Bad weather is affecting the start of this season`s racing, and after rain forced the first MotoGP race to be shortened a fortnight ago in Qatar, as well as the 125cc & 250cc races, rain also conditioned the practice sessions before the Japanese GP today. The day dawned with rain and it did not stop the whole day. Although the practice session in the morning was completed, when the 125cc classification session was about to start it was raining heavily, the result being a flooded track. That meant the sessions in the three categories had to be cancelled for safety reasons, the puddles on the Motegi tarmac were very big and it was easy to aquaplane, and it continued to rain.
This is an exceptional situation, although not unknown because three years ago, in 2006, the same thing happened in the Malaysian GP, after torrential rain the times from the Friday sessions were taken as valid for the starting grid. In this case tomorrow`s starting grid will also use the times recorded on Friday which were faster than those in the rain this morning.
Therefore the MotoGP race will have Andrea Dovizioso starting from the third row, after setting the seventh fastest time yesterday; and Dani Pedrosa on the fourth row, eleventh yesterday. In 125cc an ecstatic Esteve Rabat will be on the first row for the first time in his short career, fourth on Friday. Marc Márquez will be on the third row – tenth yesterday – one row ahead of Scott Redding who was sixteenth. Cameron Beaubier is one of the most harmed by this situation, as he has done very few laps of the Japanese track, he will start from twenty-third position.
Fortunately the weather forecast that predicted heavy rain all day Saturday says that tomorrow, race day, will be dry.
Dani Pedrosa, 2’04.489 secs, 18 laps, 86 km. >> Audio
“Well, this is definitely a pretty strange situation, especially after what happened in Qatar. In the morning’s wet session I gradually improved my lap times and was able to get a better feeling with the new rain tyres, so that was a useful learning process. I’m starting the race from eleventh on the grid and most of my rivals are on the front row, so this means I’ll have to get a great start and pass a lot of riders to get near the front. Our dry set-up is not perfect so we’ll have to get things right in the warm-up tomorrow.”
Andrea Dovizioso, 2’04.536 secs, 15 laps, 72 km. >> Audio
“We could really have done with a dry session today because we’ve got some new parts to test on the machine which could move us forward – but with the rain that obviously wasn’t possible. So, we’re starting from seventh, which isn’t ideal. If we get a dry warm-up then it’s possible we can improve the settings for the race – and that’s what we’ll be working towards. In the wet session this morning, the feeling on the machine wasn’t great but really it all depends on what the weather does tomorrow. It’s Honda’s home race so I’m really hoping to be able to get a good result for the team and the fans.”
Marc Márquez, 2’15.568 secs, 15 laps, 72 km. >> Audio
“I am more worried about the track conditions than about my starting position, whether the race will be wet or dry. We have only had one practice session in the dry and we do not have the right set up on the bike. We will start with a few unknowns, although I think from now until the race we can get a good set up because we made some quite important modifications with respect to yesterday. We tried them out this morning in the rain, and I suppose they will also work well in the dry. I will start 10th which is not such a good position, but we will try to get a good start, be in the leading group and finish the racce.”
Esteve Rabat, 2’20.693 secs, 13 laps, 62 km. >> Audio
“I am very pleased because it is the first time I will start on the front row. It will be very important to start well tomorrow so that I can join and keep up with the leading group as long as possible. The important thing is not to fall and manage to finish the race. If I finish among the first nine I will be pleased, and we will continue to work taking things step by step. Today we had a small problem with the front brake and we finished well down the field. I hope that the race is in the dry, although if it is in the wet it does not matter as we will give it our best shot.”
Scott Redding, 2’20.011 secs, 13 laps, 62 km. >> Audio
“The first session today was in the rain and we had some problems with the suspension. Yesterday was not so bad after all, we only had a problem with the tyres. When we were about to go out for the classification session they cancelled it, so I have the grid position from Friday`s session, I was 16th, that is not so good, but now I can`t change anything.”
Cameron Beaubier, 2’20.062 secs, 11 laps, 53 km. >> Audio
“It does not matter to me whether the track is wet or dry becaue it is a totally new circuit for me and even though I feel comfortable riding in the rain, I have not done as many laps as I would have liked. At the beginning of the session I had a small problem with the gear change so I had to make a pit-stop. I wanted the classification session so that I could do more laps, this is a new circuit for me and now I have to start from 23rd position on the grid. I would have liked to have been nearer the front.”
