The three Repsol Honda Team riders finish again in the top four, with a third pole position for Stoner, accompanied by Andrea Dovizioso in the first row and Pedrosa in the first position of the second row
After four practice sessions, Casey Stoner’s dominion at the Bugatti circuit in Le Mans is unquestionable. The Australian of the Repsol Honda Team led again the two sessions held today, adding a third pole position of the four qualifying sessions already held. In the first row will be his team mate in the Repsol Honda Team, Andrea Dovizioso, who finished third, 62 thousandths faster than Dani Pedrosa, who set the fourth fastest time.
Without making many changes to the set-up of his Honda RC212V, Casey Stoner was able to impose himself in the premiere category. After the difficulties he had in Portugal, the Repsol rider dominated again -as he already did in Qatar and Jerez- setting registers out of reach for the rest of the riders. He rode up to eight times under 1 minute and 34 seconds and he finally set a fastest time of 1 minute, 33 seconds and 153 thousandths.
Confirming the good level of the Repsol Honda Team, Andrea Dovizioso secured the third place in the first row of the grid for tomorrow’s race, behind Marco Simoncelli. The Repsol Honda Team rider, who this morning also finished with the third fastest time, showed a good pace during the entire session until, in his last outing, he was able to take advantage of Marco Simoncelli’s reference to take a step forward in the times classification.
Dovizioso will start just ahead of Dani Pedrosa, who finished fourth and will spearhead the second row of tomorrow’s grid. The Repsol rider showed a very consistent pace during the session, as he was the second to set a time below 1 minute and 34 seconds after Stoner. Dani Pedrosa, who was also fourth in the morning session, improved his times by nearly one second in the qualifying, showing a good pace for tomorrow’s race, where the Hondas with Repsol livery will try to get their third victory of this season.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
FP3 – 1:34.545, 20 laps, 84 km.
QP – 1:33.683, 28 laps, 117 km.
“We improved quite a lot compared to yesterday, but we still feel lack of traction in the rear and good grip to have the tyre working as we would like. At the beginning of this afternoon’s session we managed to find a good rhythm with the soft tyre, but these are not qualifying tyres anymore and in my last round of the session, with only five laps to push, I could not make the most of the tyre. In the warm up tomorrow we have to improve the bike a little and for the race it’s important to get a good start. Here the first chicane is delicate and we need to avoid any trouble. The first laps will be crucial because the tyres are cold and it’s important to stay in front. Besides Casey, other rivals are closer here, such as Simoncelli and Dovi, Lorenzo has also improved, so we must be prepared to fight because the race will be demanding and long, but as in Estoril, we will try”.
Andrea Dovizioso >> Audio
FP3 – 1:34.244, 22 laps, 92 km
QP – 1:33.621, 30 laps, 125 km.
“I’m very happy to start from the first row, even though this was our target, I didn’t expect it. I was behind Simoncelli for two laps and this helped me because I followed his lines. This afternoon we did some small changes to the set up and my feeling with the front improved. We arrive to the race very confident, I think we can fight for the podium. Tomorrow the race will be tough, Casey is very fast and he may try to run away, I have a good pace and I think I will fight with Simoncelli. I want to thank my team for all their hard work and hope we can get a good result tomorrow”.
Casey Stoner >> Audio
FP3 – 1:33.815, 18 laps, 75 km.
QP – 1:33.153, 27 laps, 113 km.
“We’re very happy with this pole, we focused a lot on race set up this afternoon going from one bike to the another making small adjustments to improve the bike a little. The conditions aren’t perfect at the moment, it’s quite windy so hard to see if you’ve improved or not, but my Honda was working really well and I never found myself pushing to the limit too much which is always good. This is our third pole of the season but we’ve only converted one of them into a victory so we hope to have a little more luck this week here in Le Mans and fight for the win.”
