MotoGP Qualifying Results
- Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1’39.730
- Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 0.506
- Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 0.879
- Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 0.890
- Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1.231
- Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 1.337
- Toni ELIAS SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1.553
- Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1.579
- Marco MELANDRI ITA Hayate Racing Team Kawasaki 1.800
- James TOSELAND GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1.890
- Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 2.012
- Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 2.043
- Niccolo CANEPA ITA Pramac Racing Ducati 2.180
- Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 2.308
- Mika KALLIO FIN Ducati Team Ducati 2.520
- Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Pramac Racing Ducati 2.847
- Gabor TALMACSI HUN Scot Racing Team MotoGP Honda 3.006
— Ducati Report
Nicky Hayden will start his home Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from the second row of the grid after recording his best dry qualifying position of the season so far this afternoon. Sixth place for Hayden, who was second fastest in the dry free practice yesterday, means he will start from the second row although his stand-in team-mate Mika Kallio will be some way behind him in 15th after suffering a crash in the final phases of this afternoon’s single hour-long qualifying session.
NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati MotoGP Team) (6th; 1’41.067)
“It seems the story is always the same: even though this is my best dry qualifying result and second best grid position of the year I still feel I could have gone faster at the end and I’m not completely happy. I set a good lap chasing Dani (Pedrosa) but I think the tyre went off right at the end because it started to spin up in the last sector and it cost me some time. Anyway, I’m on the second row and we’re competitive so it’s not all bad. I’m using a slightly different set-up here than before Brno – something we found in the test there – and it’s definitely helping me through some of these flip-flop direction changes. I know what I’m in for tomorrow and I’m not expecting to find a full second in the morning. The main thing will be to see about the tyre choice if it is a lot cooler, as a lot of people are expecting. I’m really looking forward to racing in front of my fans, friends and family here at Indy and the plan is to get the best start possible, try to hang on to that front group as long as I can and just give the absolute maximum.”
MIKA KALLIO (Ducati MotoGP Team) (15th; 1’42.250)
“We started the session well and my first outing on used tyres wasn’t too bad. We tried a different set-up in the middle of the session but it wasn’t as good and I switched back. When we put a fresh tyre on to push for a lap time I had to abort a couple of laps because there were riders in my way, then I tried to push again and crashed. It was a really similar crash to the one in qualifying at Brno – I just lost front grip and the next thing I knew I was on the floor. For some reason my feeling with the front is quite vague and it is an area we know we need to work on. Hopefully we can find something before the race tomorrow.”
— HRC Report
Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa today obliterated his MotoGP opposition to take pole position for tomorrow’s Indianapolis Grand Prix. The Spanish ace was easily fastest in both practice and qualifying sessions and looked completely untouchable aboard his factory Honda RC212V at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His best lap of 1m 39.730s this afternoon was more than a second inside last year’s qualifying lap record and 0.506s clear of his nearest rival – Jorge Lorenzo who will start from second on the grid.
As well as ultimate speed, Pedrosa displayed consistency too – and it was the same story in the morning session. His quickest eight laps this morning were faster than any other rider in the MotoGP field could manage and his best lap this morning was a full 1.015s faster than his closest rival – Jorge Lorenzo once again. This is Pedrosa’s second pole position of the season after he started from front on the grid at the French Grand Prix at Le Mans in May.
Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso will start tomorrow’s 28-lap race from eighth on the grid and will be looking for a good start to take him from the third row and into contention with the leaders. The Italian set his fastest lap of 1m 41.309s on the last of his 27 laps this afternoon after a slow-speed fall early in the session. Dovizioso and his crew will use tomorrow morning’s 20-minute warm-up session to make further improvements to his machine set-up – particularly the feeling from the front end – and the former 125cc World Champion is confident of making up places when the lights go out to start the Indianapolis Grand Prix at 15.00 (GMT -4hrs).
DANI PEDROSA – Pole – 1m 39.730
“I’m really happy with this pole position because we have been fast all weekend so far – in the we as well as the dry – so this is very positive. The lap times are quick and also consistent which should give us a good chance in the race tomorrow. I’ve been comfortable on the machine from the start and things have just clicked here – it’s not as if we’ve made any big changes for this race. We can’t relax at all though because I’m sure the other riders will improve and we know how strong our rivals have been this season. So we must make a few small adjustments to make sure we have the best possible package tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to the race because it looks like the weather should be good – a big contrast to last year – and it will be great to feel the race-day atmosphere at Indianapolis in more normal conditions than last year’s wash-out. Now we’ll just stay focused and concentrate on our preparation for tomorrow.”
