FIM MotoGP World Championship Sachsenring, Germany July 15, 2006 Final Qualifying Results: 1. Dani PEDROSA (Honda RC211V), 1:21.815, Michelin 2. Kenny Lee ROBERTS (Honda/Roberts KR211V), 1:21.907, Michelin 3. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda RC211V), 1:22.083, Michelin 4. Shinya NAKANO (Kawasaki ZX-RR), 1:22.273, Bridgestone 5. Loris CAPIROSSI (Ducati GP06), 1:22.329, Bridgestone 6. Marco MELANDRI (Honda RC211V), 1:22.420, Michelin 7. Sete GIBERNAU (Ducati GP06), 1:22.469, Bridgestone 8. Casey STONER (Honda RC211V), 1:22.577, Michelin 9. John HOPKINS (Suzuki GSV-R), 1:22.701, Bridgestone 10. Makoto TAMADA (Honda RC211V), 1:22.866, Michelin 11. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha YZR-M1), 1:22.868, Michelin 12. Carlos CHECA (Yamaha YZR-M1), 1:22.964, Dunlop 13. Randy DE PUNIET (Kawasaki ZX-RR), 1:22.974, Bridgestone 14. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki GSV-R), 1:23.050, Bridgestone 15. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha YZR-M1), 1:23.087, Michelin 16. Toni ELIAS (Honda RC211V), 1:23.660, Michelin 17. Alex HOFMANN (Ducati GP05), 1:24.115, Dunlop 18. James ELLISON (Yamaha YZR-M1), 1:24.464, Dunlop 19. Jose Luis CARDOSO (Ducati GP05), 1:24.651, Dunlop BMW M Award/Best Qualifier Standings: 1. Hayden, 19:12.632 2. Hopkins, -3.845 seconds 3. Edwards, -3.961 seconds 4. Nakano, -5.045 seconds 5. Vermeulen, -5.492 seconds 6. Melandri, -7.334 seconds 7. Capirossi, -7.734 seconds 8. Rossi, -9.072 seconds 9. De Puniet, -9.686 seconds 10. Roberts, -10.663 seconds 11. Pedrosa, -13.039 seconds 12. Tamada, -15.809 seconds 13. Checa, -17.292 seconds 14. Ellison, -28.827 seconds 15. Hofmann, -31.502 seconds 16. Cardoso, -42.563 seconds (This classification is made up by accumulating the qualifying time of every rider at every Grand Prix, with the addition of the MotoGP Official Test session in Catalunya. Any rider who does not complete all 18 events is discarded. In case of a draw, the classification will be decided on the times from the MotoGP Official Test session in Catalunya.) More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Nakano and Ducatis demonstrate Sachsenring potential Sachsenring, Germany Saturday 15 July 2006 Kawasaki rider Shinya Nakano will start Sunday’s German Grand Prix from fourth on the grid to lead the Bridgestone charge after this afternoon’s qualifying session at the Sachsenring. Nakano had looked strong in the second stage of the session taking provisional pole with 26 minutes of the hour remaining and reclaiming it 13 minutes later with his eventual best time of 1m22.273s, half-a-second faster than the previous pole position record held by Max Biaggi. He missed out on a front row start in the dying seconds of the qualifying hour, in turn bringing Bridgestone’s commendable run of consecutive front row starts to an end. Loris Capirossi, who dominated the first half of qualifying practice in race trim, set a best qualifying time of 1m22.329s, which will see him join Nakano on the second row of the grid with fifth place. Sete Gibernau (1m22.469s) made his comeback from injury in style by joining his team-mate in the top half of the grid with a seventh-placed lap. John Hopkins (1m22.701s) continued his run of top ten qualifying results by claiming ninth place, whilst fellow Suzuki rider Chris Vermeulen (1m23.050s) set the 14th best time on his first trip to Sachsenring. Kawasaki’s Randy de Puniet will join Vermeulen on the fifth row of the grid, having set the 13th quickest time in this afternoon’s session. Bridgestone’s disappointment at the untimely end to its front row success in 2006 is offset by a promising long run performance around the Sachsenring track utilising the harder compounds brought especially for the German GP. Like the Kawasaki Racing team, over half of Bridgestone’s on-track MotoGP staff are enjoying something of a home grand prix this weekend. The Bridgestone fitting crew headquarters is based in Speyer, some 450 kilometres west of Chemnitz, so a podium finish in tomorrow’s race would certainly be a fitting result. Shinji Aoki, Assistant Manager Motorcycle Race Tire Development: “We have made some good progress today and seen some pleasing results with the tyres we have developed for Sachsenring. Temperatures were higher in comparison to yesterday’s practice and look set to remain that way for tomorrow’s race, so I believe we have reason for optimism. The conditions are actually quite similar to last year’s race in which we were able to perform competitively, giving us further reason to be encouraged. It is a shame we have not been able to maintain our run of front row qualifying results, mainly through traffic on the circuit, especially around this track where grid position can be crucial. I hope our riders can get a quick start off the line tomorrow and make it through the first corner cleanly to boost our chances of a strong race result.” Bridgestone Qualifying Results Result Rider Motorcycle Best Lap Gap P4 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki 1m22.273s +0.458s P5 Loris Capirossi Ducati 1m22.329s +0.514s P7 Sete Gibernau Ducati 1m22.469s +0.654s P9 John Hopkins Suzuki 1m22.701s +0.886s P13 Randy de Puniet Kawasaki 1m22.974s +1.159s P14 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1m23.050s +1.235s Weather: Generally sunny and warm with some cloud, dry – Air 22°C, Track 27°C, Humidity 18% More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: TRANSFORMATION PUTS NAKANO ON SECOND ROW AT SACHSENRING Kawasaki’s Shinya Nakano will head up the second row of the grid for tomorrow’s 30-lap German Grand Prix, after overcoming the set-up problems that had plagued him throughout free practice to qualify his Ninja ZX-RR in fourth place during this afternoon’s 60 minute timed session. Having struggled all day yesterday to overcome rear traction problems on his Ninja ZX-RR, Nakano continued to chase a workable set-up during this morning’s free practice session, with little success. The 28-year-old Kawasaki rider was lucky to escape injury when he was highsided from his Ninja ZX-RR at the right-hand turn three halfway through the morning session. Nakano’s crew made significant changes to the rear suspension settings ahead of this afternoon’s qualifying session and this, together with a switch to a different Bridgestone rear tyre, transformed the Japanese star’s Ninja ZX-RR. The Kawasaki pilot jumped to