FIM MotoGP World Championship Sepang, Malaysia September 9, 2006 Grid After Combined Practice Sessions: 1. Valentino Rossi (Yam YZR-M1), 2:00.605, Michelin 2. Nicky Hayden (Hon RC211V), 2:01.043, Michelin 3. Lori Capirossi (Duc GP06), 2:01.167, Bridgestone 4. Kenny Roberts (KR211V), 2:01.898, Michelin 5. Dani Pedrosa (Hon RC211V), 2:02.021, Michelin 6. Sete Gibernau (Duc GP06), 2:02.181, Bridgestone 7. Randy de Puniet (Kaw ZX-RR), 1:02.313, Bridgestone 8. John Hopkins (Suz GSV-R), 2:02.453, Bridgestone 9. Marco Melandri (Hon RC211V), 2:02.560, Michelin 10. Casey Stoner (Hon RC211V), 2:02.790, Michelin 11. Colin Edwards (Yam YZR-M1), 2:02.800, Michelin 12. Shinya Nakano (Kaw ZX-RR), 2:02.832, Bridgestone 13. Makoto Tamada (Hon RC211V), 2:02.918, Michelin 14. Toni Elias (Hon RC211V), 2:03.102, Michelin 15. Carlos Checa (Yam YZR-M1), 2:03.123, Dunlop 16. Chris Vermeulen (Suz GSV-R), 2:03.285, Bridgestone 17. Alex Hofmann (Duc GP05), 2:04.706, Dunlop 18. James Ellison (Yam YZR-M1), 2:05.023, Dunlop 19. Jose Luis Cardoso (Duc GP05), 2:05.958, Dunlop 250cc Grand Prix Qualifying #1 1. Hector Barbera (Aprilia), 2:08.266 2. Jorge Lorenzo (Aprilia), 2:08.404 3. Hiroshi Aoyama (KTM), 2:08.566 4. Roberto Locatelli (Aprilia), 2:08.902 5. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda), 2:08.945 6. Alex de Angelis (Aprilia), 2:09.104 7. Shuhei Aoyama (Honda), 2:09.414 8. Martin Cardenas (Honda), 2:09.415 9. Yuki Takahashi (Honda), 2:09.583 10. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia), 2:09.769 125cc Grand Prix Qualifying: 1. Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia), 2:12.846 2. Mika Kallio (KTM), 2:13.974 3. Mattia Pasini (Aprilia), 2:14.121 4. Joan Olive (Aprilia), 2:14.681 5. Hector Faubel (Aprilia), 2:14.711 6. Nicolas Terol (Derbi), 2:14.964 7. Lukas Pesak (Derbi), 2:15.043 8. Fabrizio Lai (Honda), 2:15.078 9. Tomoyoshi Koyama (Malaguti), 2:15.349 10. Sandro Cortese (Honda), 2:15.402 More, from a press release issued by Fortuna Honda: THE QUALIFYING PRACTICES ARE CANCELLED BECAUSE OF THE RAIN Marco Melandri and Toni Elias will start in third and fifth row tomorrow. The second day of the Malaysian GP was characterized by heavy rain that started to fall around lunch time and spoiled the qualifying practices that were postponed several times waiting for the track to dry. At 4.15 pm the Race Direction decided to cancel the Qualifying Practices for security reasons. The starting grid will be decided according to the best times scored by the riders in the three free practice sessions. The Fortuna Honda riders will start tomorrow in 9th and 14th positions. MARCO MELANDRI (9th, 2’02″560): “It was a strange day. I’m disappointed because during the three practice sessions we worked in preparation of the race using always race tyres. I would have preferred to decide my grid position on track, that’s why I have suggested to extend of 10 minutes tomorrow the warm up so that we could have done warm up and qualifying. I respect the Race Direction’s decision but I have been penalized because I didn’t use the qualifying tyres this morning”. TONI ELIAS (14th, 2’03″102): “This morning we did a good job focusing on suspensions and chassis. Unfortunately this afternoon we couldn’t confirm our work. I’m sorry because without the afternoon practices I couldn’t improve my grid position. Tomorrow I will start from the fifth row which makes my race very difficult. I’m sorry but I will do my best to get a good result”. More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing: QUALIFYING ABANDONED AS TORRENTIAL RAIN HITS SEPANG Kawasaki’s Randy de Puniet will start tomorrow’s 21-lap Malaysian Grand Prix from seventh place on the grid, after unique circumstances at Sepang saw this afternoon’s qualifying session abandoned due to torrential rain. But while de Puniet was relatively satisfied with his starting position, his Kawasaki teammate, Shinya Nakano, was disappointed to find himself placed twelfth on the grid, at a track that he rates as one of his favourites. After three dry free practice sessions for the MotoGP class, the rain that had been threatening for the past three days finally arrived with a vengeance, shortly before an already delayed qualifying session was due to get underway. With standing water quickly building up on track under the onslaught from the elements, race direction had no option but to delay qualifying again, in the hope that the weather would improve and the track drain quickly enough for the all-important timed session to get underway. But, despite the torrential rain gradually easing and allowing the standing water – which was ankle deep in some places – to drain quickly from most of the track, qualifying was abandoned after a delay of two hours. Race control cited safety concerns, due to water running across the track at turn five, as the reason for the abandonment. As a result, the final grid positions for tomorrow’s 21-lap Malaysian Grand Prix were calculated using the fastest time of each rider over the course of the three free practice sessions, all of which were run in the dry. This method of calculation favoured those riders who’d run qualifying tyres during free practice. And while Randy de Puniet is happy that the decision will see him start tomorrow from seventh place, and the head of the third row, Shinya Nakano was disappointed to find himself placed twelfth, and facing a start from the fourth row, after staying on race tyres for all three free practice sessions. Randy de Puniet: 7th – 2’02.313 “We decided to run a qualifying tyre this morning, just so I could get a feel for it at this track, and that obviously gave us something of an advantage when they calculated the grid positions after abandoning qualifying. On the other hand, the bike and the tyres were working well this morning, with no recurrence of the braking problem I had yesterday, and I like to think that I could have finished higher than seventh if qualifying had gone ahead as planned. I need to get a good start tomorrow, and it’s important that I carry the speed all the way into the first turn, as this is the best way of holding the right line through the corner. Overall, I’m happy with the progress we made during today’s free practice session, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s race.” Shinya Nakano: 12th – 2’02.832 “With hindsight it is easy to say we should have run a