Nicky Hayden celebrates his birthday with his second pole in MotoGP.
On his 24th birthday, the Repsol rider surprised his rivals with a masterly lap. Sebastián Porto, fourt,h will also start from the front row tomorrow.
After clearly dominating the US Grand Prix taking the pole in the qualifying session and the victory on Sunday in front of thousands of fans gathered at Laguna Seca, the young Repsol Honda Team rider is back into action, only one week after drowning at the British Grand Prix. Very fast and constant on both practice days, Hayden wanted to have a special celebration on his 24th birthday, and the best way was obviously taking the MotoGP pole position! Keeping himself among the top ten throughout the qualifying session the Kentucky rider got ready for his final assault setting the third fastest time ten minutes before the end of the session.
He was set back in the sheets by other riders, but Hayden went back on the track with four minutes to go to do a masterly lap on qualifying tyres. Despite some spectacular skids, Nicky clocked a superb 122.785 that conferred him the clear lead. No other rider was able to reply to the North Americans attack who finished first ahead of Gibernau and Barros, who will join him on the first row. His teammate Max Biaggi, with several set-up problems, has been improving a lot this afternoon, finally setting the sixth fastest time. Max, who will be starting tomorrow from the second row of the grid, has a good race pace and hopes to repeat last years victory.
In the 250cc, the difficulties Sebastián Porto is having this weekend to find the ideal set-up for his bike havent hindered the brave Argentinean rider from getting a place on the front row of the grid. Third in the mornings free practice, Porto kept on improving in the afternoon session, even managing to be third only a few minutes before the end of the practice. His final fourth position will allow him to take the start tomorrow from the front row of the grid. Things went better for Dani Pedrosa, fastest in the morning and fastest until the last instants of the afternoons qualifying session.
Yesterdays set-up problems are history and only a masterly last lap of De Angelis hindered him from keeping the fastest clock. Nine hundredths of a second behind De Angelis, Pedrosa is optimistic and only worried about the rain forecasts. Randy De Puniet, had another hard day and wasnt able to improve. He was tenth in the morning due to some mechanical problems that delayed the work on his bikes set-up. However, De Puniet made a final effort in the qualifying session to get a place on the second row, after setting the eighth fastest time.
In the 125cc, Héctor Faubel and Sergio Gadea finally missed the second row of the starting grid and will be taking the start tomorrow from the third row. Despite the fact of both having a good race pace, luck hasnt been on the side of the Repsol riders during the final instants of the qualifying practice, where the intense traffic on the track hindered them from getting a better position. Gadea, who was sixth yesterday, fell back to tenth while his teammate Héctor Faubel, ninth yesterday, kept the same position this afternoon. Worth mentioning is also Carchanos fifteenth place in the mornings free practice, although he unfortunately crashed in the final instants of the afternoon session, while he was on his fastest lap having to settle for a back twenty-eighth position.
Repsol rider´s comments:
MotoGP. Nicky Hayden,
1st on the grid
Third free practice 3rd, 123.973, 34 laps
First qualifying practice 1st, 122.785, 33 laps
Thats not a bad way to celebrate your birthday but tomorrows when it all counts. If we can put it all together in the race well really earn some cake! It feels really good to get pole here. Laguna was cool as it was my first pole and of course it was at home but Im sure there were people around who said that I only got pole because I knew the place so well. Its good to come here and go fastest against a whole bunch of guys who know this place a whole lot better than I do. The bike feels pretty good for the race. My boys have done a real good job. Im definitely going to try and stay up front all day. Well just go for it and see what happens.
MotoGP. Max Biaggi,
6th on the grid
Third free practice 13th, 124.550, 28 laps
First qualifying practice 6th, 123.054, 34 laps
I have to be happy in a way to get on the second row of the grid even that hasnt happened much this season and I guess that tells its own story. The bike feels worse here than last year and Im not comfortable. The team have worked very hard this weekend and we have made some progress but not enough. Basically the problem we have had all season is still there and at the moment we seem to have no cure. We will have a hard race tomorrow as many riders have a fast pace. We see.
250. Dani Pedrosa,
2nd on the grid
Second free practice 1st, 125.297, 29 laps
Second qualifying practice 2nd, 124.714, 23 laps
We moved a step forward today. As regards the set-up of the bike, weve improved compared to yesterday, allowing us to clock better lap times. My feelings are good as well, even if this isnt a track I really like. Weve almost decided which tyres to use, but well wait until the warm-up. Well have a very long and difficult race. We must make a good start and be watchful until the end. Well see if the track is dry or wet tomorrow, but I think that well be able to do a good race come what may.
250. Sebastián Porto,
4th on the grid
Second free practice 3rd, 125.856, 28 laps
Second qualifying practice 4th, 125.193, 19 laps
The bike is not 100 percent right, but fourth is not bad and we will try to improve in the race. We had some problems this morning, and although we were better in the afternoon we are still not completely happy with the bike. It will be a difficult race, there are a lot of laps and it is a demanding circuit, but we will try to start well and stay towards the front.
250. Randy De Puniet,
8th on the grid
Second free practice 10th, 126.464, 25 laps
Second qualifying practice 8th, 125.617, 23 laps
It was a difficult day for us today. In the morning I damaged a piston and could not do any more than six laps. In the qualifying session we did a good job, though, but we were playing catch-up after the problems in the morning and had to settle for eighth position. I need to work hard in the warm-up tomorrow to be as competitive as possible for the race.
125. Héctor Faubel,
9th on the grid
Second free practice 14th, 129.833, 23 laps
Second qualifying practice 9th, 128.635, 16 laps
We worked hard yesterday to find the right set-up to go fast at this track, but unfortunately it didnt prove good enough. Im finding it hard to adapt to the circuit which is why Im not starting from a great position tomorrow. However, I hope to get away well and be in the lead group to have a good race
125. Sergio Gadea,
10th on the grid
Second free practice 9th, 129.440, 23 laps
Second qualifying practice 10th, 128.735, 17 laps
The session went quite well, from the start I was setting good times and was towards the front of the field. At the end of the qualifying session I was hampered twice on fast laps, but overall I found a good rhythm and that is important. We have a good set-up for the race and know which tyres well be using. I will try to start well as I think it will be a group race. Being towards the front at the beginning will be essential to getting a good result.
Track conditions
- Air: 19º-28º
- Asphalt: 31º-36º
- Humidity: 25%-46%
- Wind: 8 Km/h
Standings:
125cc.
- Kallio, 127.965
- Simoncelli, 129.182
- Luthi, 128.240
- Pasini, 128.353
- Simon, 128.375
- Koyama, 128.563
- Pesek, 128.605
- Talmacsi, 128.631
- Faubel, 128.635
- Gadea, 128.735
250cc.
- De Angelis, 124.618
- Pedrosa, 124.714
- Lorenzo, 124.905
- Porto, 125.193
- Aoyama, 125.433
- Takahashi, 125.469
- Stoner, 125.470
- De Puniet, 125.617
- Barberá, 125.643
- Dovizioso, 125.669
MotoGP
- Hayden, 122.785
- Gibernau, 122.889
- Barros, 122.932
- Rossi, 122.973
- Melandri, 123.051
- Biaggi, 123.054
- Edwards, 123.139
- Capirossi, 123.174
- Roberts, 123.212
- Hopkins, 123.296
