Stable weather conditions allow incident-free practices in Le Mans.
Dani Pedrosa takes the pole in the 250cc, with Porto fourth. Hayden fifth and Biaggi eighth in MotoGP. Héctor Faubel third in the 125cc.
Despite the weather forecasts, the rain finally did not show up today and even the sun dared to come out of the clouds for some time. However, the rain fallen during the night caused the 125cc riders to carry out their morning’s free practice on a wet track. The track conditions improved in the afternoon and the second qualifying practice was held on a completely dry track.
The MotoGP morning session did not start very well as regards the interests of the Repsol riders in the premier class. With Max Biaggi ninth and Nicky Hayden even further in the back on fourteenth place, the situation of the Repsol Honda Team riders was not the best ahead of the afternoon’s timed session. However, both Biaggi and Hayden, supported by their respective technical teams, were able to make an excellent job, allowing them to considerably improve in the qualifying session. Nicky Hayden showed himself very competitive from the start, keeping himself always among the top five of the time sheets, even having the chance to fight for the pole position that finally went to Valentino Rossi.
Max Biaggi has been improving his times progressively until moving up to eighth. With these results, Hayden will be starting from the second row of the grid and Biaggi from the third.Highlight of the 250cc was Dani Pedrosa’s pole position and Sebastián Porto’s fourth place, with Stoner second and a surprising Lorenzo on third. The fastest time in the morning was set by Porto, with De Puniet third and Pedrosa fourth. Local hero Randy De Puniet finished sixth fastest in the afternoon, thus securing himself a place on the second row of the starting grid. Dani Pedrosa kept himself on top almost throughout the qualifying session, setting a fastest time almost half a second faster than the second qualified at the end of the practice.In the minor class, Héctor Faubel was again fastest Repsol rider. With his third fastest time, Faubel managed to take a place on the first row of tomorrow’s grid.
Jorge Martínez Aspar’s pupil showed himself very competitive on the dry track, keeping himself among the leading spots throughout the timed session. The morning had not started very well for Faubel on a wet track after the rain showers of the previous night, finishing in a back twenty-fifth position.
In the afternoon and on the dry track, Faubel managed to improve the time he had set yesterday by a bit more than two tenths moving up from the fourth place he had taken yesterday to third. Positive performance for Repsol riders Sergio Gadea and Joan Olivé, as well, who will be starting tomorrow from the third and fourth row of the grid respectively, with Gadea tenth – despite not improving the time he had set yesterday – and Olivé thirteenth. Good performance as well for young Julián Miralles this morning after setting the seventh fastest time on the wet track.
Repsol rider´s comments:
MotoGP. Nicky Hayden,
5th on the grid
Third free practice 14th, 1’45.700, 21 laps
First qualifying practice 5th, 1’33.514, 29 laps
‘We got out really early and got into a good rhythm. It was definitely the best track we’ve seen all weekend though there were still some damp patches on the first few laps. We got up to speed pretty good and tried to get through as much stuff as we could. Overall the bike feels pretty good – we just have a few issues with the front. I just want to get the bike to finish the corner the way I like. It’s so close up the front it’s ridiculous. I just want to show up tomorrow with my ‘A’ game and get a good start, get it on and see what happens. I hope we can put on a good show for the fans. Man, it’s been wet in my camper – I can’t image what it’s like in a tent in a field – those boys have my respect! They’re real fans!’
MotoGP. Max Biaggi,
8th on the grid
Third free practice 9th, 1’45.324, 23 laps
First qualifying practice 8th, 1’33.699, 29 laps
‘Sometimes very strange things happen: with ten minutes to go in the qualifying session, my team fitted an average race tyre instead of a qualifying tyre. I went on the track to push it to the limit but I discovered pretty soon that I couldn’t make it. I would like to joke about it but this is too serious, because this kind of thing can also be very dangerous. These mistakes cannot happen in a top team willing to reach the best result. Then, with the only qualifying tyre that I tried I scored the eighth time, with almost half a second gap from the pole position. Nothing new. It reflects the problems we are facing since the beginning of the season. My front end shakes in breaking areas and it tends to wheel out of the corners and shifting gears. I start from the third row and I expect another hard race.
250. Dani Pedrosa.
1st on the grid
Second free practice 4th, 1’41.251, 26 laps
Second qualifying practice 1st, 1’37.391, 19 laps
‘The track was completely dry during the afternoon session, so we were able to lap on slick tyres and set the bike for dry conditions. Fortunately we were able to draw some conclusions that will be useful in case of a dry race. Should it be wet, I’ll go out to give my best as well. It would be fantastic to win tomorrow; the team would be happy and I as well. We would also score some more points, more than during the last races, which haven’t been much. But we have to stay cool; I wasn’t able to do better than fourth and sixth, but it just happened.’
250. Sebastián Porto
4th on the grid
Second free practice 1º, 1’40.717, 20 laps
Second qualifying practice 4th, 1’38.123, 20 laps
‘Things haven’t been bad today, but we’re still far from the front. We arrived here knowing that this isn’t a favourable track for Aprilia, but for Honda. Although the pace set today is good, we’ll try to find some improvements in the settings to see if we’re able to gain some tenths in the slow section, which is where we’re worse. The most important is that we’re starting tomorrow from the front row. I’ll try to make a good start and escape. It will be hard to keep Dani’s pace, because he’s the rider who set the difference today. We’ll try to give our best, from then on anything may happen.’
250. Randy De Puniet,
6th on the grid
Second free practice 3rd, 1’41.159, 25 laps
Second qualifying practice 6th, 1’38.554, 22 laps
‘I can’t be satisfied with the result of these practices because we haven’t been able to find the right setting to be fast. I have problems with the front end and that’s the reason why I can’t ride comfortably. We’re checking all the elements together with the technicians in order to find the solutions that will allow us to be competitive during the race. Second row of the grid is no problem, because I can join the leading group with a good start, but I hope to be able to find the ideal set-up during the warm-up. I’d like to be lucky enough tomorrow to make a good race in front of my fans, at 125.
Héctor Faubel,
3rd on the grid
Second free practice 25th, 1’57.708, 17 laps
Second qualifying practice 3rd, 1’43.939, 14 laps
‘I’m happy with this result because starting from the front row is, in principle, a good base to do a good job in the race. We’ve had some problems during the practice today; if we manage to solve them, I’ll be able to be more constant during the race. I’m happy because we’re doing a great job with the team, you can see it in the results. We have everything clear for the set-up and we only have to hope for good race conditions to make a good result.’
Standings:
125
- T.Luthi (Honda) 1’43.405
- M.Kallio (KTM) 1’43.688
- H.Faubel (Aprilia) 1’43.939
- G.Talmacsi (KTM) 1’43.940
- M.Simoncelli (Aprilia) 1’44.005
250
- D.Pedrosa (Honda) 1 1’37.391
- C.Stoner (Aprilia) 1’37.880
- J.Lorenzo (Honda) 1’37.882
- S.Porto (Aprilia) 1’38.123
- A.Dovizioso (Honda) 1’38.448
10. H.Aoyama (Honda) 1’38.729
MotoGP
- V.Rossi (Yamaha) 1’33.226
- C.Edwards (Yamaha) 1’33.449
- M.Melandri (Honda) 1’33.465
- S.Gibernau (Honda) 1’33.467
- N.Hayden (Honda) 1’33.514
8. M.Biaggi (Honda) 1’33.699
