Countdown in Motegi for the Repsol Honda Team.
Nicky Hayden ready to defend the leadership tomorrow and Dani Pedrosa ready to give a surprise in the Japanese Grand Prix.
It hasnt been one of the best qualifying session days of the Repsol Honda Team riders who are right now in their garages with their respective teams in order to improve the settings of their bikes and prepare tomorrows race. Both Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa will start this Sunday from the third row of the grid, Hayden from seventh and team mate Pedrosa from ninth. Both riders have been today in average positions during the qualifying session and in the final instants, on qualifying tyres they managed to take a place on the third row.
In the 250cc, local idol Shuhei Aoyama was finally not able to keep the position in the first row of the starting grid. After setting the fourth fastest time this morning, in the afternoon, the youngest of the Aoyama brothers entered the fight for the pole, being second almost two minutes before the end of the session. However, his fastest lap was not enough to get a place on the first row and Shuhei will start tomorrow from the second, after finishing fifth. His new team mate, Spanish rider David De Gea, had a good practice performance today as well, keeping a constant progression. Thirteenth in the mornings free practice, De Gea was on the same position in the afternoon but improving the fastest time he set yesterday by one and a half second, putting him on the fourth row of the starting grid. Excellent performance of the young British rider Bradley Smith. The Repsol rider who was ninth in his second contact with the Japanese track, after a highly contested second qualifying practice, achieving a place on the third row of the starting grid.
Thirteenth and therefore on the fourth row with one minute to go, Smith made a superb last lap improving his fastest lap by more than half a second. Only one hundred of a second hindered him from getting a place on the second row, but this result is the best result Smith has achieved in his first season in the Motorcycling World Championship so far.
Rider´s comments
Nicky Hayden,
50 laps, 24005 Km.
Well Im not thrilled about finishing seventh and being so far behind pole position, especially after being on pole last week. But hey, thats racing and the quality in MotoGP is deep. Well see what happens tomorrow were going to have a big job on our hands. My qualifying lap definitely didnt feel too great I was scared to look at the time because I knew it wasnt going to be real pretty. Weve been a step behind these boys all weekend and Im not sure where were losing out exactly. Weve still got to make the final decision about what tyre Im going to race and the boys are going to need a Red Bull tonight because were going to be here a long time trying to see if we can find some improvements. I just dont have enough feel from the rear. But weve come back strong before and well put our heads together and give it all weve got tomorrow.
Dani Pedrosa,
53 laps, 25445 Km.
We improved our times from the morning session which is good, though we still have to find a few tenths because Im losing a little bit everywhere. And unfortunately when we put the qualifying tyre on we lost out in the same places. My race tyre choice is still not 100 per cent clear so tomorrow in the warm-up we want to make a further test providing the weather lets us. Well have to see if its a dry race and aim for a great start. The third row is not ideal but I have been able to come through from this kind of position before so its not so bad. My knee is quite good now but the toe is still giving some discomfort but well be ok for the race.
Shuhei Aoyama,
43 laps, 20644 Km.
Im not really happy. I finished fifth, that means second row of the grid. I dont really know what happened. I tried, I pushed but I just couldnt get on the front row. The setting of the bike is OK, the tyres are also OK, as well as the rider. I will need to make an aggressive start and push hard during the race. Well have a look at the suspension settings tomorrow during the warm-up, because I think I have a tiny problem there, and then just keep on pushing.
David De Gea,
41 laps, 19684 Km.
Im very happy. I have improved the times I set yesterday a lot and I would actually said that it would be impossible to be better. Despite the difficult challenge Ive been able to improve them. This is not my usual bike and improving your times means moving forward, and moving forward with a bike you dont know is always more difficult. It is a challenge I have managed to achieve. The bike has worked perfectly well, as well as the team and this has also been something that pushed me forward; the team but also Alberto who has been there supporting me all the time, and everything in general. The bike behaves perfectly well, it is a very noble bike that allowed me to improve my times. The most important thing for tomorrow is finishing the race, because after such a good weekend, the crowning point would be finishing the race. But I havent set myself any objective so far, I dont know in which position I will be able to finish; I just want to make my race and to do it as much in the front as possible.
Bradley Smith,
35 laps, 16803 Km.
Im very happy. This is my best qualifying position so far. Im on the third row. It was actually my plan for this weekend. From Australia I said that I wanted to be in the second or third row because thats where I needed to be so its nice to accomplish that after such a difficult day yesterday so thats a really positive thing. Now I have to make a very good start, and try to get off with the leading group and make a good finish, that would be perfect. Lets wait and see tomorrow because thats what really counts and Im really looking forward to it.
Standings
MotoGP
- L.Capirossi (Ducati) 1’45.724
- V.Rossi (Yamaha) 1’45.991
- M.Melandri (Honda) 1’46.250
- S.Nakano (Kawasaki) 1’46.291
- S.Gibernau (Ducati) 1’46.316
- N.Hayden (Honda) 1’46.489
- D.Pedrosa (Honda) 1’46.576
250
- J.Lorenzo (Aprilia) 1’51.374
- A.Dovizioso (Honda) 1’51.955
- A.de Angelis (Aprilia) 1’52.014
- H.Aoyama (KTM) 1’52.032
- S.Aoyama (Honda) 1’52.060
13. D.de Gea (Honda) 1’53.857
125
- A.Bautista (Aprilia) 1’57.231
- M.Kallio (KTM) 1’57.510
- H.Faubel (Aprilia) 1’58.128
- J.Simón (KTM) 1’58.225
- S.Gadea (Aprilia) 1’58.320
9. B.Smith (Honda) 1’58.828
