Today’s MotoGP qualifying session at Silverstone was quite eventful with Jorge Lorenzo taking his first pole position of the season and Dani Pedrosa and Randy de Puniet both crashing in the dying moments of the hour, fortunately both Honda riders got off without any serious injuries.
Here’s what everyone had to say after qualifying.
Jorge Lorenzo – 1st “I am so happy about this first pole of the season, but I’m even happier about the fact that I felt so good on my M1 this afternoon.
It is really important to be on the front row for tomorrow because this gives us the best chance of another podium.
Today we did 18 consecutive laps with the hard tyre and then another eight with the soft, which is a good sign, but the track was quite cold today and it took time for the tyres to reach the right temperature, so we have to wait and see how the weather is for our final choice.
I feel comfortable and I’m really looking forward to tomorrow, although I hopeit isn’t going to rain.
Thanks to all of my team for doing a great job today.
”Randy de Puniet – 2nd “I am very happy because this is my first front row start since Assen 2007.
I am really enjoying myself on this track and I thought it was possible to take the pole position today when I stripped half a second off Lorenzo’s top time, but in the last lap he took pole back and I also experienced a fall.
I have cut my right thumb in the crash but it was not necessary to stitch it up.
For sure this crash was helpful to me as I understood I must remain calm during the race! The overall package is working well and I am riding faster and faster lap by lap but we still have to adjust something especially in the engine mapping and traction control but we will work on it tonight.
Honestly, I do not want to dream about the podium but we have got a good potential to race in the front tomorrow.
” Dani Pedrosa – 3rd “Today we were quite fast in both sessions and we have a good machine setting, so I think we have the potential for a strong race.
We still need to decide which of the Bridgestone tyre options we’ll use because tomorrow it looks like it may be warmer than today.
I crashed when I was on my last qualifying lap as I braked going into a left hander, I hit some bumps and then the front started to move a lot and then had a little slide.
Maybe the bike went over me and at that moment it hurt, but afterwards the pain went away so I’m ok for tomorrow.
The lap times were getting faster in each session and I think I’m still learning the track – every time you go out you learn more about the line, the braking points and the corners where the bumps are – and that’s normal on a new track.
We’re on the front row which is always important for a good getaway, so tomorrow I hope we can have another good performance.
”Andrea Dovizioso – 4th “I’m happy with qualifying in fourth place and starting from the front of the second row.
I wanted to be a little bit closer in terms of lap times and we still need to improve the pace for tomorrow so that we can fight for first place, but I’m satisfied with the result today.
This morning I crashed, fortunately without hurting myself, and I was able to get straight back on my second bike and be back on the pace immediately.
Because of this crash we couldn’t do so much comparison work between the two chassis we had available, and so during qualifying I only used the new one, which seems to work well.
The track layout is really fascinating – I like it a lot – but the main issue remains the bumps.
We’re quietly confident for tomorrow and I’m definitely looking for another podium finish – at least.
”Nicky Hayden – 5th“We made a step forward today.
Yesterday I knew that we weren’t as far off as we seemed and even though we didn’t quite have the right feeling for the conditions a few small changes have helped make us faster.
Said that, my race pace isn’t great – there are a couple of sections where I’m losing quite a lot of time and if we want to have a good race we need to find another few tenths.
It will be an interesting race tomorrow because it is one thing to ride on your own at a new circuit and another thing altogether to mix it up in a group.
We’ll find out exactly where we are when the lights go out tomorrow.
”Casey Stoner – 6th“My race pace is fairly decent but the truth is we haven’t improved as much as we would like.
The biggest problem we’re having at the moment is keeping the heat in the tyres and that brings on a bunch of other issues.
The temperature drops off with every lap that goes by and as a result so does the grip.
We also tried to make the bike more stable over the bumps but we lost a bit of handling and rear grip.
We’re doing our best to solve the problems and luckily still have the warm-up to try a few more things.
Either way I think the race can be much better for us than qualifying.
” Ben Spies – 7th “Qualifying wasn’t too bad but I feel like it should have been a better outcome than what it was.
I’m riding really hard and I was pretty close to being on the second row but I’d like the lap times to be coming a little bit easier.
On the speed charts we’re down a bit and that is making it difficult and if I don’t get a good start it will make it hard to pass people.
But I’m happy with my riding and the set-up of the bike and the lap times are consistent.
I certainly tried as hard as I could and on the last lap I might have picked up another tenth to get on the second row but de Puniet crashed in front of me and that definitely cost me a small bit of time.
