The ‘Aliens’ occupy the four top spots on the grid at Misano

Dani Pedrosa’s impressive form continued on Saturday at Misano as the Repsol Honda rider took his fourth pole position of the season for tomorrow’s Gran Premio Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini. A blistering final lap of the hour-long MotoGP qualifying session saw the Spaniard duck under the 1’34” barrier – the only rider to do so – with a best time of 1’33.948 cementing his place at the top of the timesheet.

After having taken victory just six days ago in Indianapolis, Pedrosa is doing everything he can to claw back Jorge Lorenzo’s 68-point advantage in the championship and a win tomorrow would undoubtedly put a little bit more pressure on his compatriot.

With ten minutes of the session remaining Lorenzo had actually taken the lead, but the Fiat Yamaha rider eventually ended up 0.308s off Pedrosa after his rival pushed back in front. Lorenzo maintains his record of having started every race this season from the front row.

Completing the front row was Ducati rider Casey Stoner after the Australian capped off an eventful session with the third quickest time. Stoner had taken the lead 20 minutes into the session but crashed immediately after at turn four, remounting his Desmosedici GP10 following some rapid front-end work from his crew. He improved his time to finish up just under half a second off Pedrosa with a best time of 1’34.397.

Valentino Rossi will head up the second row in his home race after the reigning World Champion set the fourth fastest time of the hour on his Fiat Yamaha M1 machine, whilst Ben Spies will be the highest satellite rider on the grid after placing his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine in fifth spot. A commendable effort from the recovering Randy de Puniet saw the LCR Honda rider secure sixth place.

Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and San Carlo Honda Gresini pair Marco Simoncelli and Marco Melandri completed the top ten in the hour.

The only crash of the session other than Stoner happened just ten minutes in when rookie Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) fell at turn four, and he eventually qualified in 12th on his Ducati.

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Jorge Lorenzo once again parked his M1 on the front row of the grid at Misano this afternoon, keeping his 100% record for qualifying this season. His team-mate Valentino Rossi missed out by just seven hundredths of a second and will start his home race from fourth.

After struggling yesterday Lorenzo had significant improvements to make to his setting but it was clear from this morning’s practice that he was back on form when he finished on top of the standings. A close-fought qualifying session saw the Mallorcan take the lead with eight minutes to go but in the closing minutes Dani Pedrosa took the top spot and Lorenzo was relegated to second. The championship leader is confident that he has the race pace to run at the front tomorrow and he will be looking to make it onto the podium once again.

Rossi has won here for the last two years and as usual thousands of his passionate yellow-clad fans were packed in to watch their local favourite in action this afternoon. He, too looked in fine fettle this afternoon and was consistently in the top four, moving to third with ten minutes to go. In the closing stages he seemed to have a shot at pole position but he was slowed by traffic and unable to capitalise on his softer Bridgestone tyre, just missing out as Casey Stoner held on to third. Rossi and his crew still need to make a final decision about their race tyre but are confident that they can put up a fight for home honours in tomorrow’s 2pm race.

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MotoGP riders and Team Managers reflect on Argentine Sprint Race – Moto2/3 QP

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MotoGP riders reflect on opening day of practice in Argentina

March 15, 2025

Position: 2nd Time: 1’34.256 Laps: 30
“We have improved in every practice here and after the troubles of yesterday I’m happy about this session. I have a good pace now and I’m feeling confident about a good race. Unfortunately we couldn’t profit as much as we might have with the softer tyre at the end of the session and our bike isn’t the fastest here, but we have good corner speed so I hope we will be able to stay with the leaders. I am feeling excited and motivated for tomorrow’s race.”

Position: 4th Time: 1’34.470 Laps: 31
“The front row would have been good for the race of tomorrow but I just missed out today. I think I had the potential today but unfortunately with the last tyre I found some traffic at the end. The rear tyre is going to be very important for tomorrow’s race and we still have a decision to make; at the moment we are thinking more of the hard one but we need to wait and see the weather. I am feeling better here than in Indy because it’s much cooler; I am still suffering a bit with my shoulder in the hard right braking zones but it’s not too bad. Anyway it’s fantastic to be here in Italy with all of these fans and I’m excited about tomorrow. The helmet is a joke about my timekeeping – we have put a big clock on the top of it with a different helmet showing the right time for each session so I make sure that I arrive on time!”

