| QUALIFYING 1 REPORT | 18/09/2010 | | Front row for Lorenzo but Rossi struggles at Aragon | | |  | Jorge Lorenzo took another front row this afternoon at Aragon, the remarkably consistent Spaniard putting his Fiat Yamaha machine onto the second spot on the grid to continue his record of a top-three qualification at each round this season. His team-mate Valentino Rossi had a more difficult day and will start from seventh tomorrow, at the head of the third row.
After a wet day yesterday the rain stayed away and there were even some occasional bright spells at the Spanish circuit, giving the riders some much needed dry track time. Lorenzo was consistently fast throughout the session and was pleased with how he was adapting his riding style to suit the track, which led to better grip and more confidence today. In the closing minutes he was up on the pole position time on several occasions before just missing out each time in the final split, but his final best lap was only three tenths off pole-sitter Casey Stoner and the championship leader is hopeful of being in the mix for tomorrow's race.
Rossi was disappointed to find himself unable to run closer to the front today, finishing this morning's session down in 11th and only making a little headway this afternoon as he struggled to find a competitive package for the track. The 31-year-old was confident he could do a good enough lap with the softer tyre at the end of the session to put him on the second row but a small mistake lost him time and he could only qualify seventh. He and his crew will work hard tonight to try to find a way to improve their pace and the reigning World Champion will use tomorrow's warm-up to make some last minutes adjustments before the race.
Both riders are paying their respects to Shoya Tomizawa at this race; Lorenzo by wearing a replica of the Japanese rider's helmet and Rossi with a specially created sticker on his own helmet.
Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 2ndTime: 1'49.251Laps: 21
"I'm riding well and I am happy about how I have improved my riding style in every practice to better suit this new track. I also understand the track better on every lap so this helps me to be faster. We are losing some time on the straight at the end of the lap so we have to be very strong in all the other parts to try to make up for it. We can't do anything about this so it's important that I know how to ride the rest of the track perfectly. I think tomorrow could be quite an exciting race for us and for the fans and for sure it will be a hard fight for me, but I will do my best as usual to get on the podium." |
|  | Valentino Rossi - Position: 7thTime: 1'50.017Laps: 20
"This morning was a bit of a disaster! This afternoon things were a bit better but we are still not that fast. Unfortunately, with the softer Bridgestone tyre at the end for my fast lap I made a small mistake and lost half a second, otherwise I think I could have been fourth. Now we have to start from the third row and the start of the race will be very important because I have to try to improve my position and stay with the leaders. We have some ideas and we will use the warm-up to try to find a way to improve our pace. It will be a hard and long race but we will do our best."
Wilco Zeelenberg - Team Manager
"Second position is good as we know it's going to be a very tough race tomorrow. We found a good direction this afternoon; everyone else has improved as well but Jorge felt better this morning than yesterday and improved by over one second. To fight with Dani and Casey tomorrow will be a fun challenge because they look strong and have a good pace, but we will be careful and of course our target is always the podium."
Jeremy Burgess - Crew Chief
"We're struggling a bit here and we didn't improve our pace today as much as we were hoping to. Starting from the third row isn't ideal but we will look at the data tonight, come up with some ideas and use the warm-up tomorrow to check a few things and try to make sure we've got a bit more up our sleeves for the race."
Spies shines at spectacular Motorland Aragon
Ben Spies set himself up perfectly for a strong showing in tomorrow's Motorland Aragon MotoGP race after another masterful qualifying performance at the spectacular new Spanish venue this afternoon.
Spies will start from the second row of the grid for the seventh time in the last eight races after a dazzling lap of 1.49.565 saw him end a shortened 45-minute qualifying session in fifth position.
Having quickly mastered the technical and challenging 5.078km track in two practice sessions yesterday, Spies was able to significantly improve the set-up of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1 in sunny but cool conditions this afternoon.
Temperatures nudged close to 20 degrees and Spies concentrated on making his YZR-M1 machine turn better in the long corners of the Motorland Aragon circuit, which has drawn universal praise from the MotoGP field for its challenging layout.
He finished only 0.059s behind compatriot Nicky Hayden in fourth place and just over 0.2s away from registering his third front row start in the last four races.
Colin Edwards will start his 100th MotoGP race for Yamaha from 11th position on the grid, the experienced American missing out on the top ten by just 0.117s.
Edwards initially attempted to qualify using the hard compound Bridgestone rear tyre, a decision that unfortunately didn't pay off as he'd anticipated. But he still had time to use his final soft tyre option to set a best time of 1.50.440 with a determined charge on his final lap. |
| Ben Spies - Position: 5th Time: 1'49.565 Laps: 20
"I'm pretty happy to be on the second row again and I managed to put in some decent laps on the race tyre that bodes well for tomorrow. I can still improve the bike and make it steer better in the longer corners because in the tight and twisty sections we've got it working pretty well. I'm in that top six battle where I need to be and I'm satisfied with that because I'm still in that fight for the top three in the championship. The start will be crucial because we're lacking a little bit of speed on the straight, so I need to get off the line good to try and go with those guys at the front. This track has got a lot of passing opportunities so it should be fun and a pretty good race for the fans to watch. I'm just trying to stay in that top six for the rest of the season but it is good that I'm consistently able to qualify and race with the fastest riders in MotoGP ." |
| Colin Edwards - Position 11th Time: 1'50.440 Laps: 19
"I started the session on the hard tyre and then switched to the softer compound to try and get my grid position but I had a bit of spinning and couldn't really get the best out of it. At that point I thought it would be better to try and qualify with the hard tyre because it was a bit more stable and I'd been able to run a better lap time. So for the last run I had a new hard and a new soft tyre to choose from and I went for the hard. All weekend I'd gone faster on the hard tyre but the last one I couldn't get the same feeling. I came back in with only four minutes to go and put the last soft tyre in knowing I'd only get one lap in. I scrubbed the tyre off as good as I could on the out lap and got my head down but I made a couple of really small mistakes that cost me a couple of places on the grid. Tomorrow is my 100th race for Yamaha and as always I'll be giving it the best effort I can." |
| Circuit Length: 5345
Temp: 19
Weather: Dry Fastest Lap Ever: 1'48.942 (Casey Stoner, 19/09/2010)
| | | 2010 MotoGP Spain - Aragon 18/09/2010 | | Pos. | Rider | Manu. | Nat. | Total Time | | 1 | Casey Stoner | Ducati | AUS | 1'48.942 | | 2 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | ESP | 1'49.251 | | 3 | Daniel Pedrosa | Honda | ESP | 1'49.343 | | 4 | Nicky Hayden | Ducati | USA | 1'49.506 | | 5 | Ben Spies | Yamaha | USA | 1'49.565 | | 6 | Randy De Puniet | Honda | FRA | 1'49.952 | | 7 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | ITA | 1'50.017 | | 8 | Andrea Dovizioso | Honda | ITA | 1'50.046 | | 9 | Marco Simoncelli | Honda | ITA | 1'50.088 | | 10 | Hector Barbera | Ducati | ESP | 1'50.323 | | 11 | Colin Edwards | Yamaha | USA | 1'50.440 | | 12 | Alvaro Bautista | Suzuki | ESP | 1'50.523 | | 13 | Aleix Espargaro | Ducati | ESP | 1'50.537 | | 14 | Marco Melandri | Honda | ITA | 1'50.580 | | 15 | Hiroshi Aoyama | Honda | JPN | 1'50.836 |
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