-- MotoGP 2012 - Round 16 - Sepang
-- Lorenzo on record-breaking pole ahead of first title assault

In a tight-fought qualifying session at the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix in Sepang it was Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo who stormed to a record pole position in front of Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso.

The Spaniard’s new track record in the low 2.00s, giving him his seventh pole of the year, edged Repsol Honda Team’s title rival Dani Pedrosa into second spot on the grid, after the Honda rider had been the fastest in the preceding practices. The last place on the front row went to Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso, who was on blistering pace all session, squeezing the maximum out of his satellite machine.

Heading row two in fourth is Pedrosa’s teammate Casey Stoner, with the Australian seemingly struggling with bike set-up once more, although qualifying less than half a second off the top. Next to him in fifth, Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow put in a solid performance, yet will no doubt be hoping to mirror his teammate’s pace in the race tomorrow. Alongside him in sixth place is Yamaha’s Ben Spies, who was on consistent form throughout the session, having recovered from a mistake in the morning, yet could not quite match the speed of the Tech 3 satellite outfit.
Pramac Racing Team’s Héctor Barberá set the seventh fastest time to occupy the front of the third row, after putting in a phenomenal performance on his Desmosedici. Eighth went to LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl, who will be disappointed he is not higher up the grid after showing good form in the previous rounds. Completing row three is Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden in ninth, with the American doing well to recover from a spill in the morning.

The final top-ten spot went to San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista, after a disappointing session for the Spaniard and his team, where he crashed out on his final run. Ducati’s Valentino Rossi, who also crashed in the morning practice, looked somewhat out of sorts finishing down in 11th. The CRT grid battle was won by Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaró, who qualified in 12th just behind Rossi. Avintia Blusens’ Yonny Hernandez did not take part in qualifying and will not participate in the race tomorrow, after feeling the effects of his dislocated left shoulder too strongly yesterday.

Lorenzo could win his second premier-class title in Malaysia tomorrow, the same track he won his first 2010 title at, due to the fact he has a 28-point lead at the top of the championship standings. He would first of all have to win the race, but would also need a little help from Pedrosa, who could not finish any higher than 13th.

Qualifying Results
1 Jorge Lorenzo 2'00.334 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
2 Dani Pedrosa 2'00.528 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Andrea Dovizioso 2'00.567 ITA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
4 Casey Stoner 2'00.811 AUS HONDA Repsol Honda Team
5 Cal Crutchlow 2'01.178 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
6 Ben Spies 2'01.185 USA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
7 Hector Barbera 2'01.294 SPA DUCATI Pramac Racing
8 Stefan Bradl 2'01.491 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
9 Nicky Hayden 2'01.526 USA DUCATI Ducati Team
10 Alvaro Bautista 2'01.640 SPA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
11 Valentino Rossi 2'01.783 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
12 Aleix Espargaro 2'02.842 ESP ART Aspar Team MotoGP
13 Randy De Puniet 2'03.389 FRA ART Aspar Team MotoGP
14 Karel Abraham 2'03.774 CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Motoracing
15 Michele Pirro 2'04.152 ITA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
16 James Ellison 2'04.515 GBR ART Paul Bird Racing
17 Danilo Petrucci 2'04.726 ITA IODA Ioda Racing Project
18 Colin Edwards 2'04.941 USA SUTER NGM Mobile Forward Racing
19 Roberto Rolfo 2'05.100 ITA ART Speed Master
20 Ivan Silva 2'05.921 SPA BQR-FTR BQR
21 Yonny Hernandez DNS COL BQR-FTR BQR

It was Tuenti Movil HP 40’s Pol Espargaró who came out on top in a frantic Moto2™ qualifying session for the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix in Sepang to take pole position ahead of Scott Redding and Marc Márquez.

With conditions proving best for the grid early on in the session when track temperatures were not at their warmest, many of the front-runners set their hot laps at the start. Espargaró, who was already in the lead, pulled another fast lap out of the bag however at the end of the session to clinch his sixth pole position this year with a 2.06’962. Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott Redding could not quite match the pace of the Spaniard, yet still managed his fifth front row start of the year in second. Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol’s Marc Márquez, who could potentially clinch the title tomorrow, will line up in third.