the top of the timesheet halfway through this afternoon’s qualifying session, holding onto pole position until the final 15 minutes, when a hard charging Casey Stoner knocked him from the top spot. Nakano retook pole with his next flying lap – bettering Max Biaggi’s pole position record by half-a-second – but was knocked once again from the top spot with just three minutes left to run, this time by the man who will start tomorrow’s race from pole position, Dani Pedrosa. Fast laps by Nicky Hayden and Kenny Roberts in the dying moments saw Nakano eventually pushed off the front row and back to position four on tomorrow’s starting grid. Randy de Puniet also saw big improvements in the performance of his Ninja ZX-RR on race tyres after making changes to the rear suspension settings, but the 25-year-old was unable to get the best from his qualifying tyres this afternoon and, as a result, finished today’s timed session down in thirteenth place and facing a fifth row start in tomorrow’s race. The 25-year-old Frenchman knows that he’s made his job tomorrow a whole lot harder by not qualifying closer to the front of the grid, but remains confident that further fine-tuning of his race set-up during morning warm-up will still allow him to put in a strong performance for Kawasaki in tomorrow’s 30-lap race. Shinya Nakano: 4th – 1’22.273 “The struggle we had to find a good set-up yesterday continued this morning, but then we switched tyres and made some changes to the rear suspension settings ahead of this afternoon’s qualifying session and the bike was transformed. It’s still not 100 percent there, but I was up with the leaders on race tyres this afternoon, and I’m confident that some more fine-tuning during warm-up tomorrow will produce even more of an improvement. Sachsenring is a difficult circuit to pass at, so qualifying near the front of the grid is critical. We were aiming for the front two rows this afternoon, so I’m happy enough to be starting from fourth on the grid. I also have to say a special thanks to all the Kawasaki supporters at turn four, who were passionate in their support every time I came past on a fast lap. It was really motivating, and I reckon all that waving was worth an extra three tenths of a second each lap at least! I hope they will be as enthusiastic with their support during tomorrow’s race, and that we can give them a result to really cheer about.” Randy de Puniet: 13th – 1’22.974 “Obviously I’m not so happy to only qualify down in 13th place for tomorrow’s race, but I just didn’t seem to be able to get the best from the qualifying tyres today. We made numerous changes to the bike during practice and qualifying, with positive results, and my confidence on race tyres has increased with every track session. I’m still missing some time through the first section of the track, so this is an area I will focus on during warm-up tomorrow. We will also try a few further small changes to the set-up of the bike during warm-up, but our biggest problem for the race tomorrow is the fact that I’ll be starting from the fifth row of the grid and Sachsenring doesn’t have so many obvious passing places. Despite this, I think that with a little luck it’s still possible to secure a good result tomorrow, and that’s exactly what I’ll be aiming for.” Naoya Kaneko: Technical Manager “We’ve made quite a few changes to the rear suspension settings of both riders’ bikes and this, together with the increase in track temperature today, has had positive results in terms of the level of grip available. But we know that there are further improvements to be had. Shinya’s performance on qualifying tyres this afternoon shows that our set-up is right when rear grip is there, but we still have a problem with rear traction on race tyres, so we will look at this again tomorrow during warm-up. Randy went well on race tyres this afternoon, but was unable to match Shinya’s performance on qualifying tyres. This is down solely to experience; a qualifying tyre is difficult to get the best from on this circuit because of the long periods where the bike is banked over on part throttle, and this is Randy’s first time here on the MotoGP bike.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: DUCATI MARLBORO MEN ON 2ND & 3RD ROWS Ducati Marlboro Team riders Loris Capirossi and Sete Gibernau were strong performers at the sun-blessed Sachsenring today, qualifying fifth and seventh quickest for tomorrow’s German GP. Both riders showed supreme determination in this afternoon’s frantically paced session during which the pole position record was slashed by almost a second. Capirossi is still not 100 per cent fit following last month’s Catalan GP accident but showed his race potential by running faster than anyone else on race tyres. Gibernau has improved step by step after returning to riding yesterday after having his broken left collarbone plated on June 20. But the Spaniard is encountering unexpected problems here due to an inflamed nerve in the shoulder he injured at Catalunya. LORIS CAPIROSSI, 5th fastest, 1m 22.329s “I tried two different qualifiers this afternoon, the first I didn’t like but the second was okay and if I hadn’t made a mistake at the final turn I would have been faster. I tried again but on another fast lap I ran into traffic, so I wasn’t able to improve. Anyway, fifth fastest and second row isn’t so bad. As far as race tyres go we are okay, I ran a pretty good pace. In fact today was hotter than yesterday so I used harder tyres and was able to set my best times in race trim. We still have a few front-end problems which we hope to solve in morning warm-up. On the whole I’m happy with the way things are going here and even though I’ll be starting from the second row I think we can have a good race.” SETE GIBERNAU, 7th fastest, 1m 22.469s “The pain is okay, but I don’t seem to have any strength in the arm, so I’m done through the last part of the track, from the very first lap. It must be a muscle or a nerve or something that got irritated in the accident, because the arm just falls down now, it’s got zero strength, so after all the left-handers here I’m really struggling during braking for the last two corners. I don’t know what we can do. If it’s pain you can deal with pain but I don’t know what we’ll do because we can’t do something like lock the arm. Maybe I’ll just pray for the race because right now it’s very difficult. Apart from that the bike