qualifying tyre during free practice, like some of the other riders did, but it’s impossible to account for every eventuality. As far as I know, this is the first time qualifying has been abandoned and this method used to calculate grid positions, but we have to live with the decision. Despite having to start tomorrow’s race from the fourth row of the grid, I think it’s still possible to leave here with a good result. I’m fairly happy with the bike, and also the tyre options for tomorrow’s race, so I guess it’s just going to be a case of getting the best start I can, and then getting my head down and pushing hard for the best result possible.” Harald Eckl: Team Principal “It’s unfortunate that qualifying had to be abandoned, but there was obviously a problem with the track and safety is, of course, paramount. Some riders, like Shinya, have been unlucky because they chose not to run a qualifier during free practice, while others may be higher up the grid than they would normally expect. But, I’m pretty sure this won’t have a major effect on tomorrow’s race results. I just hope that the rain doesn’t return tomorrow, as it would not be good for MotoGP if we had to abandon the race because of the same problem we experienced with water running across the track today.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Marlboro: DUCATI MARLBORO MEN LOOKING GOOD DESPITE TROPICAL Ducati Marlboro Team riders Loris Capirossi and Sete Gibernau will start tomorrow’s Marlboro Malaysian Grand Prix from the first and second rows of the grid. Their qualifying positions were taken from the first three practice sessions after this afternoon’s qualifying session was cancelled following a monumental tropical monsoon. The session was delayed while track workers tried to clear standing water from the track but at 4.15pm the decision was taken to call off the outing for safety reasons. Despite the interruption to their usual race preparation schedule, Capirossi and Gibernau are quietly confident about tomorrow’s race. Capirossi clocked his quickest lap this morning, confirming his impressive race pace with a lightning-fast run. Gibernau, ready for his first race in seven weeks, also rode his best lap this morning and also completed a consistently fast run. LORIS CAPIROSSI, 3rd fastest, 2m 01.167s “The Race Direction took the correct decision to cancel qualifying because the conditions were too bad. Although the track was dry in some places, the water was deep in other areas of the track where the ground was so waterlogged that it couldn’t absorb the rain. We do over 300km/h at this circuit, so to ride in these conditions would have been too dangerous. Anyway, I’m happy because I ran a consistently fast pace on race tyres this morning, including 12 consecutive laps inside last year lap record. I have a very good package for the dry and if it’s raining it will be the same for everyone. I haven’t had any problems in the rain so far this year, so I don’t see why we should have any worries here.” SETE GIBERNAU, 6th fastest, 2m 02.181s “That was a really tough qualifying session, I’m totally beat! But seriously, this morning wasn’t so bad, we were in the leading pack until a few guys threw in qualifiers, but I didn’t use one. The race is going to be physically hard, because I’m a little out of shape and I can’t really stress the bone. I’ve not been able to ride a bike for a couple of months, so I need all the sessions I could get because riding is my training! My goal is to try and finish the race, I can do four or five laps not so bad, then I start struggling.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: ROSSI ON POLE AFTER HEAVY RAIN HALTS MOTOGP QUALIFYING Two incidents at the Sepang Circuit threw the qualification process for tomorrow’s Marlboro Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix into uncertainty today, with the eventual cancellation of the final MotoGP and 250cc official qualifying sessions. The day was already running just behind schedule as a result of a delay in the 125cc morning practice session, when a number of riders’ sliding off on the first lap led to Race Direction and the Riders’ Safety Commission’s appearance to inspect and clean the track. However, there was an even longer delay following a downpour of torrential rain during the 250cc free practice session, which eventually led to the cancellation of any further action at the Asian Circuit. Race Direction were quick to issue a statement, announcing that after inspections at various locations around the circuit, they had decided to cancel both the MotoGP Qualifying Practice and the 250cc second Qualifying Practice due to safety reasons created by the earlier rainstorms. Thus it will be Valentino Rossi who will line up for tomorrow’s Marlboro Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix on pole position, achieved by virtue of his being the fastest lap from all three free practices. This leaves championship leader Nicky Hayden and Loris Capirossi alongside Rossi on the front row for what promises to be a battle royale should the rain stay away. Meanwhile, Kenny Roberts Jr. heads up row two, with walking wounded Dani Pedrosa alongside him. Pedrosa had to have five stitches in a deep cut on his knee yesterday afternoon and with limited movement in his leg he was slowest after eighteen laps in this morning’s final free practice. Sete Gibernau will occupy the final slot on the second row next to him, with the top ten rounded off by Randy de Puniet, John Hopkins, Marco Melandri and Casey Stoner. 