Italtrans Racing Team’s Takaaki Nakagami followed up his good form from the morning to end the day in fourth, and will see JiR Moto2’s Johann Zarco line up next to him in fifth. Tech 3 Racing Team’s Bradley Smith, who was riding with two broken toes in his left foot sustained yesterday in a crash, did incredibly well to put his bike sixth on the grid for tomorrow. Espargaró’s teammate Esteve Rabat heads row three in seventh, with Interwetten-Paddock’s Tom Lüthi next to him in eighth. He is marginally ahead of NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Alex de Angelis in ninth, after sticking with Redding throughout much of the session to post his fast time. Technomag-CIP’s Dominique Aegerter completes the top ten, with Speed Master’s Andrea Iannone behind in 11th, with the Italian still not back to his usual best.

Moto2™ qualifying was a crash-strewn affair, as Nakagami’s teammate Toni Elías was the first to drop his bike, followed by Tuenti’s Axel Pons, Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2’s Nico Terol, Kiefer Racing’s Mike Di Meglio and Blusens Avintia’s Julián Simón. Fortunately none of the riders were seriously hurt in the incidents.

The only man to stand in Márquez’s way of winning the Moto2™ title tomorrow is Espargaró, who could prevent it from happening by taking victory, as this would reduce Márquez’s current 53-point lead to less than the 50 required. If Espargaró finishes second then Márquez needs to win the race to take the title, however if Espargaró finishes third, then Márquez needs to finish fourth or better. As the positional scenarios drop, Márquez’s chances increase drastically, as, if Espargaró comes in fourth, Márquez needs to finish sixth or better, whilst if Espargaró finishes between fifth and twelfth, then Márquez can afford to finish no more than three places behind him. If however Espargaró finishes thirteenth or worse, Márquez will win the title in Malaysia even if he does not score any points.

Moto3™ qualifying for the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix in Sepang saw AirAsia-SIC-Ajo’s Zulfahmi Khairuddin clinch a historic maiden-pole position at his home grand prix in a fantastic display ahead of Jonas Folger and Sandro Cortese.

Khairuddin chose the best occasion to score a personal hat trick, consisting of his first-ever GP pole position, being the first Malaysian rider to get pole, and doing so on his 21st birthday. The Malaysian youngster found another gear as qualifying got underway, yet left it until the very last laps to put the hammer down to get pole with the fastest lap of the weekend so far with a 2.13’885.

Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2’s Jonas Folger, who had been the quickest rider in all the preceding practices, encountered some traffic on his final laps and just missed out on pole, while Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Sandro Cortese suffered a similar fate on his hot laps. Heading the second row in fourth is Racing Team Germany’s Louis Rossi who increased his pace significantly in the afternoon qualifying, with Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Miguel Oliveira lining up next to him in fifth.

JHK t-shirt Laglisse’s Efrén Vázquez carried over his solid form into the afternoon and completes the second row in sixth, whilst seventh spot went to surprise inclusion Brad Binder on his RW Racing GP machine. What made Binder’s feat all the more impressive was the fact that he missed a large part of the morning session due to an engine problem. In eighth, Oliveira’s teammate Alex Rins managed to hold off Vázquez’s teammate Adrian Martín and last race winner, Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Danny Kent, who will be hoping to fight for the podium once more tomorrow.

Despite having set the fifth fastest time of the session, Binder’s teammate Luis Salom will start from tenth, as he was given a five-spot grid penalty by Race Direction after his crash with Folger last time out in Motegi. Both Team Italia FMI’s Romano Fenati and Mahindra Racing’s Danny Webb crashed in the session, but walked away unscathed.