ANDREA DOVIZIOSO – 8th – 1m 41.309
“I’d like to be further forward on the grid and I think eighth doesn’t actually reflect our potential here, so we’ll be aiming to improve the set-up for the race. My qualifying session didn’t go exactly to plan because I had a small crash near the beginning of the session in Turn 7. At that point in the middle of the turn there’s a change in the asphalt and you have to be more delicate on the brakes at the point. I didn’t change the lever pressure correctly which was the mistake that caused me to lose the front. In fact my feeling from the front end wasn’t perfect today, so this is what we’ll be working to improve for tomorrow. I think the front of the race is going to be run with laptimes below 1m 41s and I’ll need to get a good start from the third row to give me a chance of competing with the leaders. I’m confident we can take a step forward tomorrow.”
KAZUHIKO YAMANO – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER
“I have to say well done to Dani because he’s done an excellent job this weekend and taking pole position was the natural conclusion of his progress so far. He’s been top in every session and looks in with a good chance of winning tomorrow. We’ve not made big changes to the machine so this performance was down to him and the team. Andrea’s a little bit further back than he wanted, but with some changes to his machine set-up tonight I think he can move forward tomorrow. Also, we know our rivals are very strong so we won’t be relaxing at all.”
— Suzuki Report
Rizla Suzuki racers Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen will start tomorrow’s Indianapolis Grand Prix from the fourth and fifth rows of the grid respectively, after a disappointing qualifying session left them both with a lot of work to do in tomorrow’s race.
Capirossi (P11, 1’41.742, 26 laps) was satisfied with the new chassis and several other new parts that he used today from the recent test in Brno. He was over half-of-second quicker today than his qualifying performance last year – in similar conditions – and is determined to make up several places in Sunday’s 28-lap race to challenge for a much higher position.
Vermeulen (P14, 1’42.038, 29 laps) consistently improved his bike and times through both this morning’s free practice session and this afternoon’s qualifying, but just couldn’t find the extra speed needed to push him further up the grid. He knows he has a tough job ahead of him tomorrow, but will be giving it 100% to improve during the race.
Today’s qualifying was held in dry conditions – very different to yesterday’s torrential rain – with the track heating up to 50ºC, as the air temperatures rose to a comfortable 24ºC. Dani Pedrosa on his factory Honda took pole position for tomorrow’s race, which gets underway at 15.00hrs local time (19.00hrs GMT).
Loris Capirossi:
“Overall we have improved throughout the day, but it is not enough of an improvement to stay with the front guys, so will try to use tomorrow’s warm-up to set the bike up a bit more. We were able to use a couple of new parts alongside the new chassis and the feeling was good. We are still struggling a bit on the slow corners so we also need to work on that. It has been quite a difficult day today and I hope that tomorrow we will have good weather so we can try to improve in time for the race. I am still quite optimistic though because it is so close and if I improve a small bit I can be up in the top-five.”
Chris Vermeulen:
“In this morning’s session we worked a lot on the bike’s set-up and improved consistently, then in the afternoon I tried the harder compound tyre but I just didn’t seem to be able to make it work for me, so I used the softer one and it had good durability so I think that will be the tyre we will use tomorrow. We changed engine and suspension settings and improved the bike throughout qualifying, but I am quite frustrated because a few tenths-of-a-second would have moved me up and I was very consistent in reeling the laps off, but just not consistently fast enough. We will try some small changes for tomorrow and hopefully make things better.”
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“It’s good that the weather changed for the better today, but unfortunately that was the only good news for Rizla Suzuki. There are always reasons and justifications for disappointing results and it is true that this is the first event that the new chassis layout has been used other than at the Brno test, so naturally we can expect it to take some time to find the best balance in the bike. However, the fact of the matter is that the end result – on a very difficult track to overtake on – is going to make tomorrow’s GP even harder. It is all very well to say that another two or three tenths would have got us into reasonable grid positions, but we didn’t get the job done and the result is not what any of us are looking for. We need to step it up tomorrow; it’s as simple as that!”