and tyres are working good and the team is doing a great job. Things aren’t bad apart for this problem.” Temperatures: Ambient: 22 degrees. Track: 27 degrees More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Tough day for Rizla Suzuki at Sachsenring Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen will start tomorrow’s German Grand Prix from rows three and five respectively, as both riders found the going hard during today’s qualifying session. Hopkins (P9, 1’22.701) was looking to continue his good run of form from recent qualifying sessions but was unable to find the extra speed needed from his Suzuki GSV-R to push him nearer the front. He had spent the morning practice session trying various set-ups in readiness for tomorrow’s 30 lap race and worked hard with his crew to find the best solution and the correct Bridgestone tyre, for what looks like being a very demanding afternoon’s work. Vermeulen (P14, 1’23.050) improved his fastest time today by over two seconds on his Friday best. Although he struggled to find the extra that he needed to get further up the grid he did get in a long run during the afternoon session and was happy with the tyre he has found for tomorrow. Today’s sessions were held in sunny and warm conditions with track surface temperatures reaching 27°C. The pole position time was set by Dani Pedrosa on a Honda. The betandwin.com Motorrad GP Deutschland is round 10 of the MotoGP World Championship and the lights will change to go at 12.30hrs local time (10.30hrsGMT) on Sunday 16th July. John Hopkins: “I can’t say I’m ecstatic with the position as we’re starting from the third row! We had a few little set-up problems. We changed something this morning and it didn’t really work how we wanted it to, so we had to change it back and lost a bit of track time. After that we worked hard with Bridgestone to find the best tyres. I would like to have another half a second on race tyres, but we are working as hard as we can and Bridgestone has brought us some good stuff. We will have a good think about it overnight and I’ll get a good night’s rest and come out stronger tomorrow. We may try some things in the morning to get a better situation, but at the end of the day when the flag drops all I can do is give it my best shot!” Chris Vermeulen: “Not our best qualifying of the year but it was another circuit I didn’t know. We made big steps from yesterday to today, both in set-up and lap times. We have got a tyre for the race as I did a long run in this afternoon’s session, and I feel quite confident with it. We have struggled here a bit with a few things but my mechanics and the whole team are working hard to get it right. We have a few things to try tomorrow and hopefully they will work.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “Both the guys pushed very hard and did their absolute best this afternoon, but ultimately it wasn’t enough to put Rizla Suzuki as close to the front as we would want to be in qualifying. We came to Sachsenring expecting it to be tough for various reasons and the result today has probably met our expectation. A combination of factors is restricting the riders from finding the pace they need to take a significant step forward. We are going to need to burn the midnight oil to try to find some solutions before the morning. The race is very long at 30 laps and will be very physical, but we will be doing all we can in the warm-up to make sure we can run at a consistent pace and bring home as many points as possible.” More, from a press release issued by Camel Yamaha: CAMEL YAMAHA RIDERS IN A SPIN AT SACHSENRING Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards both face an uphill battle in tomorrow’s German Grand Prix after struggling to come to terms with the undulating demands of the Sachsenring circuit in the final free practice and qualifying session today. Neither rider was able to find an adequate setting for the YZR-M1 in yesterday’s opening sessions and despite making progress today they did not take the necessary steps forward required to make a challenge for the front row of the grid, which is headed by Dani Pedrosa (Honda) for the second successive race. As the action got underway below clear blue skies and pleasant summer temperatures of 22ºC, Rossi’s main difficulty was balancing the intense force exerted on the front end of the bike at this circuit, a problem exacerbated by the extra rear grip offered by the softer qualifying tyres. Whilst the Italian is hopeful of working on a solution with his team overnight, Edwards is less optimistic having been unable to exactly pinpoint the root of his problems and leaving only tomorrow’s 20-minute warm-up to clarify an adequate set-up and tyre choice for the race. Rossi will aim to make as much progress as possible early in the race as he starts from the fourth row in eleventh spot whilst Edwards has an even bigger challenge ahead as he looks to remount from a row further back in fifteenth. VALENTINO ROSSI (11th 1’22.868; 32 laps) “The race setting is not so bad but things were very different on the qualifying tyre. We are getting too much weight onto the front end of the bike and when the rear qualifying tyre grips so much this pushes the front even harder and I almost crashed a couple of times. My hand is still a bit sore but to be honest when I am riding I don’t even think about it and this is not what is troubling us today. It looks like tomorrow will be tough because Dani Pedrosa has a very fast pace but I am starting from a long way back. Unfortunately I can’t say that we are down in eleventh because I was unlucky; today we deserve to be in eleventh and we have a lot of work to do. It’s difficult to overtake at this track and you need a good setting to make up positions in the race. At the moment our bike is not quite ready and this situation is not limited to today it seems we have struggled in practice all year. Once again I need another great job from my mechanics tonight so that I can try and chase the lead group tomorrow.” COLIN EDWARDS (15th 1’23.087; 29 laps) “I’m feeling disappointed and frustrated tonight because we’ve tried everything changed the steering head column, the rear links, the swingarm links but not got anywhere. The bike is a little better than yesterday but it is still not fast enough and when I’m following other guys around it seems as though they are running at a different track. Honestly, I