Cortese has a great chance to take his first world title in tomorrow’s race, with first or second clinching the deal. With Maverick Viñales out of contention, Salom is the only man that could prevent it. If Salom wins the race, Cortese needs to finish second or third, yet if Salom finishes second, then Cortese only needs to finish sixth or better. Salom in third would see the German needing at least tenth place, while thirteenth would be sufficient if the Spaniard is fourth. If Salom finishes fifth, then Cortese needs to finish fifteenth or better, yet if Salom finishes lower than fifth then he cannot stop Cortese winning the title.

-- Yamaha Report

Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo left it until the last moment this afternoon to smash the Sepang track record with a scorching pole position run ahead of tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Malaysia, his third successive pole in a row. The Championship leader had shown good pace from the start of the session but dropped off the provisional front row as a flurry of late laps saw a number of riders including Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa take the top spot. As the last minutes ticked away Lorenzo reclaimed the top spot from Pedrosa with a stunning 2’00.438 then immediately followed it with a flying final effort to deliver a new pole record for the Sepang circuit of 2’00.334.

Fellow Yamaha Factory rider Ben Spies was quick to get on the pace in the session, climbing to fourth just off the front row and looking threatening to break into the top three. As the session wound down a succession of hot laps and pole position changes from rivals saw him drop to fifth and then sixth for a second row start on tomorrow’s grid.

Jorge Lorenzo / Position : 1st Time: 2'00.334 Laps: 23
“We made a very good lap at the end of the session with the new ‘qualifying’ tyre. In the middle of the practice we struggled a little bit because we had a bit of chattering and the rear tyre wasn’t working as well as it had been in the morning session. We need to still work a little on our pace as it’s not extremely good yet but we have some options for tomorrow. Let’s see what happens, it’s going to be a long race in difficult conditions.”

Ben Spies / Position : 6th Time: 2'01.185 Laps: 22
“Qualifying was good, we had good pace in early in the session but when it came down to putting in that one fast lap we didn’t quite have enough. We also wanted to bring the bike back in one piece and not a broken one like we’ve done a few times this year. We’re looking forward to tomorrow and getting stuck into the race.”

Wilco Zeelenberg / Team Manager
“Pole again, number 51! It hasn’t been the best qualifying session of the year so to get pole at the end is great. We had some problems initially and Jorge had to go in and out a few times. He did his qualifying stints on the soft front tyre which is quite unusual so let’s see what we can solve to make us better for tomorrow.”

Massimo Meregalli / Team Director
“Another impressive pole position from Jorge, he really wanted to show everyone that he’s not here to get second place if he can help it. Overall no major problems so far this weekend and there’s pretty good pace on both sides of the garage. A lot is going to depend on the weather conditions tomorrow; it’s going to be a really tough race. Hopefully we will see a great spectacle!”

-- Repsol HRC Report

Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa will start tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix from 2nd place on the front row, his thirteenth front row start of the season, as he pursues Lorenzo in the chase for the 2012 World Championship. Team mate Casey Stoner will start from 4th, missing out on the front row by just two tenths of a second.

In an intense Qualifying session, which fortunately remained dry, the riders traded the top four spots throughout the session in the end Dani lost out on pole by just 0.194 seconds to Championship rival Lorenzo. With less than half a second separating the top four riders, Casey was unfortunate to miss out on the front row as he fights to return to full strength in just his second GP after his absence from three races due to injury.

The weather will play an important role in tomorrow's 21 lap race as the race will start at 16h00 local time - a time when rain showers are a common occurrence.

DANI PEDROSA 2nd 2'00.528
"It was hard because we had a lot of chattering this afternoon and it was very difficult to get a clean lap as in some areas the bike was chattering too much, even in the straight! Nevertheless, we managed to get on the front row again and the second position is good. The pace is high and after missing FP2 yesterday because of the mixed conditions, this morning we've been working hard on the race pace. I just hope that we don't have this chattering for the race. The weather can play an important role too, so we'll have to see what happens tomorrow afternoon".