My ankle is not too bad and shouldn’t be a problem in the race.
I was actually going to come into the pits because there had been a few crashes and I was only doing 70 per cent of my normal speed when I got caught out.
It can happen but I’ll be ready to give my maximum effort in the race.
” Marco Melandri – 8th “This is a very different circuit, there is so much to learn.
But we have worked well so far and I think we can have a good race.
The biggest problem is the bumps, but they are the same for everyone, so it’s just a part of the set-up we have to work on.
I don’t know if I can fight for fourth place like I did at Mugello, but whatever, we will try our best.
”Marco Simoncelli – 9th “I am pretty sore after my crash this morning, but I must just focus on the work ahead.
I really like this track – it is fast and you have to be aggressive, which suits my style.
The bike is coming along, but we would be in better shape if I hadn’t fallen this morning and lost some important track time.
We will try and get a good start in the race and not make any first-lap mistakes.
” Colin Edwards – 10th“That was really hard work and I just can’t ride the bike to the level I know I can.
I’m just not comfortable and to ride as hard as I had to just for tenth, I’m not happy.
There are guys that I beat easily last year that I’m struggling to match at the moment and it certainly isn’t through a lack of trying.
It is hard not to get frustrated but I am doing my absolute best to improve and get some more speed out of the bike.
But we’re struggling for engine speed and I can’t get a decent setting with the chassis.
Tenth is not a position I’m happy to be in but I’ll give it my all in the race tomorrow because everybody at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 is working hard to improve the situation.
” Héctor Barberá – 11th “This second day has been much better than the first one, because I am enjoying riding more.
This morning I had a bit of bad luck with a braking mistake, which caused me to crash on turn three.
I wanted to brake too hard with the bars slightly turned, but the steering locked up.
In qualifying I was using the second bike, and felt very comfortable.
Both machines are ready for the race.
I am very happy with my pace and don’t think that starting a little far back will hinder me too much, as I am capable of a comeback if I hold my nerve at the start.
I have grown immensely in confidence with the Ducati in these sessions, and I love the track –especially the first half of it.
The idea now is to learn from my mistakes and continue with my development in the premier class.
The track is fast and very bumpy, so the margin for error is tiny and we have seen a lot of crashes as a result.
On the last three laps I tried to improve my time in the final two sectors by trying new lines, but I made a mistake and was unable to go faster.
”Hiroshi Aoyama – 12th “My feeling for the bike is getting better and we could improve since the morning session.
The direction in which we are going is good, but we still have a lot of work to do to get where I want to be.
The choice of the tyre is very important here for the race and at the moment we are still not sure which tyre will be the right one.
” Aleix Espargarò – 13th“Too cold and unluckily I wasn’t able to use in the best way the last part of this afternoon session.
This is shortly what happened today.
There isn’t much more to say: I am disappointed.
I was expecting at least to be in the top ten.
I like the track a lot and I hope that tomorrow I will make it to start well in the Grand Prix to reach the group of the fastest riders.
I don’t want to disappoint my Team.
”Loris Capirossi – 14th“We improved a bit today compared to yesterday, but still we don’t have the grip we want and we are really struggling.
When we try to get a bit more entry grip it feels like we are going to lose the front and overall it feels like a game and we have to try and play the best we can to work it out.
We know we are quite limited in the cold conditions and that is a similar thing to last year.
We have never resolved this fully, but we do keep trying and the whole team is making the maximum effort to sort this out.
It is a bit stressful for us all, especially because it is the home Grand Prix for us and we want to get the best result we can.
” Álvaro Bautista – 15th “We have had some problems with the cold conditions, especially this morning as it was almost impossible to ride the bike because both tyres were going away in the corners and I just couldn’t control the bike.
This afternoon we changed the bike a lot and put some more weight on the rear tyre to try and get more warmth in it, it was better – but still not enough.
I still feel that when I enter the corner I can’t go in too fast as I don’t have enough grip.
We will try something else in warm-up tomorrow to get the best setting for the race and we hope that the sun comes out and the conditions will warm up because if it is cold it will be very difficult to ride.
” Mika Kallio -16th “Since yesterday I didn’t manage to find the right feeling with the bike.
When I try to follow other riders, I lose too much space in every part of the circuit.
This makes us understand that the situation, even for tomorrow’s race, isn’t the best.
My Team and I will surely not give up and we will try to work at the best during tomorrow’s warm up to climb the classification during the race.
We will give all we have!”