think the team has worked harder here than at any other circuit this year but it’s just not happening for us and we need a miracle now. The bike is a bit of a handful at the moment and the worrying thing is that I don’t know exactly where we can find the improvement in time for tomorrow’s race. Anyway, we’ll keep working and see if we can come up with something in the morning.” DAVIDE BRIVIO CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR “Again it will be a difficult start to the race for us, with Valentino and Colin on the fourth and fifth rows. We are struggling with the qualifying tyre, even though Valentino’s race pace is not so bad very similar to Pedrosa and Hayden. The problem for him now is his position on the grid because it is a big disadvantage at such a tight circuit like this. We will do our best to make the right changes for him in the morning and hopefully we can come up with something for Colin too. We need a big effort from the whole team over the next 24 hours and I’m sure our riders will do their bit to perform.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Pedrosa’s form continues with pole in Germany Under glorious sunshine and ideal temperatures for riding, and at a Sachsenring circuit packed to the rafters with loyal fans, the MotoGP riders took part in an exciting qualifying sessions to decide who would lead the grid tomorrow in the betandwin.com Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland. Dani Pedrosa will start the German race from pole position, the fourth pole of his debut season in MotoGP. Repsol Honda’s Spanish sensation has already won from the top spot twice this season, at China and Donington, and this weekend has the chance to close the 26-point gap to team-mate Nicky Hayden, who accompanies Pedrosa on the front row. They are separated by second-placed rider Kenny Roberts Jr, who has been in fantastic form thus far on his 2006 visit to the Sachsenring Circuit. Team Roberts’ sole rider joined Pedrosa as the only man to break the 1’22 barrier. Always strong in qualifying, Shinya Nakano heads the second row, although it looked for a while during the hour that he would claim his first MotoGP pole. He will start ahead of three riders still carrying injuries from last month; Loris Capirossi, Marco Melandri and Sete Gibernau complete the top seven positions, followed by Casey Stoner, John Hopkins and Makoto Tamada. Valentino Rossi, who needs a win to keep up the pressure on Hayden at the top of the leaderboard heading into the American’s home race, could only manage to qualify eleventh at Sachsenring and will look to produce another of the classic performances which have seen him win races from such positions in the past. 250cc Jorge Lorenzo took his third pole in a row today at the Sachsenring Circuit, for a race which gives him the opportunity to retake the lead of the 250cc World Championship. Trailing Andrea Dovizioso by just a single point, Lorenzo headed a top ten for tomorrow’s betandwin.com Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland that were all within a second of his 1’25.073 lap. Yuki Takahashi and Roberto Locatelli will start from second and third respectively, ahead of Alex de Angelis, Hiroshi Aoyama and Anthony West. Current championship leader Andrea Dovizioso could only manage seventh, with Marco Simoncelli and Shuhei Aoyama completing the top ten. 125cc Lukas Pesek earned his second 125cc pole of the season with a time of 1’27.064 in the final qualifying session at Sachsenring. The Derbi racing rider will start at the head of the pack ahead of runaway championship leader Alvaro Bautista, who suffered a crash moments from the end of the session. Mattia Pasini dropped to third after having taken provisional pole yesterday, whilst Mika Kallio completed the front row. Row 2 will be led by impressive young Derbi rider Nico Terol, ahead of Fabrizio Lai, Gabor Talmacsi and Pablo Nieto. Simone Corsi and Hector Faubel round off the top ten. Angel Rodriguez and KTM stand-in Randy Krummenacher both suffered spectacular crashes during the qualifying session. 1st, Dani Pedrosa (Honda), 1’21.815 : “It’s very difficult to say if I can win the race. Anyway, today in the afternoon was good, we did a good lap time. This morning I did a mistake and destroyed one bike. Fortunately I’m ok, but this afternoon we had to run in a new bike because I destroyed the other, but it went well and I got on the front row which is important for this track. Let’s see if we can do a great start, the set-up is good so I hope to do a great race.” More, from a press release issued by Gresini Racing/Fortuna Honda: MARCO MELANDRI ON THE SECOND ROW IN GERMANY Toni Elias continues to be troubled by pain Marco Melandri will start Sunday’s German GP on the second row of the grid, whilst team-mate Toni Elias – still bothered by pain in his left shoulder after his fall at Assen – could not improve his position from yesterday and will start in 16th position. The Italian FORTUNA HONDA rider lapped at a good pace which enabled him to remain amongst the leading riders having taken provisional pole on Friday. However, he could not take full advantage of his qualifying tyres and ultimately had to settle for sixth place. Team-mate Toni Elias faces a difficult physical test tomorrow. With ten left-hand corners on the circuit and Sunday’s race scheduled for 30 laps the Spaniard’s fitness after the injury to his right shoulder-blade will be truly tested. MARCO MELANDRI (6th, 1’22″420°): “I am very pleased with our work in qualifying for this race, the bike is working well and the Michelin tyres have given us some very good results. It will be important to make a good start tomorrow and stay with the lead group as there are not a lot of places to overtake on this circuit. The objective for today was to claim a place on one of the front two rows and although I did that, I could not take full advantage of the qualifying tyre to get on the front row. Tomorrow it will be a very long race so am pleased that my physical condition has improved a lot from the last race. My right shoulder should not be too badly affected as there are so many left-hand corners.” TONI ELIAS (16th, 1’23″660): “I suffered a lot in the qualifying session because of my back. It really began to hurt after yesterday’s session and felt even worse today. Right now I am very tired and hurting a lot. The left-hand corners are not helping me at all and so it will be a tough race tomorrow. I am happy to have made it on to the grid and my objective is just to finish the race.” More, from a press release issued by d’Antin Pramac Ducati: HOFMANN IS READY FOR HIS FANS AND CARDOSO WANTS MORE POINTS Today, the qualifying practice of the tenth round of the 2006 MotoGP World Championship took place on the Circuit of Sachsenring, Germany. The riders of the Team PRAMAC D’ANTIN MOTOGP, ALEX HOFMANN and JOSE LUIS CARDOSO, classified themselves respectively in 17th and 19th position on the DUCATI DESMOSEDICI GP06 “Sat.”