— Yamaha Report
The sun finally shone on MotoGP at Indianapolis today and yesterday’s soaking track was long forgotten, giving the riders the chance to get to grips with their bikes on a dry surface. It was another double front-row for Fiat Yamaha riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, the Spaniard claiming his 12th straight front row of the season with second on the grid and Rossi his seventh consecutive with third.
Lorenzo, who was second fastest behind Dani Pedrosa this morning, went into the lead after just ten minutes of this afternoon’s qualifying session and looked very strong from then on, improving his time several times before Pedrosa knocked him off the top spot with 20 minutes to go. The 22-year-old Spaniard pushed hard in the final stages but was not quite able to edge his compatriot off pole position, finishing the session 0.506 seconds adrift.
Rossi meanwhile was consistently in the top three until he was edged out by Alex de Angelis with a little over ten minutes remaining. The championship leader was able to make a last-minute improvement to move back onto the front row with his final lap but feels he is still lacking rhythm and pace. He and his team will be looking for some overnight improvements in order to put him in the best shape for tomorrow’s race, which starts at 1400 Eastern Time.
Lorenzo – Position: 2nd Time: 1’40.236 Laps: 31
“I’m happy about this qualifying session because we made a big step with our setting from this morning and even from the start of the session. Unfortunately we couldn’t improve any more in the final laps and it’s now six or seven races since I’ve been on pole which is strange for me, because doing one fast lap is usually one of my strong points! The important thing however is that we’re on the front row, we have a good race pace and we are ready to challenge for the win tomorrow.”
Rossi – Position: 3rd Time: 1’40.609 Laps: 27
“We’re on the front row and this is important but honestly we don’t have enough pace at the moment and I can’t ride how I want to. We don’t have quite enough grip to enable us to push at the maximum. We did a lot of work this afternoon but we’re still not at our best and so now we all need to work to find a way to make another step for tomorrow. We have the warm-up still to use and we will try to be competitive for the race.”
Team Manager
“We are on target and happy to be on the front row, even if we were hoping for pole position. The team made some important modifications to the set-up and this afternoon we had a much faster pace than this morning; we have a good race pace now. We still have some work to do because Pedrosa looks very strong and we need to close the gap to him, but we’re confident that we can improve the package a bit more and set Jorge up for a great race tomorrow.”
Team Manager
“We need to continue to work because we’re not yet fast enough! Of course being on the front row is important but now we have to focus on finding the right improvements for tomorrow. We have some work to do before the race and then we will see where we are in warm-up tomorrow.”
— Bridgestone Report
Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Medium, Hard. Rear: Hard, Extra hard (asymmetric)
Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa scored his second pole position and sixth front-row start of the season in definitive style today. Fastest in the morning’s free practice by just over a second, the Spaniard used the harder option front and softer option rear Bridgestone slicks to set a pole time 0.506seconds faster than the field. In doing so he also set a new circuit fastest lap, one second faster than the pole position time of last year set by race winner Valentino Rossi on qualifying tyres.
After Brno, this is the second pole position record to be beaten on Bridgestone’s race tyres since the demise of qualifying-spec rubber at the end of last season.
The Fiat Yamaha duo of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi will start tomorrow’s race in second and third respectively, closely followed by San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alex de Angelis in his best qualifying performance of the season. The top four all used the harder option front slicks and the softer option rear to record their fastest laps, and all went faster than the pole position record set last year.
As yesterday’s practice session was wet, and most of the weekend last year was also wet in the wake of Hurricane Ike, the teams and riders do not have a great deal of experience of dry running at Indianapolis so setup time was at a premium today.
Tohru Ubukata – Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department
“For the second time this season we have seen a pole position record broken on our race tyres so I am pleased with their performance today on the first day of dry running here at Indianapolis. We do not have much experience of dry weather running in MotoGP at this circuit because of the inclement weather here this and last year, so the teams had not much time to get their setups perfected on our slick tyres.
“We do have quite a good understanding of this track from our work in the Formula One World Championship though, so we try to support all teams with the benefit of this knowledge. Tyre durability on the dry surface was reasonable today in the high temperature, and Jorge completed a long run of 20 laps on the harder front and softer rear Bridgestone slicks with a string of consistent times faster than the previous pole position record.”