Team Manager
“We’re very pleased with this result today. Second place is only one better than yesterday but in terms of bike feeling and behaviour it’s a huge jump for us. Dani did a great lap, we were consistent but Jorge couldn’t use the soft tyre like he wanted to so we couldn’t get any closer to him. But tomorrow is 28 laps not just one and we feel that we are in form for another strong challenge.”

Team Manager
“We are very close to the first row and it was a possibility for us today. Unfortunately Valentino found some traffic, as usual many riders tried to get in his draft and he couldn’t use the full potential of the softer tyre, but fourth is not so bad. We worked really well in practice but we still need to make the final choice for our race tyre because at the moment both tyres are a possibility for the race. We need to analyse the data closely and choose our final package.”

—  Ducati Report

Casey Stoner will start from the front row of the grid in the San Marino Grand Prix after qualifying third fastest at Misano, the Ducati home circuit.

Stoner felt comfortable on his GP10 since the beginning of the session ad set immediately a fast lap which was his best for long even if he suffered a front end crash at the midway stage. He then was able to improve it again with the bike he felt les comfortable with and to secure his front row start for the tomorrow race. Nicky Hayden, after a positive second free practice session in the morning, encountered several little problems in the qualifying session and faces an uphill battle from fourteenth on the grid.

CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 3rd (1’34.397)
“We definitely found something for the bike today. This morning we went back to the old fork and immediately we knocked a second off the lap time and then we worked even better this afternoon. We tried something different in bike one, which I didn’t feel comfortable with, but bike two in general felt better and I immediately made a fast lap. When I wanted to try to improve my lap time a little bit I was trying to carry a bit more corner speed and lost the front in a small corner. Anyway, I’m not worried – we just have to improve the front feeling, especially with the number one bike because I had a better feeling with the second one today even though I crashed it. In general the bike is working a lot better here than it was at faster tracks so we are more comfortable for the race tomorrow and we will see what we can do. We don’t know how the weather is going to be but we are looking for a podium.”

NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 14th (1’35.303)
“Qualifying didn’t go well from the start – we had a few problems we couldn’t fix and the lap time didn’t just come this afternoon. This morning we gained a second from yesterday and reduced the gap to the front quite a lot and I was quite confident for the afternoon. Unfortunately from the beginning it wasn’t good, we had a couple of problems here and there. But regardless the bike is much better than fourteenth – Casey is on front row. I apologize to the team because the bike was better than me and at Ducati’s home race it’s terrible to start so far back and I take responsibility for that. I was on the front row a week ago and even here in some parts of the track I’m really okay, like in the second section I’m third fastest but then I lose a lot. Starting at the back is never good but the race is long so we’ll give it our best shot.”

—  HRC

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) kept the momentum rolling at Misano today, adding a brilliant San Marino Grand Prix pole position to the dominant race win he took at Indianapolis last Sunday. The Spaniard got the better of a thrilling end-of-session battle with World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha), Casey Stoner (Ducati), reigning MotoGP king Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) and Ben Spies (Yamaha).

At the end of the hour the top five were separated by just 0.524 seconds, Pedrosa’s final lap moving him ahead of Lorenzo by a solid three tenths of a second. The performance completes an impressive two days of practice and qualifying for the Repsol Honda Team, which made a brilliant start to the weekend, running one and two in yesterday’s opening practice session with Pedrosa leading the way ahead of Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V).

Currently second in the 2010 World Championship, Pedrosa is making superb use of recent improvements to the RC212V. His aim tomorrow is a fast, clean getaway (the first esses here are a notorious black spot for lap one accidents) and then a mistake-free race which will hopefully lead to his first back-to-back victories in MotoGP. Pedrosa is still a lot of points behind series leader Lorenzo, but every success will bring him closer to his compatriot.

Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) produced a heroic performance in scoring a second-row start in only his third MotoGP event since he broke a leg at July’s German GP. The Frenchman – who made his comeback at last month’s Czech GP, a miraculous four weeks after the accident – posted sixth quickest time in qualifying, just two tenths behind Spies. De Puniet and his crew worked carefully on machine balance to give him a great bike for this tricky Italian circuit, which is one of his favourites.