. Unfortunately, the German rider, racing “at home”, was victim of a crash at the end of the Official Practice session, betrayed by the front as he was making a fast lap with the qualifying tyres. A crash luckily without any consequences that won’t keep him from giving the best of himself during his National GP race. HOFMANN is very enthusiast and the whole Team is full of confidence. The race of the MotoGP class will start a bit earlier, at 12:30 here in Germany. ALEX HOFMANN #66 (17th – 1’24.115): “I’m quite satisfied about the work we made today. I feel ready for the race, I rode with a constant rhythm and this makes me more confident. I would like to ride with lower laptimes but today it was not possible to make anything more than what we actually made. Let’s hope that the gap we have from the first riders will come down some more during the race, I would like to make a good result here in front of all my fans. This afternoon, with the qualifying tyres, I rode like the best riders preceding me in the classification in some sectors of the track. In the first part of the circuit, I wasn’t losing much ground. Unfortunately, in the last lap, after having done my best first partial, I lose the front and crashed. This doesn’t help me about the confidence. I’m quite disappointed about it because I’m a rider that usually crash a few times only. Anyway, we are ready for tomorrow’s race and I will give the maximum to in front of my public”. JOSE LUIS CARDOSO #30 (19th – 1’24.651): “I can’t be satisfied with my position but, from the last races, we are closer to the first riders with our rhythm and laptimes. I’m going on improving my feeling on our DUCATI and I hope that everything will be alright tomorrow. I want to make a good race, all my Team really deserves it”. ANDRE LAUGIER Track Engineer of Jose Luis Cardoso: “Unfortunately, yesterday’s crash didn’t help us and we lose much time in this morning’s practice session. During the afternoon, we managed to put everything back in order. Even if CARDOSO is getting back more confidence with his motorcycle, there is still a lot of work left to do and the whole team is giving the maximum. Tomorrow, we hope to make a good race and obtain more points for the Championship general classification”. More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing Information: HONDA MEN TAKE TOTAL CONTROL OF FRONT ROW Honda powered riders dominated this MotoGP qualifying session taking all three front row positions for tomorrow’s 30-lap race of this 3.671km track. In searing heat, with a track temperature at 40 degrees Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC211V) grabbed pole, with Kenny Roberts (Roberts KR211V) second fastest and Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC211V) completing the font row. It was clear this would be a Honda show from the free training session this morning when Hayden, Pedrosa and Casey Stoner (LCR Honda RC211V) were fastest during that hour, with five Honda men in the top five places. This final hour of timed qualifying would merely confirm the superiority of the RC211V and its riders here in Germany. This is now Dani’s fourth pole of the season making him the best qualifier in the premier class so far and all in his rookie year. That he has also produced two wins from those poles bodes well for the race. But he’s fallen here this weekend in his efforts to tame this bumpy track. Marco Melandri (Fortuna Honda RC211V) qualified sixth fastest, Stoner will start from eighth on the grid, with Makoto Tamada (Konica Minolta Honda RC211V) tenth fastest and the injured Toni Elias (Fortuna Honda RC211V) managing the 16th best time. Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki) was the fastest man on track during the opening minutes before Loris Capirossi (Ducati) levered the Japanese off pole with a time of 1m 23.246 seconds. Then at the halfway point Nakano pulled out a time of 1m 22.772s to snatch pole back from the Italian. Elias, riding for the first time since breaking a shoulder in Holland, was unlucky today. He was forced to ride his number two bike after problems with his first choice machine and those two troubles lack of fitness and no number one bike for qualifiers hampered his progress here. With 20 minutes of the session remaining, Melandri had put himself on the front row, before Sete Gibernau (Ducati), another rider still suffering the effects of a crash with a broken collarbone, put his machine on the front row as second fastest man. Riders are opting to use qualifying rubber earlier in these timed sessions, either to make best use of a relatively traffic-free track, or to put a marker lap time down, in case track conditions deteriorate in any way towards the end of the hour. The fluctuations today suggest tyre choice for Sunday will be doubly critical. Stoner was a rider who went early with a qualifying tyre taking pole with a 1m 22.588s lap before Pedrosa relieved him of that number one slot with a 1m 22.521 tour with a full 14 minutes remaining. Nakano then topped that with 1m 22.273s time. As the final 10 minutes approached the order was Nakano, Pedrosa, Gibernau on the front row, then Melandri, Stoner and Hayden making up row two. As Hayden then moved up to third, less than 0.2 seconds covered the top five riders. This was always going to be close. But Dani had the measure of this sinuous track. He showed it in the final five minutes with a blisteringly quick lap of 1m 21.815s to take pole. It looked highly likely then that this would be a Repsol Honda benefit with Nicky second on the grid. But that was to reckon without Roberts. The 2000 premier class World Champion has shown this season just what a talent the front of the grid has been missing. Now with Honda power, he has shone again and when he fired his 211V-engined KR machine to a 1m 21.907s lap to claim second fastest