Repsol Honda Team puts itself forward for the victory in Mugello.
Max Biaggi third and Nicky Hayden fourth, main characters of the MotoGP qualifying session. In the 250cc Lorenzo surprises with his pole, De Puniet 4th and Faubel 3rd in the 125cc.
For another year Mugello has been venue to fervent duels, both in races and the Saturday-afternoon fight for the fastest time. Once again, Mugello has been witness to a passionate MotoGP duel between Italian riders Max Biaggi, Valentino Rossi and Loris Capirossi, with some special guests -Carlos Checa, Nicky Hayden and Sete Gibernau-. Their common aim for this afternoon was setting the fastest time, and the top place on the time sheets was finally for the current leader of the World Championship, local rider Valentino Rossi. Second was Sete Gibernau and they’ll be joined on the front row by Repsol rider Max Biaggi. Nicky Hayden will be leading the second row after a positive qualifying session for the rider of the Repsol Honda Team.
Both Biaggi and Hayden are showing themselves highly competitive on the Mugello layout and they both have their sights set on winning tomorrow on this impressive track.Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo, technically supported by Repsol, surprised everybody during the highly contested quarter-of-a-litre class, unexpectedly setting the fastest time in an impressive last lap. Stoner who was leading the time sheets since yesterday’s qualifying practice and through most of this afternoon’s session, was not able to do anything to hinder Lorenzo from taking his first pole. Different luck for the rest of the Repsol riders of the class, with Frenchman Randy de Puniet being the best of them with a fourth place and therefore on the front row of the grid.
Sebastián Porto, who suffered a light crash halfway the practice after loosing grip on the front tyre of his Aprilia, finished sixth fastest. Despite the incident and his place on the second row the Argentinean is optimistic for tomorrow’s race. One place behind, i.e. seventh, there’s the current World Champion Dani Pedrosa, who continued with the mechanical problems he had been suffering yesterday. Fortunately, the work of Alberto Puig’s pupil and his team allow them to be positive for the race, where they think that they are going to have a chance for the win.
In the 125cc, Héctor Faubel managed to keep this afternoon the third fastest time, just as yesterday, allowing him to start tomorrow from the first row of the starting grid.
Finnish rider Kallio, who did not improve the time he had set yesterday until the last lap, will start tomorrow from the leading position, ahead of Talmacsi, Faubel and Pasini. Faubel, who was seventh in the morning’s free practice, was very satisfied with the settings of his bike and declares yesterday’s suspension problems as solved. This fact added to the high top speed of his Aprilia makes Hector a firm candidate for the victory. His teammate Sergio Gadea was fourteenth although he will be starting from fifth tomorrow. Gadea was more satisfied than yesterday with his bike’s settings although he hopes to keep on improving it during tomorrow’s warm-up. Unfortunate accident suffered by Julián Miralles during the last instants of the practice.
He had achieved an encouraging fifteenth position in the morning, but he dislocated his ankle and suffered a displaced fracture of the right-side tibia and fibula, and underwent surgery this afternoon in Florence. Jordi Carchano, once the electrical problems he had suffered yesterday were solved, was thirty-third. The Catalan rider was just about to crash in the last lap, while riding for a place among the top twenty and wasn’t able to improve his time. Joan Olivé is still having several problems with his Honda. However, the Repsol rider was able to improve the time set yesterday by a second and will start from the thirteenth position.
Standings:
125
- M.Kallio (KTM) 1.58.662
- G.Talmacsi (KTM) 1.59.152
- H.Faubel (Aprilia) 1.59.712
- M.Pasini (Honda) 1.59.776
15. S.Gadea (Aprilia) 2.00.599
250
- J.Lorenzo(Honda) 1.53.494
- C.Stoner (Aprilia) 1.53.548
- A.Dovizioso (Honda) 1.53.674
- R.de Puniet (Aprilia) 1.53.714
- S.Porto (Aprilia) 1.53.889
- D.Pedrosa (Honda) 1.53.991
MotoGP
- V.Rossi (Yamaha) 1.49.223
- S.Gibernau (Honda) 1.49.361
- M.Biaggi (Honda) 1.49.458
- N.Hayden (Honda) 1.49.456
- J.Hopkins (Suzuki) 1.49.556
Repsol rider´s comments:
MotoGP. Max Biaggi,
3rd on the grid.
