FIM MotoGP World Championship Valencia, Spain October 25, 2008 Final Qualifying Results: 1. Casey STONER (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:31.502 2. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:31.555 3. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda), Michelin, 1:31.703 4. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:32.212 5. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:32.518 6. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), Michelin, 1:32.572, crash 7. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:32.594 8. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:32.614 9. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), Michelin, 1:32.734 10. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), Bridgestone, 1:32.962 11. Toni ELIAS (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:32.983 12. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:33.017 13. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:33.352 14. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:33.681 15. Shinya NAKANO (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:33.767, crash 16. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:33.848 17. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:33.879 18. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:34.174, crash More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Casey Stoner had the last word in MotoGP qualifying for the 2008 season with his ninth pole position of the year, setting a 1´31.502 lap of the Valencia circuit that proved too hot to handle for his premier class rivals. The session saw what could be the last appearance for Bridgestone´s special qualifying rubber, put to expert use by the Ducati rider for his nineteenth MotoGP top spot. Riding on dry asphalt for the first time this weekend, Stoner upped his pace before putting down his fastest lap with time to spare. 2007 Valencia poleman and racewinner Dani Pedrosa was just 0.053 short of his rival´s marker, at the track where he and Stoner did battle throughout their time in various classes and championships. The Gran Premio Parts Europe de la Comunitat Valenciana will be the second consecutive race in which Pedrosa will start from the front row, the ninth time this season. Top of every previous session this weekend, Nicky Hayden was unable to take the pole position that has eluded him over the course of the season. The Repsol Honda rider was just over a tenth of a second slower than current teammate Pedrosa, with future garage counterpart Stoner the first to knock him off the top spot. Hayden completes the front row for his last race with Honda before moving to Ducati on Monday, and put it all on the line as he slipped and skidded around the Valencia track in qualifying. Tech 3 Yamaha had a positive session that almost ascended to the heights of their season-opener in Qatar, with both of their riders on the second line. Colin Edwards heads the row, with James Toseland alongside him in fifth. The latter had one of his attempts at pole halted by Marco Melandri, whose apologies for baulking the Briton fell on deaf ears. Randy de Puniet completes row two, coming back from a crash in the session, whilst the third row consists of home rider Jorge Lorenzo, Suzuki man Loris Capirossi and Andrea Dovizioso. 2008 MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi could only place tenth onboard the Fiat Yamaha M1, his worst qualifying result this year when fully fit. 250cc Fresh from his clinching the 2008 250cc World Championship, Marco Simoncelli took his seventh pole position of the year in a last-gasp hot lap of the Valencia circuit. The Italian pickpocketed home rider Alex Debon with the clock run down to zero, recording a 1´35.408 lap just 0.018 faster than his Lotus Aprilia rival. Debon took his first Grand Prix podium at last year´s race, and seemed to have pole position for the 2008 race in the bag before Simoncelli´s charge. Nonetheless, he starts from the front line for the eighth time this year, second on the grid. Also challenging for pole was Julian Simon, whose own final attempt at the top spot saw him come into close contact with Debon´s teammate, Aleix Espargaro. Gestures were exchanged as the two Spaniards crossed the line, with a kick aimed by Simon in a feisty encounter. The Repsol KTM rider will make his second front row start of the season from third. Whilst Simon moves down to 125cc after the Gran Premio Parts Europe de la Comunitat Valenciana, Red Bull KTM´s Mika Kallio will be ascending to MotoGP with Ducati for next season. He placed fourth on the grid for his final 250cc race. Kallio´s teammate Hiroshi Aoyama heads row two, joined by Alvaro Bautista, Ratthapark Wilairot and Roberto Locatelli. 125cc Gabor Talmacsi will start his final 125cc race from pole position on Sunday in Valencia, after putting down the fastest time of the second lower cylinder category qualifying session. The Hungarian was just under two-tenths of a second ahead of Bancaja Aspar teammate Sergio Gadea as he clocked a quickest lap of 1´41.451, giving him a fourth pole of the season. The 2007 World Champion could easily have been relegated to the second row in the final moments of the session, with a host of riders upping their pace as the clock ran down. The Hungarian´s sixteenth lap of the Valencia circuit eventually provided the definitive time, permitting him a repeat of his pole from last year. Home rider Gadea had also left his best until last, and returned to the front row for the first time since the British round of the series back in June. Provisional poleman Simone Corsi consolidated his top four start, joined by local boy and Jack&Jones WRB teammate Nico Terol on the first line. Sepang race runner-up Bradley Smith heads row two, alongside Stevie Bonsey, new World Champion Mike di Meglio and Andrea Iannone, who had led the way for much of the session. The red flag was briefly shown ten minutes in, due to a nasty crash suffered by Belson Derbi´s Pol Espargaro. The Spaniard was briefly knocked out by a fall over the front of his machine, and was taken to the medical centre for examination. More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: HAYDEN THIRD FASTEST IN REPSOL HONDA DOUBLE FRONT ROW Grand Prix, Valencia Ricardo Tormo circuit Qualifying, Saturday October 25 2008 Repsol Honda RC212V rider Nicky Hayden battled for pole position throughout this afternoon’s Valencia GP qualifying session, finally ending up third fastest, just two tenths of a second off pole position. The American, who won the 2006 MotoGP World Championship here, will thus start his last race with Repsol Honda from the front row of the grid. It hasn’t been an easy two days of practice and qualifying at Valencia, but Hayden showed his mettle by topping all three practice sessions, on a soaking track yesterday and in the damp this morning. With more rain clouds looming this afternoon, Hayden’s crew sent him out on his first sets of qualifiers after 20 minutes in case the