time and push Capirossi onto row three, it was no longer a surprise, after his podium in Catalunya. Reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) could only manage the 11th fastest time, more than a second shy of Dani’s pole mark. Dani said, “I’m happy to get on pole position but the most important thing really was to get on the front row because the track is very tight at the beginning and there are only two or three passing points here. I’m fine after the crash this morning, but the bike was not so lucky. The mechanics worked very hard through lunch to have the bike ready for qualifying and first of all this afternoon I just tried to run-in the bike and check everything. Then I pushed harder and my lap time was good.” “When a lap looks slow and easy,” said Kenny. “It’s usually fast. The bike is coming along. We have had no test to work on improving it, just in trying a few different settings, mainly riding position and to try and get the bike to work better on qualifying tyres. The bike felt well balanced. I could have tried to get more out of it if I had pushed harder but I’m more than happy and the front row is a definite bonus. I have to get a good start and try to stay with the top Honda guys.” Nicky said, “I’m happy to be on the front row and this is the best I’ve qualified for a while, so it’s been positive. We’ve been close out of the gate and we haven’t had to make a lot of big changes to the set-up, we’ve just been sweetening it up, and I think we’ve got a pretty strong package this weekend. It’s been one of the better weekends so far this year. We’ll try and find a little extra pace in the warm-up and then I’m looking forward to a dogfight tomorrow in the race.” Melandri, sixth fastest, said, “I’m very satisfied. I got into a good rhythm and I’m confident for the race. I’m happy being on the second row because the front two rows were the objective here. The bike is working well and Honda has a good base setting for us here. My physical condition has improved a lot and so many left turns here are good for my right shoulder.” Stoner, who qualified eighth fastest, said, “I’m using the update chassis and it feels really good. The team had to change most of the settings from the standard RCV, but the front-end feels really positive and on my first qualifying run it was very good. Then we changed to a different rear tyre and it started to push the front on the second run. The race will be very difficult from row two as there aren’t many places to overtake.” Tamada said, “We’re just a little better today than yesterday. We’ve been trying some things on the suspension, working with different springs. Now my capacity to control front-end slides has improved and I am getting more confident with the bike. Tomorrow in the warm-up we’ll try some different rear tyres because we have to be ready for different track temperatures. The track was very hot today.” Elias said, I’m very tired and suffering a lot now. I’m really starting to feel the effect of these four sessions, but it’s important for me to be back on the track. My target for tomorrow is just to finish the race.” In the 250cc class Jorge Lorenzo (Aprilia) scored his seventh pole of the season here, Yuki Takahashi (Humangest Racing Honda RS250RW) qualified second fastest, just 0.078 seconds shy of Lorenzo’s time. Hector Barbera and Roberto Locatelli (both Aprilia) qualified third and fourth fastest. Andrea Dovizioso (Humangest Racing Honda RS250RW), the current overall points leader could do no better than eighth fastest, just less than half a second away from the pole time. Shuhei Aoyama (Repsol Honda RS250RW) qualified tenth fastest while his team-mate Martin Cardenas (Repsol Honda RS250RW) managed the 16th fastest time. Takahashi said, “I’m surprised about today’s last lap. The final part of the qualifying session has been difficult, because I was in the middle of a group of riders and I couldn’t push as I would have liked. This morning we found a good set-up, but it will be important to make a good start because it’s difficult to overtake here.” Dovi said, “I’m not happy about my position on tomorrow’s grid, but we made a step forward compared to yesterday. My pace is good, and more or less at the same level as my rivals so this makes me think positively. I don’t like this track but now I feel more confident compared to yesterday and there aren’t so many riders faster than me.” Lukas Pesek (Derbi) 125cc secured his second pole position of the season so far with a lap of 1m 27.064 seconds. The Czech rider will line up with series points leader Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) alongside him as second fastest qualifier, Mattia Pasini (Aprilia) third, and Mika Kallio (KTM) completing the front row. Fabrizio Lai (Seedorf Racing Honda RS125R) is the best Honda qualifier here in sixth place on row two, while Gabor Talmacsi (Humangest Honda RS125R) managed the seventh fastest time affording the Hungarian a start from the second row also. Both, however, are more than 0.8 seconds off the pole time. The session was stopped in the final seconds when a three-bike crash at the bottom of the steeply downhill penultimate turn left debris on track and stricken riders in the run-off area. This left reigning World Champion Thomas Luthi (Elit Grand Prix Honda RS125R) unable to improve on a time of 1m 28.215 seconds only good enough for 13th place on the grid. Bradley Smith (Repsol Honda RS125R), who scored his first points at Donington Park two weeks ago, qualified 14th fastest, only 0.077 seconds shy of Luthi’s time. Sandro Cortese (Elit Grand Prix Honda RS125R) qualified 11th fastest and will start from row three in tomorrow’s 27-lap race. Lai said, “The bike is OK and I like the track. I made the lap time without a slipstream but it’s not enough. I’m sixth and eight tenth of a second from the poleman a lot on this track. For the race it’s important to have a good and constant pace. I hope tomorrow won’t be too hot, we are the last to race and Honda engine suffers more than the Aprilia and KTM in the heat. And tyre choice will be very important.” Talmacsi said, “This is a tough track and it’s not easy to find the best chassis settings. We’ve made some steps forward compared to yesterday, but still I am slow turning-in and the bike feels heavy and slippery. I struggled in the first corner, while in some points, the track is bumpy and this complicates the