MotoGP Indianapolis - Qualifying

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QUALIFYING 1 REPORT 14/09/2008 Rossi claims historic pole for MotoGP's Indianapolis debut Valentino Rossi Valentino Rossi took a historic pole position today for the inaugural MotoGP race at Indianapolis today; tomorrow will see him become the first rider in 99 years to head a motorcycle race at the famous 'Brickyard'. The Fiat Yamaha rider hung onto the front grid spot by just 0.084 seconds ahead of Casey Stoner to take his second pole of the season, with team-mate Jorge Lorenzo rounding out the front row for the second race running. After the torrential downpours of yesterday, the rain abated today and this morning's practice was run on a drying track. Rossi was quick to find an effective dry set-up and was second fastest, finding the agile nature of his M1 well suited to the demands of the 4.218 km track. Qualifying this afternoon was run in bright sunshine and Rossi had an enjoyable hour, fine-tuning his setting before putting in several fast laps with a Bridgestone qualifying tyre, his final one good enough to hold off Stoner and Lorenzo's last-minute challenges. The riders' now have one wet and one dry day of set-up under their belts at this new track but, with rain forecast tomorrow, it seems that the wet one could be the one they need. Tomorrow's 28-lap race is scheduled to get underway at 1500 local time (GMT -4). Valentino Rossi - Position: 1Time: 1'40.776Laps: 26 "I'm very happy to get the chance to ride on this circuit in the dry, it's a great track and I had a lot of fun today. It's technical and difficult, which I like, and it seems to suit our bike and tyres well. There are places to pass, especially turn one and turn ten, and the grip of the new asphalt is much better in the dry. If it's like this tomorrow, then we can have a great race! Unfortunately this seems unlikely so we will have to wait and see what the situation is tomorrow at race time. If it's 'normal' rain then we will be okay, if it's like yesterday then we have to take a decision all together about racing. I am really happy with the work we did today, we found a great setting for the qualifying tyres this afternoon and I made some good laps, especially the last two. I knew I could try for 1'40 and I was able to do 40.7. Whatever the weather tomorrow, this pole position will be very important." Davide Brivio - Team Manager "Valentino did a great lap on his last qualifying tyre and it's fantastic to be on pole position for the first MotoGP race here. We're really happy! Now we have to wait and see for tomorrow, we're all hoping for weather like this but there is a big question mark. We did a great job to find a good setting today so we know that we're in good shape in the dry, but we were also fast yesterday afternoon so I think that we can be competitive in both types of conditions. Thanks to all the team for a great job today, this is an important pole position." Lorenzo takes second consecutive front row for Indy debut Jorge Lorenzo put his Fiat Yamaha Team M1 on the front row of the grid for the second race in a row today, qualifying third for the first ever MotoGP race at the historic Indianpolis Motor Speedway. As in Misano, Lorenzo will share the front row with team-mate Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner, albeit with their positions reversed after Rossi took a stunning pole position this afternoon. Today's two sessions were run in very different conditions to yesterday's washout, with this afternoon's qualifying taking place under sunny skies with ambient temperatures in the mid thirties. Lorenzo made steady progress with his dry set-up over the hour and moved into provisional pole position with 12 minutes to go. He was then relegated down the grid in the last ten minutes but his last effort with a Michelin qualifying tyre was good enough to put him back on the front row. Unfortunately more bad weather is expected tomorrow so yesterday's wet set-up looks like it will come in useful. The race will be run over 28 laps and the lights will go out at 1500 East Coast time (GMT-4). Jorge Lorenzo Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 3Time: 1'41.177Laps: 27 "I am so happy that this track is different to how I expected, because I really enjoyed myself this afternoon! I thought it would be quite dangerous but in fact I feel really safe on my M1 here, which is allowing me to be fast. Some of the corners are really close together which I enjoy because it means I can ride very smoothly in the style that I like. It's a good track for me. We are on the front row for the second race in a row and this shows that we are truly getting back to our best, so I want to thank my team for their work, both here and in Misano. We are still not perfect in the wet or the dry so we need to make some improvements in warm-up, but we don't know what the weather will do tomorrow so we will have to wait and see." Daniele Romagnoli -Team Manager "This was a good qualifying session for us today and Jorge rode very well with the qualifying tyre. For the race in the dry it looks like we have quite a good pace but we still need to improve in section one, where we need more front grip. We have some things to try in warm-up so we hope it will be dry, but we have to be ready for a wet day as well. If that's the case then we will have to try to confirm what we found yesterday. Anyway, it's good