occasional drizzle turned into rain. His first qualifying run put him fastest, then he improved his time some more, before reverting to race tyres, before a final run on qualifiers which left him just shy of pole. This is Hayden’s third front-row start in the last four races. Nicky Hayden, 3rd fastest, 1m 31.703s “We were close but close don’t count, I guess! We shouldn’t be too bummed out though, because we’re on the front row. It was pretty obvious that we really wanted to be on pole, we’ve been fastest all weekend, the bike is working good and the team did a great job when it started sprinkling, getting one bike ready with qualifiers early on. It was quite a tough session, going to qualifiers and then back to race tyres. On my last qualifying run I did a 32.0 on my first lap and I knew it was going to be tough to get into 31s. I really pushed hard, really hung it out, but the bike was just moving around too much to be fast. The best I could do was a 31.7. I definitely pushed as hard as I could, though maybe I should’ve got the tyre a bit hotter on the out lap. It’s always a compromise sometimes you get it too hot and sometimes you don’t get it hot enough. I didn’t get the lap time I needed, so I’m a little frustrated because it would’ve been cool to give Michelin a pole position for their last MotoGP race. But we’ve got a good bike and a good set-up, so we’ll just try to go for it in the race. I didn’t get to do many laps on race tyres, what with the drizzle and the qualifiers. I’ve only tried a couple of race tyres, so we’ll definitely talk to Michelin and use every bit of morning warm-up to get the information we need to make our tyre choice.” Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager “Nicky did a good job, he got very close to pole and it’s great that he will start his final race with Honda from the front row of the grid. He didn’t get many laps on race tyres, so we still have some work to do on tyre choice, also his crew will try to make some more settings improvements during morning warm-up. We will all work hard tomorrow, targeting victory at the last race of 2008.” More, from another press release issued by Repsol Honda: PEDROSA JUST 0.053s OFF POLE,DOUBLE REPSOL HONDA FRONT ROW Valencia Grand Prix, Valencia Ricardo Tormo circuit Qualifying, Saturday October 25 2008 Repsol Honda RC212V rider Dani Pedrosa continued his impressive run of form during this afternoon’s qualifying session at Valencia, ending the hour a close second fastest, just five hundredths of a second off pole position. Two weeks ago Pedrosa scored his first pole with Bridgestone tyres at the Malaysian GP. Changeable conditions have dominated both days of practice and qualifying here, with rain throughout yesterday’s two sessions, more rain this morning and a smattering of drizzle during the qualifying session. Riders have therefore had very little chance to evaluate their range of race tyres, with a dry race in prospect tomorrow. Morning 20 minute warm-up session will therefore be immensely important. Dani Pedrosa, 2nd fastest, 1m 31.555s “Finally, it looked like we might get a dry session this afternoon. The hour started dry but then it started raining again, which spoiled the work we had planned focusing on trying different race tyres. I wanted to continue working with race tyres, preparing for the race, but we made an early switch to qualifying tyres to make sure of a good grid position for tomorrow, in case it started raining more heavily. Finally we made the front row, quite close to pole, and the front row is particularly important at this track. We were only able to try one race tyre this afternoon, so we will need a good warm-up and then we will need to think very carefully about which tyres we will run in the race. I hope we can have a dry race tomorrow, not only for us but also for all the tens of thousands of fans who always pack the grandstands here.” Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager “Dani did a great job today, he was very close to scoring his second consecutive pole position. The front row is very important here because overtaking is not so easy at this track. Dani has therefore put himself in a good position for tomorrow’s race. The lap times are very close at the front of the pack, so the start will be crucial. Like everyone, he has had very little dry-track time to compare race tyres, but I think he is in good shape, we will make some small settings changes tomorrow morning, make our race tyre choice and target the win.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer Loris Capirossi will start the last race of the 2008 MotoGP season from the middle of the third row after qualifying in eighth place at Valencia in Spain today. Capirossi (1’32.614, 29 laps) missed out on a second row start by only one-tenth-of-a-second as he used slick tyres for the first time during this afternoon’s session. This morning’s final practice session was again interrupted by rain, but Capirossi worked with his crew to remedy some of the issues with wet grip that held him back yesterday. His race pace during this afternoon’s session was also very promising and Capirossi is confident of a good result in tomorrow’s race. Chris Vermeulen (1’33.017, 30 laps) will start just behind his team-mate as he qualified on the fourth row in 12th place. Vermeulen also used the valuable amount of dry track time during the qualifying session to test race tyres and set-up in readiness for tomorrow’s race. He is happy with the progress he made and is convinced that with a good start he can run a competitive race. Today’s qualifying was held in cool and overcast conditions with a constant threat of rain in the air. Track temperatures never got above 19ºC and the surface never completely dried out making conditions difficult for all involved. Casey Stoner on his Bridgestone shod Ducati took pole position. Tomorrow’s 30-lap race is the climax of an exhausting 18 events over the last seven months, The excitement will get underway at the 4,005m long Valencian circuit at 14.00hrs local time (13.00hrs GMT), with both Rizla Suzuki riders aiming to go out in style. Loris Capirossi: “The conditions this afternoon were much better and we were able to start the session with a race tyre. After about 15 minutes it started to rain a bit and so I put in a qualifier, but I think I used it a little too early because the track was not 100% dry and I think I maybe lost a couple of tenths on the lap-time. This is not too big a problem though and the middle of the third row is still ok here. I was able to test some race tyres and I am happy with the set-up for tomorrow. I am optimistic about the race because the whole team worked hard all day to get the wet setting right this morning and to set-up a great race bike this afternoon!” Chris Vermeulen: “It was very difficult conditions for qualifying because it was the first time this weekend that we had put slicks in the bike and we had to try and get a dry set-up, test some race tyres and set the fastest lap of the weekend on qualifiers all on a track that wasn’t completely dry it certainly was a tough challenge! I feel like the bike is working reasonably well and at the end of the session I was on my fastest lap but I made a couple of mistakes and lost a bit of time, if I hadn’t I’m sure I’d have been further up the grid. The race pace looks reasonable and I am comfortable with package we have for tomorrow, so hopefully we can get a good start, get through the field early and have a strong race.