Dovizioso was hoping for better than a third-row start for his home race. The 24-year-old local made some big changes to his RCV’s weight distribution with the aim of improving front-end feel, but as can often be the case with set-up changes, the adjustment made things worse instead of better. Dovizioso will sit down with his engineers this evening to decide the best way forward for tomorrow’s warm-up and race. He will be very focused on making the fastest possible start without getting into trouble in the first few corners.

Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) is even more local than Dovizioso – he hails from Cattolica, just a few kilometres from the track – so the fast-improving MotoGP rookie is happy to be starting from the third row in ninth place, after taking a wrong turn and then a right turn on his settings. This is the former 250 World Champion’s seventh top-nine qualifying performance from the last eight races.

Team-mate Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) scored his first top-ten qualifying slot in four races by going tenth fastest, just 0.084 seconds behind Simoncelli. The Italian started the session well and was looking good for a better starting position, but then struggled after going the wrong way with front fork settings.

Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V) was an impressive 13th quickest in his second Grand Prix since breaking a vertebra at June’s British GP. The Japanese ace, who returned to action at Indianapolis, is wearing a special back brace to support and protect his back while he is riding.

Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) shrugged off the effects of illness to take the Moto2 pole position at Misano this afternoon. Despite feeling far from his best, the Spaniard was able to outpace Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team, Suter) by 0.44 seconds. Surprisingly, this is Elias’ first pole since he started from the very front of the grid for the first-ever Moto2 race at Losail in March. This is the home race for Elias’ Gresini squad, so the Spaniard is wearing the San Carlo colours worn full-time by Fausto Gresini’s MotoGP riders.

Elias will be chasing a fifth consecutive win tomorrow to extend his 67 point lead over Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up). Perhaps the former 125, 250 and MotoGP winner had something of a head start this weekend, because he tested here during the summer break, unaware that he was breaking Moto2 regulations. He was punished for the misdemeanour by missing first practice for last month’s Brno GP.

Redding’s second place on the grid gives him his second Moto2 front-row start in as many weekends and tomorrow he will be looking for his second podium in as many weekends. The young Briton – who at Indy became the youngest-ever podium finisher in the intermediate class at 17 years and 237 days – knows that he will have a big fight on his hands but he is more than ready for some close-fought action.

The last two men on the front row in the Honda-powered series are Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter) and Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing, Suter). Simon has been one of the more consistent performers in this action-packed class, with four podium results so far, though the reigning 125 World Champion has yet to score a win. Cluzel on the other hand has scored a win – at Silverstone – but has scored only one other podium so far.

Mugello and Assen Moto2 winner Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up) qualified fifth, despite struggling with two small breaks in his left wrist, sustained in Indianapolis qualifying. The injury didn’t stop the Italian from finishing fourth at Indy despite starting from the seventh row of the grid, so he is sure to feature in tomorrow’s race.

Honda RS125 rider Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125 Team) was 18th fastest in today’s 125 qualifying outing after a fall in the early stages of the session. This morning the 17-year-old German had been 14th in free practice. Pole position went to Briton Bradley Smith (Aprilia)

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda RC212V: pole position, 1m 33.948s “I’m happy to be on pole position because we were strong throughout practice and things have gone according to plan so far this weekend. We are doing a very good job at the moment, improving at every round and now we have the chance to have another good race. I’ve never won two MotoGP races in a row and this is a good challenge for me – I really want to go for it. Today went well especially because this was a very tight qualifying session and, as I said yesterday, it was crucial to be on the first row of the grid to have the best chance of getting through the first corners cleanly, because they are very tight. It’s a quite a tricky circuit and tomorrow it will be important not to make any mistakes – particularly on the brakes – in order to keep a high pace for the whole race distance. I think it will be very difficult to make a gap, but we’ll wait and see what the strategy is for the race.
Hopefully we can get through the first corners cleanly, and then we will simply need to push very hard to win. We have a good opportunity.”

Randy de Puniet, LCR Honda RC212V: 6th, 1m 34.751s “It is good to be back up there with the guys! After the bad weekend in Indy, I knew that I could bounce back here in Misano because I like this track very much and my leg is getting better day by day. This morning we struggled with the front end in the entry of some corners but we reduced the problem quite a lot. Honestly we are not at 100% yet but I am delighted with this performance. Hopefully if we can take a good start tomorrow we will be able to fight for another positive result.”

Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda RC212V: 8th, 1m 34.826s “We made a big change to the set-up of the bike in terms of weight distribution to get a better feeling with the front end, but it didn’t work for us. I was struggling a lot with the front and at the end of the session I almost crashed – like in Brno. It is very difficult to improve your lap time when you don’t have the confidence with the front. Now we have to decide whether to keep going in this set-up direction with something more radical or go back to what we had before. I’m disappointed to have qualified this far back for my home race, so we have some work to do tonight to find a setting that can improve things for warm-up and in the race. We’ve made it quite tough for ourselves, but we’ll aim to get a good start and make up as many positions as possible early on.”

Marco Simoncelli, San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V: 9th, 1m 34.934s “We were having problems yesterday and they continued for the first 20 minutes of qualifying this afternoon. Then we went back to an old set-up because we had made some changes to the bike to suit Indianapolis. It was a step backwards in one way, but with a few modifications we were able to set a good lap time. I am fairly happy right now because up until this morning we were not in good shape but now we have seen the light.”

Marco Melandri, San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V: 10th, 1m 35.018s “That was actually a positive session. Unfortunately we made some changes to the forks and that had a negative effect, which meant I couldn’t improve my lap time. However, my pace is pretty good and the target for tomorrow is to get a good start and set a strong pace. I am in better shape than in recent weeks and I hope I can have a decent race tomorrow.”

Hiroshi Aoyama, Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V: 13th, 1m 35.286s “The qualifying was interesting because we stayed with the old set-up and we were still able to improve. Also the lap times improved more than I expected. Also, the gap to the others in front of me got smaller and that is very positive for us. I don’t know how the conditions will be tomorrow, but I hope they will be similar to today and that I can improve in the race. I am looking forward to the race.”

—  Suzuki Report

Rizla Suzuki team-mates Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista were both left to think what might have been as they were held-up on their final lap in qualifying at Misano this afternoon.

Capirossi (P11, 1’35.096, 30 laps) was on a flying final lap and looked certain to break into at least the second row of the grid, but a slower moving train of riders got in his way and forced the Italian to lose vital tenths-of-a-second. He was disappointed with the position, but realistic enough to know that he has a good set-up and a strong pace ahead of tomorrow’s 28-lap race.

Bautista (P16. 1’35.629, 29 laps) was extremely annoyed that he had been baulked on his final fast lap, which would almost certainly have given him a much improved time and seen him move up the grid. He had made huge steps today with his Suzuki GSV-R as he shaved almost two-and-a-half-seconds of his lap-time from yesterday. Bautista was extremely unlucky not to be rewarded with a much better qualifying position after his impressive efforts today.

Today’s qualifying was held in very warm conditions as air temperatures got up to 26ºC and the track heated up to 42ºC. Spaniard Dani Pedrosa took his fourth pole position of the season on his factory Honda, with World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo in second.

Tomorrow’s race is the 12th round of the season and will see Capirossi, Bautista and the rest of the field head off for 28 laps of action at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT).

Loris Capirossi: “Today has been a good day, but again the position is not what we want or deserve. On my best lap I caught up with a group of three or four riders in the last section and I lost three or four tenths-of-a-second. If that hadn’t have happened I think I could easily have been on the second row. I am really positive for tomorrow’s race because the bike is working very well here at Misano. I need to make a good start and do my best because the setting of the bike is good. We are still losing a bit on the exit of the corners and we need to do something about that – as it makes it difficult to overtake. Our potential is much more than this qualifying position and we will be trying as hard as we can tomorrow to prove it.”

Álvaro Bautista: “This morning we improved the bike a lot from yesterday and I was able to get a good pace. In the qualifying it was a bit difficult at the start because I used the hard front tyre and I didn’t get the feel from it under braking. At the end of the session we put in the softer compound and that was much better. Unfortunately on the last lap some riders slowed me up and I couldn’t improve my lap-time – which I am sure I would have done. I feel good with the bike here and if I can get a decent start tomorrow I have a strong enough rhythm to be able to battle my way into the top 10.”

