Repsol Honda 1-2 in Germany Qualifying
Casey has been playing catch up since his accident yesterday in FP1 and tested several configurations on both his RC212V's before finding a set up he was comfortable with. Once he found it, the Australian recorded some impressive lap times and was the first rider to drop below 1'22 and on a hard used tire. His pole position lap of 1'21.682 was two tenths faster than Dani Pedrosa's Circuit Record Lap set in 2010.
Dani took advantage of the Sachsenring circuit with its many left hand corners, which are easier on his shoulder than circuits dominated with right hand corners. The Repsol Honda rider who returned to racing in Mugello two weeks ago, after missing the three previous races, will be hoping he can put his injury fatigue to one side and score a strong result at a circuit he's always enjoyed.
CASEY STONER – 1st 1'21.681
"After the crash on Friday my confidence was dented a little and we struggled to get enough data, so we've been playing catch up all day today. This morning we made a few small steps forward but not really enough, the guys in front of us were just consistently that little bit faster and we were finding it hard to match their pace. We completed a lot of laps on one tire this morning, in fact over race distance on a tire I did one of my fastest laps on so this was certainly positive. Then this afternoon we kept trying different directions on both bikes and every step we made on each bike, we took big steps forward so we're pretty happy with the set up we have now. The lap times are very close here so it will be a tough race and hard to take any real advantage. However, I'm very happy and positive we can still slightly improve tomorrow morning so thanks to all my team for a great job".
DANI PEDROSA – 2nd 1'21.933
"It's great to be on the front row again, to be honest I didn't expect it. But we've done a good job and it's important to start in front here because the first corner is very tight and it's better to avoid being immersed in the group at the start. For the race, we still need to improve the bike a little, so we will work on that with the mechanics this evening. It would be nice to have a little more traction. I think we will need to pay attention to Yamaha at the end of the race because the riding is smoother and they can save the tires better. As for my condition, right now the races are physically hard for me, but it's also true that with more left hand corners in this circuit I don't suffer as in Mugello and I can concentrate on my riding. More than pain, I feel weak from lack of training, but we will give our maximum hoping to get a good result".
Results
1 | Casey Stoner | 1'21.681 | AUS | HONDA | Repsol Honda Team |
2 | Dani Pedrosa | 1'21.933 | SPA | HONDA | Repsol Honda Team |
3 | Jorge Lorenzo | 1'21.944 | SPA | YAMAHA | Yamaha Factory Racing Team |
4 | Marco Simoncelli | 1'21.954 | ITA | HONDA | San Carlo Honda Gresini |
5 | Ben Spies | 1'22.056 | USA | YAMAHA | Yamaha Factory Racing Team |
6 | Andrea Dovizioso | 1'22.157 | ITA | HONDA | Repsol Honda Team |
7 | Colin Edwards | 1'22.368 | USA | YAMAHA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 |
8 | Nicky Hayden | 1'22.388 | USA | DUCATI | Ducati Marlboro Team |
9 | Randy De Puniet | 1'22.503 | FRA | DUCATI | Pramac Racing |
10 | Alvaro Bautista | 1'22.604 | SPA | SUZUKI | Rizla Suzuki MotoGP |
11 | Hector Barbera | 1'22.676 | SPA | DUCATI | Paginas Amarillas Aspar |
12 | Cal Crutchlow | 1'22.676 | GBR | YAMAHA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 |
13 | Karel Abraham | 1'23.164 | CZE | DUCATI | Cardion AB Motoracing |
14 | Toni Elias | 1'23.201 | SPA | HONDA | LCR Honda MotoGP |
15 | Hiroshi Aoyama | 1'23.248 | JPN | HONDA | San Carlo Honda Gresini |
16 | Valentino Rossi | 1'23.320 | ITA | DUCATI | Ducati Marlboro Team |
17 | Sylvain Guintoli | 1'24.707 | FRA | DUCATI | Pramac Racing |