situation. Anyway, I’m happy and if we can make a further improvement during tomorrow’s warm up, I think I can do a good race.” Cortese said, “I am very happy now. We had some front-end chatter problems early in the qualifying session, but we changed the suspension settings and tyres and it’s better. In fact even with the chatter I was really fast from the beginning. The engine is really good and I feel I will have a good race if I get a good start.” Luthi said, “Not good but a little better than yesterday. I was following Bautista on my fast lap but going into a slow corner, I started to get front wheel chatter, and he was away. We have to fix this tonight because it’ll be very difficult to race with this problem. The engine is fine all we had to do was to make small changes to the gearbox. We’ll see what we’re able to do tomorrow.” Honda GP rider quotes: German GP Sachsenring. Final qualifying July 15, 2006. MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1st. “I’m happy to get on pole position but the most important thing really was to get on the front row because the track is very tight at the beginning and there are only two or three passing points here. I’m fine after the crash this morning, but the bike was not so lucky. The mechanics worked very hard through lunch to have the bike ready for qualifying and first of all this afternoon I just tried to run-in the bike and check everything. Then I pushed harder and my lap time was good, so overall I’m pleased with how it went today. Of course the most important thing is to use the front row position to get a good start tomorrow and see how the race goes.” Kenny Roberts Jnr, KR Honda: 2nd. “When a laps looks slow and easy its usually fast – the bike is coming along. We have had no test to work on improving it just trying a few different settings, mainly riding position and to get the bike to work better on qualifying tyres. The bike felt well balanced. I could have tried to get more out of it if I had pushed harder but I’m more than happy and the front row is a definite bonus. I have to get a good start and try to stay with the top Honda guys.” Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 3rd. “I’m happy to be on the front row and this is the best I’ve qualified for a while, so it’s been positive. We’ve been close out of the gate and we haven’t had to make a lot of big changes to the set-up, we’ve just been sweetening it up, and I think we’ve got a pretty strong package this weekend. It’s been one of the better weekends so far this year. I would have liked to get down into the 1m 21s today and I thought it was possible, but getting on the front row of the grid is really important here and I’ll be planning to get a good start tomorrow. We’ll try and find a little extra pace in the warm-up and then I’m looking forward to a dogfight tomorrow in the race.” Marco Melandri, Fortuna Honda: 6th. “I’m very satisfied. I got into a good rhythm and I’m confident for the race. I’m happy being on the second row because the front two rows were the objective here. The bike is working well and Honda has a good base setting for us here. My physical condition has improved a lot and so many left turns here are good for my right shoulder.” Casey Stoner, LCR Honda: 8th. “Today I just concentrated on the updated chassis and I now have a much better feeling –it is a positive step forward considering it is only my second day on this bike. The team had to change most of the settings from the standard RCV and we are slowly moving forward especially with a more positive feeling from the front-end. My first qualifying run was really good and I then switched to a different rear tyre, but it pushed the front on the second run. The race could be difficult from the third row, there are not many places to overtake. I’ll need good start, the first corner is a little scary- it’s very tight.” Makoto Tamada, Konica Minolta Honda: 10th. “We are just a little better today than yesterday. We have been trying some things on the suspension basically working with different springs. Now my capacity to control front end slides has improved and I am getting more confident with the bike. Tomorrow in the warm up we will try some different rear tyres because we have to be ready for different track temperatures, the track was very hot today.” Toni Elias, Fortuna Honda: 16th. “I’m very tired and suffering a lot now. I’m really starting to feel the effect of these four sessions, but it’s important for me to be back on the track. My target for tomorrow is just to finish the race 250cc: Yuki Takahashi, Humangest Honda:2nd. “I’m surprise about today’s last lap. The final part of the qualifying session has been difficult, because I was in the middle of a group of riders and I couldn’t push as I would have liked. Only at the last lap I was able to build a small gap and go much faster. It’s a shame as in the last turn I made a small mistake! This morning we found a good set-up, but in the afternoon we made some modifications loosing a bit our way. Then, we went back at this morning solution and the feeling with the bike was better again. Here it will be important to make a good start because it’s difficult to overtake”. Andrea Dovizioso, Humangest Honda: 8th “I’m not too much satisfied about my position in tomorrow’s starting grid, but we have made a step forward compared to yesterday. My pace is good, though, more or less at the same level as my rivals and this make me think positive for the race. Some riders improved their lap times at the end by following other riders, actually I was penalized by this situation. I don’t like this track but now I feel more confident compared to yesterday and there aren’t so many riders faster than me”. Shuhei Aoyama, Repsol Honda: 10th. “I’m very disappointed because I didn’t expect a result like this, although the race is fortunately tomorrow. Things went well yesterday, but this morning we took the wrong way as regards the bike’s settings so we had to go back. Then I just haven’t been able to make a fast enough lap at the end of the second qualifying practice, and that set me back in the grid. We have, however, a good race pace, so we’ll have to be really watchful at the start.” Martin Cardenas, Repsol Honda: 16th. “The collarbone is doing great. I haven’t felt any pain during the weekend; the practice however has been a little bit disappointing. I felt quite good in the morning but in the