Third free practice 7th, 150.719, 23 laps
First qualifying practice 3rd, 149.458, 27 laps
So I start from the first row. Last year I was used to it but this year it never happened before and coming back in front here at Mugello has a special meaning for me. Unfortunately I could not use the second qualifying tyre because when I passed the chronometer line time was over two seconds before. I could have done better but Im satisfied anyway. Im happy for my team. They are all doing their best and they did a very good job. Tomorrow we can do a good race. Finally.
MotoGP. Nicky Hayden,
4th on the grid.
Third free practice 8th, 150.847, 25 laps
First qualifying practice 4th, 149.546, 25 laps
Much happier than I was yesterday I just hope the weekend stays positive. The team have done a real good job. Weve made a lot of progress today and I feel a lot more comfortable on the bike. I also have a lot more confidence in downhill corners and that really helps with the lap time. We still have some way to go on getting the timing exactly right with the qualifying tyres. We were short today by 3/10th second so we have to keep working on that. Tomorrows the big one. Its never easy but thats what I like; this is the best racing in the world. As usual we have to make a good start, stay concentrated and see what happens after 23 laps. Its the beginning of a big June!
250. Randy De Puniet,
4th on the grid.
Second free practice 5th, 154.786, 21 laps
Second qualifying practice 4th, 153.714, 18 laps
I did a good practice finish, but when I put on the soft rubbers I came across large traffic on the track. Thats why I couldnt take the pole. Ive had several problems along the weekend, crash included, so Im really happy with the place on the first row of the starting grid. My aim for tomorrow is to make a race at a constant pace in order to be able to have chances for a place on the podium or the final victory. The differences on long circuits like this are usually more or less big, but they have been really small today. Lets see what happens tomorrow.
250. Sebastián Porto,
6th on the grid.
Second free practice 4th, 154.104, 26 laps
Second qualifying practice 6th, 153.889, 13 laps
Things went very good during the mornings free practice. We had a good pace during ten consecutive laps allowing us to draw very positive conclusions. In the afternoons timed practice I crashed and I dont know how it happened yet because I was riding really calm. Anyway, what counts is the pace and I think I have it. Im focussed and Im hope everything works well tomorrow. The differences between riders are little, but Im not sure if tomorrows race is going to be in group; I think that everyone is going to set his own pace and try to make his own race.
250. Dani Pedrosa,
7th on the grid.
Second free practice 3rd, 154.043, 21 laps
Second qualifying practice 7th, 153.991, 15 laps
We changed some parts in the morning, but we did major changes in the afternoon. We lost large part of the practice, the first quarter of an hour, and then the bike didnt work well at all. The truth is that it was quite hard, but even though we managed to get a place on the second row, less than half a second from the leader. The top seven riders are within five tenths; we all have quite even times and this circuit is quite complicated. I think that its going to be a grouped race and the fight is granted, especially in the last corner because we all want to be as much in the front as possible. Tomorrow, during the race, well have to work hard from the very beginning to avoid being left behind and get a good place for the last lap because it will be decisive.
125. Héctor Faubel,
3rd on the grid.
Second free practice 7th, 200.446, 18 laps
Second qualifying practice 3rd, 159.712, 13 laps
I got good feelings on the bike but Im not completely satisfied with the third place. I was pushing hard in the last lap but I ran across other riders who hindered me. Todays objective was to find a good compromise for the bike and keep myself in the front row for tomorrows race. We did it, so what is left to do is to make a good start. Im happy in general terms. Tomorrow well have a grouped race, but the clue will be in the last lap. It would be ideal to reach the last corner in third place, because my Aprilia has a better top speed than the rest.
Track conditions
- Air: 26º-28º
- Asphalt: 36º-44º
- Humidity: 20%-21%
- Wind: 5 Km/h
