because I lose strength in my arm lap-by-lap and controlling the bike gets increasingly difficult – even more so with the strong winds here. Phillip Island is a very fast circuit, I have to grip the handlebars very tightly, and this makes me very tired and gives me a lot of pain. To ride around three seconds off the pace in the race tomorrow and maybe collect just a few points wouldn’t make much sense. But I think it has been worth it to at least try to ride here because we really didn’t know how I would be on the bike until we tried. Now, though, I don’t want to take more risks so that I can recover in time for Estoril. I discussed the situation with HRC Team Director Kazuhiko Yamano and we have the same opinion.” HONDA Moto2 RIDER QUOTES Alex de Angelis, JiR Moto2, Motobi: 1st 1m, 35.148s “Yes, I’m very, very happy for my first pole position in Moto2 and also because this is my favourite track. I like so much, especially the last corner is very fast. So this bike work very well. Continue my feeling good. So for tomorrow I am OK. I try all the tyres that Dunlop give me and only one problem is if tomorrow is coming rain, because I never try this bike in the rain. But for dry conditions I will be very happy and for sure tomorrow I will try to make a good result.” Scott Redding, Marc VDS Racing Team, Suter: 2nd 1m, 35.378s “Conditions were a bit dodgy at the start of the session. We started on slicks but the rain got heavier, so we changed to wets, at which point the rain stopped. Typical Phillip Island! The bike felt good once the track had dried enough to switch back to slicks and the lap times came pretty easy. I thought I could have gone faster, but each time I pushed that little bit more, the rear stepped out on me and I had to shut off. Alex (de Angelis)came past me right at the end of the session; I tried to repay the compliment, but I just couldn’t find a way past him. I’m disappointed to lose pole position right at the end of the session yet again, but the front row will do me. We have the pace and I’m confident going into tomorrow’s race.” Stefan Bradl, Viessmann Kiefer Racing, Suter: 3rd 1m, 35.578s “Yes, I enjoy a lot. I feel quite well with the whole bike and the circuit I like a lot. And, yeah, we improved in the last races and we are all the time in the top ten and that was our goal. And I hope tomorrow will be a nice race and I hope for not too bad weather conditions.” Mike di Meglio, Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter: 4th 1m, 35.696s. “I am really happy because so far we have had a fantastic weekend. I feel happy on the bike and I have enjoyed myself this weekend more than I have in a long time. Tomorrow I will try all I can to keep this up and I am really keen to have a good race. Hopefully the weather is good because a wet race at this circuit is always tricky. I think my lap time was good, my race pace too, but we need to take another step forward in the warm-up if we are going to match (Scott) Redding and (Alex) De Angelis. It is a case of adapting better to the wind but in any case I am happy with our performance so far this weekend and I think we are ready for the race.” 125cc HONDA RIDER QUOTE Marcel Schrötter, Interwetten Honda 125 Team: 15th – 1m 42.252s “The wind is so strong here and it comes from many directions, which makes it unpredictable. It is not easy to ride the bike in these conditions and you have to be careful not to lose the front, what happened to me yesterday and almost again this morning. In the last five laps I always had a rider in front of me who was slower, but I could not pass him. Then in the last lap I made a mistake and this cost me half to one second. I hope I can do well in the race tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: DOVIZIOSO NINTH IN CHALLENGING QUALIFYING SESSION, PEDROSA RELUCTANTLY DECIDES NOT TO RACE TOMORROW Strong winds were the defining factor during qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix today, creating a very challenging and unusual afternoon session during which Andrea Dovizioso qualified in ninth position. Dani Pedrosa also rode in both sessions today but reluctantly decided after qualifying that he has not recovered sufficiently from the injuries he sustained two weeks ago to take part in tomorrow’s race. Dovizioso had qualified on the front row of the grid at the previous two races and took pole position for the Grand Prix of Japan two weeks ago. This time however the Italian will line up on the third row for tomorrow’s 27-lap race after struggling to find a machine set-up to give him sufficient confidence in the strong ocean winds that blew across Phillip Island. In fact, Dovizioso’s best lap time was only 0.632s from achieving a front row start in a session where the top three of Casey Stoner, Jorge Lore nzo and Ben Spies were separated by an unusually large margin of 1.279s. Dani Pedrosa was again faced with far from ideal conditions in which to make his return to MotoGP racing after breaking his collarbone two weeks ago in Japan. The 25-year-old completed 42 laps of the Phillip Island track in today’s two sessions and his lap time this afternoon came down to 1m 33.383s, which was a creditable 3.277s behind Stoner’s pole lap. But the Spaniard is still experiencing considerable discomfort from his injuries and found that he lacked the strength and endurance required to handle a MotoGP machine at this most challenging of circuits. After qualifying Pedrosa and HRC took a joint decision that he will not race tomorrow and will aim to come back stronger in Estroril in two weeks’ time. After a 20-minute warm-up in the morning, Dovizioso will be looking for a quick getaway when the Australian Grand Prix starts at 16.00. ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 9th 1m 32.018s +1.911s “I struggled to ride in the high winds today and actually my body position on the bike was making things difficult in these conditions. The main reason for my grid position is that with the gusty wind I cannot control the bike as I want and hold the racing line, and we also need to find some more grip as well. I expected to be higher than ninth, but of course riding in a group during the race will be different and I hope we will have a better feeling tomorrow afternoon. We will look at the data we gathered today and try to come up with a solution for tomorrow, and also I will try to modify my riding if we encounter these strong winds again. I have been on the front row for the last two races so I’m not happy to be back in ninth, but with a good start from the third row we can get away with the leaders. We are fast in wet conditions so I don’t mind if it rains for the race. It’s a shame for Dani today. Riding injured is never easy and in these conditions it’s even more difficult.” DANI PEDROSA 15th 1m 33.384s +3.277s (Will not start race tomorrow) “After the operation in Spain my target was to come back in Australia. But having ridden in the three practice sessions here it’s clear that it is really impossible for me to maintain a high pace because I lose strength in my arm lap-by-lap and controlling the bike gets increasingly difficult – even more so with the strong winds here. Phillip Island is a very fast circuit, I have to grip the handlebars very tightly, and this makes me very tired and gives me a lot of pain. To ride around three seconds off the pace in the race tomorrow and maybe collect just a few points wouldn’t make much sense. But I think it has been worth it to at least try to ride here because we really didn’t know how I would be on the bike until we tried. Now, though, I don’t want to take more risks so that I can recover in time for Estoril. I discussed the situation with HRC Team Director Kazuhiko Yamano and we have the same opinion.” KAZUHIKO YAMANO – HRC TEAM DIRECTOR “Phillip Island has given us another challenging day today and the conditions on track were very hard for the riders. Unfortunately for Dani his physical condition is such that we have decided together that the best course of action is for him not to attempt to race tomorrow and instead to aim for a return in Portugal in two weeks’ time. It was worth Dani coming here and trying to ride because it was the only way to find out the real situation. But we have decided that a 27-lap race in conditions that have been very difficult all weekend would be too risky. “It actually wasn’t easy for any rider today because the strong winds make it difficult to ride consistently and also increase the dangers of running off track or being blown off course, and for Andrea the wind was the main issue today. We have to work to improve his machine set-up in case we encounter t his type of weather tomorrow – although I hope it’s a calmer day and that Andrea can get away with the leaders in the race.”