250cc The cancellation of the second 250cc qualifying session provided a slightly different scenario for the quarter-litre grid. The results of yesterday’s first qualifier were used to make up the rider’s positions, resulting in a second pole position of the season for Hector Barbera. Barbera will be joined by his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo on the front row, alongside Hiroshi Aoyama and Roberto Locatelli. Further back, Andrea Dovizioso, Alex de Angelis, Shuhei Aoyama and Martin Cardenas line up on row two. 125cc Although the session wasn’t officially cancelled as the rain began to fall, very few riders took to the track during the final 125cc qualifying session. Alvaro Bautista took his fifth pole position of 2006 at the Sepang Circuit, using his time from yesterday’s opening qualifying practice. The heavy rain meant that nearly every rider elected to stay in their garage this afternoon rather than risk taking on the wet track. The runaway 125cc World Championship leader will be joined on the front row by Mika Kallio, Mattia Pasini and Joan Olive, whilst row 2 comprises Hector Faubel, Nico Terol, Lukas Pesek and a brave Fabrizio Lai, one of the few to take to the track in the second qualifying session. Tomorrow’s races will take place an hour later than usual, with MotoGP set to start at 3pm local time (7am GMT), 250cc at 1.15pm, and 125cc at 12.00pm. More, from a press release issued by Camel Yamaha: ROSSI ON POLE AFTER TROPICAL WASHOUT AT SEPANG Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi will start from pole position for the second consecutive race tomorrow after a tropical downpour forced the cancellation of this afternoon’s MotoGP qualifying session at Sepang. With several sections of circuit still several inches underwater even after the rain had ceased, the riders were forced through an agonising wait before Race Direction decided to base the grid line-up on the best times of each rider from the three previous free practice sessions. A stunning pole record lap from the Italian this morning was therefore enough to put him at the front of the pack for the thirteenth round of the championship, which takes place one hour later than usual tomorrow, at 3pm local time. Whilst the weather played into the hands of Rossi it was a different story for his team-mate Colin Edwards, who had been hoping for more dry track time to improve his pace aboard the YZR-M1 after struggling to find an adequate set-up yesterday. Edwards made some progress this morning and was hoping for further improvement in the afternoon but he will now have to focus on tomorrow’s warm-up session before starting the race from eleventh place. Rossi will be joined on the front row of the grid by series leader Nicky Hayden (Honda) and Loris Capirossi (Ducati). VALENTINO ROSSI (1st 2’00.605; 23 laps) “I don’t know if it is harder to go and ride in those conditions or stand around waiting for two hours in your leathers! Seriously though the safety was the most important issue today there was a lot of water on the track and the conditions were very bad. At two or three points it was like a river running across the surface and the water was very deep. As a member of the MotoGP Safety Commission I spoke with Race Direction and I also went down pit-lane to chat with the other riders and we all agreed that the best thing was to not ride, not just because of the water but also the limited vision. You couldn’t even see turn one at one point! I think that shows everybody is sensible and the situation has changed from ten years ago the riders now have more power over these situations and that is a good thing. This morning the bike was really good and I was able to ride it at 100% and use the tyres properly. We went back more towards the setting we found in pre-season here and straight away I was able to set some fast times. We even had time to try a qualifying tyre and I suppose I was lucky we did that after what happened in the afternoon. We have a few options for the race tyre but we’ll wait and see what the weather is like tomorrow before deciding hopefully it will be dry.” COLIN EDWARDS (11th 2’02.800; 22 laps) “The weather has really messed things up for me today! Valentino found the magical set-up this morning, which was much closer to the set-up we used at the tests in January, and our plan was to try it this afternoon. Unfortunately the rain put paid to that and, having not used a qualifying tyre like Valentino did this morning, we’re now going to have to start from 11th on the grid – which is not ideal to say the least. Now we’re going to have to do what we hoped to do this afternoon in the warm-up tomorrow and hope that we can get everything sorted in just twenty minutes. Then it’s going to be a case of getting my head down and trying to fight my way through the pack.” DAVIDE BRIVIO CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR “What a strange day! It was a good morning practice for Valentino he made a big improvement with the bike and tested a qualifying tyre, which helped us in the strange situation this afternoon. He made a great lap time but his general pace shows that the steps made with the bike are in the right direction. We are happy about that and now we feel confident about tomorrow, it is good to be on pole again. Unfortunately Colin wasn’t helped by the weather because we feel he could have improved his grid position but he didn’t get the chance to do that so it’s a shame it was a good and bad day for us from that perspective. The weather might be a problem tomorrow too if the storms come back so now we are all just hoping for nice weather when we open the curtains tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac D’Antin: HOFMANN E CARDOSO READY FOR THE RACE IN SEPANG The qualifying session of the thirteenth round of the 2006 MotoGP World Championship in Sepang was cancelled due to safety reasons created by extremely heavy rainstorms. Race Direction made the decision to line up the riders on the grid according to the riders’ fastest lap times from the three Free Practice sessions which were held yesterday and today. ALEX HOFMANN will start from the 17th position, with a best time of 2’04.706, while Jose Luis Cardoso will start from 19th, with a 2’05.958. The German rider, who is motivated and ready to race, will try to confirm his presence in the World Championship by increasing his standing in the points, while the Spaniard’s aim is to achieve a good result for a positive end to the season. The race will start tomorrow at 14:00 (08.00 hrs GMT). ALEX HOFMANN #66 (17° – 2’04.706): “I want to race in wet conditions, because I really like it. We have already found the best set-up for us during the three free practice sessions and tomorrow we will try to exploit that in spite of the inconsistent traction from the rear. The tyre we chose for the race gives me more consistent performance so I’ll try to do my best to achieve important points.” JOSED LUIS CARDOSO #30 (19° – 2’05.958): “We are ready for the race whether we ride under wet conditions or dry. The setting of the bike is clear, but we still have grip problems. I want to have a good race tomorrow, regardless, and gather some important points.” EMANUELE MARTINELLI Chief Mechanic for Alex Hofmann: “We found the best set-up possible during the free practices. The bike and suspension are working well, but we still do not have the grip that will maximize our performance capability. Tomorrow we will check some last details during the warmup and make minor adjustments in order to have a good race.” More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing: HAYDEN ON FRONT ROW AS RAIN RUINS QUALIFYING The timed MotoGP qualifying session was cancelled due to torrential rain here in Malaysia and the grid for tomorrow’s will be formed from the order riders finished in the three free training sessions. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) will start from pole, with second fastest man Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC211V) alongside him and Loris Capirossi (Ducati) completing the front row. The rain lashing the Sepang track was so heavy that even this circuit’s vast drainage ditches couldn’t cope with the deluge. Rivers of rainwater spumed across the asphalt and race control deemed it impossible to run the session in these conditions. The final 125cc and 250cc sessions were also cancelled, the first timed sessions in those classes deciding the grid order. The most significant event besides the cancellation that deprived improving riders of elevating their grid positions is perhaps the injury sustained by Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC211V) on Friday when he high-sided his machine and injured his right knee. Dani fell at turn 13 when he lost the front-end of his RC211V and then hit his knee on the kerb triggering a high-side that resulted in a visit to the medical centre for four stitches in the knee. But he is expected to ride tomorrow and will start from the second row of the grid as fifth fastest qualifier. Nicky’s hard work paid off in what was to prove the last MotoGP qualifying session when he hoisted himself from 11th to what looked like a provisional second and what proved to be an eventual second when the elements conspired to finalise the provisional standings. Kenny Roberts (Roberts KR211V) has sustained the fine form he and the Honda-powered Roberts machine have shown since Catalunya way back in June. He lines up on the second row as fourth fastest man here, albeit 1.293 seconds shy of Rossi’s pole time of 2m 00.605 seconds. Marco Melandri (Fortuna Honda RC211V) starts from row three as ninth fastest man. The Italian title contender fell without injury in free training and will start the race knowing he has to keep the riders ahead if him in sight with a rapid getaway if he is to make the most of a race where he needs a podium at the very least to keep his Championship hopes alive. Casey Stoner (LCR Honda RC211V) starts from the fourth row in tenth, while Makoto Tamada (Konica Minolta Honda RC211V) qualified 13th and Toni Elias (Fortuna Honda RC211V) 14th. But not all riders are happy with the method used to decide the grid for such a critical race in terms of the World Championship and Melandri is militating for an extended combined warm-up and qualifying session tomorrow morning. It is more likely, however, that the existing grid order will be retained. Hayden said, “It’s good to be on the front row, especially if it rains. I think maybe the grid should have been decided on Championship points no I’m joking. If I’d have been ninth I’m sure I wouldn’t have been so happy but perhaps we have to come up with something in the rule book to make things clear in this situation. Hopefully tomorrow we can make it up to the fans and put on a good show for them because there were some die-hard fans who waited around all day and got teased a few times when the bikes would fire up only for the session to be cancelled.” Dani said, “This afternoon I think for the first time in my career the rain has brought me luck! I couldn’t have imagined starting from fifth position if it had been a dry qualifying session, so that was a big present for me. This morning I was just testing my performance on the bike for sure it wasn’t 100 per cent but I was able to ride and change gear OK. It felt so-so not really bad, but not so good either. I don’t know about my race pace. I think the bike set-up is about ready although I haven’t had time to test all the race tyres I would have liked to.” Kenny “I’d been testing qualifying tyres in free practice for some time everybody does. I did two laps on mine, though they’re only supposed to do one. But I don’t care where I start. Anywhere from the third row up is OK for me. There was nothing special this morning. We expected to have another session, so nothing really came out of it. We’re going to race the same bike I was third on yesterday afternoon, on race tyres.” Marco said, “It was a strange day. I’m disappointed because during the three practice sessions we worked in preparation for the race only using race tyres. I would have preferred to decide my grid position on track, that’s why I have suggested extending tomorrow’s warm-up by an extra ten minutes so that we could do warm-up and qualifying. I respect the Race Direction’s decision but I have been penalized because I didn’t use qualifying tyres this morning.” “This is an unfair decision,” said an unhappy Stoner. “It’s ridiculous that I’m starting tenth when I never finished tenth in any session. This morning some riders in front of me used a qualifying tyre and I was sixth until they went faster. So now I’m starting on the fourth row when I should be on the second row. I was fifth at the end of Friday when everyone was on race tyres. It’s been frustrating, as we did not have a base setting for this track and took some sideways steps with the set-up, rather than forwards. I had some leg cramps yesterday but I used my upper body more in practice today, so hopefully that will help in the race.” “I’m sorry the qualifying session was cancelled,” said Tamada. “I wanted to run wet or dry, and I was really tired waiting to start. This morning we tried new tyres from Michelin and on my second lap I was already running a 2m 03s lap I was amazed how quick I was. On the third lap I decided to go for my best time but at the uphill T11 I crashed. Before that my time was very good. I then had to take my spare bike out but the swinging-arm is different and that gives the bike a completely different feeling. I want the race to be dry