Stuart Shenton – Loris Capirossi’s Crew Chief: “We’re disappointed with the grid position, but it has been a good effort so far this weekend from Loris and the whole team. It would have been nice to be well inside the top 10 for the start of the race, but it was not to be. I think it was getting quite competitive out there at the end of qualifying – not just between other riders, but also between team-mates. It looks like Loris has a good race pace and his times are consistently in the 35s, so let’s just see what we can do tomorrow.”

—  Bridgestone Report

Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Medium, Hard. Rear: Medium, Hard

After dominating yesterday’s proceedings, Dani Pedrosa repeated his strong form to seal pole position for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of San Marino. On his final lap of the hour-long session the Repsol Honda rider forged ahead by 0.3seconds, the only rider to dip below the 1m34s mark.

The final times belie the closeness of the qualifying session though as at one point in the closing stages, the top four were separated by less than one tenth of a second as they all opted for the softer rear tyre for their hot laps. Completing the front row are Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo, who continues his record of a top-three start for every grand prix this season, and Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner who recovered well from a crash early on and who for a time topped the timesheets. Valentino Rossi, Ben Spies and Randy de Puniet make up the second row.

Every rider set their fastest times on the harder option front slick tyre and the softer option rear, favoured for its additional level of grip, apart from Nicky Hayden who used a softer front tyre at the end of the session.

Conditions again were fine and dry, and a little warmer than yesterday which contributed in part to the laptimes being faster, however rain is forecast for the race.

Tohru Ubukata – Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department
“The times have got faster in every session and in qualifying the top five riders all lapped faster than the existing lap record so clearly I am pleased with overall performance. Dani’s time was particularly impressive as he was 0.4seconds faster than last year’s pole time which is encouraging for a good race tomorrow. The harder front slick is looking preferable for the race, but both rear tyre specs have proved their performance and consistency over race distance so tomorrow’s rear race tyre choice will come down to rider preference and machine setup.”

Toni Elías secured his second pole position of the 2010 season – his first since the opening round in Qatar – on Saturday, as he primed himself for an attempt at a sixth win of the season this weekend at Misano. The Spaniard’s best time of 1’38.991 was enough to beat young Brit Scott Redding to pole by 0.044s in the Gresini Moto2 team’s home GP.

Redding took his second successive front row position for the Marc VDS Racing Team having finished on the podium from third in Indianapolis, with Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar) third at just over two-tenths behind. Jules Cluzel of the Forward Racing team will complete the front file of the grid for tomorrow’s race.

Andrea Iannone’s session was cut short by a mechanical problem but the Fimmco Speed Up rider still managed to hold onto fifth position at 0.435s off Elías’ time, and he will head up a second row that also includes JiR Moto2 duo Simone Corsi and home rider Alex de Angelis along with Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP).

Mattia Pasini qualified in ninth as he continued his impressive weekend as a wild card for the Italtrans STR team, with Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up) completing the top ten.

There were crashes in the session for Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP) who qualified in 12th, Michael Ranseder (Vector Kiefer Racing) in 22nd and Raffaele de Rosa (Tech 3 Racing) in 28th – all three avoided any lasting injuries as a result of their falls.

125cc

Bradley Smith will start the 125cc race from pole position on Sunday, after setting a hot lap of 1’43.329 on his final lap of the session. That delivered the Bancaja Aspar rider his second pole of the 2010 season, as he continues his quest for a first win of the campaign.

Smith beat Championship leader Marc Márquez (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) – who had led until the dying moments of the session – to top spot on the timesheet by 0.158s, with the Brit’s team-mate Nico Terol, who was second in last year’s race, third. Pol Espargaró (Tuenti Racing) will complete a strong front row as he was the final rider to get within half a second of Smith’s time.

Row two of the 125cc grid will be comprised of Tomoyoshi Koyama (Racing Team Germany), Sandro Cortese (Avant Mitsubishi Ajo), Efrén Vázquez (Tuenti Racing) and Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX), whilst Danny Webb (Andalucia Cajasol) and Johann Zarco (WTR San Marino Team) completed the top ten.

There were crashes during the session for Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125), Randy Krummenacher (Stipa-Molenaar Racing) and wild card Alessandro Tonucci (Junior GP).