Second row for both riders of the Repsol Honda Team.
Biaggi fifth and Hayden sixth in MotoGP; Pedrosa seventh despite a further crash in the 250cc and Faubel sixth in the 125cc.
Positive day for both riders of the Repsol Honda Team. In the morning session Max Biaggi was sixth and Nicky Hayden finished in a back thirteenth place. However, both riders stood out in a highly contended qualifying session. With the top ten riders within only one second at the end of the session, the top of the time sheets experienced a constant change with even Hayden and Biaggi taking the lead of the classification.
The pole position went finally to a highly competitive Capirossi on his Ducati, with Max Biaggi fifth and his team-mate Nicky Hayden sixth, only 77 hundreds of a second behind. Both riders have thus secured a place on the second row of tomorrows starting grid. And if the leader of the classification, Dani Pedrosa had a difficult day yesterday after his two crashes one in each practice session things didnt start much better this morning. Despite setting the fastest time in the free practice overcoming the pain, things got even more complicated after a crash in the last lap of the session. In the afternoon, really bruised and with pain due to the several contusions, Pedrosa set the seventh fastest time, thus getting a place on the second row of the starting grid.
His team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama, fastest after the first qualifying session on Friday, managed to defend his position this afternoon and will be starting his home-race tomorrow from the front row of the grid. It was however a difficult day for both riders of the Repsol Aspar Team in Motegi, where the superiority of the Hondas against the Aprilias became evident, hindering them from fighting for the leading positions. De Puniet was eighth fastest second row and Sebastián Porto tenth third row-. Not many changes for the Repsol riders in the minor class on this second practice day.
Héctor Faubel, fourth fastest this morning, was sixth in the afternoon, thus leaving the provisional grid position he had got yesterday unchanged. His team-mate Sergio Gadea, twelfth fastest yesterday, improved a couple of places at the second qualifying practice but remains on the third row of the starting grid. Worth mention was the performance of young Mateo Túnez, who is substituting the injured Julián Miralles and already had a positive practice day yesterday. Túnez was twentieth fastest this morning during the second free practice and in the afternoon, the Repsol rider surprised everybody setting the fifteenth fastest time, thus getting a place on the fourth row of the grid.
Rider´s comments:
MotoGP. Max Biaggi,
5th on the grid.
Third free practice 6th, 1’47.982, 25 laps
First qualifying practice 5th, 147.089, 26 laps
Were definatly comming better and it is good to be starting higher up the grid than usual. For sure we still have a long way to go to get to the front but second row is better than we have had for much of the season. We have worked very hard on the set up this weekend and it the bike is workeing better. It will be a big fight tomorrow especially with the Bridgestone guys who are gouing very well here and went very well here last year as well. Ill be riding as usual at 100% and will want to finish well to keep my place in the championship.
MotoGP. Nicky Hayden,
6th on the grid.
Third free practice 13th, 1’48.451, 22 laps
First qualifying practice 6th, 147.168, 21 laps
This afternoon session was the best weve had all weekend. Capirossis really going fast he set the bar out there and made it tough on us for sure. After this morning we made a lot of changes on the bike. What we found worked in the tests at Brno just wasnt working here so we went back to what we have been running all season and things started to go better immediately. Ive got a lot more confidence with the front and we picked up the pace quite a bit. A big thanks to the team for doing a great job they really did their homework. We still have got some stuff to look at tomorrow morning the race will be hot for sure there are a lot of fast guys out there. Itll be a big one tomorrow.
250. Hiroshi Aoyama,
1st on the grid.
Second free practice 4th, 1’53.283, 19 laps
Second qualifying practice 1st, 151.843, 19 laps
I know that the result that really counts is the one of the race, but this pole position makes me very happy. Weve been improving in every practice and I have a good race pace. Weve also improved the bike, especially as regards the suspensions and I feel good. Im ready for a long and difficult race, and I think that Dani will be there as well. The pressure is higher at home, but it also means additional motivation. I hope to able to celebrate it.