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “Today has been a more encouraging performance compared to yesterday’s and we managed to iron out a good percentage of the problems that slowed us up on Friday. In the full dry conditions both guys’ pace on race tyres was encouraging and we can’t really complain too much about the qualifying positions. Loris could have easily been on the second row as he just missed out by less than a tenth, but nonetheless we know he gets off the line incredibly well so we have high hopes for the race. We also know that Chris will be giving it absolutely everything in the final Grand Prix of the season tomorrow and we hope that we get good results from both guys to carry us into the winter in style!” More, from a press release issued by JiR Team Scot Honda: Andrea Dovizioso sits on the third row in Valencia for final MotoGP Today heralded the last day of practice at the Valencia circuit for the last MotoGP Grand Prix of 2008. Like yesterday the uncertain weather was the hallmark of qualifying and this afternoon’s session ended with Andrea Dovizioso claiming the ninth-best time and he will start from the third row. Free practice in the morning began with the wet track that slowly dried. The JiR Team Scot rider has been able to better interpret the changing conditions and grip levels of the Spanish track and with cut slick tyres concluded the morning with the fifth-best time. The qualifying round of the afternoon began dry, but after just fifteen minutes the first drops of rain began to fall, prompting some teams to use their precious qualifying rubber early. Andrea was able to keep constantly in the top ten and tomorrow will start from the third row, confident that he can get a good result in the race following a good start. Cirano Mularoni Team Manager JiR Team Scot “We once more faced unstable weather conditions today, but we are happy because the team, like yesterday, was able to react quickly and we achieved a good result. In case of bad weather for the race we have some ideas of what to do and use, but with us not having had the opportunity to test things in fully dry conditions, if the weather is like that tomorrow, we will use the warm-up to do this.” Andrea Dovizioso Rider JiR Team Scot MotoGP HONDA RC212V 9th Time: 1’32 “734 “Today was an unusual round of qualifying, disturbed when the rain began to fall after just before it was half complete. This upset the entire test program with race tyres, and we immediately had to use qualifying rubber to avoid being near the back in case the bad weather worsened. In race configuration nobody has been able to do a complete job, and tomorrow if the weather were to maintain stable, we must make the most of warm-up to define our technical choices. This morning we completed the work started yesterday, in wet conditions, and with the wet track I was able to get a good performance. We cannot make a prediction on how things will go if it rains tomorrow either, but in both cases we must make a good start. If we start well, we could make a good race tomorrow.” Gianni Berti Technical Coordinator JiR Team Scot “Even today we managed to get a good result, which is much more indicative of the ninth position in the standings. Between yesterday and today we have defined the possible configurations to be used in case of a race with bad weather. Everyone has found it difficult with very little dry track time, so everyone’s performance in this area is a little bit of an unknown. Tomorrow if it is dry, warm-up will be very interesting indeed.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Stoner grabs ninth pole of the season in Valencia qualifying Round 18: Valencia Qualifying Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia Saturday 25 October 2008 Ducati rider Casey Stoner has taken his ninth pole position of the 2008 season in this afternoon’s Valencia GP qualifying session, taking to twelve the total number of Bridgestone-shod poles this year, double the number that was achieved last year. Stoner’s result will be the final pole position lap to be set using the softer specification ‘qualifiers’ with next year’s tyre regulations looking set to remove the possibility to use specific qualifying tyres. Honda rider Dani Pedrosa claimed his second consecutive front row start on Bridgestone tyres, lapping just 0.053s slower than Stoner’s pole lap. Nicky Hayden, who was the pacesetter in all three practice sessions prior to qualifying, finished in third position. In the 18 qualifying sessions to be held this season, a total of 28 front row starts have been achieved using Bridgestone tyres, scored by six different riders Stoner, Pedrosa, Valentino Rossi, Chris Vermeuelen, Loris Capirossi and John Hopkins. Only two other Bridgestone riders were able to qualify in the top ten this afternoon with Suzuki’s Capirossi in eighth spot and this year’s world champion Rossi in tenth for Yamaha. It has been another difficult day with weather conditions in Valencia with morning rain limiting slick tyre work in free practice and track conditions far from ideal in the dry afternoon qualifying hour. Race preparations have been hampered by the conditions and tomorrow’s tough 30-lap race could spring a few surprises Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development Were you satisfied with the qualifying results today? “I am reasonably satisfied with today’s results. Casey has again shown himself to be the master of qualifying this year with his ninth pole position. It will be the final pole result using qualifying tyres due to the new regulations for next season, so well done to him and Ducati. Dani also had a good session, finishing just a fraction off Casey’s time, and as a result we have another 1-2 grid result. We brought a new qualifying spec to this race with a focus on improved warm-up performance and overall grip levels. The performance was within our expectations but only four of our riders were able to break into the top ten today.” With more wet conditions this morning has Bridgestone been able to work on slick tyre evaluation? “This morning’s session was again wet so we could not conduct any of our usual race preparations for slick tyres. Even in the dry conditions this afternoon it was difficult because spots of rain started to fall and everyone switched their attention to setting qualifying runs in case the rain worsened. I am confident that our slick tyres will be ok if the race is dry but we must hope for a dry warm-up session in the morning to verify this. Like yesterday, I was pleased