CASEY STONER 4th 2'00.811
"It's been a really disappointing weekend, but especially today. We've had pace all weekend and the first session looked promising but we've had problems with the brakes and some other small issues. Every step we take to try and improve the bike, we make it worse and it's becoming very frustrating. Our potential is much higher than where we are currently at and now we go into the race without any real direction. Physically I'm not sure how I am going to be as we haven't been able to complete many laps this weekend, our pace is there and I just hope that we can make some small improvements in tomorrow's warm up".

-- Ducati Report

Qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix left several question marks for both Ducati Team riders, who will have to decide during tomorrow’s morning warm-up session which tyre to use in the race.

Nicky Hayden, ninth today, will try some changes in order to reduce the chattering that bothered him today.

Valentino Rossi, eleventh, managed to lap at a decent rhythm with the hard tyre in qualifying, but having missed the chance to do more than just a few consecutive laps, he’ll try again in tomorrow morning’s twenty minute session before making a final decision.

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 9th (2:01.526)
“It hasn’t been an easy day. In qualifying I lost some time due to a couple of issues I was having with the clutch and rear brake. Then we made a few little changes and got going better, but I had so much chatter that both of my hands are still tingling. I think a lot of guys are dealing with it, but it’s really making it difficult for me in the fast corners. I was able to do an okay lap, but the pace is really fast. I made one little mistake on what turned out to be my best lap, and that probably cost me two or three tenths. We’ve got a couple decisions to make for tomorrow, and we’ll see what we can do.”

Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 11th (2:01.783)
“We were going pretty well at a certain point this afternoon, as I was able to do some laps with the hard tyre at a low-2:02 pace. We were pretty optimistic for the end, but when we put on the soft, it triggered a lot of chatter and I wasn’t able to improve enough to be further up the grid. Anyway, we’re not too far from Hayden, Barbera, Bautista and Bradl, so we’ll see. The warm-up will be very important for choosing the tyres. With the soft, it will certainly be necessary to slow down a lot in the second part of the race because today, it was already sliding a lot after just three or four laps. With the hard tyre, in theory we should suffer more at the beginning and then… we don’t know yet. Tomorrow we’ll try to understand. Finally, there’s the rain variable, which could shake everything up. We’ll see what time it comes.”

-- Bridgestone Report

Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Hard, Extra-Hard. Rear: Medium (Symmetric), Hard (Asymmetric)
Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Hard (Main), Soft (Alternative)
Weather: FP3 - Dry. Ambient 30-31°C; Track 38-37°C (Bridgestone measurement)
QP - Dry. Ambient 31-32°C; Track 38-40°C (Bridgestone measurement)

Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo set a new Fastest Lap record of 2’00.334 on his last qualifying lap at Sepang International Circuit to claim his seventh pole position of the season.

Lorenzo’s record lap was enough to depose Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa to second on the grid for tomorrow’s race by 0.194 seconds, while Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizoso qualified third and 0.233 seconds off Lorenzo’s time. The top CRT qualifier in Malaysia was Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaro who qualified in twelfth place with a time of 2’02.842.

Track conditions were similar to yesterday, with track temperatures around 40°C and less than ideal grip levels due to heavy rain overnight and between today’s sessions. Teams assessed both options of front and rear tyre today, with the combination of the softer rear and harder front slick ultimately being the most widely used for qualifying. If similar weather conditions are experienced tomorrow the softer rear slick will be the popular race tyre choice, with front tyre choice coming down to which riders prefer the greater braking stability of the harder option versus the advantage in edge grip offered by the softer front slick.

Morning warm up for the Malaysian Grand Prix starts at 1140 local time (GMT +8) tomorrow with the twenty-lap main event commencing at 1600.

Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department
“Grip levels didn’t seem to improve much today, probably because of the earlier rain and so every rider preferred the softer rear slick for FP3 and Qualifying as good rear drive is important to setting a fast lap time at this circuit. Unless temperatures increase significantly tomorrow, the softer rear slick will be the most popular option for the race. Front tyre choice among the riders is trending towards the harder option, though with the track not providing high levels of grip, some riders may still select the softer front slick for better feel from the edge of the tyre in corner entry.”