Sebastián Porto second, fastest Repsol rider in Donington.
Hayden looses pole and is sixth in MotoGP, teammate Barros ninth after a light crash.
Bad day for the riders of the Repsol Honda Team, who were aiming to keep or improve yesterdays positions but finally were set back to worse places. In the morning it seemed as if Barros had improved considerably the setting of his bike and that he was on his way to get a place on the front row. Fastest in the free practice, Barros unfortunately was not able to repeat his times of the morning in the qualifying practice. The Brazilian was focussed on the setting of his bike and had already improved the times set yesterday when a light but spectacular crash suddenly interrupted the work of the Repsol rider. Barros went back onto the track a few minutes later with his second bike, but the different configuration of the set-up and the lack of time to change it, set him back at the end of the session to the ninth position, and he will therefore have to start tomorrow from the last place of the third row. His teammate wasnt lucky either.
Eighth fastest in the mornings free practice, Hayden was, together with his fellow-countryman Hopkins, the only rider not to improve the times set yesterday. This means that he dropped from the leading spot he clinched yesterday to the sixth in this afternoons timed session and will be starting from the second row of the grid. Despite loosing positions, both riders of the Repsol Honda Team are optimistic after the practice because they both have a good racing rhythm for tomorrow. The third Repsol rider of the class, Rubén Xaus, had again a good performance, despite suffering a spectacular crash this morning on the main straight and having mechanic problems with his second bike. Xaus recovered from everything in the afternoon and only 3 hundreds of a second hindered the young rider from getting a place on the third row of the grid. Tenth fastest, Xaus will be starting tomorrow from the fourth row of the grid.
In the 250cc class, Sebastián Porto improved this morning the times set yesterday by more than a second, clearly showing that the Argentinean rider and his team had made big improvements with the settings of his Aprilia. In the afternoons qualifying session, Porto recovered positions – fifth yesterday until even being able to fight for the pole position in the final instants. It was a very equal fight between Pedrosa, De Angelis and Porto, but it was finally the rider from San Marino who finished on top of the time sheets. Second behind De Angelis, who set his first pole ever, was Sebastián Porto, with a surprising Aoyama and Pedrosa closing the front row. Fonsi Nieto, ninth fastest in the morning, got the same position in the afternoon. He and his team havent yet been able to solve the setting problems of his Aprilia. The second qualifying practice of the 125cc class wasnt easy for Pablo Nieto either.
After setting the fifth fastest time in the morning, the session in the afternoon became more complicated than expected for the Repsol rider after crashing 19 before the end of the session. He lost grip in the front end of his Aprilia. It wasnt a heavy crash but Pablo lost valuable time delaying the work for the bikes set-up. Nieto went back to his garage and rejoined the track with his second bike, but the different setting and the physical discomfort after the crash hindered him from improving the times set yesterday. Consequently he was set back to the fourteenth place, forcing him to start tomorrow from the fourth row of the grid. His teammate Sergio Gadea crashed as well, but during the free practice in the morning. In the afternoon, Sergio improved the time set yesterday by one and a half second finishing twenty-fourth, sixth row of the starting grid.
