2010 MotoGP Championship – Round 17 – Estoril – Day Two
Rain cancels qualifying at Estoril
Persistent torrential rain at the bwin Grande Prémio de Portugal at Estoril led to the qualifying sessions for the MotoGP, Moto2 and 125cc categories being cancelled on Saturday.
With excessive standing water on the track surface, gusting winds and constant heavy rain, and after attempts to reschedule the qualifying programme, Race Direction was eventually forced to decide at 2.30pm local time to call off the qualifying sessions, meaning that the starting grids for each race will be based on the combined times from the three free practice sessions.
In MotoGP Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) will start from pole position, his seventh of the season, with Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) and Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) completing the front row. The Italian himself started from pole at Motegi in 2009 after the qualification session was cancelled in similar circumstances.
The new MotoGP World Champion Lorenzo agreed that Race Direction had made the correct decision, “The conditions out there were very bad. With the wind and so much water on the track it would have been very hard to ride, so maybe it was better to cancel the practice. For us it’s good because we have now taken our seventh pole position of this year, but maybe this was one of the easiest poles we’ll ever get! Now we just have to see tomorrow what the weather does.”
Casey Stoner (Ducati Team), Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini) will comprise the second row, with the top six all taking their positions on the starting grid courtesy of their times from Friday afternoon’s practice. Returning from his collarbone injury, Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) will start from 12th position with his countryman Carlos Checa, in to replace Mika Kallio at Pramac Racing, set to start 17th in his first GP since 2007.
In the Moto2 class Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up) will start from pole for the first time this season, ahead of Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar), Toni Elías (Gresini Racing) and Kenan Sofuoglu (Technomag-CIP), meaning the Turkish rider will start his first Grand Prix from the front row. Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up), who is battling Simón for runner-up spot in the Championship, will start from down in 35th place.
In the 125cc class Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar) will head up the grid for the third time this year, with fellow Brit Danny Webb (Andalucia Cajasol), rookie Alberto Moncayo (Andalucia Cajasol) and one of the three riders still able to win the 2010 title – Nico Terol (Bancaja Aspar) – on the front row. Championship leader Marc Márquez (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) – who could claim the title this weekend – and the third rider still in the fight for the 125cc crown Pol Espargaró (Tuenti Racing) will start from 11th and 12th respectively. All three title rivals have crashed out in the rain at least once this weekend making Sunday’s race even more riveting should it be under wet conditions.
MotoGP Grid |
1 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 1’48.522 2 Nicky Hayden Ducati USA 1’48.657 3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1’48.883 4 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1’49.061 5 Ben Spies Yamaha USA 1’49.721 6 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 1’49.784 7 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 1’50.007 8 Randy De Puniet Honda FRA 1’50.043 9 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1’50.313 10 Marco Simoncelli Honda ITA 1’50.500 11 Aleix Espargaro Ducati ESP 1’50.787 12 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1’50.824 13 Loris Capirossi Suzuki ITA 1’51.518 14 Alvaro Bautista Suzuki ESP 1’52.734 15 Hector Barbera Ducati ESP 1’53.131 |
— Yamaha Report
Severe weather at Estoril today forced the cancellation of the MotoGP qualifying session, with torrential rain flooding the circuit and making any on-track action impossible in the afternoon. As a result the starting grid has been taken from the combined free practice times, leaving Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo on pole and his team-mate Valentino Rossi in third. It was a proud moment for Lorenzo, whose 42nd pole puts him equal with Jorge Martinez Aspar as the most successful Spanish pole-man of all time.
This morning’s practice was run in wet conditions and the slippery track caught several riders out, including Lorenzo who high-sided in the last corner late in the session. Luckily the World Champion was unhurt and he still managed to top the standings once again. Rossi had a good morning’s work and finished as runner-up, just over half a second off his team-mate. The top six fastest times were all set yesterday however which left Lorenzo on pole but Rossi in third, with Nicky Hayden splitting up the Yamaha pair for the season’s penultimate race. Tomorrow’s race, weather permitting, is due to get underway at 1300 local time, which is 1400 CET.
Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 1stTime: 1’48.522Laps: 39
“It was a pity about this today because we needed a bit more time in the very wet conditions to try to improve our setting more, but there was no way we could have ridden this afternoon. This morning I felt quite good but at the end I was pushing too hard, I thought the other riders were closer to my time and I just went a step too far and crashed. I was lucky, my airbag inflated and I didn’t hurt myself. Now we have to wait and see how the weather is and we especially hope that warm-up is the same conditions as the race, it will be very, very difficult if not. Today I became the Spanish rider with the most poles of all time, joint with Aspar, and this is a great honour for me, I feel very proud.”
