The Australian of the Repsol Honda Team matches Doohan and Márquez’s record. Dani Pedrosa, second, and Andrea Dovizioso, eighth, complete a good Saturday for the Repsol Honda Team.
The recent 2011 MotoGP World Champion, Casey Stoner, added today in Cheste a new feat to his track record,. The Australian rider of the Repsol Honda Team achieves his 12th. pole position of this season. With this result, the aussie matches the record set by Mick Doohan —500cc in 1997— and Marc Márquez —125cc in 2010—. His team mates of the Repsol Honda Team, Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso, achieved the second and eighth fastest time in the qualifying session.
In this Saturday’s free morning session, the first held on dry this weekend, the Repsol riders led again the MotoGP classification. The new World Champion of the premiere category, Casey Stoner, dominated the practice, setting the fastest time in all sectors and being the only rider able to stop the clock in 1 minute and 32 seconds. Dani Pedrosa achieved the second fastest time, 663 thousandths behind the Australian, while Andrea Dovizioso recovered from yesterday’s result with the fourth place.
He had set the pole position in the Comunitat Valenciana GP and Casey Stoner did not want to miss it this year. The Australian of the Repsol Honda Team did not give any chance to his rivals at any moment in the qualifying and he set the last pole position of the season. He was in his own league. His times on dry tarmac at the Ricardo Tormo could not be matched by any other rider and his fastest time, 1 minute 31 seconds and 861 thousandths, left the rest of riders more than one second behind.
His team mates in the Repsol Honda Team, Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso, had mixed results. The Spaniard set the second fastest time of the qualifying and will start from the first row of the grid, but the Repsol Honda Team number 4 qualified in eighth place after suffering a crash in his last outing. Dovizioso dislocated the thumb of his left hand, but his presence in tomorrow’s race is not in danger.
Before the qualifying, Repsol’s General Director of Communication and Chairman’s Office, Begoña Elices, greeted the three Repsol Honda Team riders, Dani Pedrosa, Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso, together with Shuhei Nakamoto and Honda HRC’s Livio Suppo, whom she congratulated for the excellent season and the success they have achieved.
Tomorrow the 2011 season will end with the MotoGP race of the Comunitat Valenciana Grand Prix. The Repsol Honda Team will try to achieve its fourth consecutive victory and Stoner will try to match a new record, his own of most victories —10 in 2007— in one season.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
FP3 – 1:33.282, 20 laps, 80 km.
QP – 1:32.875, 22 laps, 88 km.
“It was tricky out there because we had a little rain by the middle of the session, we were lucky because the track stayed dry and we were able to do one more practice on slick tyres. Casey was very fast and consistent. I’m happy with second position on the grid, it’s a good place to start, but I’m not totally satisfied with the set up of the bike yet, we need to improve the front tonight with the mechanics. I want to have a good race tomorrow, it’s the last one and in front on my fans, so I’ll do my best to finish the season in the best way”.
Andrea Dovizioso >> Audio
FP3 – 1:33.929, 21 laps, 84 km.
GP – 1:33.824, 25 laps, 100 km.
“It was a strange session, complicated by the wind and the difficult track conditions. Towards the end of the session the conditions improved and I was 4th and not pushing because I didn’t want to take too many risks, but then when the other riders began to improve their lap times I saw that I needed to push. Unfortunately at turn four I lost the front and crashed. It was my mistake as the tyre was cold and turn four is the first right turn. Thankfully I haven’t broken anything, I dislocated my thumb and have heavy bruising, it is quite painful but I will have some treatment to reduce the pain. I didn’t have the perfect qualifying for the race. We are fighting for third position in the championship and starting from the third row is not ideal, but I will rest tonight and tomorrow start over and super determined. The weather is uncertain but we will be prepared for every condition”.
Casey Stoner >> Audio
FP3 – 1:32.619, 19 laps, 76 km.
QP – 1:31.861, 21 laps, 84 km.
“Of course I’m really happy with pole position today, I’m still hungry to win and get pole positions, after all this is why I line up to go racing, winning the Championship is the bonus at the end of the season, but I still try my best in every session and every race. I took some less risks yesterday in the wet as I didn’t feel we were making any progress in the conditions. Today was also difficult, there was a little rain in all the sessions, this morning there were some wet patches on the track and it was hard to know where to push, then the same this afternoon with some rain on the track, you’re never 100% sure how far you can push. We felt comfortable though and the feeling in the bike was pretty good, with a similar set up to the test we had here last year and we put in a good lap. Now we’ll have to see what the weather does tomorrow and take it from there, but we remain confident”.
