Pedrosa wins MotoGP pole
Dani Pedrosa, the only rider who has won at Valencia in all three classes, set a new pole record on his last flying lap (1'30.844) beating Valentino Rossi's old record by 0.158 seconds (1'31.002) which Rossi recorded using qualifying tires in 2006. Dani took his fifth pole of the season.
It was a very busy qualifying session for the Repsol Honda Team, the only dry session so far this weekend, and Dani and Casey worked hard to find the best setup and test the new asphalt. Tire choice will be key if the race is dry tomorrow, but at the moment the weather forecast still remains uncertain.
DANI PEDROSA 1st 1'30.844
"It was almost a perfect lap and I gave 100% because I knew I wouldn't be able to improve any more as the tires were very good for the first lap and then the drop in grip was quite severe. I'm very happy with the pole position and the new record because Valentino's old record was done with qualifying tires. We had only one dry session to test the new asphalt and we saw that the grip level is a little better but the tires dropped down very quick. We still have to decide on the tires for tomorrow because we have used only the soft compound, but it depends on the weather – if it rains we will need to take what we learned yesterday. I really would like to win here and finish the season with a good race".
CASEY STONER 3rd 1'31.428
"Qualifying didn't really go to plan, it was a pretty frustrating session. Due to the miserable weather this weekend, we had a lot of work to do in a very short space of time, we did make some good progress but unfortunately we couldn't find enough before the end of the session. There is a new surface here and we expected everything to be really good and smooth but in fact we've found there are a lot of bumps on the circuit. Now I'm thinking how we can improve the bike and get everything working a little easier. We need to adapt the electronics to allow me to be less restricted on this track so I can ride how I want to. Hopefully the weather is dry tomorrow and we can take that extra step in warm up".
Qualifying Results
1 Dani Pedrosa 1'30.844 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Jorge Lorenzo 1'31.195 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
3 Casey Stoner 1'31.428 AUS HONDA Repsol Honda Team
4 Cal Crutchlow 1'31.512 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5 Stefan Bradl 1'31.757 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
6 Andrea Dovizioso 1'31.795 ITA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
7 Nicky Hayden 1'32.503 USA DUCATI Ducati Team
8 Alvaro Bautista 1'32.585 SPA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
9 Hector Barbera 1'32.605 SPA DUCATI Pramac Racing
10 Aleix Espargaro 1'32.834 ESP ART Aspar Team MotoGP
11 Valentino Rossi 1'32.877 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
12 Randy De Puniet 1'33.346 FRA ART Aspar Team MotoGP
13 Karel Abraham 1'33.442 CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Motoracing
14 Colin Edwards 1'33.453 USA SUTER NGM Mobile Forward Racing
15 Michele Pirro 1'33.971 ITA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
16 Katsuyuki Nakasuga 1'33.979 JAP YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
17 Danilo Petrucci 1'33.980 ITA IODA Ioda Racing Project
18 Ivan Silva 1'34.407 SPA BQR-FTR BQR
19 Roberto Rolfo 1'34.866 ITA ART Speed Master
20 James Ellison 1'34.918 GBR ART Paul Bird Racing
21 Hiroshi Aoyama 1'35.363 JAP BQR-FTR BQR
22 Claudio Corti 1'36.531 ITA BQR-FTR BQR