Valentino Rossi – Position: 3rdTime: 1’48.883Laps: 46
“It’s a real disappointment about today because we had some things we wanted to try, but in the end the rain was just too much and it was too dangerous. It really was impossible to ride this afternoon! In the wet I have a good setting, even if we could have improved a bit this afternoon, but I am happy about the balance of my bike. Now we just have to wait for the conditions tomorrow. We are prepared for the wet; if it’s dry it could be interesting! If it’s dry from the morning and it’s possible to have the warm-up in the dry then it will be okay to have a dry race, but if warm-up is wet and then the race is dry….honestly it’s better not like this! We will just have to wait and see and at least we’re on the front row.”
Wilco Zeelenberg – Team Manager
“Our seventh pole of the season, but without actually qualifying! Jorge had quite a big crash this morning when he was pushing quite hard and lost the rear, but he is fine and this is all that matters. We wanted to improve our pace in the wet conditions a bit more; when it’s drying up we’re okay but when it’s really wet we’re struggling a bit with the rear feeling, so we need to work on this tomorrow morning if possible. Of course we don’t know how the weather will be so we will just have to wait and see.”
Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“A strange weekend and a difficult one with the weather. So far, in the two sessions we’ve had, we’ve been quite good and it seems our wet setting is okay. It’s a pity because we had some things to check today to try to improve a bit but it was impossible. We will have to wait for tomorrow. If the race is wet we are prepared, if it’s dry it’s going to be a big gamble.”
Spies and Edwards frustrated at storm-hit Estoril
Monsoon conditions that battered the Estoril track forced this afternoon’s MotoGP qualifying session to be abandoned, leaving Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team riders Ben Spies and Colin Edwards fifth and ninth on the grid for the Grand Prix of Portugal.
After a rain-hit morning practice session, conditions started to deteriorate shortly after midday as strong winds and heavy rain lashed the circuit located close to the Atlantic coast. The MotoGP session was delayed by 35 minutes and Race Direction declared track conditions unfit for any action to take place at 2.30pm. Yesterday morning’s first MotoGP practice was also a victim of atrocious conditions but tod ay’s qualifying session was the first to be abandoned since a storm hit the Twin Ring Motegi in Japan last season. As a result of today’s severe disruption, grid positions for tomorrow’s races were decided on combined practice times, leaving Spies on the second row in fifth after he clocked a best lap of 1.49.721 in yesterday afternoon’s practice.
The Texan was frustrated that conditions worsened this afternoon having been confident planned radical changes to the wet set-up of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1 machine would improve his pace. Edwards will start from ninth, his best time of 1.50.313 from this morning’s third practice session counting. Fifth fastest in wet but rideable conditions this morning, Edwards is confident of a strong penultimate race to the 2010 season.
Ben Spies – Positon: 5th Time: 1’49.721
“There was no way we could have ridden this afternoon. There is nothing we could have done about it but it is frustrating for me having missed the first session too because of the weather when I need to be doing laps to get more accustomed to the track. It’s a shame too this afternoon because we were looking to make big strides with the bike. I don’t have a lot of time on this bike in the rain so we’ve basically been running a softer version of my dry setting. But I’ve been told there’s quite a radical change that Yamaha think would really help me and I didn’t get chance to try it. That’s a bit unfortunate because I was told the bike would feel better and I was already pretty confident in the rain. That said I’ve still a good starting position in fifth, so learning the track quickly yesterday helped me out a lot. We can’t do anything about the weather so we’ll wake up tomorrow, see what the skies have for us and go for it wet or dr y. I don’t feel like we’ll be miles off even if it is dry and I’ve never ridden in full dry conditions at this track.”
Colin Edwards – Position: 9th Time: 1’50.313
“It is a little bit annoying to be on the third row of the grid because I was looking good yesterday before the crash and this morning I was fifth quickest. I missed out yesterday when the track conditions were better than at any other stage this weekend because of the crash and I’m sure I could have been much higher up the grid. But there was no way we could have gone out in those conditions. It was impossible so I’m not going to get too upset about it and just look forward to the race. I feel if it is wet tomorrow that I’m going to be really strong because the rain setting is working really good. If it is dry I’m confident and I’m sure I will be able to come through the field and get a good result. I guess the worst case scena rio is if it is a wet warm-up and then a dry race but I feel ready rain or shine.”
— Ducati Report
Ducati Marlboro Team rider Nicky Hayden will start from second on the grid at tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Portugal with his team-mate Casey Stoner fourth following the cancellation of this afternoon’s qualifying practice due to adverse weather. After yesterday’s downpours torrential rain continued to fall throughout today, with the riders contesting this morning’s final free practice in wet conditions before the track became too flooded after lunch.
As such the grid positions were decided by the combined standings of the three free practice sessions that had taken place previously and with none of the top riders having improved this morning the lead positions from yesterday stood firm. Despite struggling with his wet setting and suffering a crash this morning Hayden will start from the front row for the second time in three races whilst Stoner, who also crashed this morning, starts from just behind him on the second row.
NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 2nd – 1’48.657
“This morning wasn’t so wet but my feeling wasn’t great and I had a crash quite early in the session so we have a few things we need to work on. I know it’s not great for the fans here and the people watching at home but with that amount of water on track it wasn’t worth the risk this afternoon. Of course we accept risks every day in our sport but in these conditions it’s just too much. It was a shame it washed out but for me a front row’s a front row and now we have to try and take advantage of it. The weather looks like it could be good tomorrow, in which case it could be a pretty wild race. We’ll just crack them curtains open, see what we got and try to make a good race.”
CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 4th – 1’49.061
“What can I say? This weekend has been a bit of a disaster. We’ve had four sessions and only been able to ride in two, whilst the forecast for tomorrow is sketchy. If anything it looks like it might rain in the morning and then be dry for the race, which would throw up all kind of confusion with set-up – from fuel consumption to tyre choice. It’s disappointing we didn’t get the opportunity to try for a front row start because I think we had a good chance today but that’s the way it turned out. All we can do is wait and see what happens tomorrow.”
— HRC
Relentless heavy rainfall at Estoril this afternoon forced the cancellation of all three qualifying sessions for tomorrow’s Portuguese Grand Prix. Grid positions have thus been decided from the three practice sessions from yesterday and this morning, all of which were run on a wet track.
Conditions have been pretty miserable since practice got underway yesterday morning, with strong winds and squalls blowing in from the nearby Atlantic Ocean. The track was awash when the first MotoGP practice session got underway at 10am yesterday, so much so that only two MotoGP riders went out, completing a total of just seven laps between them. Conditions improved during yesterday afternoon’s session, but the rain got worse again this morning and by lunch time the storms lashing Estoril grew in their intensity until race direction decided it was too dangerous for riders to venture out for qualifying. Yesterday there were 37 crashes across all three classes – MotoGP, Moto2 and 125 – and there were a further 45 tumbles this morning as riders fought vainly to find meaningful grip on the treacherous tarmac. The only rider to suffer injury was Moto2 rider Axel Pons (Tenerife 40 Pons, Pons Kalex), who fractured his right collarbone.
The last occasions on which grid positions were decided from free practice was at Motegi last year and at Sepang in 2006 when torrential rain forced the cancellation of qualifying.
The loss of qualifying hasn’t been kind to Repsol Honda duo Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) who will start tomorrow’s race from the third and fourth rows of the grid. Both men had been planning to be further up the order in this afternoon’s qualifying, but the chance never came. Both seventh-fastest Dovizioso and 12th-fastest Pedrosa recorded their best laps at the end of this morning’s session, still using rain tyres.
Dovizioso had been confident of improving his position in qualifying after making useful forward steps this morning, especially with his RCV’s electronics set-up, which allowed him to run a fast, consistent pace. Pedrosa’s goal this weekend is to score as good a finish as possible to protect his second place in the championship. The Spaniard, who broke his left collarbone at last month’s Japanese GP and made an abortive attempt to race at the Australian GP two weeks ago, has mixed feelings about the rainy conditions. The upside is that riding in lower-grip conditions is physically less demanding than riding in the dry; the downside is that it is much easier to crash on a slippery wet track.
Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) has had a difficult 2010, struggling to get comfortable with his RCV in dry conditions, so he revelled in the rain, claiming his first second-row start of the season. The Italian’s previous best grid slot this year was eighth at Silverstone in June. Melandri rode his fastest lap in yesterday afternoon’s session, two tenths faster than Dovizioso’s best Saturday morning time. Team-mate Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) rounded out the top ten, setting his best time this morning.
Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) was eighth to complete an all-Honda third row, just three hundredths behind Dovizioso. Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V) qualified 16th with his best lap in the closing moments of this morning’s outing.
Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up) claimed his first Moto2 pole position with his best lap time from Friday afternoon’s session. The Moto2 FP2 outing was the least wet session of all, just about dry enough for a handful of riders to risk using slick tyres. Talmacsi was one those few and the gamble paid off for the former 125 World Champion, who is currently without a contract for 2011.
The 29-year-old Hungarian will share the front row of the grid with Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter), recently crowned Moto2 World Champion Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) and Moto2 first-timer Kenan Sofuoglu (Technomag-CIP, Suter)
Twice World Supersport champion Sofuoglu is looking forward to his debut Moto2 race tomorrow, having made it onto the front row of the grid in his very first attempt at the Honda-powered series. The 26-year-old Turkish rider, who recently made sure of his second Supersport crown, is riding for the French Technomag-CIP team which so tragically lost Shoya Tomizawa at last month’s San Marino Grand Prix. Sofuoglu has plenty of experience with 600s, having won the
2007 and 2010 Supersport titles for the Ten Kate team, riding a CBR600RR. He tested with his new team at Albacete, Spain, on Monday.
