72 thousandths separate the Australian form the fastest time set by Lorenzo, from which Pedrosa is at 183 thousandths. Andrea Dovizioso, sixth, will start from the second row
The Californian circuit of Laguna Seca was today the setting of the qualifying practice for the tenth round of the World Championship, where Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa will start tomorrow from the first row of the starting grid. The Repsol riders, together with Jorge Lorenzo, author of today’s pole position, dominated the practice, taking first positions in all sessions, which promises a very close race for tomorrow, where Andrea Dovizioso will start from the sixth position.
The United States Grand Prix, the only on where only the MotoGP category competes, has become with the years one of the most unusual rounds of the championship and, seeing the performance of the three first during the practice everything seems to announce that once again the race will be epic. Less than two tenths separate them at the end of a qualifying session where Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner fought to be, together with Jorge Lorenzo, one of the fastest riders of the demanding American track.
Despite some problems with the set-up of his Honda, Casey Stoner was able to overcome the difficulties to get the second fastest time of the day, only 72 thousandths behind Jorge Lorenzo. Beside the Australian will start Dani Pedrosa, who after 55 laps will still look for some improvement during tomorrow’s ‘warm-up’ to try to achieve his second consecutive victory this season in a circuit where he already won two years ago.
Improving his feelings on the Honda RC212V, Andrea Dovizioso also rode under 1 minute and 22 seconds, finally stopping the clock in 1 minute, 21 seconds and 731 thousandths. The Italian of the Repsol Honda Team gradually improved his times, showing a very good pace for tomorrow’s race, where the Repsol Honda Team will try to fight for a new victory in the American track, where they already won with the Spanish company livery Nicky Hayden —in 2005 and 2006— and Dani Pedrosa —in 2009—.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio >> Audio (Cat)
FP3 – 1:21.823, 24 laps, 87 km.
QP – 1:21.385, 31 laps, 112 km.
“We couldn’t improve as much as I’d like to in the final part of the practice, we tried some different settings and unfortunately we didn’t find a good one, but to start from the front row is always important and here we are again. I felt more comfortable with the hard tyres, which it’s positive because they will be the ones used for the race, but we still need to make another step forward tomorrow and hopefully find a little more grip in the rear. Lorenzo seems very stable and fast, so I hope to find something else with my mechanics tonight and to be able to fight for a great result tomorrow. The race will be very fast, there are many laps here, so it will be important to be focus on every lap and stay strong until the end. I know the race distance will be hard for me physically, you have to work a lot in this track, there are a lot of bumps and you need to be very focused not to make any mistakes. But I will try my best and I hope to stay strong and consistent until the end”.
Andrea Dovizioso >> Audio
FP3 – 1:22.356, 25 laps, 90 km.
QP – 1:21.731, 34 laps, 123 km.
“My target was to start from the first two rows, so finishing sixth is not too bad, but I hoped to start at least from the 4th position because it’s external and gives more advantages from the start. Anyway, we are quite close and we need to work more to gain another two tenths in race pace. This afternoon we improved a lot thanks to some changes we made in the set up, moving the weight more to the back. This setting helps us to brake stronger and this suits more my riding style. We will continue working in the warm up tomorrow because the pace of Lorenzo and Dani [Pedrosa] is really high. I hope to make a good start and maintain contact with the front group. I will do my best to have a good race and fight for the podium”.
Casey Stoner >> Audio
FP3 – 1:21.806, 22 laps, 79 km.
QP – 1:21.274, 29 laps, 105 km.
“For the whole session we were trying to find the right set up. All weekend we’ve been struggling a little and we’ve not found anything I’m comfortable with, I’ve closed the front many times and we’re still looking to find some balance on the bike to get it working on this track, where we expected it to work well. On my first soft tyre I encountered some traffic and was held up, also there was a crash and a yellow flag so I lost my chance on that tyre. Then on the next soft tyre we had one lap to find some pace and we managed front row which is important for tomorrow. I don’t feel we’re running with the pace of Dani [Pedrosa] and Jorge [Lorenzo], they seem to be constantly one to two tenths quicker but we have warm up tomorrow morning to find something in time for the race so we’ll see what we can do”.
