LORENZO PIPS STONER FOR TOP SPOT AT MAZDA RACEWAY
2010-07-25 14:55:54 Author: admin Source:
Yamaha's young pretender Jorge Lorenzo again notched up pole position at the Mazda Raceway (Laguna Seca) for today's MotoGP U.S. Grand Prix, his fifth consecutive pole for the season. Lorenzo pipped Casey Stoner by 1/10 of a second in the final minute of qualifying, both riders therefore occupy the front row on the grid. Repsol Honda's Andrea Dovizioso managed to take the flag in third place another half second down on the top two riders for his first ever front row start, while team mate Dani Pedrosa who finished fourth leads off the second row.
Lorenzo, who also took pole at this race last year, was fastest in the free practice and looked in sublime form from the start of the qualifying session, moving to the top after just a few laps. He spent the middle part of the session fine-tuning the setting of his M1 ahead of the race and relinquished the top spot for some time, before turning his attention back to lap times with eight minutes remaining and retaking the lead. His only real challenger for pole was Stoner, who edged the Spaniard back into second with four minutes remaining but the championship-leader produced a stunning display on his penultimate lap to better the Australian's time by 0.191 seconds for the top spot.
Lorenzo commented, "Pole position isn't the race but it does help so I'm really happy to have got this fifth pole. I didn't think it would be possible today because Casey (Stoner) was so fast but I decided to give it a try and pushed as hard as I could and here we are! I don't know what to expect tomorrow, it will be a hard race for sure because Dani (Pedrosa) and Stoner are very strong, but we will do the best we can to fight to the end and at least make the podium. I'm excited because it's always a special race here with a great atmosphere."
Third-place Dovizioso was among the front-runners from the start and well placed for the final frantic minutes. He moved to third with nearly eight minutes remaining, only to get bumped down the order by others, including his team-mate. It was with his 36th and final lap, and after time had expired, that Dovizioso jumped to the front row by mastering the tricky fourth sector of the track. By qualifying third, Dovizioso guaranteed a Honda presence on the front row for the eighth race in a row.
The 2009 winner here, and also the winner of last week’s German Grand Prix, Pedrosa was poised to start on the front row until a small problem denied him a chance at the end. Pedrosa wasn’t able to take full advantage of the softer option rear tyre at the end because of a chattering problem as the hour expired. Yet he’d done enough laps on the rear tyre to feel confident over race distance. Despite losing out on what would have been his sixth front row start in nine races, Pedrosa starts in a strong fourth place position at the head of a tightly contested second row.
Lorenzo's team-mate and returning rider Valentino Rossi continued to struggle a little with the physical demands of the American track and qualified sixth for the race. Laguna Seca proved less forgiving to Rossi on his return. The biggest problem for him was in the shoulder he injured back in April, in which he still lacks power and suffers in the hard braking areas. That said the Italian is confident that some small changes for the race can help him to find a few more tenths and he will do all he can to race competitively.
2-time U.S. GP winner Ducati's Nicky Hayden was bumped off the second row by Rossi with the American dropping to seventh place. Having only improved by two tenths in the final free practice, Hayden was pleased to make progress and is confident he can put on a strong showing for the home fans in the race.
Rookie MotoGP rider Marco Simoncelli continued to make a good stride on his debut MotoGP season despite a first day crash. The Italian was one of five riders who’d never ridden around the physically demanding circuit until this weekend. Learning the intricacies of the twisty track caught him out on Friday, but he quickly rebounded. And his qualifying performance was impressive in that he earned a third row starting position next to two very experienced Americans; Hayden and Yamaha Tech 3's Colin Edwards. Another MotoGP rookie Hector Barbera also had a consistent qualifying run to finish tenth for his Aspar team.
Suzuki's Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista made significant improvements in qualifying with twelfth and fourteenth spots respectively.
Results
1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1'20.978
2. Casey Stoner Ducati 1'21.169
3. Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda 1'21.617
4. Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda 1'21.655
5. Ben Spies Yamaha Tech 3 1'21.679
6. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1'21.688
7. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1'21.920
8. Colin Edwards Yamaha Tech 3 1'22.217
9. Marco Simoncelli Honda 1'22.300
10. Hector Barbera Aspar 1'22.366