tomorrow if it is I’ll get a good result.” Elias said, “This morning we did a good job focusing on suspension and chassis. Unfortunately this afternoon we couldn’t confirm any improvements. I’m sorry because without the afternoon practices I couldn’t improve my grid position. Tomorrow I will start from the fifth row, which makes my race very difficult, but I’ll do my best to get a good result.” In the 250cc class Hector Barbera (Aprilia) secured his second pole of the season ahead of his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, with Hiro Aoyama (KTM) third fastest and Roberto Locatelli (Aprilia) completing the front row. Andrea Dovizioso (Humangest Racing Honda RS250RW), the only man in the hunt for the World Championship who is still realistically capable of denying Lorenzo the prize, qualified fifth fastest and heads the second row. Shuhei Aoyama (Repsol Honda RS250RW) and his team-mate Martin Cardenas (Repsol Honda RS250RW) qualified seventh and eighth fastest while Yuki Takahashi (Humangest Racing Honda RS250RW) will line up on the third row as ninth fastest qualifier. Dovi said, “This morning we tried new solutions but the feeling wasn’t good so during tomorrow’s warm-up we have to put together Friday and Saturday’s data and find the best set-up to use in the race. I am confident, though, because we can still improve. Today it would have been great to test in these weather conditions as the forecasts are not good. But if the Race Direction thought it was safer for the riders to stay in the pit garage, then I fully agree with their decision.” Takahashi agreed with his team-mate. He said, “Actually I’m happy they cancelled this afternoon’s qualifying session because the track conditions were very bad and I don’t want to take any risks. I’m still not 100% and so I wouldn’t have done too many laps in order not to work my left arm too much. Tomorrow it will be a tough race for me, I’ll try to keep focused as much as I can and hopefully the track conditions will be better.” Series points leader in the 125cc class Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) clinched his fifth pole of the season ahead of Mika Kallio (KTM) and other front row qualifiers Mattia Pasini and Joan Olive (both Aprilia). The best Honda qualifier was Fabrizio Lai (Seedorf Racing Honda RS125R) who was eighth fastest, 2.232 seconds adrift of the pole time. Sandro Cortese (Elit Grand Prix Honda RS125R) qualified tenth, Gabor Talmacsi (Humangest Honda RS125R) 12th, while reigning World Champion Thomas Luthi (Elit Grand Prix Honda RS125R) managed the 16th fastest time for a fourth row start. Lai said, “I like this circuit. In the morning I did a good session thanks to the cooler temperature. I had to improve in T3 but the bike was OK and I was optimistic. But in the afternoon my Honda suffered in the muggy weather. Now I am two seconds from the pole but the first Honda.” Talmacsi said, “Tomorrow I’m going to start from the same position I had in Brno’s starting grid and this could bring me good luck. But this time, though, it will be more difficult to get on the podium as I struggled a lot during the previous two sessions and this morning we didn’t solve the problems. Anyway, we know what we have to work on and if the warm-up is dry we can make a step forward in set-up.” Honda GP rider quotes: MotoGP: Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 2nd. “I felt a lot better today than yesterday we made some changes overnight that really helped. Hopefully we can continue in that direction tomorrow and be strong in the race. It’s good to be on the front row, especially if it rains. I think maybe the grid should have been decided on championship point no I’m joking. If I’d have been ninth I’m sure I wouldn’t have been so happy but perhaps we have to come up with something in the rule book to make things clear in this situation. Hopefully tomorrow we can make it up to the fans and put on a good show for them because there were some die-hard fans who waited around all day and got teased a few times when the bikes would fire up only for the session to be cancelled at 4.15. We’ve still got a little work to do to be on the pace tomorrow, but we’ll use the warm up and give it all we’ve got in the race.” Kenny Roberts Jnr, KR Honda: 4th. “I’ve been testing qualifying tyres in free practice for some time “¦ everybody does. I did two laps on mine, though they’re only supposed to do one. But I don’t care where I start. Anywhere from the third row up is okay for me. There was nothing special this morning. We expected to have another session, so nothing really came out of it. We’re going to race the same bike I was third on yesterday afternoon, on race tyres. I went to the safety meeting, and everybody said it was too dangerous. I didn’t go out in the safety car, but everybody’s pretty intelligent round here, and you could see the spray from the car how much water there was. I think they are going to work on the drainage tonight. It doesn’t look like it’s working at the top part of the track, where the water is running across the track. They were pulling mud out from there. A torrential downpour is one thing, but after it’s over and it’s postponed for 15 minutes, then those rivers should stop. The rest of the track is quite dry now. That’s just one more thing that we need to learn from this, in the riders’ Safety Commission, and from the organisation side “¦ that the first thing you do at any circuit is clean the drains out.” Kenny Roberts Senior, team owner. “We’ve been trying qualifying tyres in free practice ever since we started qualifying good. Before that we’d put them on at the end of the qualifying session and the bike would chatter so bad it was slower than on race tyres. You need to get the bike working on qualifiers before the final session. Because we did that, Junior qualified well today.” Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 5th. “This afternoon I think for the first time in my career the rain has brought me luck! I couldn’t have imagined starting from fifth position if it had been a dry qualifying session, so that was a big present for me. This morning I was just testing my performance on the bike for sure it wasn’t 100 per cent but I was able to ride and change gear ok. It felt so-so not really bad, but not so good either. I don’t know about my race pace. I think the bike set-up is about ready although I haven’t had time to test all the race tyres I would have liked to. Tomorrow morning I will have to practice the start because I have some pain in both legs, and also I’m very small which won’t help. Tomorrow I will see how I feel to make a decision if I have to have any painkillers before the race. I’ll do my best. I have to say thank you to everybody because I have received a lot of help, especially in the Clinica Mobile because they are taking good care of me, and my team has worked very hard too.” Marco Melandri, Fortuna Honda: 9th. “It was a strange day. I’m disappointed because during the three practice sessions we worked in preparation of the race using always race tyres. I would have preferred to decide my grid position on track, that’s why I have suggested to extend of 10 minutes tomorrow the warm up so that we could have done warm up and qualifying. I respect the Race Direction’s decision but I have been penalized because I didn’t use the qualifying tyres this morning”. Casey Stoner, LCR Honda: 10th. “This is an unfair decision. It’s ridiculous that I am starting tenth when I never finished tenth in any session. This morning riders in front of me used a qualifying tyre and I was sixth until they went faster. So now I’m starting on the fourth row when I should be on the second row — I was fifth at the end of Friday when everyone was on race tyres. It has been frustrating, as we did not have a base setting for this track and took some sideways steps with the set-up, rather than forwards. I had some leg cramps yesterday but I used my upper body more in practice today, so hopefully that will help in the race.” Makoto Tamada, Konica Minolta Honda: 13th. “I’m sorry the qualifying session was cancelled I wanted to run wet or dry, I was really tired waiting to start. This morning we tried new tyres from Michelin and on my second lap I was already running a 2m 03s lap, I was amazed how quick I was. On the third lap I decided to go for my time attack but at the uphill T11 I crashed. Before that my time was very good. I then had to take my spare bike out but the swinging-arm is different and that gives the bike a completely different feeling. I want the race to be dry tomorrow, if it is I will get a good result.” Toni Elias, Fortuna Honda: 14th. “This morning we did a good job focusing on suspensions and chassis. Unfortunately this afternoon we couldn’t confirm our work. I’m sorry because without the afternoon practices I couldn’t improve my grid position. Tomorrow I will start from the fifth row which makes my race very difficult. I’m sorry but I will do my best to get a good result”. 250cc: Andrea Dovizioso, Humangest Honda: 5th. “This morning we tried new solutions but the feeling wasn’t good so during tomorrow’s warm up we have to put together Friday and Saturday’s data and find the best set-up to use in the race. I am confident, though, because we can still improve. Today it would have been great to test in these weather conditions as the forecasts are not good. But if the Race Direction thought it was safer for the riders to stay on the pit garage, then I fully agree with their decision”. Yuki Takahashi, Humangest Honda: 9th. “Actually I’m happy they have cancelled this afternoon’s qualifying session because the track conditions were very bad and I don’t want to take any risks. I’m still not 100% and so, anyway, I wouldn’t have done too many laps in order to not force too much my left arm. Tomorrow it will be a tough race for me, I’ll try to keep focused as much as I can and hopefully the track conditions will be better”. Shuhei Aoyama, Repsol Honda: 7th. “This has been a very, very strange day. I’m going to start from the second row tomorrow but I actually was expecting to improve today, so I’m not really happy. Moreover, we haven’t been able to finish setting up the suspensions because we haven’t had enough time. We only had two sessions yesterday and the rain showed up during this morning’s session as well. At least we were able to decide on the tyres this morning. We just needed more time to work on everything, so I’m a little bit worried. Let’s see what happens tomorrow, we’ll try to finish up some things during the warm-up if we can; and I obviously hope for a dry race.” Martin Cardenas, Repsol Honda: 8th. “It has been a rather unusual day. It started to rain at the end of the morning session and then they cancelled the afternoon session, so they are taking the times set yesterday. But I had a good position yesterday, second row, actually my best qualifying so far, so I’m happy. I don’t think that the fact of not being able to practice more is bad for me, it’s actually the same for all of us. Since I had made a good qualifying yesterday, there’s no problem. We have a good set up and we tested some tyres in the morning that we think will be the ones for the race, so we have everything ready.” Aleix Espargaro, Wurth Honda BQR: 13th. “Yesterday we had a problem with rear wheel grip. We tried many tyres but I was sliding all the time. We also had a small engine problem, the bike was not so good on acceleration. We changed the cylinder and it was very good this morning. We also found a tyre that worked for me so I’m happy because I was eighth fastest this morning, in front of two factory bikes, I was only four kilometres down on the best top speed. My team have given me a good bike for the race but I know I cannot race with the official factory bikes here. My aim is to get a good start and try and stay with the fast factory bikes for a few laps and hope they take me away from the group.” Arturo Tizon, Wurth Honda BQR: 16th. “Yesterday was the first time I had seen this track and I was a little bit lost out there on the wide corners but I got better as the day went on. The engine is good and the chassis setting is not so bad. The only real problem is the rear end I just don’t have enough rear wheel grip. I’m not happy with my 16th place on the grid I should be better but losing the second qualifying session to the rain really held me back. Now I have to confirm a few things in the warm up.” Fabrizio Perren, Stop and Go Racing: 19th. “This is my first race at Sepang and yesterday I didn’t know the circuit so good. But I like the track its so wide and you can get into the corners real fast. In the qualifying practice I broke an crankcase oil seal and I didn’t make much progress learning