with the durability of our wet tyres this morning even in the drying conditions, so this is a positive point if we have a wet race on Sunday.” Bridgestone-shod Riders’ Qualifying Session Results Pos. Rider Team Qualifying Time (pos) Gap to Pole P1 Casey Stoner Ducati Corse 1m31.502s Pole P2 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1m31.555s +0.053s P8 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m32.614s +1.112s P10 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m32.962s +1.460s P11 Toni Elias Alice Team 1m32.983s +1.481s P12 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m33.017s +1.515s P13 Sylvain Guintoli Alice Team 1m33.352s +1.850s P14 John Hopkins Kawasaki Racing Team 1m33.681s +2.179s P15 Shinya Nakano San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m33.767s +2.265s P16 Alex de Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m33.848s +2.346s P17 Anthony West Kawasaki Racing Team 1m33.879s +2.377s P18 Marco Melandri Ducati Corse 1m34.174s +2.672s Weather: Dry Air 19°C, Track 18°C (Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: HOPKINS HOPING FOR TOP TEN AT VALENCIA Kawasaki’s John Hopkins has his sights firmly set on a top ten finish at the final Grand Prix of the season in Valencia tomorrow, after qualifying his Ninja ZX-RR in 14th position on the grid. Anthony West will start his final race for Kawasaki from 17th position on the grid, after trailing his teammate home by just two tenths of a second this afternoon. Following yesterday’s wet practice, intermittent rain at the 4km circuit today left the entire MotoGP field with little time to set-up their race machines in dry conditions. The rain began to fall just 10-minutes into the opening session of the day and although a dry line began to appear towards the end of the practice stint, neither Hopkins nor teammate West were able to switch to full slick tyres. Fortunately for the thousands of Spanish race fans lining the circuit, the weather improved slightly for this afternoon’s hour-long, timed session. Using slick tyres for the first time this weekend, the Kawasaki duo opted to begin their qualifying runs early on in the session due to the threat of more rain. Hopkins concentrated on finding a compromise between the rear-traction and agility of his Ninja ZX-RR, as at this circuit the machines are cornering for the majority of the lap. The 25-year-old Anglo-American progressively improved his lap time in race trim, and as the track conditions improved, the Kawasaki pilot ran his final qualifying tyre to set his fastest time of the day on lap 24 of 26, finishing in 14th position on the grid. West also started his qualifying runs early on in the afternoon session, as he too predicted further rain. This gave him little time to adjust himself to a dry set-up, following three-hours of wet practice around the Valencia circuit. As the clouds cleared late on in the session, the 27-year-old Australian improved his qualifying time on his final run on super-sticky rubber, and the Kawasaki-pilot will start tomorrow’s 30-lap race from 17th on the grid. John Hopkins #21 – 14th – 1’33.681 “It’s been an interesting qualifying session today. The track was still wet in places when we first went out, so we just tried to put some laps together to get a feel for the slick tyres in the dry for the first time this weekend. We started our qualifying runs early as it started to rain on circuit, but with no real warm-up, we didn’t put a great lap together. We switched back to race tyres to work on our traction control and engine braking. We wanted to try and get the bike to turn a little bit better, particularly as this circuit requires a great degree of accuracy and agility from rider and machine. We had one final qualifying tyre late on in the session and we went a little bit quicker, but it wasn’t exactly where we were hoping to be for the final race of the year. We have a clear indication of what we need to improve for the race, and I hope it’s dry tomorrow as the aim is to finish inside the top ten.” Anthony West #13 – 17th – 1’33.879 “After all of the rain yesterday and this morning, we have had very little time to set the bike up in the dry. We decided to run the first few qualifying tyres early on in the session, in case conditions deteriorated out on track. This maybe wasn’t the best idea, as it didn’t give us any dry set-up time or a build up in speed for our qualifying runs. After the rain, the end of the session was reasonably dry and we ran a final qualifying tyre, which did improve our time, but we’ve ended up in 17th of the grid. Obviously this has given us a lot of work to do, but my lap time on a race tyre is very similar to John’s, so my main aim will be to try and finish in front of him in my final race for Kawasaki.” Ichiro Yoda Kawasaki Racing Director “The conditions here have been very changeable and this left us with very little time to set the bikes up in the dry. We know exactly where we need to improve for tomorrow, and one of the main areas we have been looking at today is the engine braking of our machine. I think a top ten is achievable for John, and Anthony should be able to run at a similar pace in tomorrow’s race, as their lap times have been fairly close all weekend.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER TAKES NINTH POLE POSITION OF THE SEASON AT VALENCIA Casey Stoner equalled the record for most pole positions in a MotoGP season today, taking his ninth of the campaign to level with Valentino Rossi’s effort from 2003. The Ducati Marlboro Team technicians worked well to correctly judge the difficult track conditions, with spots of rain falling at the mid-point to cause frenetic action in pit-lane. Stoner worked with his team to quickly find a suitable dry setting for his Ducati before fitting three qualifying tyres – improving his lap time with each of them. Marco Melandri, third fastest in the wet conditions this morning, ran into problems again this afternoon and his confidence took a further blow when he ran off track. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) Pole Position in 1’31.502 “That was a really strange session because of the weather but the team did a good job to judge the conditions well and adjust the setting of the bike during the limited dry track time available. It seems this track isn’t as demanding on my wrist as Sepang was because there aren’t as many hard braking areas, although I went out without strapping today and that didn’t turn out to be the best decision. We’ll strap it up tomorrow but I don’t think it will be a problem. It’s important to be on the front row because it is so hard to pass at this circuit and it’s also nice to take the final pole position of the season. Hopefully the weather stays dry – for us and for the incredible fans here.” MARCO MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team) 18th fastest in 1’34.174 “When the times were slower on the wet track this morning I managed to lap amongst the fastest riders without even pushing that hard, but when I did push the old problems returned. I had hardly any feeling with the bike and made a lot of mistakes, including running straight at the final turn but thankfully I managed to slow the bike down before I hit the tyre wall. The situation didn’t improve after that and I didn’t even get qualifiers on, so I’ll be starting from the back tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Tech 3 Yamaha: Edwards and Toseland confident of strong finish Colin Edwards and James Toseland will start tomorrow’s Valencia MotoGP race brimming with confidence after the Tech 3 Yamaha pair narrowly missed a front row start in an exciting final qualifying session of 2008. Bidding to secure fourth place for Tech 3 Yamaha in the coveted Team World Championship tomorrow, Edwards and Toseland will start next to each other in fourth and fifth places respectively for the season-ending 30-lap clash. Texan Edwards claimed his best grid position since the Sachsenring race with a fastest time of 1.32.212, home favourite Dani Pedrosa denying him a first front row start since the German GP in the closing moments. Edwards was rarely out of the top three after he used his first Michelin qualifying tyre shortly after the halfway stage, logging his best time on his second qualifier as he took full advantage of an improved front-end feeling after modifications he made to his Yamaha YZR-M1 machine in Malaysia last weekend. Toseland produced late heroics to claim his second top five grid position in the last three races. The British rider was dropped out of the top ten when he was badly baulked by Marco Melandri at the final corner on his third Michelin qualifier, just as he was poised to elevate himself into the top five. The problem intensified the pressure on Toseland to improve on his last qualifying tyre. The British rider though kept his composure superbly, delivering when it mattered to surge into fourth place with a best lap of 1.32.518. This afternoon’s session was the first to be run in full dry conditions after another rain-hit weekend. With minimal time to find a dry set-up and make a tyre selection for what is expected to be a dry race, tomorrow morning’s warm-up session will be crucial for making last-minute tweaks. Colin Edwards 4th 1.32.212 24 laps “It has been an eventful weekend with the weather and if we get a dry warm-up, it is going to be really important to find a decent setting and pick a race tyre. If the race is dry we might have to rely on Michelin’s knowledge and look over some data. I’m sure they had some other guys running around on different rubber to get a feel for what might work, so I’m confident and they won the race last year. We’ve had a couple of issues in the rain and thankfully our prayers for a dry track this afternoon were answered and it worked out good. I had a good pace going on a couple of race tyres I tried and on the qualifiers it is a case of how much do you want to bite off? I felt good and I was really confident and comfortable with the bike. The change we made with the offset in Sepang has really given me a lot of confidence with the front-end and I can really push with the extra grip of the qualifier. I got fifth on the grid in Malaysia and fourth here, so it shows the improvement was a big step because it was a real struggle to get close to the front row recently. I was hoping for a front row but in the end Dani just bumped me off, but I guess this is his home track and you expect those guys to pull one out at the end. I’ll settle for what I’ve got because I think James and I can really put on a good show for the team tomorrow and secure that fourth in the team championship, which we all want to end on a high.” James Toseland 5th 1.32.518 – 25 laps “I’m really happy to be on the second row at the end because I had to pull a lap out under pressure after Melandri had baulked me at the last corner on my third qualifier. I wasn’t too worried because I thought he was going to start a fast lap, but as we came out of the final corner he didn’t really do anything. That was a bit disappointing but I had to deliver on my last qualifier. When you know it is the last tyre you know you can’t afford to make a mistake, and I did the first split nowhere near as good as I did on the previous tyre when I came across Melandri. The hardest part of this track is the first part because of the speed of the first corner and the preciseness of the second corner. Once you have got that section to the fourth corner done, the circuit flows a bit more, but I wasn’t aggressive enough in the early part. I needed to do a 32 and luckily I managed it. I just hope the warm-up is dry because we need to do some work on the dry set-up, but at least I’ve qualified well and hopefully I can get away with them and see how much grip there is. Any less than the second row and it is very difficult because it so hard to pass at this track. I really want to end the season on a high for the team. I’ve had flashes of brilliance and some disappointing results in my rookie season, so hopefully I’ve got one more flash in me tomorrow. It would be good to end on a high and go into the winter positive for 2009.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: FRONT ROW BERTHS FOR PACEY PEDROSA AND HAYDEN Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) and Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) qualified second and third fastest behind pole-setter Casey Stoner (Ducati) today in this final hour of MotoGP qualifying for the 2008 season. Rain threatened, never quite materialised, but forced riders into unplanned stops for qualifying tyres. Nicky dominated much of the session and topped the timesheets with 15 minutes left on the clock. But Stoner timed his charge well and after putting in a 1m 31.934s lap to head the grid, he improved to a 1m 31.502s time with five minutes to go. This lap was not bettered despite typically intense efforts from the Honda men. Dani ended the session a mere 0.053 seconds off the Aussie’s time for his ninth front row start of the season. And his consistently quick times suggest that he will be well in contention in tomorrow’s race. Nicky too is only 0.2 seconds off the pole mark and he looks likely to be a major factor in his last race for Repsol Honda. Hayden wasted little time in displacing early pace-setter Shinya Nakano (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V). The Japanese ace crashed later in the session ruining his hopes of a significant qualifying performance in his last ride for the Gresini Team. He ended the session 15th fastest. Pedrosa took his time getting himself dialed-in, but when he did it was to haul himself from ninth to a provisional second with a 1m 34.195s lap after 15 minutes. Nakano still held a front row slot in third as droplets of rain began to fall and riders pitted to fit sticky qualifying tyres in case the weather worsened. Ducati satellite rider Sylvain Guintoli snatched second during this unsettled period, but at the halfway point the order was Hayden, Colin Edwards (Yamaha) and Stoner on the front row. Dani lay sixth and Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) headed row three as seventh quickest rider. Nicky then dropped his time down to a 1m 32.468s lap before qualifying tyres appeared again for the final twenty minutes. Stoner then put his stamp on proceedings with a preliminary 1m 31.934s time and then one marginal improvement before culmination in a 1m 31.502s pole lap. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V), despite an early crash, was rarely out of the top ten throughout and his second row start from sixth on the grid is ample reward for his brave rides through the pain barrier while nursing an injured wrist. This is the Frenchman’s tenth top six start of the season. Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Scot Honda RC212V) had been methodically getting to grips with things, albeit some way off the front row pace, but the Italian star consolidated ninth for a third row start within the final five minutes. He had run as high as sixth before the final fifteen minutes. Dani, second fastest, said: “Finally, it looked like we might get a dry session this afternoon. The hour started dry but then it started raining again, which spoiled the work we had planned trying different race tyres. I wanted to continue working with race tyres, preparing for the race, but we made an early switch to qualifying tyres to make sure of a good grid position for tomorrow, in case it started raining more heavily. We were only able to try one race tyre this afternoon, so we will need a good warm-up and then we’ll need to think very carefully about which tyres we’ll run in the race.” Nicky, on the front row for the third time in four races, said: “We were close but close don’t count, I guess! We shouldn’t be too bummed-out though, because we’re on the front row. It was pretty obvious that we really wanted to be on pole. We’ve been fastest all weekend, the bike is working good and the team did a great job when it started sprinkling, getting one bike ready with qualifiers early on. It was quite a tough session, going to qualifiers and then back to race tyres. I didn’t get the lap time I needed, so I’m a little frustrated because it would’ve been cool to give Michelin a pole position for their last MotoGP race.” Sixth-placed De Puniet said: “It was a good last qualifying of the season but honestly I was expecting something better. Unfortunately I lost the front on my second run out after six laps but luckily I saved my wrist from further injury. After that we lost some track time but we fixed our tyre choice for the race and started to set good lap times on qualifiers. Starting from the second row is very important as nobody really knows the weather forecast for tomorrow.” Dovi, ninth fastest, said: “Today was an unusual round of qualifying, when the rain began to fall. This upset the entire test programme with race tyres, and we immediately had to use qualifying rubber to avoid being near the back in case the bad weather worsened. In race configuration nobody has been able to do a complete job, and tomorrow if the weather remains stable, we’ll make the most of warm-up to define our technical choices. This morning we completed the work started yesterday, in wet conditions, and with the wet track I was able to get a good performance. We can’t make a prediction on how things will go tomorrow either, but in both cases we must make a good start.” Nakano, 15th, said: “This was the final qualifying session of the season and I pushed as hard as I could. My pace at the start was really good but unfortunately on the second qualifying tyre I lost the front in turn four and crashed. Maybe the tyre wasn’t up to temperature. At that point I returned to the box as quick as I could and got back out on the second bike but I couldn’t make any significant improvement because of the traffic on the track. Obviously I’m disappointed because it’s a repeat of the situation in Malaysia last week, when everything was going well but messed up at the end.” His team-mate De Angelis, 16th, said: “It has been a really difficult day for lots of reasons, from the weather to the bike setting. We went into qualifying without having ridden the bike in the dry and even though I went well at the start, running in the top six or seven, I wasn’t able to improve on a qualifying tyre. Anyway, on race tyres my pace isn’t bad and the obvious plan is to try to get a good start and make up some positions.” 250cc Reigning World Champion Marco Simoncelli (Gilera) took pole with a last gasp lap of 1m 35.408s to rob Alex Debon (Aprilia) of what would have been his third pole of the year. Julian Simon (KTM) qualified third with Mika Kallio completing the front row (both KTM). Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT SAG RS250RW) was in rapid form again despite crashing twice in the tricky wet conditions yesterday. The tearaway Thai took seventh place on the grid for his second best qualifying ride of the year. Yuki Takahashi (JiR Scot Honda RS250RW) qualified tenth. Wilairot said: “I feel good, even though I crashed yesterday, twice both high-sides. In the night I had some trouble with my back but it was OK this morning. The bike is fast and the settings really good, I know which tyres I will use so everything is almost perfect. Today I was 0.4 seconds faster here than I was last year, so I have to be very happy with my performance. The race will be hard and I know I need a good start to stay with the group. It’ll be tough because there are lots of Spanish riders in this race.” Takahashi said: “I’m not happy with tenth, it doesn’t show our true potential here, or how hard we’re trying. I had the speed to run alone for a quick lap but there always seemed to be traffic. We didn’t get much dry set-up time but what we settled on for the wet is good. We’ll try some more changes in warm-up tomorrow and try to earn ourselves a bottle of champagne in the race.” 125cc Gabor Talmacsi secured his fourth pole of the season with a 1m 41.451s lap and the Hungarian former World Champion will start his final 125cc race from the top slot. His team-mate Sergio Gadea qualified second fastest with Simone Corsi third quickest and Nico Terol completing the front row (all Aprilia). British star Bradley Smith (Aprilia) heads the second row and this season’s World Champion Mike Di Meglio (Derbi) also starts from row two as seventh fastest man. Cyril Carrillo (FFM Racing Honda RS125R), injured in Malaysia, did not start. He was replaced by the previous FFM incumbent Louis Rossi who qualified 35.th He said: “I haven’t been on a racetrack for two months and it’s difficult to catch the pace again. But it’s great to be back on the Grand Prix scene and I’m trying my best. I’m four seconds slower than pole position, which is not so bad. Of course, I wish I could have qualified in a better position but we will keep working tomorrow in the warm-up and hopefully things will work out for the race.” GP Valencia, qualifying quotes: October 25, 2008. Honda rider quotes. MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 2nd 1m 31.555s. “Finally, it looked like we might get a dry session this afternoon. The hour started dry but then it started raining again, which spoiled the work we had planned focusing on trying different race tyres. I wanted to continue working with race tyres, preparing for the race, but we made an early switch to qualifying tyres to make sure of a good grid position for tomorrow, in case it started raining more heavily. Finally we made the front row, quite close to pole, and the front row is particularly important at this track. We were only able to try one race tyre this afternoon, so we will need a good warm-up and then we will need to think very carefully about which tyres we will run in the race. I hope we can have a dry race tomorrow, not only for us but also for all the tens of thousands of fans who always pack the grandstands here.” Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 3rd 1m 31.703s. “We were close but close don’t count, I guess! We shouldn’t be too bummed out though, because we’re on the front row. It was pretty obvious that we really wanted to be on pole, we’ve been fastest all weekend, the bike is working good and the team did a great job when it started sprinkling, getting one bike ready with qualifiers early on. It was quite a tough session, going to qualifiers and then back to race tyres. On my last qualifying run I did a 32.0 on my first lap and I knew it was going to be tough to get into 31s. I really pushed hard, really hung it out, but the bike was just moving around too much to be fast. The best I could do was a 31.7. I definitely pushed as hard as I could, though maybe I should’ve got the tyre a bit hotter on the out lap. It’s always a compromise sometimes you get it too hot and sometimes you don’t get it hot enough. I didn’t get the lap time I needed, so I’m a little frustrated because it would’ve been cool to give Michelin a pole position for their last MotoGP race. But we’ve got a good bike and a good set-up, so we’ll just try to go for it in the race. I didn’t get to do many laps on race tyres, what with the drizzle and the qualifiers. I’ve only tried a couple of race tyres, so we’ll definitely talk to Michelin and use every bit of morning warm-up to get the information we need to make our tyre choice.” Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda: 6th 1m 32.572s. “It was a good last qualifying of the season but honestly I was expecting something better. Unfortunately I lost the front on my second run out after six laps but luckily I saved my wrist from the incident. After that we lost some track time but we fixed our tyres choice for the race and started to set good lap times on qualifiers. Starting from the second row is very important as nobody really knows the weather forecast for tomorrow. I feel a bit worried about my wrist but will do the best to get the best result so far”. Andrea Dovizioso, JiR Scot Honda: 9th 1m 32.734s. “Today was an unusual round of qualifying, disturbed when the rain began to fall after just before it was half complete. This upset the entire test program with race tyres, and we immediately had to use qualifying rubber to avoid being near the back in case the bad weather worsened. In race configuration nobody has been able to do a complete job, and tomorrow if the weather were to maintain stable, we must make the most of warm-up to define our technical choices. This morning we completed the work started yesterday, in wet conditions, and with the wet track I was able to get a good performance. We cannot make a prediction on how things will go if it rains tomorrow either, but in both cases we must make a good start. If we start well, we could make a good race tomorrow.” Shinya Nakano, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 15th 1m 33.767s. “This was the final qualifying session of the season and I pushed as hard as I could. My pace at the start was really good but unfortunately on the second qualifying tyre I lost the front in turn four and crashed. Maybe the tyre wasn’t up to temperature. At that point I returned to the box as quick as I could and got back out on the second bike but I couldn’t make any significant improvement because of the traffic on the track. Obviously I am disappointed because it’s a repeat of the situation in Malaysia last week, when everything was going well but messed up at the end. Anyway, the race is tomorrow and I’ll be trying to repeat my performance from Brno and Sepang, with another good result.” Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 16th – 1m 33.848s. “It has been a really difficult day for lots of reasons, from the weather to the bike setting. We went into qualifying without having ridden the bike in the dry and even though I went well at the start, running in the top six or seven, I wasn’t able to improve on a qualifying tyre. Anyway, on race tyres my pace isn’t bad and the obvious plan is to try to get a good start and make up some positions.” 250cc: Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT SAG: 7th – 1m 36.568s “I feel good, even though I crashed yesterday, twice both hi-side crashes. In the night I had some trouble with my back during the night but it was OK this morning. The bike is fast and the settings really good, I know which tyres I will use so everything is almost perfect. Today I was 0.4 seconds faster than I was last year and this track and it was also in worse condition so I have to be very happy with my performance. The race will be hard and I know I need a good start to stay with the group, it will be tough because there are many Spanish riders in the race.” Yukio Takahashi, JiR Scot Honda: 10th 1m 36.654s. “I’m not happy with today’s result, because tenth position is not one that represents our effort and speed. I could have done better, but when I was on track heading for a quick time I encountered other riders that got in my way. I wanted to run alone, because I had a speed margin over many other riders even though we have not had much time to develop the bike in dry conditions. In wet configuration we managed to find a good setting for the suspension but the track when it is wet is very slippery. Tomorrow in the warm-up we will have a little time to make some final adjustments, and I think we could have a good race, as the leaders aren’t very far away. Valencia is a track that I like and I would make a nice gift to the team, maybe another bottle of champagne!” 125cc: Louis Rossi, FFM Honda: 35th 1m 45.380s. “I haven’t been on a racetrack since two months and it’s kind of difficult to catch the pace again. But it’s a great feeling to be back on the Grand Prix scene and I¹m trying my best. I’m four seconds slower than pole position, which is not so bad. It rained yesterday for the first day of practice. I crashed in the first session soon after my warm-up lap, and in the afternoon I was able to follow riders such as Rabat and Folger. It was interesting and I learned quite a few things. But the track was slippery and I crashed, like many other riders. Fortunately it happened in the closing stages of the session, in my last lap. Today the rain ceased but this morning some lines were still damp. For the last qualifying session this afternoon the track was almost dry except for a few damp patches and I was careful. Of course, I wish I could have qualified in a better position but we will keep working tomorrow in the warm-up and hopefully things will work out for the race.