to be on the front row so we hope that we can make the most of it once again." Tech 3 Yamaha duo ready for historic Indianapolis race James Toseland and Colin Edwards will start alongside each other on the fourth row of the grid for tomorrow's MotoGP debut at the iconic Indianapolis circuit. In contrast to the torrential rain that dominated the opening day of practice, today's qualifying session was run in sunny and humid conditions, giving Toseland and Edwards their first opportunity to familiarise themselves with a fully dry track. Prime focus was on evaluating slick tyre performance on the different sections of asphalt at the Indy circuit, which had proved problematic in yesterday's wet conditions as grip levels varied on the old and new surface. Quickly getting to grips with the circuit in dry conditions, Toseland looked on course to claim an impressive second row start when he climbed to fifth place with just eight minutes of the session remaining. But he had to settle for 10th with a best time of 1.41.897, which was one place and just 0.037s faster than Edwards. Edwards delighted a large home crowd with 24 minutes remaining when he surged to the top of the timesheets on his first Michelin qualifying tyre. Briefly relegated off the front row, Edwards elevated himself back into the top three with 16 minutes remaining. He eventually ended the session in 11th. Weather forecasts for tomorrow's 28-lap race aren't for more of today's dry conditions, with Friday's heavy rain anticipated to return. Race bosses will constantly monitor weather forecasts tomorrow, with the possibility of the race being run earlier than the scheduled 3pm slot to avoid the most severe weather. James Toseland James Toseland - Position: 10Time: 1'41.897 Laps: 23 "It was a tough session and I'm disappointed not to be on the second row. We'd been working in a good direction with the bike for the qualifiers and on my penultimate tyre I must have gone over a second faster than the previous one. On the last one we tried another modification to the setting and unfortunately I lost all side grip. I had a bit of chatter at maximum lean angle, and that's where you need to be pushing on the qualifying tyres. It is a shame because I had been building up speed nicely and was confident of being on the second row. That one change at the end could have been the second row but it was the fourth and that is frustrating because we should have performed better. I've heard the weather is going to be bad tomorrow so I think it will be a battle of survival. It totally depends on how much it rains. If it is like yesterday morning then we can race, but if it is like it was at the end of the second session then it will be impossible unfortunately. That would be a great shame because even in torrential rain, three-quarters of the track is great for grip. On the old tarmac the water drains better than I've ever seen. Hopefully we won't have to worry about that and we can do what we came here for and what we want to do, and that's put on a good race for the American fans. They have been brilliant." Colin Edwards Colin Edwards - Position: 11Time: 1'41.934 Laps: 22 "I always do my fastest laps and my fastest riding when it looks like I'm just taking a Sunday cruise. I have always been really smooth but at the moment I'm having too climb all over the bike to stop it from chattering and that is strange because I haven't had any chatter all year. With a new track we tried a few big changes with the setting but with the lack of dry track time it hasn't been easy to get comfortable. It is not through a lack of effort that I'm not as high up the grid as I wanted to be. We have changed everything to try and make it better without much success. This morning's session wasn't terrible and I felt reasonably happy, but the more I pushed this afternoon the worse the problems became. I was struggling to hold a line. If I was going slow I could hold the line, but trying telling a racer you've got to go slow. It is disappointing to have my second home race and not be where I want to be again. On the qualifiers the grip was brilliant, but with the extra grip the more the chatter increased. We've got to see what happens tomorrow with the forecasts being pretty grim. Hopefully we can race tomorrow whether it is wet or dry. We want to race for the fans who have travelled hundreds of miles to come and see us." Circuit Length: 4186 Temp: 34 Weather: Dry 2008 MotoGP Indianapolis - Indianapolis 14/09/2008 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'40.776 2 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1'40.860 3 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 1'41.177 4 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 1'41.271 5 Ben Spies Suzuki USA 1'41.464 6 Randy De Puniet Honda FRA 1'41.920 7 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 1'41.744 8 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'41.754 9 Toni Elias Ducati ESP 1'41.886 10 James Toseland Yamaha GBR 1'41.897 11 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'41.934 12 Alex De Angelis Honda SMR 1'41.969 13 Loris Capirossi Suzuki ITA 1'42.305 14 Sylvain Guintoli Ducati FRA 1'42.405 15 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1'42.551 Yamaha Racing Communications Hoogte Kadijk 61hs / 1018 BE Amsterdam / The Netherlands T. +31 (0) 20 625 6539 / F. +31 (0) 20 420 9470 E. office@yrc.nl W. http://www.yamaha-racing.com