German teenager Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125 Team) achieved by far his best qualifying performance thanks to his speed in this morning’s third practice session which put him sixth fastest for a second-row start. Pole position went to Briton Bradley Smith (Aprilia).
HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES
Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V): 7th, 1m 50.007s “I’m sorry we couldn’t have the qualifying session because our target was to get a front-row starting position and, since I was third in the wet this morning that looked achievable for us. This morning we improved a lot in terms of our set-up and electronics, and I was able to maintain a fast and consistent pace thanks to some important changes on the machine. It was really impossible to have qualifying though – there was no way we could ride in those conditions. Tomorrow the weather forecast seems to be for a wet warm-up and a dry race – and if this happens it really means the race will be a lottery because no one has had any practice time in the dry. Also for me this is a track where it takes some time to find a good rhythm, so really I hope for a dry warm-up session and a dry race.”
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V): 12th, 1m 50.824s “We were improving step-by-step this morning in terms of my lap times and my position and I think we could have continued that this afternoon, so it’s a pity the qualifying session was cancelled – although of course there was no alternative. At the beginning of the morning session I didn’t feel particularly confident on the machine but I decided with the team to stay out and keep lapping to get more time on the bike. It was a good decision because we made some good progress in the second half of the session. We wanted to move further forward on the grid this afternoon and I think this should have been possible if the session had gone ahead. Tomorrow we don’t know what the weather will do, but what I do know is that from 12th I have to make a great start – wet or dry. I’m not thinking about what Casey and Valentino will do tomorrow – all I can do is give my maximum and hope to keep any loss as small as possible.”
Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V): 8th, 1m 50.043s “What can I say? It was not safe for us to ride in these conditions so this is the best solution. This morning we saved one set of tyres ahead the qualifying thinking that the conditions could be a bit better but at the end we could not take advantage of this. Anyway my yesterday’s lap time gives me the chance to start from the third row. We could have done a lot better but we focused on race set-up, not on the lap time. We are pleased with our race pace in the wet but if the race is dry we will all be in the same difficult situation.”
Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V): 16th, 1m 53.317s “Unfortunately qualifying was cancelled. We wanted to try some adjustments on the bike and try to improve the lap times. But I think that the decision made was right, as it is quite risky to go out in these conditions. Tomorrow we will have to see what we can improve in warm-up. Normally I prefer a dry race, but this time I think it would be better if we have a wet race.”
— Suzuki Report
Rizla Suzuki racers Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista will start tomorrow’s Portuguese Grand Prix from 13th and 14th positions on the grid respectively after today’s qualifying session was washed out.
Capirossi (1’51.518, 25 laps) and Bautista (1’52.734, 23 laps) were both able to get an hour of practice this morning – despite the rain that had previously fallen – and the pair improved their lap-times from yesterday to leave them in 10th and 12th places on the timesheets. Both riders were looking to improve further in this afternoon’s qualifying session, but a huge storm hit the Estoril area around lunch-time and with no sign of the rain abating as the day progressed, the race officials had no option but to cancel all of this afternoon’s proceedings. This left both riders frustrated and disappointed, as the grid positions for tomorrow’s race had to be decided by the combined times from the two practice sessions that have managed to go ahead so far this weekend. World Champion Jorge Lorenzo will start tomorrow’s race from pole position.
Rizla Suzuki will be hoping for better conditions in tomorrow’s warm-up session so Capirossi and Bautista can make some improvements to their bikes if it is a wet race, but with the forecast showing drier weather for Sunday, they will need to work hard to get a dry set-up to prepare for the 28-lap race that gets underway at 13.00hrs local time (13.00hrs GMT).
Loris Capirossi: “I am a little bit upset about the weather because it has made it really strange for the whole weekend. Yesterday morning we didn’t do practice because of the rain, then we were able to go out in the afternoon, this morning we rode in the wet and then this afternoon we just couldn’t go out because it was so dangerous on the track. Overall I feel quite happy with the bike, but I am not happy at being 13th on the grid. I was 10th yesterday and 10th this morning, but on combined times I have dropped back! I think it looks like the weather tomorrow will be better and I believe we can have a competitive race if it is. The bike worked well here last year, so we are feeling quite positive and hoping for a good result.”
Álvaro Bautista: “I am disappointed, but at least this morning we were able to try a different setting in the bike and it felt much better than yesterday. We had another improvement for this afternoon, but we could not try that. Depending on the weather tomorrow we will continue with the wet weather settings and try to make some improvements for those conditions during the warm-up. If it is dry it will be new for everybody so it will be interesting to see who is faster in the drier conditions and who can adapt the quickest. I will be pushing really hard for a good result, I just hope I can make a good start and fight my way through.”