afternoon I crashed at the beginning and lost some confidence. I was finally able to improve my time a bit, but not as much as I expected. We were testing a harder tyre for the front and entering a corner the steering just got closed so I crashed. I hope to be able to make a good start tomorrow to get the front group and try to stay there.” Arturo Tizon, Wurth Honda BQR: 17th. “I had a good feeling with the bike, my time is good and my grid position. But now I have a front tyre problem. I had been using the standard Dunlop front and it worked really good but they cannot supply me with one for the race. They gave me a tyre with the same compound but harder construction but I didn’t find a good feeling with that one. We tried another type but it was not much better. If I can find a standard front tyre from another team I will be happy, if not I might struggle to find a good rhythm in the race. A pity because everything else is working really good for me.” Aleix Espargaro, Wurth Honda BQR: 19th. “A bad day for me today. In the morning I tried several different tyres and concentrated on to of them in the qualifying session but both were sliding badly. My lap by lap times are not too bad, my best at 1’27.1s and many at 1’27.2s. I have no other problems. The engine is fast but here the engine is not as important as the chassis set up. At this track you have to have a good feeling with the chassis to be confident. I the warm up I will try another type of tyre with some set up changes and se where we are.” Fabrizio Perren, Stop and Go Racing: 20th. “After my crash yesterday I found the track to be a little complicated, it is a very technical circuit and very bumpy. It’s my first time here so the last thing I needed was a crash while I was trying to learn where I’m going. Still the engine is good and we are close on set up. We have to check the telemetry to se where we can improve. I hope I get a good start because the first part of the circuit is tight and difficult to pass riders. If I find my rhythm quickly I will have a good race.” Arnaud Vincent, Molenaar Honda: 24th. “My engine is not strong enough, even on this short track because thee are some stiff uphill sections. Then I crashed when the front end turned in on me. I’m OK but I am not happy with my grid position.” 125cc: Fabrizio Lai, Seedorf Racing World: 6th. “The bike is ok and I like the track. I made the lap time without slipstreams but it is not enough: I’m sixth but I have to recover 8 tenths from the poleman and it is a lot on this track. For the race is important to have a good and constant pace! I hope tomorrow it will be not too hot, we are the last to race and Honda engine suffers hot temperature, more than Aprilia and Ktm. Also the tyre choice will be very important”. Gabor Talmacsi, Humangest Honda: 7th. “This is a tough track and it is not easy to find the best chassis settings. We have made some steps forward compare to yesterday, but still I am slow in turning and I feel the bike heavy and slippery. I struggled in the first corner, while in some points, the track is bumpy and this complicates the situation. Anyway, I’m happy and if we can make a further improvement during tomorrow’s warm up, I think I can do a good race”. Sandro Cortese, Elit Honda: 11th. “I am very happy now. We had some front end chatter problems early in the qualifying session but we changed the suspension settings and tyres and its better. In fact even with the chatter I was really fast from the beginning. The engine is really good and I feel I will have a good race if I get a good start.” Thomas Luthi, Elit Honda: 13th. “Not good but a little better than yesterday. I was following Bautista on my fast lap but going into a slow corner I started to get front wheel chatter and he was away. We have to fix this tonight because it will be very difficult to race with this problem. The engine is fine all we had to do is make small changes to the gearbox. We will see what we are able to do I have to get into the corners faster than I am now.” Bradley Smith, Repsol Honda: 14th. “It’s good to repeat. I’m thirteenth fastest, like in Donington, though obviously Donington was my home round but it’s nice to show everyone that I can still do it even if I’m not at my own track so that’s a really good, positive thing. It’s a shame because I should have kept going after my fast lap. I tried to make another one but the tyres weren’t as good. After looking back on it we could have improved and given us another chance but still I got to be happy and I’m looking forward to the race.” Lorenzo Baroni, Humangest Honda: 26th. “I improve lap by lap, but still I’m too far away. We haven’t still found a chassis set-up that let me enter the corners with the right speed and open the throttle quickly in exiting. So we loose in acceleration and I struggle to keep a good rhythm. I think that it will be hard to make 27 laps here in this circuit”. Michele Conti, Seedorf Racing World: 33rd. “I’m trying to understand this difficult track: today I have improved my lap time but I have to learn better how to face some corners: it is fundamental but not easy to do in a short time.” Joey Litjens, Molenaar Honda: 39th. “My cracked ribs are very painful. When I crashed in England the bike landed on top of me. My engine is good and I have a good chassis set up but moving the bike around gives me pain. I will give it a try in the race but if I have a lot of pain its sure to affect my concentration if that happens I will stop.” Tito Rabat, Wurth Honda BQR: 40th. “The rear tyre slides every time I open the gas hard. This morning we had no problems with that. In the qualifying session I was getting big slides in the fast corners. I came into the box and we made some small changes to the suspension and it was a little better. I can’t understand it because it was almost the same feeling with soft and hard compound tyres. We have to work hard in the warm up in the morning.” Clement Dunkowski, substitute rider for the injured Mike Di Meglio, FFM Honda: 41st. “I improved my lap time by 0.8s today in free practice. I improved in every session but I really needed to ride more laps. In the qualifying session I found a good rhythm and improved my best lap by 1.6 seconds. I was hoping to catch the wheel of a faster rider totry and improve my time even more but I didn’t find one. In the race I will do my best to get a good start and follow fast riders and learn.”