250. Dani Pedrosa,
7th on the grid.
Second free practice 1st, 1’52.885, 20 laps
Second qualifying practice 7th, 152.662, 16 laps
Bad luck goes on. We were improving bit by bit this morning, but I crashed again, for the third time at this Grand Prix. This time I lost the front end and I hit my shoulder again. Something like this had never happened to me before, but at least I was able to do some laps and get a place on the second row of the grid, which is important. But with so many crashes and the pain I feel, weve been hardly able to test anything for the set-up. Im obviously having trouble on the bike but I try to move as little as possible and that influences the riding. But I hope to be able to rest; the hours left for the race should run in our favour to allow me making the best possible race tomorrow.
250. Randy De Puniet
8th on the grid.
Second free practice 11th, 1’53.899, 26 laps
Second qualifying practice 8th, 152.890, 19 laps
Im happy because my bike is performing well, were lacking a bit of engine power but Im satisfied in general terms. We loose a lot in the third and fourth section, thats where the Honda is superior to the Aprilia because its an area with very slow corners. Today I gave my best to set a good time and get a good place for tomorrows race. Im eighth, one second behind the lead, but Ill try to make a good start and regain as many positions as possible.
250. Sebastián Porto,
10th on the grid.
Second free practice 10th, 1’53.898, 19 laps
Second qualifying practice 10th, 159.966, 15 laps
Im not happy at all, because weve had several problems today. We made some changes in the morning, during the free practice, that did not have the expected result, and now, in the afternoon, although weve been able to improve a bit, Im not completely satisfied because the engine isnt working 100%. We also have to improve the chassis setting, because Im not satisfied with it either. We have to keep on working to try to improve. Well go one step back tomorrow and change everything back to what we had on Friday.
125. Héctor Faubel,
6th on the grid.
Second free practice 4th, 1’59.227, 18 laps
Second qualifying practice 5th, 159.143, 11 laps
‘I’m really happy about this sixth place, because I will start from row two. It was a shame that I was knocked off the front row, but the important thing is that I’m feeling comfortable with the bike and have a good rhythm. I would like to get a bit more out of the engine, but I’m quite confident anyway that I’ll be up at the front tomorrow and I can have a good race.’
125. Sergio Gadea,
10th on the grid.
Second free practice 12th, 1’59.995, 18 laps
Second qualifying practice 10th, 159.596, 12 laps
‘I’m very pleased with this afternoon’s result, because after the problems we had in the sessions running up to this, I was able to ride closer to the best in the class. In the final moments of the session, I was mixed up with a few riders who got in my way, and if it hadn’t have been like that, I think I could have been closer to pole.’
Track conditions:
- Weather: sunny
- Air : 28º-32º
- Asphalt: 36º-41º
- Humidity: 12%-20%
- Wind: 6 Km/h
Standings:
MotoGP
- L.Capirossi (Ducati) 1.46.363
- J.Hopkins (Suzuki) 1.46.861
- M.Melandri (Honda) 1.46.867
- M.Tamada (Honda) 1.47.043
- M.Biaggi (Honda) 1.47.089
- N.Hayden (Honda) 1.47.166
250
- H.Aoyama (Honda) 1.51.843
- J.Lorenzo (Honda) 1.51.859
- S.Aoyama (Honda) 1.52.374
- A. de Angelis (Aprilia) 1.52.408
- A.Dovizioso (Honda) 1.52.603
7. D.Pedrosa (Honda) 1.52.662
8. R. de Puniet (Aprilia) 1.52.890
10. S.Porto (Aprilia) 1.52.966
125
- G.Talmacsi (KTM) 1.58.653
- T.Koyama (Honda) 1.58.920
- M.Pasini (Aprilia) 1.58.970
- M.Simoncelli (Aprilia) 1.59.038
- M.Kallio (Aprilia) 1.59.137
- H.Faubel (Aprilia) 1.59.143
10. S.Gadea (Aprilia) 1.59.596