the track. We fixed the engine problem and it is now very fast again. Up until now we have been using the standard tyres from Dunlop but today they gave us a different set, the same as Espargaro uses, and I was immediately 1.7s faster than in the qualifying session. Now I need some dry time to get an even better feeling with the bike with the new type tyres.” Arnaud Vincent, Molenaar Honda: No qualifying time will start from back row of the grid. “Not a very good situation for me. Yesterday I broke the engine after only three laps and didn’t get a qualifying time. Because of the rain today I had no chance to qualify so I have to start from the back of the grid. That’s a great pity because this is my favourite track and I know I can do well here. But you never know, many times you can have a good result from a bad position on the grid. The engine OK this morning and the chassis set up is good. If the engine is good in warm up and I get a good start we will see what we can do.” 125cc: Fabrizio Lai, Seedorf Racing World: 8th”I like this circuit. In the morning I did a good session thanks to the cooler temperature. I had to improve in T3 but the bike was ok and I was optimistic. But in the afternoon my Honda suffered the muggy weather. Now I am 2 second from the pole but the first Honda on the provvisional grid Sandro Cortese, Elit Honda: 10th. “Yesterday everything was good for me. I really like this place so many different corners and some with fast entry speeds. The engine was fast and I quickly found a fast consistent rhythm. Then I went to the box and we changed some small settings on the engine and suspension and I went out and set my fastest lap running alone. We improved the bike more this morning after working on the suspension.” Gabor Talmacsi, Humangest Honda: 12th. “Tomorrow I am going to start from the same position I had on the starting grid at Brno and this could bring me good luck. But this time, though, it will be more difficult to get on the podium as I struggled a lot during the previous two sessions and this morning we didn’t solve out the problems. Anyway, we know where we have to work and if the warm-up will be on dry we can do a step forward in the set-up”. Thomas Luthi, Elit Honda: 16th. “I am really happy. We made a big step forward in free practice this morning, particularly on the suspension. At the end o the session I said to the team ‘leave the bike in the same specification for qualifying and I will do well, I think we are ready to race.’ In the morning warm up I can be conservative all I have to do is find a good rhythm ready for the race.” Mike Di Meglio, FFM Honda: 21st”Today was a particular day. This morning, the weather conditions were rather good and it allowed me to focus on my path and I could realise good lap time. I improved of O.5 second from the lap time I realised last year during the first qualifying session, in which I got the pole position. I finish the free session in 12th place with a time of 2’14”863.Unfortunately a torrential rain prevented us from doing a good qualifying practice. So the classification remains the same than yesterday. I’m disappointed because I could have been better positioned on the grid if I could ride like this morning.” Tito Rabat, Wurth Honda BQR: 26th. “This is my first time at Sepang and its already a favourite circuit for me. The bike is really fast here I was second fastest top speed yesterday. I had a problem with the front tyre in qualifying, something wrong inside with the construction, it felt funny but I had to keep going to try and get a good time. But it got worse and I crashed. Now I need more time to learn the fastest lines but I have to wait until the warm up to see if I can improve the bike. I really need to have a good race result here.” Michele Pirro, Humangest Honda: 27th. “This morning I was able to improve compared to yesterday and so I was confident to move up in the starting grid. Unfortunately, though, it rained and the track is so wet that it is impossible to go out. Actually, it would be better for me to race on wet conditions but not with heavy rain like today; in this condition you can only drive a rubber dinghy rather than ride a bike!”. Michele Conti, Seedorf Racing World:33rd. “As usual this year I have to learn a new track as soon as possible. I used the 10-12 laps of each session to learn the best lines and to follow other riders who have a riding style like mine. There are many similar curves where is important not to miss the line”¦ Tomorrow I will improve my performance”. Joey Litjens, Molenaar Honda: 35th. “The bike is really good and I had third fastest top speed in one session. I am trying to learn the fast line round the circuit and the best set up. I had hoped to try some changes this afternoon but the rain stopped that.” Bradley Smith, Repsol Honda: Will not race due to injury sustained at Czech Republic GP. More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: RAIN HITS BRIDGESTONE RIDERS QUALIFYING CHALLENGE A torrential rainstorm in the early afternoon forced today’s qualifying session at the Sepang circuit to be cancelled and prevented Bridgestone’s riders from mounting a challenge for pole position in tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix. The Sepang grid will instead be formed from the combined results of this weekend’s three dry free practice sessions, the results of which place four Bridgestone riders in the top ten. Ducati’s Loris Capirossi will again front the Bridgestone challenge but must settle for third on the grid having not tried the softer Bridgestone qualifying tyres in third practice. His Saturday morning time and ultimate grid-determining lap of 2m01.167s was set in the closing moments of the practice session, during which he had conducted a long run on his selected race tyres. His pace over this long run was consistent and competitive and underlined the potential of the Bridgestone dry weather tyres in Sepang this weekend. The performance of his team-mate Sete Gibernau gives further cause for optimism as the Spaniard secured sixth place on the grid (2m02.181s). Kawasaki’s Randy de Puniet will start from the top ten for the eighth time this season, the Frenchman securing seventh place in the combined practice standings (2m02.313s), but his team-mate Shinya Nakano will be looking to make his way up from 12th (2m02.832s) after focussing his work