Czech GP. Second practice. Driver´s comments

Valentino Rossi: ‘Tomorrow will be very hard as many of the top group can make the ’59’s.’.
MotoGP, Valentino Rossi, 1.58´769 sec, pole, starting grid position 1st: ‘I very happy with that. We arrive here after the stupid mistake at the Sachsenring but we make some holidays and now feel in good shape. We work very hard today for the pole position – it’s always important but especially here for the championship. This morning we worked very hard on the lap time and make good results and this afternoon the lap was fantastic. 58.7sec is unbelievable. I rode very well on that last lap and make no mistakes. Tomorrow will be very hard as many of the top group can make the ’59’s. We still need to make decision about the setting and the tyre choice but at the moment I am happy where we are.’MotoGP, Nicky Hayden, 1.59´432 sec, 7th, starting grid position 7th: ‘Second row! That’s the best I’ve ever qualified so I’m real happy. Before today my best was 12th so second row is a big improvement. It’s just something I’ve been working on with the team and it seems to be commin good. Near the end I saw on my board P3 – I thought it would be cool to skip the second row and go straight to the front! Tomorrow I’ll be lookin’ to get a good start and hang with the leading group. The last few GP’s I’ve had to start further back and play catch up. I know I can run a fast pace and I’m real lookin’ forward to tomorrow.’250. Fonsi Nieto, 2.04´037 sec, 3rd, grid position 3rd: ‘I’m happy for the place on the front row because it’s very important for the race. I would have needed some more laps around the circuit this weekend. We lost the morning session of the first day due to the rain and there are certain things I haven’t been able to test correctly. I think that I could have been able to improve my times in the last moments of the session, but it was stopped due to West’s crash and I had no further chance. We’ve been having problems with the suspensions from the first day. I’m still having some problems with the front fork but we have improved a lot compared to yesterday. We’ll keep on testing things tomorrow during the warm-up to try to improve things a bit more, because right now the bike is working on an 80%. At least we’ll be starting from the front row; I’ll try to make a good start to stay within the group and launch my attack at the end of the race. I think that it’s going to be a race in group, that it’s going to be very hot and that the tyres will be playing a very important role. We cannot fail in any of the races if we want to stay in the front, fighting for the championship title.’250. Toni Elias, 2.04´088 sec, 4th, grid position 4th: ‘Although I haven’t the pole I’m very happy with how things worked out today. We’ve found a good set-up we hadn’t been able to find until now. It allowed me to lap comfortably, I found a good rhythm and I’ve been fighting for the lead. Too bad West crashed, because the session was stopped right when I was lapping on pole time. If it weren’t for the interruption, I would have made it, but at least I’m happy because it’s the first time this year that I see myself fighting for the fastest time. The weather is very hot and tomorrow’s race will be a tyre race. There is going to be a very high rhythm set by five riders. It will be complicated and I’ll be concentrating myself on making a good start and fighting for the victory as hard as I can.’250. Sebastián Porto, 2.05´054 sec, 10th, grid position 10th: ‘This timed session has been quite complicated for all of the teams, but especially for us. We’ve been testing some things this morning, we went onto the track and the bike worked fine. Then we made some more changes to see if we could to improve, but it was a step back so we went back to the beginning and once the red flag was shown everything turned more complicated because I wasn’t able to clock a good time.’250. Héctor Faubel, 2.06´018 sec, 14th, grid position 14th: ‘The morning session was a bit difficult, the engine broke down and I hardly could do any lap or work on the settings. Therefore we started the afternoon session like blindfolded. We put on a soft compound during the last five to ten minutes and just when I was riding right behind Elias, when he was lapping on pole time, West crashed and I wasn’t able to continue. It’s been a shame because if I had been able to finish that lap, I would have been among the top ten. With regard to the bike, it’s almost perfect for the race and I have the right tyres. I have a good rhythm and I hope to make a good start, the rest will be a question of luck.’250. Joan Olivé, 2.07´493 sec, 19th, grid position 22nd: ‘Today, things didn’t work out the way I would have liked, especially the times. I made a constant session, but the times haven’t been good and we’ll have to find the right solution tomorrow in order to make a good start and try to be in the front. The bike isn’t perfectly set, but we’ll work on it this afternoon trying to find a solution. I don’t have a good feeling for the race yet, I’m a bit behind the rest but we have a short session tomorrow morning; let’s see how things work out.’125. Dani Pedrosa, 2.08´562 sec, 4th, grid position 4th: ‘The afternoon session hasn’t been as good as the one in the morning. We chose the wrong tyres and therefore we had several problems both with the front suspension as well as with the rear one. I’m trying to solve them now and to find out where we can reach some improvement. But we’re on the front row and I think that we’ll be able to do a good race tomorrow.’125. Pablo Nieto, 2.08´817 sec, 6th, grid position 6th: ‘Starting from the second row, isn’t bad at all, especially considering that I crashed during the practice. I went over a rut, the front tyre skidded and the bike went down. I got up quickly, and took the bike as fast as I could to the garage in order to get it fixed. I went back onto the track seven minutes before the end of the session and managed to set the sixth fastest time. Tomorrow the race will be very difficult because we will be racing in group and it will be a fast race. The most important thing is that the bike has the right setting and I think that everything is fine for tomorrow.’125. Héctor Barberá, 2.09´268 sec, 9th, grid position 9th: ‘We found a good setting for the engine in the morning and in the afternoon we tested some new parts that didn’t work out well. The engine stalled with 13,000 revs and I wasn’t able to ride fast. I spend the time trying to get some rhythm, because we where already in mid-practice and there wasn’t much time left to do changes. I managed to keep a good rhythm and we chose the tyres for the race, so everything is clear for tomorrow. I think that it’s going to be a grouped race, with at least eight riders lapping together, setting a fast pace.’