The Repsol Honda Team rider takes his tenth pole position of the year, breaking the record set on 2008. Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa will start from the third and fourth place, respectively.
Casey Stoner is decided to secure the MotoGP title as soon as possible and, after the second day of practice at the Japanese Grand Prix, the Australian showed again that he is ready to fight for victory in tomorrow’s race, after getting the fastest time in the qualifying. It’s his tenth pole position of this year, a feat that no other rider had achieved in the MotoGP era, and he did that setting the record of the Japanese track. From the other side of the first row will start Dani Pedrosa, who finished fourth today, without possibility to take advantage of his bike’s potential with the soft tyres in the final qualifying.
Stoner had already warned in the third session of free practice held this morning, where the three riders of the Repsol Honda Team were again in the first three position, with the Australian on top of the time sheets, followed by Dovizioso and Pedrosa. Again with the threat of rain, the MotoGP riders started to work from the first minutes of the qualifying, where the World Championship leader showed again his most dominant side.
The Australian of the Repsol Honda Team was the first to get below 1 minute and 47 seconds. Nevertheless, he was soon overtaken by Jorge Lorenzo, first, and Dani Pedrosa, later. Stoner’s counterattack did not take long to arrive and he reduced seven tenths in one shot, stopping close to the 1 minute and 46 seconds barrier and reducing the morning times after only 10 minutes. A barrier that was broken seconds later by Dani Pedrosa, who spearheaded the session until the last few minutes, when the times were reduced again.
First Stoner, after Lorenzo, and even Andrea Dovizioso got below 1 minute and 46 seconds, but two minutes before the end, Stoner stopped the clock in a definitive 1 minute, 45 seconds and 267 thousandths, breaking the record of the track that had been set in 2008. With this time, the Australian became the MotoGP rider with more poles in one season, entering a selective group of 5 riders that have set the best time in qualifying 10 times in the same year (Anton Mang in 1981 with a 250c.c., Freddie Spencer in 1985 with the wild 500c.c., Wayne Gardner in 1987 also in 500c.c. and Jorge Lorenzo in 2006, in 250c.c.), two poles from the 12 achieved by Marc Márquez in 2010 with the 125cc, and Mick Doohan, 1997 in 500.
Behind the Australian of the Repsol Honda Team, his team mate Andrea Dovizioso completed a good qualifying practice, securing a place in the first row of the starting grid after setting the third fastest time. Pedrosa, after being very competitive during the weekend, was not able to fight for the best time in the last minutes. With the soft tyre used at the end of the session, his bike skidded a bit behind and that prevented him from being in the first row.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
FP3 – 1:46.429, 17 laps, 82 km.
QP – 1:45.966, 25 laps, 120 km.
“The qualifying practice started quite well for us, we were doing lap times with a consistent pace preparing for the race and everything seemed to be going well. But at the end, when I switched to soft tyres, I couldn’t get them working, I had much less grip. I thought it could be a problem with the first tyre and so I came back to the garage to change it but again I had the same issue. I am disappointed not to be on the front row, but the good feeling with the race tyres is good news. We will need to see how the weather is tomorrow, if the temperature drops a lot maybe some riders will use the soft, but considering my feeling, I will probably choose the hard one. The race will be very tough with Stoner, Dovizioso and maybe Lorenzo, but we want to fight until the end”.
Andrea Dovizioso >> Audio
FP3 – 1:46.301, 21 laps, 101 km.
QP – 1:45.791, 27 laps, 130 km.
“I’m very happy to be on the front row here in Motegi! This afternoon we improved again from this morning and I feel very confident, especially under braking. We still haven’t decided on the tyre for tomorrow as we are good on both compounds but I feel positive for the race and for the fight for the podium tomorrow. I’m really happy with the work of the team and the Honda is working really well at this track, I think tomorrow we will have a great race!”.
Casey Stoner >> Audio
FP3 – 1:46.162, 18 laps, 86 km.
QP – 1:45.267, 21 laps, 101 km.
“Everything has gone very well so far this weekend, we’ve been fastest in all but one session so it’s been fantastic. We tried a few different settings this afternoon and didn’t really improve so we’ll probably go back to this morning’s setting for tomorrow. We’ll have to watch the weather as this will affect the set up, there’s also a chance of rain so it could get complicated. Jorge [Lorenzo] has been riding fantastic, as has Dovi and Dani [Pedrosa], but there is no doubt that the Honda suits this track, I’ve been looking forward to riding it here for a while now and I’m not disappointed! Tomorrow will be a tough race, but the team is working hard and we’ll do our best”.
