Spies on pole for the first time at Indy MotoGP
2010-08-29 16:29:29 Author: admin Source:
Newly confirmed Yamaha MotoGP team rider Ben Spies celebrated his appointment with the factory squad in style by grabbing his first ever premier class pole position at Indianapolis' Round 11 of the MotoGP championship.
Spies lapped the 'Brickyard' almost two tenths quicker than future team mate and current MotoGP riders' standings leader Jorge Lorenzo. Lorenzo, meanwhile, took his eleventh straight front row of the season to extend his spotless 2010 qualifying record. Despite the hot and somewhat challenging conditions, Spies and Lorenzo looked the most comfortable in their machines with Lorenzo abandoning race set-up to concentrate on qualifying times. He secured pole momentarily, but moments later Spies hit a surge to edge out the Spaniard by a marginal two tenths of a second for the first position on the grid. Nicky Hayden on home track scored one of his highest qualifying position in a Ducati, finishing third overall to share the front row with Spies and Lorenzo.
Spies commented in post qualifying, "It is a great feeling for me to get my first MotoGP pole position and for it to come in front of the American crowd and here at Indianapolis with all the history makes it even more special."
"I've got to say I really put it on the line this afternoon. I'd come so close at Brno a couple of weeks ago to getting my first pole position and I really wanted to finish the job on home soil. And being on the front row with Nicky (Hayden) too is pretty incredible for MotoGP racing in America," he added.
It was a difficult day for departing Yamaha MotoGP rider Valentino Rossi as the 9-time champion slid out in the closing minutes of the session and will start from seventh. Unable to find a comfortable set-up and hitting the gravel, Rossi, in the final minutes, lost the front when he hit a bump on the track and slid out. The Italian, however, was relieved to discover he was not further down than seventh and he is looking to try to charge through the field in the race, starting from third row alongside Marco Simoncelli and Spies' Tech 3 team mate Colin Edwards.
Repsol Honda team-mates Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa will start from the second row in fourth and fifth respectively. Pedrosa remained in control into the second half of the hour with softer tyres, while Dovizioso also made the most of his softer option when he topped the time charts in the 44th minute. Towards the final part of the session, Dovizioso was still on the front row when Hayden moved to the fore and Dovizioso was dropped to fourth and classified at the end of the session. Pedrosa had a quick lap three laps from the end, but didn’t improve on his 1:40.637 lap, which was less than a tenth of a second off Dovizioso’s time.
Hayden did his fastest ever lap of his home circuit, moving him into provisional pole position into the dying minutes of qualifying. But, at the end he was nudged out to third place by late efforts from his compatriot Spies and Lorenzo. Team mate Casey Stoner will start from directly behind his team-mate after qualifying sixth fastest. The Australian found a good pace on race tyres but did not experience the same leap in quality as Hayden when switching to a softer tyre, so despite being amongst the pacesetters all weekend he lines up on the second row.
Suzuki MotoGP riders Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista will start the Indianapolis Grand Prix alongside each other on the fourth row of the grid. The pair both made steps to improve their respective bikes and they are confident that these measures will help them in the race. Capirossi is still looking to unlock some more of the potential of his GSV-R and will probably make a couple of changes ahead of the race, whilst Bautista made big advances with learning the circuit on a MotoGP machine and is confident that he can improve even more during the race.
Results
1. Ben Spies Yamaha Tech 3 1:40.105
2. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1:40.325
3. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1:40.336
4. Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda 1:40.559
5. Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda 1:40.637
6. Casey Stoner Ducati 1:40.664
7. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1:41.005
8. Marco Simoncelli Honda 1:41.092
9. Colin Edwards Yamaha Tech 3 1:41.232
10. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1:41.512