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: DE PUNIET SIXTH FASTEST FOR THE 2008 SEASON FINAL QUALYFYING AT VALENCIA TRACK Valencia, 25 October: LCR Honda MotoGP Team rider Randy De Puniet made solid progress today getting the sixth fastest time overall in the qualifying session for the Comunitat Valenciana Grand Prix that gets underway tomorrow at 14:00 local time. After this morning damp free session, the weather improved for the 60-minutes afternoon qualifying session at the 4.005 km Spanish track with ambience temperature of 19°C and the Frenchman aboard the Michelin-shod Honda RC212V posted his best lap time of 1’32.572 on lap 25 of 27 obtaining the second row for tomorrow’s 30-lap race. De Puniet, like some other premier class riders, crashed out because of the slippery conditions but he escaped unhurt from the incident gaining the second row for the tenth time this year. Stoner set the fastest lap time (1’31.502) followed by Pedrosa and Hayden. De Puniet 6th: “It was a good last qualifying of the season but honestly I was expecting something better. Unfortunately I lost the front on my second run out after 6 laps but luckily I saved my wrist from the incident. After that we lost some track time but we fixed our tyres choice for the race and started to set good lap times on qualifiers. Starting from the second row is very important as nobody really knows the weather for tomorrow. I feel a bit worried about my wrist but will do the best to get the best result so far”. More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: ROSSI WITH WORK TO DO IN SEASON FINALE 2008 MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi faces a tough task in his quest to win his tenth race of the season tomorrow after a below-par qualifying performance left him on the fourth row in Valencia. The Italian will start from tenth with his Fiat Yamaha team-mate, Jorge Lorenzo, directly ahead of him on the grid in seventh. After yesterday’s downpour this morning’s session was a little drier but still very cold, with Rossi finishing in fourth. This afternoon temperatures increased but the Italian and his team struggled throughout the session to find a good set-up for their M1 at this tight and twisty track. With the skies looking threatening Rossi began his qualifying sequence earlier than usual but his set-up problems persisted on the softer Bridgestone qualifying rubber and he was unable to set a fast enough time, meaning he will start from the head of the fourth row tomorrow in tomorrow’s 30-lap race. Valentino Rossi Position: 10th Time: 1’32.962 Laps: 26 “Today was not one of my best days; I think one of the hardest we’ve had all year! Yesterday in the wet we were okay but in the dry today we couldn’t find the right setting and I was finding it especially hard on the exit of the corner, which meant I was then losing a lot of time in acceleration. Unfortunately we couldn’t improve much with the qualifying tyres and so now we must start from tenth tomorrow. At the moment with the setting as it is I think we might only be able to finish eighth so now we need to work very hard to try to find a way to be competitive tomorrow!. We have been in this situation before though so it is not the end of the world and we will try to find a good setting in warm-up, get a good start and then have some fun! It seems that my battle with Valencia is continuing, so far she is winning but I will try to change that tomorrow!” David Brivio Team Manager “We have a hard job ahead of us tomorrow because starting from the fourth row here is not easy. However hopefully we have set up another exciting race! Today’s conditions were difficult because it was quite cold and we couldn’t get the setting right to enable us to properly use our qualifying tyre. Now we have to analyse the data tonight and use the warm-up well. Our target is now to give Valentino a good enough bike to let him enjoy the race and then we know that the rest will come from him.” More, from another press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: LORENZO STRUGGLES TO FIND SET-UP FOR VALENCIA CLOSER Jorge Lorenzo endured a difficult qualifying session in Valencia today and will launch the final challenge of his rookie season from seventh on the grid. His Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi meanwhile had an equally troublesome day and will start from tenth, directly behind Lorenzo. This morning’s session was run in damp conditions that gave way to a light rain shower at one point, and with temperatures very low Lorenzo and his crew were unable to find a good balance between bike and tyres and finished in 14th. They were confident of improvements this afternoon in the dry but it was not to be and the first part of the session saw the young Spaniard lapping four seconds off the leaders. He made some headway as time went on but is still lacking grip and confidence in the corners, a problem the team will be looking to address in tomorrow’s warm-up. Lorenzo, whose target for tomorrow is to secure the title of leading rookie, was nonetheless able to make a slight improvement with qualifying tyres and will start from the head of the third row when the lights go out for the 30-lap season finale. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 7th Time: 1’32.594 Laps: 26 “We don’t really know what happened here today. At the start of the practice I was four seconds slower than the top riders and this is really too much! I couldn’t ride how I wanted and it is quite frustrating here, because I really want to finish with a good race. Anyway now we need to look at the data and work out what is going on, I have confidence in my team that we will find a way. We also need to work on the tyres with Michelin because at the moment I don’t have the grip or confidence that I need and we haven’t really had enough dry time to find the right balance. It will be hard tomorrow but I will try to start fast and pass some riders and then see what I can do.” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “This was a very difficult session for us and we didn’t expect to have so many problems here, at a circuit at which we have already tested at the end of 2007. We are struggling to find rear grip and because of this Jorge doesn’t have enough confidence on the entry to the corner. Now we need to analyse the data carefully in order to help us understand the problem and then we will have to use the warm-up as well as possible. Hopefully we will find a setting which will allow us to have the race that Jorge and the team deserve tomorrow.”