MotoGP
Chinese GP: Pedrosa digs deep to qualify on second row
03 maggio 2008 Dani managed the fifth quickest time fractionally behind Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) in fourth. He will be encouraged by his consistency on race rubber although he didn’t manage to work his qualifying tyres to maximum advantage. Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Scot Honda RC212V) fell just four minutes into this hour-long final session and the Italian premier class rookie never got up among the pace-setters after this unscheduled incident. Stoner made the early running with a 2m 01.215s time before an in-form Shinya Nakano (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) relieved the reigning World Champion of pole posting a 2m 00.577s lap. But Stoner then responded with a 2m 00.389s time before Dani slotted in a 2m 00.389s effort quickly followed by a 2m 00.163s lap. Rossi showed his intent with 43 minutes to go running a 1m 59.876s lap to take pole with Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) in the frame as fourth fastest man and Nakano in the hunt holding seventh spot as the halfway mark approached. With thirty minutes left on the clock the order was Rossi, Stoner, Hayden, with Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) heading the second row closely followed by Toni Elias and Marco Melandri (both Ducati). Dani then cut a 1m 59.693s time to head the standings as the pace hotted up. Dani had a huge moment as he worked on shaving vital tenths off his time, the Spaniard was launched out of the seat of his RC212V as he put the power down in a bid to get the edge over determined rivals. With 21 minutes to go Rossi went pole at 1m 59.362s before Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) and then Nicky Hayden bettered it. Seconds later Edwards sped to a 1m 59.088s time and Nicky fell on the entry to the back straight as he hustled his machine out of the tight turn leading onto it. The Kentucky Kid was forced to run back to the pits when he couldn’t bump start his largely undamaged RC212V. Lorenzo too nearly crashed again after a massive high-side yesterday. The Yamaha man was riding with broken bones in both feet and another ‘off’ might have put his participation in tomorrow’s 21-lap race in severe doubt. Nakano fell with ten minutes to go and although he managed to get going again, the best he could manage at the end was 13th place for a fifth row start. Dovi meanwhile was languishing in 14th spot as Stoner again upped the pace with a 1m 58.591s time to retake pole and put the pressure on the rest of the field. The order with five minutes left on the clock was Stoner, Rossi, Lorenzo, Pedrosa then Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) with Nicky holding seventh. Rossi then slotted in a 1m 58.552s lap to go pole and with just two minutes remaining it looked as if the former champ might have secured the top spot. But Edwards had other ideas and the Texan grabbed the third pole of his MotoGP career with a 1m 58.139s time although Rossi came closest to it when he carved 1m 58.494 around the 5.281km track to secure second place. But with rain forecast for tomorrow’s race riders are only too aware that two days of dry set-up work may prove of limited worth if the conditions change. Dani said of his fifth place on the grid, only 0.716 seconds off the pole time: “We improved from the morning to the afternoon session and were lapping at a good pace on race tyres but unfortunately we couldn’t improve as much as we usually do with qualifying tyres, it seemed like we lacked a bit of grip. I don’t know why, but a lot of riders crashed during this afternoon’s qualifying session. All things considered, starting from the second row is not so bad. If it’s dry we will have to improve a little bit more. But I hope we will be able to have a dry race because according to the latest weather forecasts it may rain tomorrow. In that case we will only have 20 minutes to prepare the settings for the wet.” De Puniet made it to ninth, 1.218 seconds off pole. He said: “After yesterday's technical problems which prevented me going faster, we finally found a good pace especially on race tyres. The situation improved a lot and now I can ride with more confidence. We fixed some things before this morning’s free session such as engine mapping to control the Braking stability, power delivery to make the bike smoother, the chassis geometry and the suspension setting. I had a small crash on the last lap on qualifying tyres but the most important thing is my pace on race tyres. At the end I was able to lap consistently fast even though we still have some things to adjust in tomorrow’s warm up session.” Nicky, tenth on the grid, said: “Qualifying didn’t go to plan, really. It was OK early on, we were quite up front on race tyres. With my first qualifier I went to first place for a moment, then with my second qualifier I had the front push in turn 11 and down I went. I had a pretty good lap going but just didn’t get it down. The track is so long and so big it took me forever to get back to the pits, a little bit walking, a little bit scooter. Then I just got out on the other bike and did one run and didn’t get the chance to improve my time. I’m going to need an awesome start, try to pick a few guys off and move forward.” Dovi, 11th at the end of the session, said: “I have to work hard tomorrow, but I think my race pace has potential. There are lots of riders who I feel are on similar lap times, so there’s a group of us who can put on a good show. The crash at the start of the session didn’t hurt me at all as it was very low speed. We were at a high angle of lean and the front-end of the bike simply washed away. The start will be very important and my key target is a good rhythm in the race and then to use to the maximum the good job the team has done on race set-up over the last two days.” Nakano qualified 13th and said: “I’m disappointed with qualifying today because in free practice I was fast and consistent. Unfortunately I crashed on a lap that could have potentially given us a better grid position – I got back on track with the second bike but I didn’t have the same feeling and couldn’t improve my best time. It’s hard to start from the fifth row but my pace isn’t bad so I’m confident. Now my thoughts are on tomorrow’s race – I have to focus on getting a good start in order to stay with the fast group.” Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) finished the session 16th, 2.177 seconds off the pole time, and said: “Unfortunately we know we still haven’t reached anywhere near our optimum potential on qualifying tyres. At the moment we haven’t got a good feeling with the new qualifiers that Bridgestone brought here to Shanghai – the chattering is similar to before so that’s why I’m starting so far back. It won’t be an easy race because when you start from so far back it is always tricky to make up positions. In any case I will give my best – a little rain might help us out.” |
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