| QUALIFYING 1 REPORT | 16/05/2009 | | Front row for Lorenzo with Rossi fourth in French qualifying | | |  | Jorge Lorenzo missed out on a second consecutive pole position by just five thousandths of a second during qualifying for the French Grand Prix in Le Mans today, finishing second to fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa. His Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi was just edged off the front row at the end of the session and will start from fourth tomorrow.
After yesterdays rain it was another grey morning and the practice session was run in the dry but with track temperatures reaching only 17 degrees. After a slow start yesterday Lorenzo looked much happier this morning and was third in the standings, but Rossi found himself struggling to perfect his set-up and finished down the order in 11th. Heavy rain fell during the middle part of the day and a wet qualifying session was expected but just a few minutes into the hour the sun miraculously appeared and the track quickly dried out.
Both Rossi and Lorenzo looked strong throughout and the Spaniard especially was hugely consistent around the 4.185 km Bugatti circuit, eventually moving into pole with nine minutes to go. With a few minutes left Casey Stoner knocked the 22-year-old off the top spot but Lorenzo was able to make full use of his soft Bridgestone tyres at the end and retook pole, looking to have the session sewn up. It wasn't over however and Pedrosa's final lap was just 0.005 seconds faster.
The World Champion looked in much better shape this afternoon, having found a setting which enabled him to ride his M1 as he wanted. He wasn't quite as fast as his team-mate but it seemed he would hold onto the final front-row grid spot as the seconds ticked down before he, too became a victim of Pedrosa's last-minute charge and was bumped to fourth. Having won from that position last time out however Rossi is confident of being in the mix tomorrow when the race gets going at 1400 CET.
Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 2ndTime: 1'33.979Laps: 30
"I was tiny bit unlucky on that last lap, and we were so very close so it's a pity! Anyway the important thing is that we're on the first row and now we can try to get the good start that we need. I felt strong on the bike today and I was able to make a lot of consistent laps this afternoon, so I am happy about the shape we're in for the race. I really hope that the weather is the same tomorrow and I am looking forward to the race and to getting a good result, like last year here." |
|  | Valentino Rossi - Position: 4thTime: 1'34.106Laps: 29
"Qualifying was a lot better for us! Yesterday and then again this morning we weren't in such good shape, but we've done a good job to fix the bike and this afternoon I could ride how I wanted. It's not perfect and we can still make it better, but we're okay. We're on the second row and a good start will be important because all the top riders are very, very close and there are many that I think can challenge for the race tomorrow. I think it could be a very fun race; for the fans but I hope also for us! I do hope it's dry, like this, but if it's going to rain it would be better if it rained all day so we can try our wet setting in the warm-up, because finally here we've been more or less on a dry track for all three sessions."
Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager
"The weather helped us today and we've had two good sessions, which was important after yesterday. Everything worked to plan and we were able to test out the ideas that we had yesterday and this morning in order to refine our setting. Jorge's pace is quite good, he just missed pole due to a bit of traffic on his final lap but he's on the front row and that's the most important thing. Hopefully the French weather will be kind to us again tomorrow and we will be aiming for a return to the podium"
Davide Brivio - Team Manager
"This afternoon went well and we have been able to recover from this morning, when we had some small difficulties to overcome. We still have room for a few little improvements in order to be in perfect shape for tomorrow, but we have time. Starting fourth is not so bad, it's where we started in Jerez and that went well! We're looking forward to an exciting race."
Superb second row for Colin Edwards, Toseland 12th in Le Mans
Colin Edwards gave the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team's hopes of a home podium in the French MotoGP race a massive boost when he qualified in sixth position on the grid in Le Mans this afternoon.
The 35-year-old was in superb form throughout the session, which started on a damp track that rapidly dried out after earlier rain showers. Edwards, who was part of a Yamaha clean sweep of the Le Mans podium last season, produced a stunning burst of speed shortly before the halfway stage to put himself in contention for pole position. At one stage he led Ducati's Casey Stoner by over 0.5s having impressively reeled off four successive fastest laps.
As the session built up to an exciting climax, he held a position on the front row until the final five minutes and Edwards ended with a best time of 1.34.330, which left him just 0.326s away from pole position.
Having been quickest in this morning's final practice session, the Texan is confident his consistent pace using a combination of hard front and soft rear compound Bridgestone tyres will enable him to mount a strong challenge for the podium in tomorrow's 28-lap race.
British rider James Toseland will start from 12th on the grid, the 28-year-old though was delighted with progress made in the set-up of his YZR-M1 machine. Improvements to front and rear stability allowed Toseland to push harder while feeling more comfortable, and he was less than a second away from claiming a place in the top seven. |
|  | Colin Edwards 6th 1.34.330 - 30 laps
"I'm happy on one side because my race pace is really consistent and I'm as quick as the guys in front of me, so I expect to be challenging at the front in the race tomorrow. But part of me is a little bit disappointed that I wasn't higher up the grid having been close to the top pretty much throughout. I had a couple of small issues and I feel there was more time out there. Basically I can only use the hard front tyre. I can't get the soft one to work, but we have to keep two of the four hard compound tyres for the race. So by the end of the session the front I like is past its best with a lot of laps on it. When you put in the softer rear tyre to make a lap time at the end of the session, the best grip on the hard front has gone and it starts moving because you're pushing it too hard. Having said that, to be within three tenths of the fast guys I'm not complaining too much. And when we start the race tomorrow with the grip of the front and rear at the same level, we're not going to have a problem. I got a podium last year for Tech 3 in its home race, so I'm definitely looking for a repeat of that." |
|  | James Toseland 12th 1.35.524 - 30 laps
"I felt much happier today and the team gave me a great bike. I'm sorry to my guys really for not being a bit further up the grid, but we're so close to being on the edge of the top six and I feel I'm making the progress I've been looking for. This morning it was too cold for the hard front tyre, so we didn't really run it, but with ten degrees more temperature this afternoon, it was much stronger and I felt much more comfortable and that helped me a lot. With the softer rear tyre, which I'm sure will be the race choice that should be a good combination. Sadly the final position is not great again and that is something that has hampered me this season. I'm not far off the group in front at all but starting further down makes it tough to pick them off when we're all doing similar lap times. I really feel though that I'm getting close and today I started to enjoy riding and not thinking about always struggling. That was a good feeling and I know how important this race is for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team and I'll be giving it 100 per cent as always." |
| | 2009 MotoGP France - Le Mans 16/05/2009 | | Pos. | Rider | Manu. | Nat. | Total Time | | 1 | Daniel Pedrosa | Honda | ESP | 1'33.974 | | 2 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | ESP | 1'33.979 | | 3 | Casey Stoner | Ducati | AUS | 1'34.049 | | 4 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | ITA | 1'34.106 | | 5 | Andrea Dovizioso | Honda | ITA | 1'34.300 | | 6 | Colin Edwards | Yamaha | USA | 1'34.330 | | 7 | Chris Vermeulen | Suzuki | AUS | 1'34.676 | | 8 | Loris Capirossi | Suzuki | ITA | 1'34.839 | | 9 | Marco Melandri | Kawasaki | ITA | 1'35.008 | | 10 | Randy De Puniet | Honda | FRA | 1'35.399 | | 11 | Toni Elias | Honda | ESP | 1'35.431 | | 12 | James Toseland | Yamaha | GBR | 1'35.524 | | 13 | Nicky Hayden | Ducati | USA | 1'35.682 | | 14 | Mika Kallio | Ducati | FIN | 1'35.741 | | 15 | Yuki Takahashi | Honda | JPN | 1'35.774 |
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