on preparations in race trim throughout all three practice sessions. Suzuki will see its rider line-up in both halves of the grid tomorrow afternoon with John Hopkins the highest placed of the duo in a strong 8th position (2m02.453s). Chris Vermeulen, who has been suffering from a head cold this weekend, will start down in 16th (2m03.285s). The Bridgestone team worked quickly and efficiently during the lunchtime downpour to prepare a wider range of tyres than usual in a bid to supply its three teams with sufficient dry, intermediate and wet weather tyres to combat the erratic Malaysian weather. It was hard work for little gain after the qualifying session was cancelled as the afternoon drew to a close due to safety reasons after the earlier rainstorms. Shinji Aoki Bridgestone Motorsport – Assistant Manager Motorcycle Race Tire Development “We had a good practice session this morning and were able to make good progress with our preferred race tyre. We carried out some long runs and the lap times appeared quick and consistent, especially with Loris who was able to run regularly in the mid-high 2m02 bracket over a thirteen-lap run. All three of our teams are looking in good shape in dry weather race trim, so we are hopeful for good conditions tomorrow afternoon. It was a shame that we could not demonstrate the full potential of the Bridgestone qualifying tyres in practice this morning, as that would have helped us obtain even stronger grid positions, but today’s conditions were rather unusual and disrupted everybody’s afternoon. With that in mind, we should be satisfied to have four Bridgestone riders in the top ten. On a final note, I would like to extend thanks to the entire Bridgestone crew for excellent work in preparing such a range of tyres at short notice before the originally scheduled qualifying time. I hope this hard and efficient work will be rewarded with strong race results for Bridgestone teams in tomorrow’s race.” Loris Capirossi Ducati Corse 3rd on grid: “I am happy because I ran a consistently fast pace on race tyres this morning, including twelve consecutive laps inside the lap record. I have a very good package for the dry and if it is raining, it will be the same for everyone. I haven’t had any problems in the rain so far this year, so I do not see why we should have any worries here.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Cancelled qualifying session puts Hopkins on third row in Malaysia Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer John Hopkins will start from the third row of the grid for tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix, after this afternoon’s qualifying was cancelled and grid positions were decided by each rider’s best lap-time during the three free practice sessions. Torrential rain hit the Sepang International Circuit during lunch time and the heavy downpours caused substantial flooding of the 5.5km track. Although the hour long session was originally delayed to allow the track to dry, the standing water was too dangerous and the decision was made to cancel the session due to safety issues. Hopkins (P8) had made some good improvements during the morning session and was again up with the fastest riders on race tyres, but as the hour wore on many riders used qualifying tyres and the Anglo-American was pushed down the timesheets as he concentrated on finding the best race set-up for Sunday’s race. Chris Vermeulen will start from 16th on the grid as he was still struggling with the illness that hampered him yesterday. He worked hard during the morning session and had made a significant step forward and was prepared for the afternoon session, but was unable to benefit due to the qualifying cancellation. Tomorrow’s event is round 13 of the MotoGP World Championship and the 21 lap race will get underway at 15.00hrs local time (08.00hrs GMT). John Hopkins: “I’m really disappointed as we had a lot of things to try here this afternoon. Bridgestone had brought us a really good tyre that we hoped would work well in the dry and we never got the chance to use it. This afternoon we had planned to put a half-race distance on it but that never happened. As for it being wet, safety is a very important thing but it’s a shame we never got to ride because as it stands now I’m going to be starting from eighth, when I’m sure in qualifying it would have been higher. Some of the riders in front of me used qualifiers this morning and I just concentrated on my race set-up so I was penalised really. But we know that we can do the times and race well, so come rain or shine we will be ready!” Chris Vermeulen: “Obviously I haven’t been well this weekend and we have tried to keep the laps down to a minimum and concentrate on bike set-up. We weren’t really trying to do the fast laps and I didn’t use a qualifier like some of the riders did this morning because it wasn’t a qualifying session! So because of that I am a long way back on the grid. But what surprises me is that maybe the track is not in the best condition at the moment, but what if it rains tomorrow? I’m sure Valentino and others won’t be pushing for the race to be stopped. I’m not saying he had any involvement today but nobody even went out to see what it was like. Safety does come first but no rider went out there, not even in a safety car, so how can we say what it would have been like!” Paul Denning Team Manager: “First of all the cancellation of the qualifying session was massively disappointing in terms of both rider’s grid positions, and the fact that we couldn’t continue the excellent progress we had made this morning. We understand that Race Direction’s decision about grid positions was a difficult one to make, in that there is nothing in the rule book to clarify this situation it’s clear that there should be for the future. “Secondly it hasn’t worked out very fairly in that many riders used qualifying tyres this morning, whereas others our guys included concentrated on race set-up and tyre testing. We would have liked to have seen an extended warm-up tomorrow morning to include a qualifying session. This is Grand Prix racing and the guys take big risks on the Saturday in qualifying, so I don’t see why that risk couldn’t be on Sunday morning before the race. Anyway, it is what it is and both our guys will be going full out to improve significantly on their grid positions in tomorrow’s race!”
